3 Steps to Make Your Law Firm Stand Out Against Competition in 2024
Over the last few years, the gap between the legal and marketing industries has continued to close, meaning that now more than ever, law firms must place high value on developing their brands and other marketing channels to stand out from their competitors. The legal industry continues to grow, and with a projected $348.32 billion annual revenue in 2024 leading to even more competition, ask yourself: is your law firm’s brand positioned to stand out in 2024?
At Correnti Marketing, we specialize in building and clarifying brands and can help your firm reach its branding goals to set you apart from your competition! Here are 3 tips for building a brand that stands out in the legal world in 2024.
Step 1: Leverage Your Brand Messaging to Attract Your Ideal Clients
First impressions matter, and there is arguably nothing more important to a legal firm’s brand than conveying trust and credibility off the bat to a potential client. When someone engages your firm for legal services, it displays that they have great amounts of trust in you + your team. However, if your brand fails to convey these messages of trustworthiness, it could be holding your firm back from potential growth.
If you want a clear lens for making informed, strategic decisions for your company's growth in 2024, you need to understand your ideal client. Start by asking yourself or your team: which client would you like to duplicate 1000 x over? Then ask yourself questions like:
How old is that ideal client?
What is their gender?
Where do they live?
What are their goals and values?
What are their pain points - what’s keeping them up at night?
Ensure that your brand messaging is speaking to that ideal client. Your brand messaging should answer how you are different and why should a client choose to work with you. Answer why you + your firm are trustworthy enough for them to work with you. When developing your brand messaging, be sure to include:
Positioning Statement - how you’re different
Mission Statement - why you’re in business
Vision Statement - where you’re going
Company Values - what’s driving your team + how they provide your services
Brand Voice Guidelines - how to write + speak for your firm
Once you have established your brand messaging, make sure that your website, marketing materials, social media posts, and email newsletters are reflective of that new, strong brand messaging that speaks directly and consistently to your ideal client and conveys why they should trust you enough to work with you.
Step 2: Design Your Visual Identity to Build Brand Association
In today’s world, your firm’s visual identity is a reflection of your professionalism, modernity, quality of services, and overall credibility. For years, many firms simply used their partner’s last names listed together as their logo and didn’t give much thought to designing something impactful. Can you visualize the logos for McDonald’s, Starbucks, or Apple? Of course you can - and that’s called brand association - which is what the right visual identity could do for your brand. Ask yourself these questions:
How do you want someone to feel when they see your brand?
When was the last time your logo was designed? Does it need a refresh?
Was it created in haste when you started your business?
Does it no longer reflect your brand or its services? Does it resonate with your ideal client?
Design the elements of your visual identity, such as your logo, color palette, and typography around setting yourself apart from your competitors and making your firm attractive to your ideal clients.
It’s also essential not to neglect your firm’s website. An outdated site is one of the quickest ways to miss an opportunity with your ideal client. Your digital presence should answer who you (or your firm) are, what you do, who you serve, and why they should contact you. It should be clean and easy to navigate, responsive to all devices, and offer clear calls to action and easy-to-find contact information.
Step 3: Establish an Online Presence that Creates Consistency + Clarity
Consistently showing up in front of your target audience and ideal clients is going to build your brand association, which hopefully leads to converting clients. A few ways to consistently showcase your brand are:
Writing and sharing blogs to your website on at least a monthly basis that are 1,000+ words to improve SEO. Blog writing doesn’t have to be hard! Blogs can be written to simply answer client FAQs, discuss new laws, or announce firm news or updates.
Sending a monthly newsletter to keep your firm at the forefront of your client’s minds. You can share your blogs, firm news, and event invitations here and you can position your firm and attorneys as thought leaders in your industry.
Identifying which social media platforms your ideal clients are using + start sharing posts regularly that add value.
Creating a consistent brand presence doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Your channels can further feed into each other by asking people to sign up for your newsletter via your firm’s social media pages or sharing a blog in your newsletter. To further create consistency online, your firm could invest in brand photography to share on your website, on blogs, and in social media posts.
The goal of establishing an online presence that creates consistency + clarity is to regularly appear in front of your clients, prospects, and referrals so that they build a brand association with your firm. You get to control the narrative and cultivate a strong, consistent presence online that listens to your clients and taps into addressing their pain points.
We understand that developing a strong and innovative brand that stands out in the legal world is an investment of your firm’s time and resources, which is where we can help! We offer Branding, Website + SEO, Content Marketing, and Photography services for firms of all sizes, giving you yet another tool for standing out from your competition. When you work with our team at Correnti Marketing, we’ll help you define your ideal client profile, craft messaging to attract them, and establish a consistent, clear presence for your firm online to increase your inbound prospects + referrals. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you stand out from your competition in 2024.
