This article has been written by Stuti Agarwal. It essentially deals with elements like the significance of personal branding in the career graphs of lawyers and law firms. It also contains the key pointers that one must keep in mind during the journey of building a brand and to effectively use it to bear fruitful results.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you believe that a certain item purchased from a well-established brand will be of potentially good quality when compared to its counterpart purchased from a not so established or a well-known brand? Do you happen to trust a ‘so-called’ brand for its name and go for the product?
It is usual human psychology which makes us humans believe or trust something which is done or relied on by others. What is a brand? Every established brand was once a crawling business which commenced with a hope to go big. Its good work, catering to the needs of the customers diligently, right attitude and determination led them to become established players in the market.
Standing out and establishing a strong professional identity is no longer an option but a necessity. For lawyers, personal branding is not about tagines, but it is a well-curated plan to build reputation, status and stand out amongst the competitors. It’s about shaping the public perception of the professional. One should make an impression in the minds of the public that he/she is an expert in a particular legal domain and that he is capable of helping clients in the most efficient manner.
What is a brand in general
A brand is nothing but a large group of people blindly trusting the product if its name is printed or embossed on it. More importantly, it is about controlling how people talk about you when you are not in the room. But what is a brand in the service sector? There, you cannot emboss or imprint your name on the product – the service? This is where the name gets imprinted in the minds and hearts of customers and clients. This is why branding is of much larger amplitude when it gets associated with the service sector.
A brand is the perception which is generated in the market with the actions of the service or product provider. The brand is the reason one is hired or rejected. It is the mark which is left behind in the minds of a satisfied and fulfilled client or the service or product recipient. It is not only the recipient on which a mark is left, but people associated with the recipient also. It is the concept with which the clients, both existing and potential, associate with. Perception is “what makes or breaks a business.” It is, therefore, surprising how little, or no attention firms or individuals pay to their brand, to their most important intangible asset.
A brand is also associated with a unique selling point of a manufacturer, service provider or any business whatsoever. This uniqueness is brand, the thing for which a business is remembered or repeated one’s association with.
Branding is different from marketing. Marketing is done by the business owner while branding is done by the receiver’s perception and actions. The objective of both is also very different. Branding aims at spreading a positive narrative about the business or profession while marketing is all about making people aware of one’s product or services in order to increase revenue. While branding also aids in revenue in the later stage, but the primary objective of branding is only to highlight one’s achievements.
What is your personal brand
I know, maybe you just work somewhere. Maybe you are still a student. Maybe you are an HR manager, government officer, consultant or a lawyer. You may say that if a person is an entrepreneur and CEO, he has a personal brand and you don’t have one.
But believe me, you have a personal brand, like it or not, you acknowledge it or not, you are aware of it or not! This personal brand may be influenced by where you work, how you dress, how you react to people and situations, any peculiar mannerisms, your level of effectiveness, your subject acumen, whether you get angry or upset easily, how much you have helped people or not and anything and everything associated with your professional behaviour and performance.
But there is a conversation out there about you amongst the people who personally know you, or maybe even those who have only heard of you.
And what are people saying about you when you are not around? What do people say about you when they gossip about you? Do they talk about your work behind your back? Is your achievement discussed amongst your peers? Do your deals and pursuits affect your clientele regularly? When do they think they should reach out to you for help? The sum of all these conversations is your personal brand. It is a part or is within the making of your personal branding.
The professionals, like lawyers, bag new clients and expand their business on the primary basis of this PERSONAL BRAND built during their professional journey.
Why bother with personal brand in the first place
Your personal brand can be either one of your best assets, or your biggest liability, depending on how you shape it and whether you pay adequate attention to it.
Let’s take the example of Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway. Recently, an in-depth Fortune magazine article concluded that Berkshire Hathaway, an organisation with access to a massive amount of capital and control of a massive business empire, so much so that it earns over 100 million USD every day, has its biggest asset in the personal brand of Warren Buffett.
