Law firms might rely on reputation-based marketing more than any other industry. Think back to the last trial or accident attorney ad that you saw. Chances are that it mentioned how many cases said law firm won and how much money they’ve recovered for their clients. Though some might say that this kind of in-your-face promotion is unbecoming to the legal profession, it does help to illustrate just how important reputation is to a law firm’s image.

That’s why you want to be careful if you plan on rolling out a new brand for your company. Private practices that have changed in some major way or expanded significantly might still benefit from rebranding, however, so there are times when it could help you to attract new leads. Link Legal’s recent rebranding exercise is an excellent example of how an established firm can dramatically change it’s branding but still keep its existing clientele.

There’s no reason that your firm can’t enjoy the same level of success either.

Rebranding Your Firm the Smart Way

Strategically rebranding your practice might be the best idea, especially if you’re taking advantage of some unique opportunity that’s within your firm’s area of expertise. For instance, some existing accident-based firms might create a second brand to capitalize on a recent biomedical case that allowed clients to recover money based on some kind of health damage they suffered. This is unfortunately an all too common scenario, but it’s one where you stand the chance of helping a larger percentage of clients merely by swapping around what issues your firm decides to highlight.

There’s no reason that you can’t run a secondary brand like this in addition to the primary one that represents your law firm. Private practices that dealt with major cancer cases have purchased web domains that spell out what they do while also keeping their primary sites open. They’ll build a brand around this secondary issue but still provide links to their original law firm in the process.

Eventually, a law firm that does this might start to run radio or television ads under this new brand. When it comes time to identify the firm’s name, they’ll use their original moniker in order to drive clients back to their original company. Those who want to try this kind of marketing will probably want to work with an independent ad agency as well as someone who does law firm logo design in order to make it as established-looking as possible.

Such a brand usually consists of little more than a landing page that brings people over to your primary firm, however. Those who are completely redesigning their organization’s brand will run into some bigger issues. Fortunately, it shouldn’t be hard to skirt some of the most common of these.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Never spend more on rebranding than you can reasonably hope to recoup in increased business. It’s easy to get carried away with hiring consultants and artists, but in many cases this won’t translate into actual money. Only focus on changing your brand if your previous identity is seriously dated or you’re trying to focus on some sort of case that may result in class-action litigation. A good example of the first category is a scenario where a partner may have left your firm so you need a name and identity change to better reflect the lawyer that represents your practice.

While rebranding might be good for those who aren’t attracting their ideal audience, you might still want to maintain your initial brand in order to avoid losing customers who would recommend you by word of mouth. Though it might seem like the Internet as well as the pervasiveness of modern mass media have conspired to get rid of traditional word of mouth advertising in the legal profession, it’s still extremely important.

Ask yourself if any legal issue that you’re rebranding around is extremely specific and couldn’t simply be included as part of your practice’s normal branding. If that’s the case, then you’ll want to potentially establish an extra brand around it. Never separate your company’s brand unnecessarily. At the same time, though, you’ll want to also avoid posting material on your primary brand that simply doesn’t fit. This is especially true of those who handle major finance litigation cases.

If you’re involved in anything like this, then chances are good that you might already have a separate landing page for it. Consider promoting your landing page as though it were your own brand. That can help to slash the cost of rebranding while also helping you to attract customers that you wouldn’t have been able to if you simply promoted your original practice as the only brand you had.

While it might be a little confusing at first, making sure to establish a good image and even a solid visual design can ensure that your practice stays in business for the long-term.