July 24, 2006
Test the Effectiveness of Your Law Firm Brand
I mentioned in a prior post that “branding” seemed to be on everyone’s lips at the June Los Angeles Law Firm Business Forum organized by ALM. One of the stronger educational segments was titled “Know Thyself: Marketing and Brand Strategies.”
Each of the four faculty members responsible for the session emphasized the necessity of a consensus among law firm partners as the starting point for developing a branding strategy.
Branding is about communicating a clear image of who you are. The typical, unbranded law firm has multiple personalities. Different partners have a different image of where the firm is and where it should go. It is this dysfunction that branding programs attempt to cure. Branding has become increasingly important as firms turned to institutional marketing as a replacement for ineffective and inconsistent attorney rainmaking.
Faculty member Merry Neithlich is a partner with Extreme Marketing. She provided attendees with a simple test to assess a firm’s brand distinction. To grade yourself, score 3 points for ‘yes’, 2 points for ‘I don’t know’ and 1 point for ‘no’.
1. My firm has discovered what differentiates us from others in our field of practice.
2. My firm’s distinction is recognized by all of our clients.
3. My firm’s distinction has value to our clients and prospects.
4. All partners, associates, and staff at the firm are aware of our distinction.
5. My firm’s distinction is clearly communicated to prospects in conversations, new business proposals, etc.
6. My firm’s distinction is clearly communicated in our marketing materials.
7. My firm’s distinction is scripted and used consistently.
8. We routinely survey client service delivery preferences to gauge and maintain our brand’s relevance.
9. My firm’s pricing strategy is based on our clients’ perception of our value.
10.My firm’s brand of lawyering receives adequate marketing support.
According to Neithlich, your branding grade based on this test is as follows:
A: 24-30 points—You are on the right track.
B: 15-23 points—Your distinction is still a little blurry.
C: 9-15 points—You are average, but that translates to “commodity”.
Other members of the faculty for this Branding session included Allan Anderson with Ropers Majeski, Alison Larson with Schopf & Weiss and Taedra Kogan with Thompson FindLaw.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
Related posts
Filed under Marketing by Tom Collins