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Tag: Professional Services

Professional Services: Elevate Your Firm By Embracing Purpose

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

Professional Services Brands

When it comes down to it, strategies to ensure credibility, expertise or commitment don’t make a professional service firm to stand out. We expect law firms, management consultancies, and professional services brands to be credible, to have expertise, and to be committed; they shouldn’t need to be reminded of these attributes, and this type of positioning holds no sway in an already overcrowded, homogenous group of competitors.

Many professional services firms “brand” themselves around ideas of client-centricity and attentiveness. For us, this simply isn’t branding. These ideas mean something, but they don’t mean enough.  They are just repetitions of already established expectations.

At a basic level, these are firms whose business is to manage risk; they exist because they offer specialized help and expertise that most clients can’t easily replicate in-house. And that means that professional services firms must convey a higher level of trust. (Their “product” is intangible, so clients demand an exceptional level of trust that the advice and service they are seeking will be good.)

To ensure trust, many professional services firms fall back on safe, established, and outdated marketing tactics.  Many are reluctant to rethink or change their already established brand strategy. The result is that they simply confirm their status as traditional players in a traditional sector; they conform to traditional brand and marketing standards. They end up saying the same things and looking all too similar; if they generate any emotion in their targets – which is rare – it’s, well, traditional and decidedly not differentiating.

We see two opportunities for professional services brands to ignite and transform their brands, to create brands that emotionally and meaningfully differentiate themselves, with their clients, to attract top talent, and to establish a reason to believe in their firms:

Feeling and purpose.

Feelings. The shift begins with feeling. If we evoke, discover, establish, and communicate positive feeling, we change the conversation, the look, the messaging, the way people feel, and, ultimately, the brand. This is where brand strategy comes into play.

We work with professional services brands to deeply understand their unique values—what brings them to life, both internally and externally. Our methodology encourages clients to not shy away from feelings and emotions, but instead to embrace them, to make them an integral part of who they are. We remind professional service clients that they are working with people and these people (their clients and prospects) feel things. And furthermore, every firm provokes a feeling. The question is, what is that feeling?

Purpose-led. Through workshops and collaboration, we work with clients to understand their purpose and reason for being. These collaborative workshops bring these answers to light, and also works to align internal Partners around developing a more differentiated, emotionally charged, purpose-led brand strategy. A firm with shared purpose strengthens and clarifies its brand and confirms that brand at every touch-point.

The more the feeling of a brand is constantly confirmed—in how the firm behaves; in advertising, in its go to market strategy, within the employee structure, through its published content, during in-person interactions—the more stickier the brand becomes. The stickier the brand, the better.

By developing a brand strategy that is fueled with feeling and purpose, a professional services firm offers something beyond traditional expectations about expertise, client-focus, and good service.

By embracing feeling and purpose, they can stand out, demonstrate the human power of empathy, and promise more than just the norm. They can promise a more meaningful firm, with more meaningful outcomes for their clients and the firm itself.

For additional insights on brand strategy and professional services, click here.

To see our latest professional services brand project click here.

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy firm.

Image Credit: http://blog.iso50.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/11/vicErPwd7lbdajxcVUH64M03o1_500.jpeg

 

Brand Strategy: What is the Role of B2B Branding?

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

What is the role of B2B branding? How is it different from sales and marketing? Why should B2B enterprises be adopting purpose-driven brand strategies? What benefits will they accrue by adapting themselves to the changing requirements of the Purpose Economy?
Continue reading “Brand Strategy: What is the Role of B2B Branding?”

Why Investing in Brand Enables Growth for Professional Services

Posted on by Paige Lansing Valle

Professional service companies, categorized as mid-market, might be looking towards 2017 with a bit of trepidation. According to the National Center for the Middle Market 3Q 2016 Indicator, business growth has been identified as a top challenge for these firms. And mid-market or not, business growth is a real challenge for every sector of professional services in today’s hyper-competitive economy.

The Role of Brand in Professional Services

Even when personal brands are strong, as they often are for professional services, an overarching brand is necessary. Your brand is your firm’s most valuable asset. It sets the tone for the behavior of your employees and, most importantly, shapes how customers perceive your business. Consequently, your brand has a strong, direct impact on business growth.

And although it may seem obvious to invest in your brand to drive business growth, creating a solid case for doing so can be a real challenge. If the business is doing well, or even just good enough, people may perceive that any change will confuse customers or diminish the equity your business has established. It’s the common “why fix something that’s not broken?” thinking.

However, if a firm fails to continue to evolve its brand, it risks becoming outdated and irrelevant. The speed of change in today’s market is constant. And professional service businesses need a brand that is perceived as current if they want to attract top clients.