So much so that while Berkshire failed to post a good return in the last one decade, performing poorly compared to the S & P 500, investors did not pull out money from Berkshire. This has been because Warren Buffet is the Oracle of Omaha. The people believe that he will do the best in the long term, and that is faith, the outcome of a strong personal brand.
If there was any other company with so much concentration of power and capital, regulators would have been up in the arms. Politicians in the USA would have declared war, just like a Democrat presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is now demanding that big tech companies should be broken up. No such thing happened or surfaced for Berkshire, because Buffet is considered to be the robin hood amidst the spur of capitalism. According to people’s perception, he does or performs no wrong! Suggesting any action against him is likely to cause a drop in any candidate’s political fortune.
When Goldman Sachs was facing collapse and cash crunch after the massive economic downturn and banking crisis in 2008, they could have taken the money from any number of Private Equity (PE) investors. They have been doing that now as well. But at the height of the crisis, they went to Buffett, and paid more than 2 times higher interest rate to access capital to keep the investment banking giant afloat. The fact that Buffett had put in money was a signal that Goldman has a fundamentally good business. They had the blessings of Buffet, and must therefore be bankable and trustworthy. This shows the power of a solid personal brand and the ways in which it can be used in the business world.
Buffet did not invest in any tech stocks for ages. He did not invest in companies like Google, Facebook or Uber. He invested in Apple later, and made modest losses on that stock too. But that did not make his followers, shareholders or fans question his wisdom. It was seen as an upholding of true, long lasting values of investment, just the Buffet style.
That’s the true power and the driving force of a headstrong personal brand.
What will happen when Buffet, who is almost 90, is no more? Will regulators continue to trust the company? Will investors continue to pour in money in the company? Will Berkshire have to be more aggressive about deal making after such an event? It will be interesting to watch.
Not only this but there are many more examples of personal brands. Steve Jobs had built such a brand too. But even closer to home, isn’t Ram Jethmalani or Mukul Rohatgi all about powerful brands? In fact, the entire senior advocate concept is a sort of branding exercise. The fact that a litigant feels confident with a lawyer who is supposed to have built a brand, like the two mentioned above, showcases the power of personal branding in the legal industry as well.
When lawyers get into politics and get a lot of press as a corollary, it has been seen that their fees go up. It is not that they have suddenly become better lawyers, or that they argue or research differently after political success. However, the brand reaches a very different dimension. The higher fees charged is commensurate to the brand that is created and the perception which the public holds regarding the same.
Some lawyers, interestingly, have contributed to building a powerful brand by rejecting the senior’s gown too! Indira Jaising is the prime example of this. People respect her more today for saying that the senior counsel system is unfair and she got a lot of media attention on this, when she announced her rejection.
Understanding the branding phenomenon is key to success as a lawyer. This is especially true in the case of the legal profession because this is a place where most people, even lawyers, can rarely judge the quality of a lawyer or even an argument very objectively. So people go by brands! More powerful a brand, the more people and even judges tend to accept what those lawyers are saying, and are even ready to give them more time to argue, and priority in hearing.
There is no difference when it comes to law firms. A lot of times large companies hire only big law firms as their fire extinguisher, that is to save them from a very adverse situation that affects them critically from a legal point of view. Let me give you an example.
When Ramalinga Raju was about to be exposed for a potential scam in a company called Maytas, which he had setup for construction and infrastructure business, his public defence was that Luthra and Luthra had done a due diligence into Maytas and found no wrongdoing. Basically, he was using the brand of a big law firm to say that Maytas was clean. It is a different thing that Luthra & Luthra turned back and denied that they had done such a due diligence. Raju eventually got exposed for a bigger scam and went to jail. But how he used the name of Luthra & Luthra to buttress his claim that Maytas was clean shows exactly how brands of a law firm can be so powerful.
Let’s say I am the MD of a large corporation. There is a massive loss coming up due to a contractual breach. Now let’s say the contract was drafted by a very small law firm in Mumbai, which did a fantastic job. But once the contract is breached, the MD or the legal team are bound to face questions from the board or shareholders as to why such a big contract was not given to a big law firm, for it to be drafted. Why was it given to a small firm? What were you thinking? What was the strategy behind this decision? Here, everything at once, comes down to “branding”. The big firms have become the brand that they are because of minimal errors committed by them over the years of practising law.
