Welcome to the second in my series of blogs on personal branding for lawyers. The first, here, deals with the fundamental question – why a personal brand is important for lawyers.
This blog deals with the critical first task in building your personal brand – determining what your brand is. For some lawyers, particularly those who have been practising longer, this may be easy. For others, it is more difficult.
That said, identifying a new brand is not a challenge unique to junior lawyers. Senior lawyers may also face the need to rebrand (which happens more now with the changing market) if their existing brand stops attracting work or no longer attracts work that supports their billing rate.
Here are 3 key steps to identifying your brand (or rebrand).
1. MORE THAN EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE
What is your personal brand? Your brand is what makes you unique and valuable to your clients and your firm and what you aspire to be as a lawyer.
When we think about a brand, we tend to focus on experience and expertise. Experience and expertise are important but the most successful brands encompass more. They also incorporate personal attributes as well as goals. The strongest brand reflects your personality, your interests and your aspirations and thereby best engages your energy and enthusiasm.
It is easy to envisage the issues that arise if your brand does not suit your personality or interests. If you struggle with managing emotional clients, you may not be happy as a family lawyer. Similarly, you may be knowledgeable about construction liens, but if construction doesn’t interest you, why build a brand as a construction lien expert?
2. GO TO THE SOURCE (YOU) TO IDENTIFY YOUR BRAND
Self-reflection is the critical first step in identifying your brand.
It may be helpful to ask yourself questions, like the ones below, to determine your current brand and whether it is the right brand for you.
Your Current Brand
- What do clients (internal and external) come to you for?
- What expertise are you recognized for?
- What words do people use when they introduce you to others?
Identifying/Honing Your Brand
- What are your most significant accomplishments/skills?
- What roles, responsibilities do you enjoy/excel at?
- What are the personal attributes/characteristics that distinguish you as a lawyer? For example, some lawyers are very careful and detail-oriented; the strength of others lie in seeing the big picture.
- What brand would your target market/network be most interested in?
- What would you like to be known for?
Answering questions like the ones above, particularly in writing, can be of invaluable assistance in ascertaining your personal brand.
3. ASK OTHERS
In order to identify your brand, it is also helpful to ask others about your strengths and what is unique about you.
There are a number of ways to solicit input on your brand:
- look for patterns in your performance assessments and in reviews and kudos received from clients and peers; and
- speak to your broader network to identify your brand in the marketplace.
Tapping into your network is useful in identifying your current brand but also in testing out a new brand or rebrand.
As you move forward to identify your personal brand (or rebrand), it is wise to get help from others. That said, determining your brand is something only you can do. A brand will only be effective if it is authentic and reflects who you are and want to be.
If you would like to learn more about identifying your personal brand, please contact me at hilary.clarke@potentiacoaching.ca
Stay tuned for my next blog on how to build your personal brand!