Lawyer PR & Branding Agency - Attorney Talent Booking & PR Agents
New York – California – Washington DC & All U.S. – Canada
A well-defined, clear, and focused professional brand, both the law firm brand and an individual attorney’s personal brand, is foundational to law firm marketing success, yet its power is rarely understood and often poorly executed.
Here’s what branding is NOT:
Those are all look-and-feel items. Important for sure, but just elements of something bigger.
So, what IS branding in an elite legal marketing context?
Branding for law firms or any company is something deeper - something more important.
In the legal arena you have two brands:
Elite Lawyer Management branding experts package (brand) both your practice and individual lawyers’ expertise to optimize your presentation, image, credibility, and platform for maximum practice development results.
We focus as much on a lawyer’s personal brand as on the firm’s.
Why?
Isn’t the law firm brand the important one for legal business?
Aren’t Apple, Amazon, Virgin… outstanding examples of company brands that a legal practice should emulate in their branding process? Individuals mere background – cogs behind the larger entity?
We DO build and promote law firms mixing design, narrative, image, and value Virgin Atlantic style (see Firm Branding section on this page) however, here’s what most attorney marketing agencies miss and it’s massively important – the power of personal branding for law practice leaders.
So, Elite Lawyer Management personal branding pros create, expand, and help monetize compelling personal brands for practice leaders.
A well-branded lawyer is a strategic combination of:
Powerfully branded lawyers dominate the top ranks of the legal profession in exactly the same manner as do leading products – consider Coke, Gerry Spence, the iPhone, Norm Pattis, Porsche, Gloria Allred, Rolex, Brian Mahany, Ritz Carlton, Joseph Tully… and this list goes on with the legal top guns in every specialty from intellectual property and commercial litigation to matrimonial, civil rights, criminal, qui tam (whistleblower lawyers), insurance law, class actions, mass torts, and the rest.
“In a profession of equals, some lawyers are certainly more ‘equal’ than others. They have that indefinable something. Powerful personal branding defines that something. The exciting thing is that any attorney can become a compelling personal brand.”- excerpt from #1 bestselling book on personal branding Fame 101, author (ELM co-founder) Jay Jessup
The true beauty of the personal branding element of our elite legal marketing strategy is that a lawyer’s personal brand synergistically enhances the law firm brand and the converse. We build them separately but focus on the mutuality.
Elite Lawyer Management personal branding experts package your legal expertise for maximum business development potential and we do it in a manner that supports and enhances the law firm brand.
Branding a law firm is packaging the collective expertise and reputation of the attorneys who make up the enterprise and presenting that combination to the world – online and off.
The Elite Lawyer Management branding team builds and executes a multidimensional brand strategy that drives business development.
We focus on all 3 facets of your brand:
Let’s look briefly at each of the three:
At its foundation, your brand is your promise and reputation, your story – an interconnected bundle that defines what people can expect when they connect with you either in-person or online.
We look at the promise your prospects want you to make and make sure your brand answers the question:
Can and will your law firm fulfill that promise? This is what we do and what we won’t do, who we do it for, and how we do it better than anyone else.
An important aside: Your promise must be specific vs general. For generalists, no one will know who you are and what they can expect you to do so they don’t hire you.
You build that reputation (and your law practice) when you keep that promise in your legal work, your writing, appearances, and the rest – consistently.
What about your story? The Narrative?
People form opinions (a narrative) about your firm based on appearance, rumor, prejudice, assumptions, and fear.
Your firm’s brand narrative must head off all uncertainty by telling the world, in an authentic and provable way:
Elite’s branding experts will define and package your promise and your story.
For law firms, thought leadership is about packaging, developing, and promoting your reputation as THE trusted, up-to-date, and forward-thinking expert information and influence source – the recognized authority in your focus area(s).
We help law practices evolve as thought leaders, from productizing your focus area expertise to developing information platforms and publicizing (a great brand with exceptional information is of no value if no one knows you’re there – See PR and Publicity) and marketing the result.
Elite Lawyer Management experts will enhance your reputation in an authentic and high-visibility manner focusing on building unassailable thought leadership for your firm.
Business clients expect you to look as good as they do. Crystal clear messaging, up to the moment graphics, fonts, colors, and the rest – tastefully packaged and reminiscent of leading B to B (business to business) brands.
Consumer clients elevate law practices packaged smartly with a sharp look and feel, subtly reminiscent of company brand visuals they know – think smart phone companies, top tech & travel brands… tempered with a patina of consumer-level legal gravitas.
An important aside: When SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the resulting search engine rankings are important, there must be a design/SEO balance built into your brand strategy, particularly on the visual elements where search engines are inept at “reading” images - we are extraordinarily good at handling this balance to maximize your overall firm benefits. This doesn’t apply if SEO is only a minor part of your legal services marketing strategy.
Your brand look and feel must be consistent across:
Does your brand strategy and execution drive business development?
Combine a solid promise, clear narrative, and thought leadership with great visuals and you have a powerful law firm brand. Do this concurrent with branding one, some, or all of your individual lawyers and – presuming your expertise – you’ll take the #1 spot in your specialty.