<b><i>The Business of Branding:</i></b> To Build the Brand, Build Up The Lawyers

This month, we're talking about “Building the Brand.” It's a challenge that all firms take on, and it's an easy one to get wrong ' just ask Howrey. It's also easy to start in the wrong place. When attempting to build their brands, the first question that law firm managers and marketers should ask is not “How can we build our brand?” but rather a prior question: “What is the brand that we're trying to build?”

This is a critical question for law firms, because the answer is not intuitive. Law firms have a natural inclination to see the firm itself as the brand most relevant to their work, and thus the one they are trying to build. There are any number of reasons for this. For one, it's easier to think about promoting a single brand ' the law firm writ large ' than its many constituent parts. For another, the law firm is the entity that signs the marketers' paychecks, a fact that wins it a certain amount of unconscious loyalty. On some level, it makes more sense to build up the institution than the many attorneys who are free to leave the firm at a moment's notice.

But when we view things from the perspective of the client purchasing legal services, it's clear that those attorneys are, in fact, the firm's most relevant brands. The bromide that clients hire attorneys, and not firms, has a lot of truth in it. Individual attorneys are the “product” that clients focus on most in their hiring decisions, and thus it is their “brands,” or reputations, that law firms should seek to build.

Having answered the first question, the next becomes how firms can most effectively build the brands of their individual attorneys. Recently, I spoke on that topic at the Above the Law Converge conference, and afterword with Bob Ambrogi on a special edition of his Legal Talk Network podcast. The following is a paraphrased and expanded version of our conversation.

Interview with Bob Ambrogi

Q. What is the essence of your job as a communications consultant?

A. We are in the business of creating thought leaders. Specifically, we help to credential attorneys as thought leaders within the industries they serve, and on the particular legal issues that they deal with on a daily basis. Ultimately, our work is about helping attorneys get found quickly when potential clients seek out legal assistance in their area of work. Attorneys with the biggest and best reputations are the ones who are going to get found and consulted first.

Q. What role does pitching the media play in your work?

A. An important, but limited one. There are three basic types of media exposure, the first of which is “earned” media, like a quotation in The Wall Street Journal . Those placements typically result from pitching. There is also “owned” media, like a law firm's own blogs, podcasts, and white papers. These don't require pitching, and can be highly effective in building an attorney's reputation, especially if the attorney appearing in them, or his/her firm, have powerful distribution channels (such as good e-mail lists or well-followed social media accounts) through which to distribute the material. Finally, there is paid media, including pay-for-play opportunities and advertisements. Speaking broadly, we find paid media to be the least effective for professional service providers like lawyers.

Q. What is the value of mainstream media exposure to lawyers if they can “do it themselves” through blogs and other owned media?

A. That's a good question, because doing it yourself is an option that can work. It's still true, though, that mainstream media outlets like The New York Times have credibility attached to them. If any attorney has been quoted in a respected publication, they receive the imprimatur of that publication's approval.

Interestingly, you can think about the function of law firm brands in much the same way. The fact that an attorney works at a firm with a respected name is not enough to get him/her hired, but the fact that a respected firm employs the attorney ' implicitly blessing the quality of his/her work ' is a credential that works in the attorney's favor.

Q. How can lawyers get heard through all the noise of proliferating content out there?

A. This is a real issue, because there is a lot of clutter. But quality voices will get heard. Certainly, there's a lot of value in being first on an issue, so there's good opportunity to create a reputation on emerging issues that others haven't focused on yet. Beyond that, it helps to develop a voice ' whether on a blog, at speaking engagements, or in client alerts ' with a defined and attractive personality. We don't advise “gimmicks,” but we actively help clients craft a specific angle on their issues, sometimes even injecting appropriate humor, which helps them to be remembered and valued by their audiences.

Q. Finally, what's the biggest piece of advice you would give to lawyers who want to build relationships with the mainstream media?

A. Engage with them. Lawyers should know the names of four to six reporters who cover topics of interest to their clients. They can do themselves a lot of good by introducing themselves and offering to discuss a specific issue. Bring some value to the reporter and he or she will want to consult you in the future.

Conclusion

None of the above should suggest that the brand of a firm is irrelevant ' as noted, it serves an important credentialing function. But the best way to build that brand is to build the reputations of the most valuable brands at any law firm: its attorneys.

John Hellerman, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is the co-founder of Hellerman Baretz Communications, a corporate communications agency. John can be reached at 202-841-8153 or [email protected].

