As a law firm, your brand is one of your most important assets. Having set brand guidelines can help you control the way your brand is perceived by clients and potential partners. So what are brand guidelines and how can they help your firm succeed?

What Are Brand Guidelines?

Brand guidelines are a set of rules that are put in place in regards to your brand. This includes but is not limited to guidelines for logo usage, font usage, color usage, overall brand tone, and photography.

Brand guidelines ensure that your brand elements are used consistently by everyone within your company. While they are important for law firms of any size, they are critical for firms with large teams across several locations. In order to be effective, branding needs to be consistent - no matter how large a firm is.

Why Brand Guidelines Are Important

Brand guidelines are essential for law firms because image is important. Brand guidelines will help give your company control over the way your law firm is viewed and can help manage the overall perception of the firm. It is essential for law firms to both build and maintain a consistent perception of the firm, or your brand can appear to be unorganized.

This is especially important for law firm photography. Clients are more likely to choose a law firm that has a consistent look, rather than a firm with an unorganized team/attorney page with mismatched portraits. A unified look will give clients the impression that your attorneys are part of a team and that your firm is polished and professional.

Another thing to consider is the use of stock photography. Stock photography websites will have law firm related stock images, but using them may cause a misalignment with your brand. Since the photos are more general and not branded, it is likely that they will not follow your brand guidelines. Hiring a legal photography agency can be a solution to this problem. Such agencies can help stage stock photography that is in line with your brand, and can also feature the attorneys at your firm.

The best way to show clients that you are professional and consistent is to uphold your brand guidelines in your branding, messaging, etc. There is a great deal that goes into a strong brand, right down to the pictures you choose to represent yourself. Take pride in your brand and put your best foot forward.