Let’s say the board wants us to sue XYZ corporation. And the legal department is of the opinion that we will lose the case. Instead of saying it ourselves, we may go to a big tier 1 law firm like CAM or AZB to get the same thing in the form of an opinion. Then the board will either find it hard to go and sue, or they will produce another memo from an international law firm, a bigger brand, to say that it is a good idea to sue!
So that’s how brands work. We shall now come back to the premise of this article and firstly talk about the meaning of personal branding for lawyers and then talk about the significance that personal branding holds for lawyers.
Meaning of personal branding for lawyers
Personal branding for lawyers means their power of attracting new clients, retaining existing clients and converting prospective clients into a loyal client. When in distress, companies, businesses or individuals look for lawyers who have a successful track record and a promising winning percentage. This is what the brand of a lawyer is. The trust posed by a client to a lawyer is the contribution towards the brand and the extra price paid for it is the reward of the brand.
Therefore, lawyers as a brand are not a result of fancy promotional stints or hiring famous personalities for endorsement, but it is where work speaks for itself and for the building and promotion of the brand. Apart from work done, communication of the good work, achievements and maintaining public relations to capture the limelight are required to be in line to embark on the journey of brand making.
Importance of personal branding for lawyers and law firms
Services which a lawyer provides are personalised in nature. A good lawyer cannot make another lawyer provide the same quality of service on his behalf. This is what the concept of a brand is all about. It is the trust that clients pose on their lawyer and in return the lawyer provides them with the desired outcome.
Why are you ready to spend extra bucks for famous lawyers like Mukul Rohtagi, Kapil Sibbal, Harish Salve etc.? The simple answer is because they have turned themselves into a brand. If clients are ready to pay a premium for your services, your brand is in the making. For lawyers, there is no logo, no tagline or no advertisement running on the television. Their publicity is within their skills which speaks for itself. The result of the case they are arguing is their advertisement.
Once you have established yourself, there is no limit thereafter, provided you maintain your brand and the quality of work. Establishing a brand is easier than maintaining the same. An established brand attracts huge volumes of clients, which further strengthens the credibility and trustworthiness of the lawyer. Therefore, it is not just important, but is a necessity to build a brand if you want to sustain yourself in the legal business, for people tend to hire brands, not just any lawyer per se!
How can you build your personal brand
This is the next important question if you have understood that building a powerful personal brand is very important for your success as a lawyer, whether within an organisation where you work, or the peer group of lawyers in a certain court, a certain industry from which you draw many clients, or generally in and around your environment.
Lawyers who invest in their personal brand tend to be far more successful than those who are competent but fail to invest in their brand. There may be many skilful lawyers we don’t even know because they do not invest in making themselves a brand. They tend to be satisfied with their set of loyal clients.
Remember that brand is not equivalent to marketing or selling yourself. Marketing is you going out and doing things that get you clients. But building a brand causes a client to look for you even though you have never had any contact with them and it is built primarily by persistence of good work, highlighting the achievements, impressing the client which helps in verbal canvassing or to be in the limelight for voicing the opinions etc.
What are the things you do to build your brand? Have you ever thought that you have a personal brand and that you need to enhance it? How can you discover what is the state of your personal brand, inside your organisation, in the various communities which you are part of, and amongst your potential clients? What are the things you could do in the next few months to enhance your personal brand?
Setting up newsletter and other reading material
Publish a series of practical guide books with a leading international law publisher to widen the horizons of the consumers of your opinions and views. Writing ebooks that make a great impact on law students so that they can experience the quality of our insights and work. Your material must provide outstanding value to the targeted audience. This way your opinions, insights and thoughts reach the masses which provides recognition as a professional individual.
Run a blog or create a platform for writers
You can create a blog or any platform which invites authors to present their views and opinions on burning legal issues. You can choose to spread legal awareness, voice your opinions and reach the stakeholders in the market by making a lot of amazing videos which will be free of cost for people to watch and learn. You can also simplify complex legal issues, judgements and other materials for laymen.
