If you are considering building a branding strategy and action plan for your practice, keep these five things in mind.
What You Should Know About Branding
- The foundation of your branding strategy is your marketing positioning statement
Branding begins with a clear marketing positioning statement of your firm – what you do, who your target audience is, how you’re unique, why people should choose you over your competitors. It helps you be recognized, remembered and retained by the kind of clients you desire. - Branding is not optional.
Some people believe that you only have a brand when you actively create one. This is not so. You are always creating your brand with every action, process, and communication. Whether you formally see it as a brand or not is not relevant, because your current and prospective clients perceive you all the time. In other words, they are branding you. Obviously, it’s both smarter and easier for you to actively brand yourself! - Branding is not another word for marketing.
Branding is part of marketing, much like litigation is part of practicing law. Marketing (in its myriad of forms) can convey branding, but it doesn’t replace it. Marketing is the framework; branding is the core message. - Branding offers you a lot more control than word of mouth referral
While a lot of professionals receive business by referrals, you do not have direct control over what is said about you and your practice. On the other hand, branding, when done properly, reaches out to your target audience and actively delivers the message/image of your practice as designed by you to people who are comparing your practice to another. - Branding must be consistent.
Some professionals invest quality time and considerable expense in developing their brand, but they neglect to consistently make it a part of their entire marketing process and program. Ultimately, they undermine their own success. To be effective, branding efforts must be consistent.
Start with your logo, business card, and stationery. Once you have a design and a look and feel established, apply that to your firm brochure, website, social media pages, newsletter, videos and any marketing materials you produce. If you come up with a tagline for your practice or a great heading, use them consistently on all your marketing materials as well.
This article was written by Martha Chan, Co-Owner and Vice-President of Divorce Marketing Group, Divorce Magazine, and www.DivorceMagazine.com. Divorce Marketing Group is the only marketing agency dedicated to helping divorce lawyers and divorce professionals grow their practices. Divorce Marketing Group offers a wide range of marketing services, including website design, hosting and promotion, social media marketing, press releases, video production and promotion, print advertising, advertising on multiple divorce websites, electronic promotions, and providing content to divorce professionals with websites.
