The Right Brand for Your Market

Branding is a critical part of your practice whether you actively work towards creating a brand identity or not. Everything from the type of clothes you wear to what kind of business cards you hand out contributes to your brand identity. And it's important that all of those elements are both consistent and appropriate for your market. Just as you wouldn't expect to be served a pre-packaged microwave meal at a five-star restaurant, clients who come to visit you in a nicely appointed office don't expect you to be disorganized when you're presenting their case.

Once you're aware that who you are and what you do is representative of your branding efforts it's possible to consider how all of the elements of your practice come together to create a single big picture. Who are you as a lawyer? What services are you selling? Who are you selling these services to? If you've never thought about these questions together now's the time to do so and to make sure that the answers compliment each other. If these factors clash instead of acting in a manner that's harmonious you'll want to re-think what is and isn't working. Remember that you need to be true to yourself but at the same time you need to be true to your market as well.

Think about what type of brand image you've been presenting thus far. Is it the image that you want to present? Is there any way that you can change it to make it more consistent? Are there elements that you need to add or that you need to take away? Is what you're doing something that you're market will respond to? Be sure to be honest with yourself. There are no right or wrong answers. The sole purpose of this exercise is to ensure that your brand message is clear and can be consistently maintatined.