Who Controls Your Brand ' You or Your Clients?

We are all familiar with the old adage, “You are what you eat,” but is your firm allowing your clients to take control of your brand by awarding you the cases they send your way? In essence, are they defining your firm by what they allow you to eat? And, are you allowing your clients or target audiences to speak about you without accurately conveying your firm's brand message?

These are questions that have growing merit in a world where your clients are not simply controlling your brand by the type of work they send you, but rating your performance on your ability to understand their objectives and expectations. They are also rating your legal expertise, your efficiency and management of their processes, your responsiveness and communication, as well as your ability to predict their costs and budgeting skills. These ratings comprise the ACC Value Challenge and Index ' the yardstick by which firms are now being measured.

So what are firms to do? Hide their heads in the sand and hope this all goes away, or embrace the new transparency that has been given to all law firms and turn this information into an element of a positive and constructive brand? Law firms need to take back control of their brands.

The ACC Value Challenge

Our firm, Moir' Marketing Partners, has become a believer in the ACC Value Challenge. We had the pleasure of moderating a panel on this very subject this past year featuring James Carroll, then-current President of the San Francisco Chapter of ACC; Paul Lippe, CEO of Legal OnRamp; Mike Roster, Steering Committee Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel's Value Challenge ' a force unto himself on this subject; and Michael J. Shpizner, Vice President and General Counsel, Fujitsu America, Inc.

What are firms doing to better gain control of their brands? According to these luminaries, they are using some of the findings from client interviews to tell better client stories as opposed to building websites that focus internally ' focusing only on their capabilities. In other words, they are moving away from the chest-pounding approach to one that is more client-focused.

While the general counsel on the panel all agreed that the capabilities of law firms are important to them, more and more these skills, at a certain level, are becoming fungible. This is why an increasing number of clients are coming to your website: to learn how well your firm understands their business objectives and expectations in terms of outcome, efficiency at managing their cases, your communication skills and the firm's ability to predict their costs. The best way to convey this information is through case studies and stories. Why? Because we live in a culture that wants its information fast and in short sound bites, particularly if the story has a direct relation to you and your business.

Storytelling

Stories, case studies and testimonials ' where bar rules permit their use ' are extremely powerful marketing and branding tools that many firms consistently fail to use on their websites. Law firms often overlook how case studies can clearly and concisely convey how one's firm understands clients' business objectives, and also illustrate the firm's efficiency at managing clients' cases. In short, they miss an opportunity to reflect the measuring criteria of the ACC Value Challenge Index. Sure, you can say and describe all the experience you may have in a particular area of law, but we live in a world where the sound bites and a smart headline about a client earns more attention on your homepage than any self-laudatory description that may be buried within your firm's practice area descriptions.

We hear it over and over again, but the importance of storytelling is essential for a successful brand. Storytelling allows you to reach your audiences in ways that can help influence their purchasing or by entering your firm into their consideration set.

The best storytelling offers a two-way approach, giving your audience an opportunity to respond and share their experiences. For instance, blogs and social media are great ways to help control your brand while offering valuable and meaningful content to your audience. Certainly, client alerts are tools that we know are of value to in-house counsel, when they are targeted and timely.

Target Marketing

Target marketing, such as client alerts, helps a firm control its brand and provides benefits to its clients because the messages are specific to a targeted audience. Not all law firm clients are the same. While top-of-mind issues and challenges may be similar, being able to customize and cater to the specific needs of your clients is essential in establishing a consistent and powerful brand ' one that is managed by you and not your clients. This is one way law firms can improve communication skills with clients while demonstrating that they have an understanding of their clients' specific business needs.

For instance, many firms offer a sign-up form on their websites to receive newsletters, blog posts and alerts. In addition, many firms have entered into the world of social media. Think about the information your firm is presenting in each of these media. Is the information important to all of your clients? Most likely it is not. Segmenting your mailing lists into specific industries will help to create a stronger response and more powerful firm brand. Think of these mediums as valuable conversations or two-way communications, rather than a one-way dialogue. Clients will begin to think, “My law firm gets me” or “I get hundreds of e-mails a day, but I can always count on my law firm to send me information that is relevant to my business, and timely.”

What's in It for Me?

Attracting new clients is certainly more difficult than retaining current clients ' a well-known fact that everyone agrees upon. Prospects want to know that a prospective law firm is solving cases similar to their challenges and issues. Rather than using the chest-pounding approach that we see on many law firm websites, consider expressing your firm's brand messages with testimonials and case studies. While clients still hire lawyers, General Counsel still need to defend and validate the selections of the law firms they hire to the boards they report to. It's much easier to defend the selection of a law firm that listens to them rather than one that speaks at them. At the end of the day, the benefits your firm can offer a client outside of your vast experience is growing in importance to boards and in-house counsel.

