Legal Marketing & PR

Both Business and Personal Brands are Important for Lawyers

By Tom Kane

Back in February I wrote the post Your Personal Brand is Important For Your Success. In it, I said:

'Your personal brand impacts whether clients hire you or not. I believe that how you act in public, treat your staff, dress, contribute to the community, talk to strangers, act with your clients, etc. etc., is all part of selling yourself to clients, referral sources, and potential clients.'

But, is that enough from a business development perspective? Not if you are the owner of a business that you want to survive you. Your personal brand is very important, but so too is your business' brand.

What got me thinking about both brands was a post by John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing, that puts the greater weight on the business brand vs. the personal brand. Of course, he is not talking about personal services, such as legal and accounting services. And he has a point about building a business brand when growing a consumer based business, particularly if it is a business the founders want to outlive them or if the owner wants to sell the business. Then, the personal brand is not as important.

However, in the case of legal services both the personal and business brand are very significant. Since most clients hire lawyers not law firms, the personal brand is incredibly important. But, so too is the firm' s brand, especially if the firm plans to continue when the senior attorneys retire.

So, when it comes to developing legal business, don't forget that both brands play an important role.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Blog on April 16, 2009 (boomark / email).