The other common misperception about the value of investing in your brand is that branding is a cost center rather than revenue driver. In fact, a 2015 Economist study indicated that 68% of business owners view marketing as a cost center. And that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Invest in Your Brand for Clear Returns

Here are 5 reasons why investing in your brand will positively impact your bottom line now as well as down the line:

1. Differentiation

With so many businesses offering similar services at comparable price points, firms start to blend together and have a hard time standing out from the crowd. Well-defined brands that tell a unique narrative and look different from competitors are able to draw attention. A tagline and a logo simply isn’t enough, though. In order to truly make an impact, you need to consider every brand experience and touchpoint.

2. Price

A strong brand commands a premium price. It allows you to justify your worth and create demand. Investing in professional services is a risk and, as a result, can be an emotionally charged decision. Customers will be willing to pay more for your service if they believe the risk is low.

3. Business Development

A steady stream of leads is vital to survival for professional services. Expanding the number of prospects improves the chances of conversion. A strong brand creates awareness across channels and keeps customers knocking at your door – helping you close deals and build confidence inside and outside the organization.

4. Alignment

In order to grow, professional service firm need to be aligned around the brand promise and story in order to create brand ambassadors with employees. The people inside your business are your strongest asset.

5. Endurance

Tough times are inevitable. But a brand with an established emotional connection with its customers and prospects is prepared to weather the storm. In the unfortunate event that your business suffers from reputational damage, a strong brand can help carry the business to the other side with its head held high. And as your industry goes through a period of flux, an investment in your brand now will increase the potential to grow today and into the future, leaving your competitors fall behind.

Thriving companies understand the power of their brands both internally and externally. And as pressure mounts on marketers to deliver growth and prove their ROI, investment in your brand is critical to the success of your firm. Invest in your brand to position your firm for growth.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco brand strategy and design agency.

Law Firm Branding Project: Launching with Impact

Posted on by Sarah Herold

A law firm branding project isn’t just about the strategy or the creative – it’s about getting the law firm ready, aligned, and joined together behind the change. A new brand is an opportunity to build excitement and momentum around the future of your law firm. And the launch plays a large role in this.

But launching a global law firm brand and figuring out how you are going to share it with the people who matter to your business is no small task.

Here are some tips for launching your new brand:

Although pushing your new website live is often the symbol of a new launch, there’s a lot of things to consider that can create energy and excitement, and generate momentum before and after.

In fact, without any prior knowledge, a lot of people within your firm might consider branding as ‘marketing fluff’ – having nothing to do with what they do or care about. So a successful launch needs to convince them otherwise. Even if partners haven’t been involved with the project, the launch needs to validate the time, money and energy spent on the branding project. Prior to launch, it’s critical to lay the groundwork that will prepare internal audiences for what’s to come.

This is an opportunity to bring everyone together and rally behind the new brand. For a global law firm, it’s especially important for people across offices to see that everyone is engaged and celebrating the new brand.

Every law firm and its brand are different and your launch tactics should be guided by your brand strategy. When you are ready to press ‘go,’ here are some general tactics to consider:

  • Save the dates: build anticipation and excitement around the launch
  • A giveaway: gives people something that symbolizes the new brand.
  • A retreat: gets people aligned and rallied behind the brand.
  • A task force and/or brand ambassadors: facilitate and support training in each global office.
  • A Brand Book & or Brand Video: a rallying cry that brings everything together in an emotive and impactful way.
  • Internal and external newsletters: discuss what the change means and where the new brand will take the business.
  • A letter to clients: explains the new launch and what it means specifically for them.
  • Documentation and social sharing on launch day: spreads excitement across offices.
  • Brand central: allows people in each global office to go and pull down new collateral.
  • A brand manager: maintains momentum and keeps the brand on track and time, making sure resources are being allocated correctly.

Creating momentum around a launch is one thing. Maintaining momentum and keeping the brand impactful is another. When a brand is launched with success, it is able to maintain the momentum it needs to keep doing the work it needs to do for your business – positioning it to be competitive, grow, and thrive.

Check out how our latest law firm branding project for our client, BAL, created a brand that positioned their law firm to be a major player in the corporate immigration market, and launched that brand with success.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco design and brand strategy agency.

 

Why Law Firms Need Brand Strategy

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

Consulting Firms are brands too

Within professional services and consulting firms, there’s very little that distinguishes one brand from another. Practice areas and services all lead with the same claims: excellent client service, tailored solutions, and global reach. So much similarity makes all consulting firms blend together. Taglines echo. Logos mirror each other. Marketing copy follows the same jargon. Ultimately, they become indistinguishable.

As the shift to a buyer’s market solidifies, competitive rivalries intensify. It’s no longer enough for a firm’s identity to be solely linked to overall profitability or arbitrary rankings. In order to truly compete, more attention needs to be paid to differentiation of values, POV, and behavior to make a firm stand apart.