This month, we're talking about “Building the Brand.” It's a challenge that all firms take on, and it's an easy one to get wrong ' just ask Howrey. It's also easy to start in the wrong place. When attempting to build their brands, the first question that law firm managers and marketers should ask is not “How can we build our brand?” but rather a prior question: “What is the brand that we're trying to build?”

This is a critical question for law firms, because the answer is not intuitive. Law firms have a natural inclination to see the firm itself as the brand most relevant to their work, and thus the one they are trying to build. There are any number of reasons for this. For one, it's easier to think about promoting a single brand ' the law firm writ large ' than its many constituent parts. For another, the law firm is the entity that signs the marketers' paychecks, a fact that wins it a certain amount of unconscious loyalty. On some level, it makes more sense to build up the institution than the many attorneys who are free to leave the firm at a moment's notice.

But when we view things from the perspective of the client purchasing legal services, it's clear that those attorneys are, in fact, the firm's most relevant brands. The bromide that clients hire attorneys, and not firms, has a lot of truth in it. Individual attorneys are the “product” that clients focus on most in their hiring decisions, and thus it is their “brands,” or reputations, that law firms should seek to build.

Having answered the first question, the next becomes how firms can most effectively build the brands of their individual attorneys. Recently, I spoke on that topic at the Above the Law Converge conference, and afterword with Bob Ambrogi on a special edition of his Legal Talk Network podcast. The following is a paraphrased and expanded version of our conversation.

Interview with Bob Ambrogi

Q. What is the essence of your job as a communications consultant?

A. We are in the business of creating thought leaders. Specifically, we help to credential attorneys as thought leaders within the industries they serve, and on the particular legal issues that they deal with on a daily basis. Ultimately, our work is about helping attorneys get found quickly when potential clients seek out legal assistance in their area of work. Attorneys with the biggest and best reputations are the ones who are going to get found and consulted first.

Q. What role does pitching the media play in your work?

A. An important, but limited one. There are three basic types of media exposure, the first of which is “earned” media, like a quotation in The Wall Street Journal . Those placements typically result from pitching. There is also “owned” media, like a law firm's own blogs, podcasts, and white papers. These don't require pitching, and can be highly effective in building an attorney's reputation, especially if the attorney appearing in them, or his/her firm, have powerful distribution channels (such as good e-mail lists or well-followed social media accounts) through which to distribute the material. Finally, there is paid media, including pay-for-play opportunities and advertisements. Speaking broadly, we find paid media to be the least effective for professional service providers like lawyers.

Q. What is the value of mainstream media exposure to lawyers if they can “do it themselves” through blogs and other owned media?

A. That's a good question, because doing it yourself is an option that can work. It's still true, though, that mainstream media outlets like The New York Times have credibility attached to them. If any attorney has been quoted in a respected publication, they receive the imprimatur of that publication's approval.

Interestingly, you can think about the function of law firm brands in much the same way. The fact that an attorney works at a firm with a respected name is not enough to get him/her hired, but the fact that a respected firm employs the attorney ' implicitly blessing the quality of his/her work ' is a credential that works in the attorney's favor.

Q. How can lawyers get heard through all the noise of proliferating content out there?

A. This is a real issue, because there is a lot of clutter. But quality voices will get heard. Certainly, there's a lot of value in being first on an issue, so there's good opportunity to create a reputation on emerging issues that others haven't focused on yet. Beyond that, it helps to develop a voice ' whether on a blog, at speaking engagements, or in client alerts ' with a defined and attractive personality. We don't advise “gimmicks,” but we actively help clients craft a specific angle on their issues, sometimes even injecting appropriate humor, which helps them to be remembered and valued by their audiences.

Q. Finally, what's the biggest piece of advice you would give to lawyers who want to build relationships with the mainstream media?

A. Engage with them. Lawyers should know the names of four to six reporters who cover topics of interest to their clients. They can do themselves a lot of good by introducing themselves and offering to discuss a specific issue. Bring some value to the reporter and he or she will want to consult you in the future.

Conclusion

None of the above should suggest that the brand of a firm is irrelevant ' as noted, it serves an important credentialing function. But the best way to build that brand is to build the reputations of the most valuable brands at any law firm: its attorneys.

John Hellerman, a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is the co-founder of Hellerman Baretz Communications, a corporate communications agency. John can be reached at 202-841-8153 or [email protected].