Effectively communicating your firm's value through testimonials and case studies can help attract and hone your brand message to the audiences you are trying to reach. These are powerful methods, as mentioned above, that are sometimes overlooked in the design and development of a website. In fact, your firm should consider this information and client feedback essential components in the development and promotion of your brand. Your clients are still your best referral source. Promoting the work that you have done on their behalf can speak volumes as opposed to that one phone call one in-house counsel made to another to identify a firm that was best suited for their legal matter.

Consistency

Being able to communicate your brand, top to bottom, left to right, with the same consistency that you help to protect your clients' businesses is also a critical consideration when looking at who controls your brand. When clients see consistency and repetition, they tend to recall your firm's value proposition much easier. It is when firms leave their brands open and unlocked that they allow clients ' as well as other firms ' to take control and communicate who they are and what they do (and they are not always communicating it accurately).

Brand Ambassadors

To help with consistency, you can develop an ambassador program. The people who comprise this program are called “brand ambassadors.” These individuals speak with the brand in mind and help control the brand and its messaging within their departments, the offices, online, in print, etc. They are the gurus and flag-bearers of your brand. They help to shape, control and manage the brand to help minimize outside interfering noise to help illustrate what your firm stands for and who you are or what value you provide clients.

Conclusion

Transparency in the legal profession is here to stay. The reporting of firm revenue and profits per partner may have started this with the AmLaw 100, but the ACC Value Challenge has forever changed how in-house counsel measures the law firms it considers retaining. Yes, phone calls will still take place, and one in-house counsel will ask another about a firm or lawyer they are considering using for a matter. However, the medium where these conversations are taking place has changed. Law firms can either embrace this change and take appropriate steps so that they are in greater control of how their story and their brand is represented in the marketplace, or the market will do it for them. As law firm marketers, the choice is entirely up to you.

This article first appeared in Marketing the Law Firm, a sister publication of this newsletter.

Jeffrey Morgan is a Principal at Moir' Marketing Partners, and may be reached at [email protected]. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter (@JeffreyMorganCA). Jeremy Hoders is Director of Client Services at the firm, and may be reached at [email protected]. Connect with him as well on LinkedIn and Twitter (@JeremyHoders).

We are all familiar with the old adage, “You are what you eat,” but is your firm allowing your clients to take control of your brand by awarding you the cases they send your way? In essence, are they defining your firm by what they allow you to eat? And, are you allowing your clients or target audiences to speak about you without accurately conveying your firm's brand message?

These are questions that have growing merit in a world where your clients are not simply controlling your brand by the type of work they send you, but rating your performance on your ability to understand their objectives and expectations. They are also rating your legal expertise, your efficiency and management of their processes, your responsiveness and communication, as well as your ability to predict their costs and budgeting skills. These ratings comprise the ACC Value Challenge and Index ' the yardstick by which firms are now being measured.

So what are firms to do? Hide their heads in the sand and hope this all goes away, or embrace the new transparency that has been given to all law firms and turn this information into an element of a positive and constructive brand? Law firms need to take back control of their brands.

The ACC Value Challenge

Our firm, Moir' Marketing Partners, has become a believer in the ACC Value Challenge. We had the pleasure of moderating a panel on this very subject this past year featuring James Carroll, then-current President of the San Francisco Chapter of ACC; Paul Lippe, CEO of Legal OnRamp; Mike Roster, Steering Committee Chair of the Association of Corporate Counsel's Value Challenge ' a force unto himself on this subject; and Michael J. Shpizner, Vice President and General Counsel, Fujitsu America, Inc.

What are firms doing to better gain control of their brands? According to these luminaries, they are using some of the findings from client interviews to tell better client stories as opposed to building websites that focus internally ' focusing only on their capabilities. In other words, they are moving away from the chest-pounding approach to one that is more client-focused.

While the general counsel on the panel all agreed that the capabilities of law firms are important to them, more and more these skills, at a certain level, are becoming fungible. This is why an increasing number of clients are coming to your website: to learn how well your firm understands their business objectives and expectations in terms of outcome, efficiency at managing their cases, your communication skills and the firm's ability to predict their costs. The best way to convey this information is through case studies and stories. Why? Because we live in a culture that wants its information fast and in short sound bites, particularly if the story has a direct relation to you and your business.