Internships and online courses
Giving internships to students and mentoring them through online courses can also be one of the mediums which can be sought for establishing a good reputation in the industry. The legal industry is supposed to be a complex world, especially for first-generation lawyers. If you help budding lawyers in their pursuits of being a professional and guide them through this web, you shall be considered as someone who is working for the well-being of the profession. Law as a field is considered to be a cruel industry where young professionals find it difficult to find suitable opportunities for themselves. Therefore, acts of helping them, making them learn through internships and guiding them through their doubts can be seen as a noble move and enhance your brand value.
Make public presence
Visiting colleges and giving guest lectures on topics that are endeared by the masses will also help in an approach to connecting with budding professionals. The narrative of being a mentor to young minds travels miles in building a reputation. The feeling of belonging to the masses and the perception in the minds of the public that they see you as one of their own gives fruitful rewards.
Be active on social media
Share insights of the profession and interact with the people through that. This builds a connection with more and more people and helps them remember your name in the capacity of being a prospective client. You should hire and train a person in-house to do some social media campaigns which attract the attention of people across the target area. It gives a certain applause along with building a positive reputation in the industry. Voicing and campaigning for a cause is seen as being a responsible legal professional and helps create a narrative towards brand building exercise.
Don’t compromise on quality
Never push something you are not yourself convinced about. For example at LawSikho, a mooting course was discontinued as the heads found it of a sub-par quality, despite a lot of demand, and people were ready to pay for it. If you push something of a quality below the quality you are known for, it will affect the brand. Therefore, never compromise on quality!
Be wary of your associations
Never associate with companies, brands or organisations you do not trust or respect. Many times we have been offered a lot of money to associate with untrustworthy brands, or by unscrupulous universities. This way the brand is protected from a negative narrative which has the potential of affecting the clientele.
These were some of the pointers that you should do, so as to be on board in the path of creating a personal brand! Start by scribbling your desires of the level you see your brand to be in. This shall become the driving force for your actions to take yourself to that level. It will not only give you direction but will also help you correct a lot of ways which you didn’t care about before. Streamlining processes, creating a value system, ensuring ethical business practices to take place etc. are some of the initial building blocks of working towards building your own brand. So why delay? Get, Set, Go!
Need for personal branding for Indian lawyers
Personal branding or law firm branding encompasses the values, expertise, and experiences your firm stands for and communicates these elements effectively to your target audience. Without proper brand management you either miss opportunities or you miss long-term success. A personal brand is a tool which helps to make the clients stick around. For example, one might be associated with a certain law firm and then decide to make a switch. A strong personal brand of the individual will determine if clients handled by the professional will give their business to the new firm, merely on the name and loyalty towards the skills and quality of work of the professional. This is what we call the power of personal branding and the role it plays in business development.
We often listen to the fact that certain legal professionals associated with law firms tend to leave the firm and start their own practice or their own firm. How do you think they are able to do this? Do they search for the clientele from scratch? Do they have to establish their work again? The answer is – ‘it entirely depends on the personal brand of the very legal professional’.
Even personal brands of a group of lawyers presented under a name, being a law firm, also work as the brand of that law firm. In such a set-up, brands of both the lawyer and the firm go hand in hand. Lawyers should work on their personal brand by enhancing their self-awareness to search and find the best version of themselves to reinforce their good name, and in doing so, they will build on the reputation of their firm, increasing its capacity to attract new clients.
We can take an example of an incident which surfaced on LinkedIn a few months back. LinkedIn got influxed with the news of a female lawyer hitting her junior who belonged to a top-tier law firm. Post the event of news getting viral, the form had to come up with a clarification regarding the incident, claiming it to be a strategy to tarnish the lawyer’s reputation. Here, with such negative news spread against a lawyer associated with a firm, the firm had to come in defence because the brand was at stake. Such incidents speak of the work culture, ethics and environment that is created within the firm. It affects the new talent joining or choosing the firm and can adversely impact the talent retention percentage of the firm. This is where the power of negative publicity comes into the picture which drives the big firm as it was to publicly issue a statement and take action. This was purely done to protect the brand which is created over years of good work which they cannot afford to let get affected even a bit.
