The Derived Brand

Image wise the term branding conjures up mixed emotions for me.  A brand today is meant to be a sign of prestige or some such thing.  In Texas in represents a mark seared into your backside by a glowing red hot piece of iron.  Not pleasant but memorable, and I guess the memorable part is the point.  Despite the perceived pain, then, I try to work on my branding.

You cannot ignore branding because it is becoming an increasingly essential component of the practice of law.  In fact, maybe in the past there were not logos, advertising or direct marketing by lawyers, but lawyers worked on branding.  Maybe it was brand identity or attitude branding.  No matter what you called it back then, it was branding.  As a lawyer Abraham Lincoln was a brand, and he actually worked at it.  F. Lee Bailey was a brand while he was practicing law.  Gerry Spence seeks to be a phenomena, but he is certainly a brand with his buckskin jackets and long silver hair.

The point really is, just like you have many niche practice areas, there are many types of branding.  As mentioned there is brand identity and attitude branding.  There is also the concept of brand name, individual branding, no brand branding, multi-brands, and aspirational branding just to name a few.

Many of these have proved difficult for me and might prove difficult for you as well because we are after referral based cases.  In other words, we are not directly positioning ourselves to the people or clients that eventually retain us.

Now you are right to think that we are branding ourselves to those that refer us work, but it is a much more difficult concept than that because we still need to have a ready image for those referred.

The solution really is derived branding.  If you think about it outside of a legal marketing context, you see it all around you.  Intel and NutraSweet are a couple of examples.  In both of these cases the supplier of a key component or ingredient used by a good number of suppliers of the end-product wishes to guarantee its own position by promoting that component or ingredient as a brand in its own right.  So, in computer commercials you often see the slogan "Intel Inside".

In a law practice context this can be done in a number of ways.  You can exchange links on a website of your referral source.  You can leave pamphlets or printed materials, like business cards for general distribution at the offices of your referral sources.  You can ask (and maybe pay) for some kind of take along insert in your referral sources direct mail.  A good example of the latter is that you seek referrals of FDCPA cases from bankruptcy attorneys.  The bankruptcy attorney offers primary services to clients that the FDCPA attorney just cannot offer, for the bankruptcy attorney deals with financial meltdowns when the FDCPA attorney can only typically concern itself with an improper collection activity.  The bankruptcy attorney solicits clients through target direct mail to foreclosure lists and list of those people and companies being sued on a debt.  The FDCPA attorney could place an informational piece in the bankruptcy attorneys' envelops that might tell the prospect to retain all of those collection devices in anticipation of visiting the attorney.  So, it might cost a few cents to add it.  (And, do not forget to get Bar approval if that is required in your area).

It would seem that the combination of these things serves both the branding and marketing needs of reaching out to your referral sources, and then reaching out beyond the referral source to the typical consumer of your brand.  I have often thought that this is most effective in regard to title companies, for example.

So, as you reach out to potential referral sources, give some thought to ways to reach beyond your referral sources.  First, it acts as a reminder to your referral sources.  Second, it helps the referral sources in preparation of sending potential clients on to you.

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