Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms

Chapter 1: Understanding brand - The fundamentals.1 Introduction and trends.1 Why brand is vital for law firm success.2 The role of design, creativity and innovation.5 Why brand is challenging.6 Who to involve in developing, maintaining and building brand.9 Three important types of brand for all law firms.9 Subsidiary brands.10 Why it is critical to develop a brand strategy.11 Chapter 2: The key elements of a brand strategy.13 The elements of a brand strategy.13 Brand vision.15 The charismatic brand.16 Brand offeringA'.17 Strategic key objectives.17 Strategies.18 Avoiding a Brand Gap.19 Brand management, monitoring and discipline.21 Who should manage and lead the process?.21 Stress testing your brand strategy.23 Case study 1: DLA Piper and DLA Phillips Fox merger.24 Chapter 3: The brand offering.25 What is a brand offering?.25 The importance of the brand offering.25 What are the elements of the brand offering?.26 Why a one-page brand offering?.27 A framework for a typical brand offering: Bloggs and Jones Lawyers.28 Chapter 4: Brand fusion.29 What is brand fusion?.29 Achieving brand fusion.31 Unity and amplification is key.32 Issuing a brand compass or brandometer to partners and staff.33 Chapter 5: Where brand rubber hits the road - The role of design and aesthetics.35 Law firms can take real lessons from this approach.37 The challenge of left-brain thinking.37 Brand icons.37 Websites, packaging and the reading sequence.38 The written word.39 What's in a name?.39 Taglines or mantras.39 The role of leaders.40 Chapter 6: Avoiding a brand gap and building strategy alignment.41 Strategy alignment.41 How can these gaps arise in practice?.42 Inherent challenges impacting alignment43 Chapter 7: Stress testing brand strategy - A road map to strategic implementation.45 Why stress test strategy?.45 Challenge your strategy.46 Other recommendations.46 How to get there.47 A stress test checklist.49 Chapter 8: The employment brand.51 What do we mean by employment brand?.51 Challenges in developing your employment brand.52 The benefits of developing a separate employment brand.53 The importance of good people practice in your employment brand.54 Stress testing the firm's brand strategy.55 The foundational elements of building a strong employment brand.55 Building engagement levels.56 Employment brand fusion.58 The critical role of trust.58 Good times sometimes create a false sense of security.59 Assessment and review of employment brands.59 Education.60 Employment brands for partners.60 Employment brands and firm websites.61 Chapter 9: The firm brand.63 How do we develop the firm's brand?.63 Addressing the fundamentals.63 Leadership involvement.66 The importance of USA (unify, simplify amplify).66 SWOT test your brand.67 Identifying brand SKOs.67 Developing brand strategies - An action plan and timeline.68 Crafting the firm's brand offering.68 Staff involvement.69 Where 'brand rubber hits the road'.69 Chapter 10: Personal brands.71 Personal brands - Why bother?.71 Developing a personal brand strategy.71 A personal brand strategy framework.71 A personal brand offer.72 Personal skills and soft skills.73 A summary statement or value proposition.75 Personal brand key objectives.75 The importance of thought leadership skills.76 Building a personal profile.76 A personal plan.77 Chapter 11: Brand challenges.79 No formal brand strategy.79 Brand seen as comprising the firm's name, logo and aesthetics.79 Brand management left solely to the marketing department.79 No brand discipline.80 Lack of brand fusion.80 No personal brand development.80 Variable recruitment and retention success rates for the firm.81 Brand strategy is developed then lapses.81 Chapter 12: Brand and strategic communication.83 Means of communication.83 Digital communications.84 Key factors law firms need to consider.85 The importance of online digital communication channels.86 Other digital media.86 Chapter 13: The brand implications flowing from law firm mergers.89 Challenges for a firm's brand post-merger.90 Name usage.91 Recommended steps for a merger.92 Chapter 14: Brand discipline, management and brand champions.95 Management.95 Brand champions.96 Brand compasses and brandometers.96 Staff meetings and functions.96 Chapter 15: Brand and law firm networks.97 Brand challenges for law firm networks and members.97 Particular strategies for law firm networks.100 Encouraging trust and pride.101 A brand vision - Towards a charismatic brand.101 Case study 2: Lex Africa.102 Case study 3: Lex Mundi.105 Index.109