How to Leverage Your Brand to Increase Prospects + Referrals
In today’s digital age, vying for mass appeal is no longer an option. With more consumer choice than ever before, and marketing materials no longer restricted to the limited, physical world of print, branding and digital marketing have become integral. A strong, well-defined brand—one that speaks directly to the ideal clients you specifically want to target—is the key to growing your firm.
Here are some tips on how you can leverage your brand to increase high-quality prospects and accurate inbound referrals.
1. Clarity is Key
Branding is a lot about educating your audience on what you do, who you serve, and how you are different. Every great brand starts with strong, clear messaging that encourages its ideal client to engage with them. Otherwise, prospects are left confused or unsure about what they will receive if they choose to work with you (which often leads them to choose one of your competitors).
Here are some questions to ask yourself when it comes to creating brand clarity:
Do your prospects and referrals truly understand what you do? Or do you assume? Even if you provide the most intuitive of services, you need to explain how you are different. For example, your client experience (CX) might trump your competitors by a long shot. But you need to share that in your messaging.
Who is your ideal client? Or, in other words, which client would you duplicate 100 x over because it is so enjoyable to work with them? It is important to think strategically here as well. For example, breaking it down to who is the touchpoint person at that company that you're working with, or what are their personality traits? Ideally, this ideal client should understand and support your process and trust your advice. Once you nail down your ideal client persona, this is the person that you should be gearing your messaging towards.
When was the last time you wrote down or even thought about your brand messaging? If you have never done it before, now is a better time than ever! Even simply attempting to put your thoughts into words can provide more clarity around your brand and its messaging.
Does your website feature old messaging that no longer resonates? A good tip here is to consider how you have been talking about your firm while networking offline. If your current pitch does not match your message online, it is time to sit down and rework your messaging.
Again, the goal here is to provide clear messaging to differentiate you from your competitors and attract your ideal clients. This is the foundation of your firm and its marketing strategy.
2. Strong Branding Leads to Greater Loyalty
Brand loyalty is when clients repeatedly choose your firm, no matter the opportunities to otherwise choose someone else to work with. For example, a client or referral comes to an attorney for all of their legal questions, despite only having a focus on one practice area. Brand loyalty is the goal and allows for long client lifespans, benefiting both your firm and your client.
Brand loyalty is achieved over time with the right branding efforts. To start, you need to build brand awareness. Brand awareness is when people can recognize your brand and differentiate you from your competitors. To achieve brand awareness, you need to create a visual identity (logo, website, and so on) that is compelling, as well as brand messaging that both differentiates you from your competition and attracts your ideal client. Around this time, clients will begin to recognize your consistent presence both online, through social media and email marketing, and offline while networking.
3. Clients Prefer Working With You + Refer You to Others
Once you have achieved brand awareness, you can start to build brand preference. Brand preference is when clients choose your firm over other firms. In simplest of terms, this is when you land a client or receive a referral. To achieve brand preference, you must deliver on what you promise and up your digital marketing strategy. Once your digital marketing hits its stride and combines with your excellent services, you will surely build brand preference.
Finally, once you have a steady flow of clients and referrals, you have reached the time when you can build brand loyalty. The key to brand loyalty lies in your relationships and building trust. For example, are you kind, responsive, and dependable? Do you check in regularly and ensure the client never feels like they’re left in the dark? Are you regularly improving your services and the value you provide? How is your overall client experience (CX)—seamless, or does it need some work? Questions like these can help guide you to building true brand loyalty. You will know you have achieved brand loyalty once your clients and referrals constantly come back to you and refer only to you.
How We Can Help
Does your brand and its messaging need a refresh? Is your digital content not connecting with the clients you want to reach? If you are reading this and are unsure what to do from here, we can help.
Branding is our bread and butter. Our team can 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!
