Never before has the time been so ripe for professionals to make an impact on the marketplace. Blogging, one of the most recent marketing phenomenons of the Internet age, enables professionals to reach out with a powerful message about themselves in a most cost effective and targeted fashion.
I actually don’t think a law firm with more than a handful of lawyers really can blog, because blogging is by definition personal and can only really be performed at an individual, not a corporate level. A firm can set up a number of blogs for its lawyers to write, seeking brand power: a fleet of lawyers all writing great blogs on important subjects under the firm’s letterhead. But these blogs will all have different voices, use varying degrees of formality, address matters in more or less depth, publish at different frequencies — each one reflecting the individual behind it. All that these blogs will have in common is the banner and design…This is where blogs illustrate the real problem for law firm marketing in the 21st century. It’s well established that consumers, even sophisticated consumers of legal services, rely heavily on brand when making purchasing decisions. It’s one of the reasons law firms throw so much money into advertising and sponsorships: bolstering name recognition. Historically, law firm brands were stronger than most lawyers’ individual brands, so your average lawyer sought to position himself with a firm that lent him the most prestige. That relationship is now turning around…
While I agree with Jordan’s point about the, in fact unprecedented, opportunity that a blog presents to a sole practitioner with a lot of insight and character to share, I am not of the mind that the same opportunity does not also exist for the larger firms.
It is certainly possible for a large professional firm to reinforce and build on an existing branding strategy with a blog.
Branding is about the ability to consistently communicate the authentic and unique value that a firm offers.
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