Having a solid personal brand as a lawyer is important since the necessity of personal branding is felt in all businesses, and anyone who does not focus on it, may no longer be able to compete in their business.
Personal branding means creating self-worth and letting people know about the same. In other terms, it means attaching value to the services one offers as a professional.
Personal branding for lawyers, if done correctly, could mean bringing in clients, in turn, business. A lawyer needs to interact with people, get to know their problems, build a space for himself in the professional arena and let the people know about the services he has to offer to get clients.
One cannot expect clients to come to the doorstep of one’s law office without people knowing about the practicing lawyer, and for people to know, one will have to create a personal brand.
As a lawyer, you should know what a personal brand is
A personal brand is a value one creates for the public, who will be the buyers of the legal services one has to offer. A person himself is the brand.
The experience of the person or a lawyer, in this case in the legal industry, the quality knowledge that the lawyer has, the period for which he has worked in the legal practice, the educational background of that legal professional, etc., help in making a strong personal brand.
The Word “Brand”
The word ‘Brand’ is an intangible asset of a company or an individual attorney.
It helps in easy identification of the one offering services to clients. Marketing helps in building a brand.
As more and more people trust a source, it becomes the epitome of excellence, bringing in a potential client.
A new client always looks for a law firm or an attorney that has a name in the market since there is more chance that his case will be successful.
The Definition of Branding
Branding is the process of marketing one’s brand. Marketing or branding is the first step in making one’s brand known and appreciated.
At times attorneys hire a personal branding expert since a lawyer doesn’t need to have good knowledge of the marketing strategies as well.
Branding experts help one build a voice for one’s brand and help it reach out to the people. Blogs, law firm websites, or social media profiles for individually practicing lawyers are all various ways of promoting a brand.
The Importance of Personal Branding for Lawyers
One common opinion that people around us have to give about the first generation litigants is that they won’t make good money for some years at the start of their carrier, unlike third-generation lawyers.
It is so because the first-generation lawyer that those people are talking about is the one who does not have a personal brand value. In contrast, the third-generation lawyer has an already established brand to his name, worked upon by his fathers and forefathers, so they do not have to work towards building a name for himself in the professional legal space.
Therefore for younger lawyers to succeed, it is essential to build a brand or a name in the market so that people trust its services.
A person would not want to invest his time and hard-earned money in something which does not guarantee excellence in its work, but people are ready to invest even by taking debts when assured success.
Hence once one is sure about one’s hard work in the field of study, the next thing one should be working on is building a market value since it will earn one work.
What Will Happen if a Lawyer Does Not Have a Strong Personal Brand?
If a lawyer does not have a personal brand, it is difficult for the public to trust his services. Take it on yourself and think about a time when one approached a random professional for services. We don’t. Right?
We usually choose businesses or individuals with a good reputation in the market or a history of serving the public. Hence not having a personal brand can cost a lawyer his work.
Why does a Lawyer Needs a Personal Brand?
The main what is the necessity of personal branding for lawyers. A business or a person identifies with the brand. Logos, Thumbnails, a catchy and unique business slogan, etc., are some fundamental tools that help form a brand identity. Lawyers or legal professionals need to have a strong personal brand so that people resonate with the brand and approach them for cases without them advertising every time they are looking for a new client. Having a personal brand lets a young lawyer get recurring work.
4 Reasons for Personal Branding
Every individual, especially a lawyer, has many reasons for developing a personal brand. Here are four of the main reasons to develop a personal brand:
1- It creates trust
Personal branding lets people associate with a brand or logo and trust the services provided under that name. In the case of an individual attorney, it can be the attorney’s name. It helps one attach value to the name under which one practices.
When people value the service, they will return to the same person in case of any suit. They might also recommend one to their colleagues or people who might approach them with a problem that lies within one’s area of practice.
2- It sets you apart
Today’s job market is really competitive. A large number of lawyers are working in different fields, and their number is increasing every day. If you want to avoid operating in the red ocean and stand out from other lawyers, you need to focus on your personal brand as a lawyer and strengthen it in different ways.
3- It increases your authority
Being seen and noticed is good, but not enough. If you want people to choose you to receive a service many others offer, you must have authority.
When a lawyer has a strong personal brand, his authority in his position increases, and he is distinguished from other lawyers. The more authority you have as a lawyer in your field of work, the more you will earn and the more you can increase the price of your services and sell more expensively without fear.
4- Stronger personal brand, stronger relationships
The importance of networking and communicating with different people is not hidden from anyone. A lawyer is successful when he can build strong relationships with different people and in different fields.
If you have a good and authentic personal brand, you will attract like-minded people, and in this way, you can communicate with like-minded people. As a result, your referrals and recommendations will increase day by day, providing a significant advantage for your business. As a lawyer with a strong personal brand, you will not only receive opportunities; You can also become a channel of opportunity for others.
Where does the Process of Personal Branding for a Lawyer Start?
Personal Branding Consideration for Lawyers
Personal branding for a lawyer starts with identifying the niche of their practice. A well-defined niche helps one draw out a target audience. Having a well-defined niche for one’s brand is way better than reaching out to every person in the hopes of them wanting one’s services. It will result in nothing but wasting oner time and resources.