For most consulting firms, business development depends on the individual star power of partner personalities. Though these individuals may represent the firm’s larger brand, the specific behavior, image, attitude, and message they portray can vary significantly. While clients may feel attached to these individuals, the firm’s reliance on inconsistent personal brands over its greater brand presents an inherent barrier for long-term growth, retention of talent, and overall success.

A purposeful brand strategy helps consolidate all the personal brands into one global brand identity. Here are four things to consider when building a brand strategy for your firm.

What is the overarching brand story?

Everyone within the firm – from the most senior partners to the office administrators – need a consistent brand story that clearly communicates why the brand matters. By laddering up the brand stories of individuals into one global brand story, the brand  becomes stronger, more reliable, more resilient, and more respected.

Evaluate a go-t0-market strategy that addresses the top target audiences.

Explore the needs, motivations, pain points, and expectations of your target audiences and go to market with a strategy that speaks directly to them. Brands that make an emotional impact on the people most important to the brand’s success create long-term appeal and loyalty.

Develop an internal behavior guide.  

When people at all levels of a firm understand how to live and breathe the brand promise throughout their everyday behavior, the brand promise becomes a reality. A guide can help everyone within the firm get aligned and unified, moving forward as the best and most consistent advocates of the brand.

How does the firm want to make people feel?

Successful brand strategy revolves around understanding how your brand makes people feel. Aligning the feelings your brand evokes through your brand’s the voice, messaging, narrative, and visual identity will make your firm more meaningful to the people who matter.

When a firm mobilizes with a purposeful brand strategy that informs and guides the behavior of every person in every office, the brand will stand apart as a top choice for clients and talent alike. Investing in your brand strategy is the most valuable investment your firm will make.

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy firm.

The Human Dimension of Law Firm Branding

Posted on by Tracy Lloyd

Law firm branding is not easy. I find it ironic that many of the most people-driven enterprises in our economy – law firms, architecture, consulting, and engineering firms – are often the most superficial with branding.

For most professional service firms, “branding” is only about logos and color palettes. It seems branding’s only goal is to project a serious, professional, and trustworthy identity.

Unfortunately, this limited view of branding leads most professional service firms to the same bland destination.

Indeed, the Internet is littered with the drab, me-too, institutional websites of professional service firms. Flipping from site to site, one has a hard time distinguishing one firm from another. Across an industry, you’ll find the same, tired and predictable rational presentations of facts about each firm. In almost all cases, there are strikingly similar, and weirdly unnatural, photos of executives posed in front of wood paneling.

Does this sound like your professional service brand? If so, it’s really time to shift your view of what branding is capable of doing, and what a more humanly meaningful brand can do for your partners and your firm.

Challenged firms need a new approach

If your firm is struggling to attract new business, finding it hard to retain clients, losing the best recruits to other firms and languishing in the me-too land of professional services branding, its time a for a dose of human emotion in your workplace and in the marketplace.

Human emotion? Well, this is not about presenting happy, smiling faces or tear-jerking situations. Rather, it is about connecting in a more meaningful way with emotional human beings. The emotions and feelings I am talking about – which have the potential to propel your firm forward in a distinct way – are not frivolous or mercenary. They are relevant, engaging and accessible feelings that are totally natural to what your firm does, and what it does for people.

Creating a presence that resonates emotionally

For decades, branding has skirted around the fact that all rational decisions – from which mayonnaise jar to pick up off the shelf, to which firm to appoint – occur within a swirl of emotions. Apart from the emotions which an individual naturally brings to the moment (feeling in love, or feeling mad about being passed up for a promotion), there are also emotions in play that are introduced when an individual thinks about a particular brand.

These emotions – and the feelings they trigger – are either neutral, negative, or positive. Naturally, no brand intentionally strives for a neutral or negative emotional aura. But, what is strange is that few professional service brands strive for a uniquely positive emotional aura. This is particularly strange because of the human nature of the work professional service firms perform.

Emotive branding elevates professional service firms

We’ve found a way to bring professional service brands new meaning and relevance. We start by thinking of the best way for your clients, prospects and recruits to feel about your firm. We then guide you on how to update your processes, policies and practices so they better evoke these feelings. We create tools that get your partners and support staff to understand the value of emotional differentiation (both for the firm and individually). We help you revamp your firm’s communications, marrying your new emotional aura to your current rational presentation (the look and feel, the story you tell, and the voice you use).

Use emotions to differentiate in profoundly meaningful ways

Strive to make each experience people have with your firm more emotionally involving. Do it in specific, own-able ways that positively predispose them to act in your firm’s best interests. Create a distinctively appealing presence for your firm that stands apart from the crowd. Reach out using human emotion to make your rational story more compelling.

After all, people will decide based on how they feel about your firm’s brand. Why not do all you can to influence how they feel?

To see examples of B2B brand strategy and law firm branding examples please visit our client page.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco branding agency.