I know that we have all heard at one time or another about "branding" a law firm. I am going to be renaming my law firm from "Homann Law and Mediation" to some other name because I have spun off my mediation business into a new entity: Consensus Mediation, LLC. Eric Heels writes in this post on his law firm website titled, "Just Say Moo - How To Name And Brand Your Product To Make It Stand Out From The Crowd," that:

You should avoid choosing a brand name that is generic or descriptive. Don't name your bookstore "Bob's Bookstore," or "Affordable Books." Instead, choose a name that is suggestive of the qualities your product stands for. If you are selling data backup services, perhaps include "elephant" in the name, since elephants supposedly have good memories. If you are starting a bus company, consider the fact that "greyhounds" are very fast dogs.

An even better strategy is to choose a distinctive brand name that is unrelated to your product or service. "Apple" is a good name for a computer company because computers have nothing inherently to do with apples.

The best strategy is to choose a distinctive company name that is a brand new word. Like Verio. This is, of course, the most fun and the most challenging. Made-up words can sound cool or they can sound like names that didn't make the final cut for the Seven Dwarfs.

I love Eric's advice to avoid your name as your brand -- especially when you have a name like mine that everyone spells "Holman." However, as this article by William Arruda on the MarketingProfs.com website (registration required, but worth the trouble) illustrates, branding is about more than the name and logo of your firm, it is about the entire customer experience

What separates you from others with similar skills and abilities is your unique promise of value. Communicating that unique promise through all that you do enables you to stand out and greatly expand your success.

But if you send messages that are incompatible, those around you will not know what you stand for or what to expect from you. So remember, being “the same” is essential to successful branding.

“Saming” doesn’t mean that you will be forever stuck where you are. In fact, saming enables you to get where you are going. Once you have built a reputation through consistent expression of your unique promise of value, you have the permission to evolve, as long as that evolution is consistent with your brand promise.

So, to recap: name + logo + consistent (and unique) customer experience = brand.