Lawyer through the lens – Does the lawyer’s image influence his marketing?

The image of the lawyer is the key to increasing the profits of a law firm

The legal services market in Poland is changing very dynamically. It is influenced by many factors, the most important of which is the increasing number of lawyers, and thus competition, growing customer requirements, as well as the changing economic situation.
in Poland and in the world. The image that we build with our marketing activities in the awareness of a potential client determines our success.

In addition, the pandemic has greatly accelerated the transition of customers to online shopping.
While the sale of on-line legal services for B2C clients is already the norm for many law firms,
the question often arises, how does this relate to the sale of B2B services?

Online B2B sales are not as visible as B2C sales, as there is usually a face-to-face or online meeting in the case of legal services before signing a contract.

However, it is worth considering:

1. How does the target customer make the decision?
2. How recognizable we are in the target group?

The B2C client decides about the legal service when the need is created, here and now.

If there is no person who recommends a lawyer, the first step will be the Internet. So what will influence his decision?

1. Online presence: www, social media, internet forums
2. Appearance of the lawyer – photos, video
3. Opinions

The B2B client is more demanding. This is for a very simple reason. Usually associated with the law firm / law firm’s experts for years. Therefore, if the law office wants to arrive
to such a client, he has to do a lot more work.

For law firms, the new realities mean the necessity not only to offer high-quality services combined with business consulting and the ability to respond to clients’ needs, but also to break the sales patterns of their services, stand out and effectively reaching customers.

This requires building a good sales and marketing strategy for the law firm, because only a good relationship of these two business elements will allow you to effectively increase profits. When starting to build this strategy, it is worth remembering a few things.

What and to whom do I want to offer as a lawyer?

Specify the profile of your law firm, specializations and services that will be offered.

On this basis, specify to whom you will be sending your offer. Define who your recipient is, what age group he belongs to, what industry / business group he or she represents, what are their needs, concerns and problems, in which channels they move, and when we can most effectively reach them with communication.

Precise definition of the target group and its needs will help you build an action plan that will allow you to effectively reach your customers.

What sales goals do I want to achieve?

Creating a plan that is not only in the minds of the partners / partners of the law firm is the foundation for starting sales and marketing activities.

These activities should include:

1. Office costs
2. Quantitative and valuable assumptions
3. Detailed plan of sales and marketing activities
4. People who carry out activities
5. Methods of verification

The plan must be realistic and, most importantly, written down. As a result, the firm’s management will be able to evaluate the progress and make modifications. Most often, plans that are not written down will not be implemented.

The client will look for information, ie marketing, as a sales support

The client, with whom we establish contact through our sales activities, will verify our office before making a decision about an interview and possible cooperation.

The information it finds about us will be one of the important influencing factors on the decision to purchase our service. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the information he receives, both about our specialization and experience, as well as subliminal messages related to with the image of the brand and experts, they were constructed in such a way as to attract the customer’s attention and introduce us as a reliable business partner.

What creates the image of a lawyer and his expertise?

The image of a lawyer that is created in the recipient’s mind is influenced by everything that the client encounters in real or online space – from the logo, through website design, business cards, experts’ statements and behavior, profiles in social media and published content, location in a specific context, to the style of clothing or the opinions of customers and business partners.

Fortunately, we have an influence on all of these elements. However, we must make them consistent and consequences in building the image and reaching the recipient’s awareness through various channels, which will provide real support for the sale of law firm services.

Take care of visual identification

Visual identification is the entirety of non-verbal symbolism that is used by the company to communicate with the market. Consistent use and reproduction of symbolism associated with a law firm will build and consolidate brand awareness among clients. The basic elements of visual identification are: logo, symbols used, fonts and colors. On their basis, all promotional materials for the presentation of our office are created, such as letterhead and document templates, business cards, folders, brochures, signs, etc.

The selection of the above elements is very important as it affects the perception of our brand, creates the company’s identity, builds its awareness among customers, and also distinguishes it from the competition. Thanks to their appropriate combination, we evoke specific emotions and influence how the environment perceives us. It is not without reason that the favorite color of companies from the healthcare segment is green, which has a calming effect on the human brain, and the trustworthy, friendly orange is more and more often appearing in the colors of insurance and financial companies. The shades of navy blue and blue, subliminally associated with solidity, reliability, trust and strength, work well in communication with a business recipient. For this reason, this color is also commonly used on the legal office market.

Remember that the website is the basic showcase of your law firm

The website of a law firm is the primary place where a potential client will look for information on lawyers, scope of activity, terms of cooperation, as well as contact details. It should be created with the target group in mind – otherwise, the websites of companies from the b2b or b2c segment communicate with the client, both in terms of visual and verbal communication.

It is worth making sure that it is legible and user-friendly, transparent and intuitive, and the information architecture led the internet user between the various contents in a simple and uncomplicated manner. Too many subpages may cause chaos and prevent a potential client from quickly finding the information he was looking for and leaving the office’s website. Pages designed on the basis of user experience (UX) are programmed in such a way as to combine functionality, usability and aesthetic aspects. It should be easy to use on both computers and mobile devices.

In addition to the functional layer, websites should also present an interesting and nice graphic design, consistent with the visual identification of a given office. The visual layer must interest and attract Internet users, as well as distinguish the website from the projects used by the competition. Graphic elements should reflect the nature of the law firm – it is difficult to imagine the futuristic side of a law firm run by legal advisers who appreciate the traditional and conservative business model. Likewise, a young and dynamic team of lawyers who use the latest technologies in their work will not be suited to a traditional website based on the written word.

Present yourself as an expert lawyer

There are many steps you can take as a lawyer to demonstrate your knowledge of experience as an expert in your field. Use several communication channels to effectively reach your customers. Maintain media relations, comment on blogs, participate in training and conference events as a speaker and participant, be present on the web – act on social media and participate in webinars. Use various forms of expression so that your message is dynamic and does not bore the recipient.

Lawyer through the lens – fine feathers make fine birds

Take care of your image and the image of the entire team of the law firm. The appropriate dress code in business situations and in contact with the client can strengthen your competences. Formal attire in business communicates professionalism and self-confidence, as well as the right distance.

Lawyer through the lens is a service dedicated to lawyers. The result is effective portraits that will help build your professional image.

Make a professional business session on the law firm’s website. Good photos are a very important element of a personal image, they also support the proper reception of a website.

A photographer specializing in portraying lawyers will provide tips on how to prepare for the session, what to be careful about when choosing an outfit for photos and take care of make-up, as well as the consistency of photos and presentation of the law firm’s team.

Stronger brand and image of a lawyer – better sales support and a chance for faster results

We quite often hear from lawyers that the merits will defend itself. This is true, but the present times clearly show that for the customer to appreciate the content, the marketing and sales part must be performed. Currently, the customer performs the first online verification before the first contact, and this is where an important change took place. The so-called first impressions are made no longer in the meeting, but over the internet. During the meeting, however, it is time for the next step, confirming whether what he sees is true 😊

So you can go two paths:

1. Long one – the world will see and appreciate the merrits
2. Accelerated – the use of image and marketing activities and sales to show the knowledge of the law firm’s experts and thus to the accelerated process of acquiring new clients.

The choice seems obvious!😊

Read lawyers’ testimonials:

Mr. Krzysztof is a professional in every detail. I highly recommend it

Mateusz Wojciech Kuliński

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Jarosław Witkowski – Legal Counsel

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Łukasz Sobczak – Legal Counsel

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Weronika Jelińska – Legal Counsel