5 Habits of a Successful Law Firm
By mastering these habits, you can enhance your law firm's brand and become a top contender in the legal industry.
While it may seem hard to believe, not every law firm translates into immediate success. In fact, the strongest law firms have a strong brand, a dedicated practice area, and a clever way of sourcing potential new clients. Something you might not have guessed is that many of the strongest law firms practice some surprisingly similar habits. By mastering these habits, you can enhance your law firm's brand and become a top contender in the legal industry.
Traditional marketing
Before you dive into digital marketing, think of some of the classic tactics that professional service firms use. For a target client, traditional marketing materials may mean the difference between being a potential client and taking their business elsewhere. In many ways, something as seemingly minor as a business card can add the extra personal touch. Other traditional marketing materials may include a dedicated phone system, a printed contact form, direct mail campaigns, and other physical materials that represent the law firm brand with a well-executed law firm logo. You can easily carve out your niche by limiting your practice to a certain zip code to address the legal needs of local residents. You can also run a national practice, though this can make it more difficult to attract clients.
Digital marketing
This is where social media, web design, the firm's website, and search engines all come into play. While traditional marketing exhibits a certain robust personality, digital marketing can expand your reach and boost the firm's brand considerably. All of the previously mentioned digital concepts are an important part of brand strategy. Using your site and digital presence to show off your brand identity as well as your legal resources is a great way to reach your ideal clients.
The target client
Very few law firms are Jack-of-all-trades businesses. It's important to specify your niche as well as your ideal clients. Are you interested in being a personal injury attorney? Your target client is dealing with personal injury. Are you more interested in the legalese of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)? What about civil rights court cases? By narrowing down the focus of your legal services, you're making it easier to address the needs of your ideal clients. Plus, if you're a personal injury lawyer but your firm's website looks more like that of professional services firms, you're only going to inconvenience yourself.
All about your brand strategy
Though brand strategy has been mentioned several times, what exactly does that mean? The branding process in the legal industry tends to differ from other industries. You need to be visible and recognizable to each potential client and showcase yourself in a way that is intuitive and transparent. Professional services firms need to position themselves in a way that resonates with the executive director of a business. Personal injury firms need to speak to potential clients who are dealing with intermittent issues in the claims process. You get the gist. Sometimes, for certain brands, this may mean that a new logo is an immediate need. Law firm branding extends well beyond your firm's website, too. It should be visible in your mission statement, your marketing materials, and even the way your paralegals answer the phone system.
Clear leadership
While law firms are often built on partnerships, this doesn't mean that structure goes out the window. Firms that are more clearly structured and have readily visible roles and internal distinctions have an easier time functioning than their competitors. Having an executive director or a board in place can often dispel internal difficulties that much more quickly.
To run a strong law firm, you have to follow the groundwork that industry pioneers have laid out. That doesn't mean that you can't innovate but, as the saying goes, if it isn't broke, you probably shouldn't fix it, at least not too much.
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