Law Firm Brand Strategy: It’s More Than Just Marketing

What do you think of when your think of your law firm’s branding? If you're like most people, you think of an easily recognizable logo or memorable colour scheme that instantly identifies your firm in the legal marketplace. But strong law firm branding goes beyond marketing initiatives to inform all aspects of your law firm’s business strategy. In fact, your firm’s brand should influence most of the decisions you make, including those related to recruitment, business operations, and succession planning.

By definition, a brand strategy is a clear set of plans and actions governed by an overarching direction that encompasses your firm’s core values, competitive differentiators, and business goals. Brand strategy is more than your firm’s marketing; it’s about how your firm lives its brand. This is reflected your firm’s approach to client service, workplace culture, and hiring practices as well as its marketing collateral, making it important to ensure that your brand values are present in everything your firm does. Law firms that leverage their brand as an integral part of their business strategy benefit by having a cohesive, authentic identity that builds trust with clients, engages potential recruits, and retains existing talent by presenting a clear picture of what the firm stands for.

Living the Brand in All Aspects of Your Law Firm

While your firm’s brand is, to some extent, aspirational, it is also shaped by the perceptions and experiences of those who come in contact with your firm. When your firm undertakes a comprehensive strategic branding, you’ll gain a clear understanding of your firm’s unique value proposition, its core strengths, and the collective values of your firm’s team—helping you to temper your firm’s aspirational ideals with values that are grounded in reality.

Here are a few of the ways your law firm can use its brand to inform its strategic decisions:

How Your Brand Builds Client Satisfaction

Your law firm’s brand is a code of values that provide guidance to clients about what they can expect when they interact with your firm. Having a strong brand identity and framework can help you put practices into place that make it easier for your firm to make each client experience a stellar reflection of who you are and what your brand promises.

You should plan to instill your firm’s brand values in your team and encourage your lawyers and staff to deliver on the promise inherent in your brand identity. This can be reflected in a commitment to responsiveness, fervent client advocacy, or transparent communication. Knowing your brand can encourage your team to embody your firm’s core values in every interaction, ensuring a continuity of service that improves client loyalty and retention.

Using Your Brand to Shape Firm Culture

Every person, department, and decision-maker at your firm should be privy to your brand values and have a working knowledge of how they impact internal and external business decisions. From C-suite executives and managing partners to middle management and even those sitting on recruitment panels or decision-making committees, an understanding of the firm's brand can make decisions easy.

Your brand can influence how you treat each other internally and the decisions you make regarding firm culture. A brand with a value of collaboration may lead to decision-making that increases opportunities for staff to meet, socialize and build connections. A brand that is differentiated based on its competitive or entrepreneurial spirit may choose to implement policies that reward and recognize hard work, dedication, and success – or put into place learning opportunities that will help lawyers achieve this.

Brand-guided Recruitment and Retention Strategies

Since your clients interact with your brand through your staff, hiring the right people is essential for ensuring that each and every client receives the same exceptional experience. Developing interview tasks and questions aligned to your firm’s values can help determine if an individual will be able to live your brand. Consider how your brand can be leveraged in different ways by different people to facilitate unique brand experiences at your firm.

When someone new joins your firm, HR teams should implement training practices that not only train for technical skills, but also help new hires learn about the brand and how they can represent your firm in all of their interactions.

Brand-informed Operational Decisions

Your law firm’s brand can also guide your decision-making on business operations. For example, if your brand values are built on using cutting edge technology to improve the client experience, making operational decisions to implement new technology should be a no-brainer. Alternatively, if a brand value is lawyer autonomy, implementing work-from-anywhere capabilities may make more sense. Regardless of the specific decision, your brand can help your firm make business decisions that reflect who it is and what it does and help your team execute your firm’s brand.

How Your Brand Informs Business Continuity and Succession Planning

Another great way to utilize your law firm’s brand is in succession planning. Knowing your brand can help you implement effective mentorship programs to train younger lawyers and set them up for future success. A brand can guide a series of programs and policies that encourage associates and younger partners to work with lawyers who may soon be retiring to transfer essential institutional knowledge and ensure your brand stays intact during major personnel changes.

Conclusion

Ultimately, knowing your brand is the first step to empowering those who work within your firm to deliver on your firm’s values and uphold its promise to its clients. Whether it’s a client-based brand strategy or an employer brand strategy, having a set of clear brand values can help your firm make decisions that support your firm’s identity, enhance your firm’s culture, and solidify your firm’s client experience, and charting a clear course for long-term business strategy.

At Cubicle Fugitive, we provide comprehensive brand development services to law firms, helping them to discover and build upon their unique strengths. Whether your firm is looking to refresh its brand, undertake a comprehensive firm discovery, or enhance what already works, our team can work with you to find the best way to meet your goals. Contact us to discuss how we can help your firm optimize its branding at all points of engagement.