Is there a need to build a personal brand even if one is working with a law firm? Yes, is the answer. But the question arises as to why is personal branding required as the brand of the law firm works for bringing clients. This is because it is not the firm which does the work but the individuals. Lawyering is a personalised service and not something which can be delegated or can be outsourced. Therefore, the individual handling cases in a law firm is primarily in need of branding. This is where personal branding tools come into the picture. What happened when big law firms went through a split in India? It is the name of the individual lawyers which help them secure clients and to make them build something on their own.
The bottom line is that the need for personal branding and branding of a law firm is not just a need now, it has become a necessity. It is said that, change with time because if you don’t, time will leave you behind. Therefore, changing according to the environment in which business is operated is very essential, being with the trend is what the calling of the time is. Firms in the legal field along with legal professional individuals should, therefore, have a clear strategy in dealing with brand-building tools and effectively employ them to brand themselves up.
Ways to build a personal brand
Show more to the world
Today’s world is not for playing subtly. To come into the limelight and get recognised by the desired audience, one needs to showcase their achievements to the world at large. Well, thanks to social media. You have not made it unless your social media says about it! LinkedIn is a platform which is filled with legal professionals sharing their successful deals, showing off a big client or celebrating an award-winning event for themselves. This is how advertising, business development and public relations are taken care of.
Today’s world is about showing off the achievements one has achieved during the career game. LinkedIn is one such example of a platform which professionals use to flaunt their achievements and success stories and create recognition for themselves. It has all been about numbers nowadays. Therefore, the legal professional who wants himself/herself in the branding game needs to communicate his / her achievements with a large audience. Gone are the days of being subtle about success. Now the mantra is, ‘Show what you got, or the world will tag you as cannot’.
Utilise the power of social media
The power of social media is immense in times like these. It makes or breaks the brand of a professional or a firm. It needs to be ensured that social media presence is utilised to its full potential as it needs to be handled with care. There have been instances where negative publicity runs through the social media platforms against a professional or a firm, correcting which becomes a huge and cumbersome task for the management.
With rampant growth and ready access to social media, even a small mistake can be showcased to a world at large and make the masses aware of the same which not only impacts the clientele, but affects the brand and business of the professional or the firm. Therefore, it is very important to take care of the conduct, culture and everyday practice of one’s office to avoid any negative narrative to run on the media platforms.
For social media, consistency is the key. If it is your practice to roll out a newsletter on a particular issue, make it a periodic affair. More importantly, stay persistent with the practice. Don’t break the cycle because staying persistent helps in creating an impact because your audience awaits for the newsletter and this way helps in building your brand.
People use LinkedIn to showcase their professional successes, achievements and growth which helps them reach their target audience. This platform can be utilised for accurate campaigning, connecting with the target clients and creating a narrative for the brand. Therefore, judicious and careful use of such media platforms shall be undertaken to bear maximum utility for brand making.
Take and publish testimonies from clients
One of the best ways to showcase the work done and deal closure announcements is to receive testimony of the quality of work from the clients themselves. Law firms even showcase testimonies on their web pages. This helps in creating a positive notion about the firm’s calibre in the eyes of potential clients. Deal announcements, successful disposal and conclusion of deals etc. are some of the ways in which association with the client in the news helps create a perception of achievement. This spreads the capabilities which a firm holds and thus, sees an increase in its client base.
Testimonials of satisfied clients help in showing off the trust they possess in you which brings out a positive narrative for the prospective clients. Building trust is not a verbal activity but something which will be convincing only when it comes from someone who acted upon it. Therefore, testimonials come to the rescue and add on to help create a brand of the legal professional or the law firm.
Apart from trust, credibility also plays an important and robust role in contributing to the branding. Apart from good work, clients tend to consider a lawyer credible by comprehensively analysing the client’s dealing, work ethos, culture, timeliness and such other factors which make the client’s experience seamless and hassle-free. If the client repeats you as his / her lawyer, the brand is in the making!
