For some companies in certain industries, building a lovable brand is a given, something that may even come easily. Diaper companies, for example, know from the get-go that lovability will be critical to their marketing. But law firms don’t always think about being loved as important to their branding. On the contrary, law firms are often seen as somewhere between cold and opportunistic. And yes, the effort to become lovable may be more of an uphill battle when it comes to law firm branding. But in order to succeed in a competitive marketplace, legal leaders will have to build a lovable law firm brand. These tips will help.
What is a lovable law firm brand?
As difficult as it is to describe love of any kind, brand love is just as tricky to pin down and define. Indeed, it may be one of those things that you have to feel to understand. When you love a brand, you feel a strong emotional bond and connection with it. You tell your friends and family about the brand and leave five-star reviews online. You are loyal to that brand, even when it may not necessarily be the most logical move. Rather than seeing the brand as neutral or necessary, brand love creates excitement and enthusiasm. This being the case, it’s no wonder why it’s so worthwhile to put an effort into building a lovable brand.
How to build a lovable law firm brand
So how does a law firm go about shaking off the cold, unfeeling associations that people may have with the law and become lovable? In every element of your branding, from your advertisements to your law firm logo to your law firm websites, do your best to showcase the following qualities.
Be Trustworthy
One of the most important requirements for becoming a lovable brand is showing your audience that you are able to be trusted. This involves many different factors. For one, you must be transparent and honest. If it comes out that you’ve lied, hidden things, or otherwise been deceptive, you’ll immediately be labelled as shady and duplicitous, exactly the worst of what people expect from law firms.
Beyond that, it’s also important to be consistent and reliable. If you can be trusted to deliver results time after time and always stand by your values, your clients will reward you with their loyalty. If you can treat them like family by showing up for them again and again, they will come to view you and love you like family, too.
Be Real
The consumer these days is incredibly savvy and has a very fine-tuned sixth sense for phoniness. When customers suspect you’re being fake, they do not like it, to put it lightly. So instead of trying to emulate a different (perhaps more successful) law firm, do your best to be authentic to your company’s culture and values. Instead of putting on a false sense of authority like you know it all and have never erred in your firm’s history, be human. Instead of trying to position yourself as better than your customers, in some way more knowledgeable or educated than they are, be relatable. Instead of trying to cover up or hide your errors, own up to your mistakes. Eventually, consistently showing these behaviours will make your audience view you as approachable and available, honest and real. All of these are qualities that make a brand much more lovable.
Be Engaging
Just like in romantic love, it’s a terrible experience to have love for somebody that goes unrequited. And the same thing applies to brand love. Clients don’t want to be loyal to a law firm that doesn’t care about them, that is apathetic to their struggles, looking down on them from their exalted golden thrones in the sky. The only way you can expect your audience to love you is if you can genuinely reciprocate those feelings, showing them love in return.
This means putting true effort and care into your customer service, making sure to address and handle customer questions and complaints as thoroughly and promptly as possible. It means entering into a dialogue with your audience, whether that be through social media comments and live streams, email newsletters, or events. It means listening to what they have to say about their concerns, their needs, and their problems, and responding accordingly. And above all, it means genuinely caring. If that is the place from which your law firm operates, you will be well on your way to becoming a lovable brand.