Branding and marketing are integral components in the success of your law practice. But lately, it seems like they’ve become nothing more than buzzwords thrown around in the marketing world.
The problem is that it can become difficult for attorneys to know what they mean. Understanding the difference between branding and marketing makes it easy to develop an effective strategy for launching and growing your practice.
Each element plays a vital role in attracting clients, building trust, and positioning your firm as an authority in the legal field.
Marketing Mechanics
Marketing consists of the activities you use to identify and meet the needs of your current and future customers. Marketing strategies allow you to clearly articulate the offer of your services.
The methods used to market your business will depend on a number of factors including:
- Industry
- Areas of specialization
- Product and service types
- Pricing
- Customer behaviors
- Distribution platforms
Marketing is what delivers your message to prospects in order to convert them into paying customers. There’s a wide range of channels with which to deliver that message including paid advertising, social media, content marketing, offline events, webinars, email marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).
Branding is More Than Your Logo
Whereas marketing can be considered as the mechanics of your growth strategy, branding consists of the experience your audience has with your company, services, and value.
Marketing makes a promise to your customers, but branding is making good on that promise. Branding occurs primarily on a psychological level. Think of the biggest brands today such as Apple, Google, and Coca-Cola.
Each one has built its brand around the experience customers have with their products. Branding has made these and other businesses recognizable around the globe.
Branding consists of the ideas that people have in relation to your services. Your brand can elicit an emotional response that builds loyalty and trust over time.
Putting Your Marketing and Branding to Work
Developing strategies for your marketing and branding requires some key considerations. Although each is unique in the roles they play within your business, they must work alongside each other in order to provide maximum benefits.
Your marketing must be developed through a complete understanding of your customers. Knowing their primary needs, pain points, questions, and goals will determine the marketing messages you’ll use to draw them into your sales process.
Marketing is the message, and knowing how to create a voice that speaks directly to your ideal clients is at the core of an effective marketing strategy. Branding is an extension of your marketing efforts. It’s the result of delivering a consistent message across all of your channels.
Branding makes your practice “top of mind” for current and future clients. Your brand will also evolve over time as the needs of your clients change. It will also adapt to the changes in social media, mobile use, and behavioral trends.
Although branding and marketing are unique elements of your growth strategy, they must work together in order to provide you with the visibility, credibility, and authority your practice needs to succeed in the long run.
Knowing how to implement the mechanics of marketing through the various distribution channels allows your message to reach your ideal audience. Understanding how to build a brand that makes your law practice recognizable and trustworthy ensures a high level of growth for the future.
You may already have marketing strategies in place, but have you considered how you’re going to develop your brand? Let us know where you’re struggling most in your branding efforts in the comments below. We’ll provide you with the key steps to begin leveraging your marketing strategy in a way that creates a powerful and effective brand for you and your practice.