Focus on word-of-mouth
Even after the presence of social media platforms, the best way to build a solid brand and spread the stories of success and good work still remains to be through word of mouth. When a happy and satisfied client tells his / her contacts about the quality of work received from a professional, he/she is capable of recommending it to his / her contacts. This is a very strong and speedy way to turn the receivers into prospective clients. Thus, the mantra would be “happy clients is equal to the strongest business development exercise”.
Create a niche
Lawyers generally tend to take up a certain kind of matters to build themselves as stalwarts in the domain. When a niche is created, a lawyer tends to bag matters related to the particular field at an increased rate. People tend to believe in the specialisation in the very field and this perception of having specialised skills of a particular field tends to draw the attention of more and more clients in the domain. Creating a niche also helps in honing one’s capabilities, clarity and contacts in the field to make the operation and practise better and in turn helping clients in a more effective manner.
Increase public presence
The primary idea of building a brand is to ‘let people know of your existence’. There are various ways to increase public presence. Enrolment in award shows, going to seminars, organising events, holding sessions on contemporary topics, publishing opinions in the newspaper, working on the website to show blogs etc.
The public should often see you out there taking stands, rolling out personal opinions and making the general public aware of certain legal issues. This way people remember the name. Undertake community service drives, take pro-bono cases, help in spreading legal awareness etc. This way also people build a positive image in their minds which helps in strengthening one’s brand.
Engage in current affairs in the field of law
Each and every day, courts in India adjudicate a plethora of matters involving complex legal issues. Have a say! On the decisions of the courts, lawyers must express their own views and interpretations. This must be done as quickly as possible after the court’s judgement. Time is of the essence as people look out for videos, blogs, articles etc. to understand a particular case and tend to seek the perception of the lawyers on the same. This is where the lawyer must make an impact and let their opinions be consumed to make their name emboss in one’s mind.
When people talk about you, willingly look forward to your opinion and tend to base their own perspective on your analysis, then we can say that a brand is in the making!
Find your USP
What differentiates you from your competitors? This differentiating factor is what is called ‘unique selling point’ or USP. Starbucks has the USP of writing names on the cups it serves coffee in, McD gives a toy with their happy meals, a certain type of spice mix used in Lays’ flavours is its USP etc. Similarly, in the service sector also there should be a USP which helps to recognize service providers from other competitors.
Lawyers should also find their USP to enhance their branding. What makes clients choose you over others? Timeliness in providing deliverables, meetings in lawyers’ offices, treatment of clients, patient rounds of working on drafts, success records in the courts etc. can act as some of the attributes which can help a law firm or a legal professional stand out from their peers.
Building strong client relationships, focusing on a particular type of law and a particular type of matter, securing continuous success practising a type of law, and cracking and excelling in similar deals helps in creating confidence of other players dealing in similar legal issues to choose you as their lawyer over others in the industry.
Tips to be followed for better results
Be consistent
Consistency is the key to recognition amongst a larger audience. A Consistent approach towards anything you undertake must be practised. Be it good work, publishing content, sharing posts, voicing opinions or impactful online presence. When the audience sees you regularly, they grow fond of your name and work which results in name retention during a hunt for lawyers or in the times when one is asked to recommend the name of a lawyer.
Be vocal about your opinions on the recent developments
In the legal field, there are developments happening all throughout the year. Each day brings some amendment or the other in a plethora of issues involved under litigation. Court proceedings, orders and judgements bring about debatable topics of legal concern. These judgements are amenable to opinions. The industry expects the stalwarts to react, express and be vocal about their opinions on the burning legal issues in their respective fields of practice or the domain of law they are associated with. Therefore, to gain attention, continuing the murmur about and start a conversation about oneself, the legal professional should be vigilant enough of the legal issues under litigation and whose judgement is expected.
Not just the vigilance and the reaction is enough, but being quick and one of the few initial critics or analysers also helps create a vibration.