Storytelling

Stories, case studies and testimonials ' where bar rules permit their use ' are extremely powerful marketing and branding tools that many firms consistently fail to use on their websites. Law firms often overlook how case studies can clearly and concisely convey how one's firm understands clients' business objectives, and also illustrate the firm's efficiency at managing clients' cases. In short, they miss an opportunity to reflect the measuring criteria of the ACC Value Challenge Index. Sure, you can say and describe all the experience you may have in a particular area of law, but we live in a world where the sound bites and a smart headline about a client earns more attention on your homepage than any self-laudatory description that may be buried within your firm's practice area descriptions.

We hear it over and over again, but the importance of storytelling is essential for a successful brand. Storytelling allows you to reach your audiences in ways that can help influence their purchasing or by entering your firm into their consideration set.

The best storytelling offers a two-way approach, giving your audience an opportunity to respond and share their experiences. For instance, blogs and social media are great ways to help control your brand while offering valuable and meaningful content to your audience. Certainly, client alerts are tools that we know are of value to in-house counsel, when they are targeted and timely.

Target Marketing

Target marketing, such as client alerts, helps a firm control its brand and provides benefits to its clients because the messages are specific to a targeted audience. Not all law firm clients are the same. While top-of-mind issues and challenges may be similar, being able to customize and cater to the specific needs of your clients is essential in establishing a consistent and powerful brand ' one that is managed by you and not your clients. This is one way law firms can improve communication skills with clients while demonstrating that they have an understanding of their clients' specific business needs.

For instance, many firms offer a sign-up form on their websites to receive newsletters, blog posts and alerts. In addition, many firms have entered into the world of social media. Think about the information your firm is presenting in each of these media. Is the information important to all of your clients? Most likely it is not. Segmenting your mailing lists into specific industries will help to create a stronger response and more powerful firm brand. Think of these mediums as valuable conversations or two-way communications, rather than a one-way dialogue. Clients will begin to think, “My law firm gets me” or “I get hundreds of e-mails a day, but I can always count on my law firm to send me information that is relevant to my business, and timely.”

What's in It for Me?

Attracting new clients is certainly more difficult than retaining current clients ' a well-known fact that everyone agrees upon. Prospects want to know that a prospective law firm is solving cases similar to their challenges and issues. Rather than using the chest-pounding approach that we see on many law firm websites, consider expressing your firm's brand messages with testimonials and case studies. While clients still hire lawyers, General Counsel still need to defend and validate the selections of the law firms they hire to the boards they report to. It's much easier to defend the selection of a law firm that listens to them rather than one that speaks at them. At the end of the day, the benefits your firm can offer a client outside of your vast experience is growing in importance to boards and in-house counsel.

Effectively communicating your firm's value through testimonials and case studies can help attract and hone your brand message to the audiences you are trying to reach. These are powerful methods, as mentioned above, that are sometimes overlooked in the design and development of a website. In fact, your firm should consider this information and client feedback essential components in the development and promotion of your brand. Your clients are still your best referral source. Promoting the work that you have done on their behalf can speak volumes as opposed to that one phone call one in-house counsel made to another to identify a firm that was best suited for their legal matter.

Consistency

Being able to communicate your brand, top to bottom, left to right, with the same consistency that you help to protect your clients' businesses is also a critical consideration when looking at who controls your brand. When clients see consistency and repetition, they tend to recall your firm's value proposition much easier. It is when firms leave their brands open and unlocked that they allow clients ' as well as other firms ' to take control and communicate who they are and what they do (and they are not always communicating it accurately).

Brand Ambassadors

To help with consistency, you can develop an ambassador program. The people who comprise this program are called “brand ambassadors.” These individuals speak with the brand in mind and help control the brand and its messaging within their departments, the offices, online, in print, etc. They are the gurus and flag-bearers of your brand. They help to shape, control and manage the brand to help minimize outside interfering noise to help illustrate what your firm stands for and who you are or what value you provide clients.

Conclusion

Transparency in the legal profession is here to stay. The reporting of firm revenue and profits per partner may have started this with the AmLaw 100, but the ACC Value Challenge has forever changed how in-house counsel measures the law firms it considers retaining. Yes, phone calls will still take place, and one in-house counsel will ask another about a firm or lawyer they are considering using for a matter. However, the medium where these conversations are taking place has changed. Law firms can either embrace this change and take appropriate steps so that they are in greater control of how their story and their brand is represented in the marketplace, or the market will do it for them. As law firm marketers, the choice is entirely up to you.

This article first appeared in Marketing the Law Firm, a sister publication of this newsletter.

Jeffrey Morgan is a Principal at Moir' Marketing Partners, and may be reached at [email protected]. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter (@JeffreyMorganCA). Jeremy Hoders is Director of Client Services at the firm, and may be reached at [email protected]. Connect with him as well on LinkedIn and Twitter (@JeremyHoders).