How you brand and position your law firm is a major step in building brand recognition and establishing a strong reputation in your area of expertise. Most law firms think that branding ends after designing their logo, constructing a mission statement, or establishing a good website; however powerful branding only starts there. Law firms need to ensure they take the extra steps to establish a strong brand in the beginning, so they do not have to spend time constantly refreshing their image.

In branding your law firm, it is essential that you align your objectives, your target client’s point-of-view, and your branding strategy to achieve success. In order to do this, there are several questions you must ask yourself.

1)    Who is your target client?

2)    What impressions do you want your clients to have of your firm?

3)    What makes your firm different?

The questions above will help identify the trajectory of your branding, and once you uncover this path, you will be able to approach the following stages. The first and most important part of building a strong brand for your law firm is identifying a specific target market. Although most firms stop here, this process goes beyond simply identifying your practice area and the general population of people you want to target.

To take your branding one step further, you must craft detailed and specific buyer personas. Without going into the detailed buyer personas, law firms make mistakes and group different types of clients into one generalized group - making marketing less specific missing opportunities to connect with potential clients. Crafting detailed and diligent buyer personas helps you and your firm understand your potential client’s roles, goals, and drives at a deeper level. Most law firms have a variety of different services and areas of expertise. The process of creating detailed personas also helps you narrow which of your clients should receive which services, so no client is receiving the wrong or unnecessary offering.

Having detailed buyer personas allows firms to solidify their areas of focus. With your area of focus in mind, you can better position your firm to become a leader in this field. There are a thousand law firms out there for any practice area. For the prospect seeking a lawyer, all of those firms can seem exactly the same. You as a lawyer have the ability to make yourself stick out by utilizing what makes your firm unique and building on that.

For example, one law firm finds success with clients by being the best faith-based law firm. Another law firm finds success by being the best in digital ads. Rather than trying to master all of these, you should find what makes your firm unique and specifically execute on that as much as possible. Individuals and businesses seeking lawyers will begin to recognize you for what makes your law firm unique, and your clientele will grow with people seeking these qualities allowing your firm to become the expert with these qualities.