4 Critical Phases of an Attorney’s Personal Branding
Now that you understand the importance of personal branding as a lawyer, you should start building and strengthening your personal brand step by step. In the following, we have described the four main steps for building a powerful personal brand for you:
Phase 1 – Everything starts with self-knowledge
As the name suggests, a personal brand will be built on who you are, so the first step is to know yourself well and know what you are basing your brand on.
As much as a lawyer knows himself better, he can build a better personal brand, but how is this possible?
By examining your strengths and weaknesses, as well as personal habits, and taking into account your interests and desires, you can have a general assessment of yourself.
To build a personal brand, you must ask the opinions of others. For example, you can ask your legal clients their opinions about lawyers and especially about you.
Phase 2 – Who is your target audience?
To build a personal legal brand, keep your target audience in mind because you will become a lawyer with a personal brand known to them.
Who you are trying to communicate with or influence is important because that’s when you realize what things are important for them, including knowledge, skills, behavior, and performance.
Phase 3- Be a good storyteller
The way people view your skills and knowledge, as well as the quality of your work and values, depends on the story you tell about yourself.
So tell your story the way you want your potential customers to hear it. If you are looking for personal branding as a lawyer, you need to have an effective presence in the digital space. Use websites and social networks to spread your story and promote your personal brand.
Phase 4- Continuous evaluation and improvement, the key to success in personal branding
As a lawyer, evaluating your work regularly and improving it according to the results obtained and customer feedback is also a crucial part of developing your brand.
You must constantly evaluate how others perceive your personal brand and how what you present matches up with what you really have in mind.
A lawyer is successful in the field of personal branding when he continuously increases his specialized knowledge in the field of advocacy as well as other areas such as marketing and is always looking for learning.
The Benefits of Personal Branding for Lawyers
As a lawyer, having a strong personal brand allows one to grab more opportunities since a brand enables people to trust the services offered. It will help one gain widespread recognition, and people will eventually start approaching one for their cases because of the trust they vest in one’s brand.
Why has Personal Branding not been Successful?
Personal branding without a vision might backfire.
One of the significant reasons personal branding has not been very successful is because entrepreneurs or business individuals fail to identify the right people to whom they want to sell their services or products.
An advertising campaign that targets an audience not interested in those products or services will not generate sales, failing branding. It would cost money to market one’s services, but one would not be able to profit from it.
8 Personal Branding Tips for Lawyers
There are many tips to strengthen your brand as a lawyer, and you must have come across them many times. But if we want to discuss some of essential points for the faster growth of your brand, we can refer to the following:
1- Social media presence
The first essential tip is to have a social media presence. The more active one is on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, etc., the better.
2- Know the algorithm
One must learn the algorithm of these social media giants. The moment one cracks their way of processing the content and starts posting great and valuable content, nothing can stop one from getting the desired reach and audience.
3- Use video marketing
The next tip to boost your personal brand as a lawyer is to make engaging videos explaining the services one or one’s firm offers. Information in video format makes it easy for people to understand things.
4- Write on blogs
There is a direct relationship between digital marketing and personal branding for lawyers. Writing articles on different blogs will have an amazing effect on your personal brand, as people will consider you an expert by referring to it and reading your article, and your name will be registered in their minds.
5- Be smart
Reach out to people who you think are somewhat looking for your services or might look for those soon. For example, reaching out to kids below 15 might not help one as a lawyer, but it might be a treasure for a Gaming company.
6- Find your niche
As a lawyer and with the presence of many powerful competitors, you may not be able to work well in all areas, but if you choose a niche and build your personal brand in that area, you can definitely get results faster.
7- Give a special offer
Another branding tip to start oner carrier is to release some voucher offers, free or discounted coupons to avail of oner services. It might attract people to try out one’s business.
8- Do not abandon the customer
Make sure to keep in touch with oner clients even after the case is over. It will help one build connections, and they might refer a client to one. that’s the secret to building a lasting personal brand
5 Critical Personal Branding Tools for Lawyers
There are some essential tools for lawyers providing professional service to boost the value of their personal brand.
To begin with, Instagram is a tool that one should consider out of the social media platforms since it has recorded the most people engaging in a new feature it launched called Reels.
The next tool is Google analytics. Google offers some amazing personal branding tools free of cost.
These allow one to access whether one’s strategy is working or not. For designing attractive posters, one may use Canva, or a professional alternative is Adobe Photoshop.
For editing video messages mentioned earlier in the article, one may use Openshot Editor, free to Windows users, or one may opt for FinalCut Pro if one is an IOS user.
These 5 to 7 tools can greatly aid in building a personal brand.
Conclusion About Personal Branding for Lawyers
In this article, we discussed the importance of personal branding for lawyers, and in addition to introducing and expressing its importance, we talked about how to build a successful personal brand and how to take a personal brand to the next level.
Trust is a vital element that we want to emphasize at the end of this article. The more people trust one’s brand, the more business it will get at the end of the day. Hence, providing excellent service is non-negotiable when building a personal brand.
Identifying a niche for your brand as a lawyer should be one’s primary focus. This helps one to have a larger potential audience than the random people to whom one is promoting one’s product. Do it with passion, and results will follow. We hope this article clarified the topic.
