76% of people seeking legal help start their search online.
Fewer people are seeking referrals to lawyers, not wanting to openly share personal problems and trusting their own judgment based on information they find on the internet.
With the amount of online information sources about divorce law, how do you stand out from the crowd?
It starts with a great, compelling brand message.
When your firm develops a consistent brand that relates to its ideal customer, that customer will feel seen and understood, and be more likely to contact you. From the start, they’re more likely to trust that you know what to do with someone in their situation. Not just a generic person going through a divorce, but someone in their specific situation going through a divorce.
Focus on a Segment
A key part of developing your firm’s brand is deciding where to place your focus. If you want to strongly resonate with someone, they need to identify with your brand material. Cordell & Cordell did this well. Immediately you think of that voice from the radio telling men he will fight for their rights and assets. That laser focus on men and their specific concerns makes the brand message immensely more impactful.
That does not mean they don’t serve female clients. They do! But they dominate the message in the men’s segment – half of the market!
So, do you want to dominate a segment of the market or settle for a smaller percentage of everything? The answer is easy but many businesses, including most law firms, hesitate to get specific because they feel they’d exclude someone, using cookie-cutter messages that make it hard for potential clients to differentiate a firm from the rest. When your branding speaks to your ideal client, you’re far more likely to have them pick you from a crowded field.
Speak to That Segment
Your focus may be high-net-worth clients, business owners, women, or same-sex couples. You probably know who you naturally work best with. You find them easy to work with and can speak their language. You already know the circumstances they will encounter in their case and the questions they will have. That’s the segment you want to focus on as you refine your brand messaging.
When thinking about this segment, create a fictitious ideal customer. Write down their age, sex, position, net worth, where they live, how many kids they have, and issues they will have with their case… get down to the details until you get a clear picture of who this person is. You may even have a client in mind. As you develop your brand message, speak directly to that person. It will help you stay specific and efficient in your wording.
State Your Vision
Now that you know who you are serving, you need to tell them where you are taking them. You have an ideal outcome for your clients and painting a picture of that outcome for them is important. When conveyed in a clear and relatable way, your client can project themselves into that outcome. Now all you have to do is connect the present moment to the future, with your firm as the only partner who can best guide them down that path.
Build Credibility
People considering divorce often spend several months, two to six on average, researching their concerns online before contacting a divorce attorney. That’s a lot of time to either get lost in the mix or build a lot of credibility. Here are three ways you can easily build credibility during that period:
- Have a process for encouraging 5-star customer reviews. Pick the best ones most like you’re ideal customer to appear on your website. Also, have a strategy for addressing negative reviews.
- Update your website and social media channels regularly with timely and relevant information that answers questions commonly asked by your clients.
- Cultivate a few stories that describe how you helped previous clients reach a successful outcome during one of the most stressful times in their lives.
As your clients research behind the scenes, you can speak to them through all of your online content, making your firm the easiest choice when it comes time to make the call.
More Than a Font and a Logo
Building a powerful brand is more than picking a logo, a cool font, and a couple of complimentary colors for your website and business cards. A powerful brand is woven into everything your firm does. It’s baked into your online assets and how you interact with clients. An authentic, well-conceived brand is how your firm can go from successful to dominant.