Create loyal clientele
Establishing law practice is about securing clients’ loyalty. The industry offers so many offers in the form of a variety of lawyers available to undertake a certain task that securing such client loyalty stands out as a commendable feature which contributes to the positive branding of the practice.
Loyalty of a client is earned by the lawyer or the law firm. Practising ethical working culture, being committed to the value system and delivering quality work help retain the clients. Loyal clients are the basis of one’s branding system. They spread good word by their own free will which is the biggest branding attribute for the firm or the individual.
Personal branding and its power come into the picture when an individual lawyer tends to leave the firm and start its own practice. It is the personal brand which is built, which helps an individual lawyer start its own practice. Loyal clients of the individual stay loyal to the particular lawyer, mostly, and not the firm in general. Therefore, if a partner ceases to be a part of a firm and commences his / her own firm or practice, he has done good branding for his capabilities and skills.
Build contacts in the events
These days law firms hire professionals to build their public relations and help them secure their presence in the various events in the legal field. Establishing contacts, meeting prospective collaborators and building relations is the main idea of attending events, seminars, award shows, conferences and other gatherings of lawyers. These contacts built can materialise into prospective business relations or act as a lead to some business opportunity in the future. Therefore, presenting and putting oneself out there is a strategy of business development these days which must be taken seriously by legal professionals in building and strengthening their brand.
Do and continue the good work
Every other act, step or strategy aside, what speaks for itself is the quality of work performed by the lawyer in his / her professional pursuit. Therefore, no PR strategy can top the work ethic along with the quality of work performed. The primary driving force toward building a strong and uptight brand is the work performed and delivered by the professional and all other steps and factors work alongside as an allied force towards the same.
Conclusion
It should be always kept in mind that personal branding is not just a one-time action or event but it is something which needs to be practised regularly and persistently for a long period of time to showcase the desired results.
Focus on doing the right thing, your brand is on the way!
Today, take 5 minutes, think about what all you could do to enhance your personal brand and try to implement it without delay.
Hope to see you as a brand soon!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is it mandatory in law to undertake the personal branding of lawyers?
No, there is no legal requirement for personal branding in the legal industry. It is only for the personal growth of the lawyer that personal branding is recommended.
Are there fixed tools that can be used for branding?
No, the process of branding is very peculiar to the type of business, the skills of the individual and the scale and level of operations. It cannot be defined as a fixed procedure or a fixed set of tools which can be employed to reap the desired results. It varies from case to case. One thing which works for a certain individual might not work for another. For example, for manufacturers advertising helps whereas for lawyers maintaining good client relations helps, for a corporate lawyer successful closure of a deal works whereas for a litigation lawyer defending the client successfully and for a junior lawyer successfully assisting the senior might enhance the brand while for a senior lawyer communication of successfully advocating a big-shot client. Therefore, it is necessary to figure out what shall work in your favour in order to create a brand for yourself.
Can a lawyer do digital marketing?
Yes, digital marketing is the need of the hour. People belonging to each and every profession can make judicious use of digital marketing. Lawyers can use digital marketing platforms to showcase their achievements, skills and experiences in a particular field of law.
What are the essentials for digital marketing?
Digital marketing requires some of the basic skills which include – (1) the art of content creation, (2) efficient use of social media platforms, (3) effective communication and presentation skills, (4) researching the market etc. These pointers help in bringing optimised results in branding.
Is Instagram good for lawyers?
Instagram as a social media platform is considered to be a less formal medium which is usually expected to have content relating to fun and recreation. Therefore, it is not very much advisable to use Instagram as the sole medium for showcasing the achievements for a lawyer. Lawyers can instead use LinkedIn which is considered to be a formal dedicated platform for professionals where they share insights about professional endeavours, successes, achievements etc. However, in this changing world, some lawyers can choose to be active on Instagram through their crisp legal news or legal memes around recent developments. It will eventually help them spread their business.
Students of Lawsikho courses regularly produce writing assignments and work on practical exercises as a part of their coursework and develop themselves in real-life practical skills.
LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals, and various opportunities. You can click on this link and join:
Follow us on Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel for more amazing legal content.
