How "Unique" is your law firm?

Jeremy Blachman, a 2L at Harvard Law School, in Jeremy's Weblog compiles this list of "unique" statements from law firm web sites. Jeremy has removed the law firm names and shortened sentences, but assures his readers that these are accurate:

The nature of our practice and our unique firm culture sets us apart from the rest.

What makes our firm unique are its fantastic people.

Our attorneys and staff have created a unique firm culture which nurtures mentoring and the exchange of ideas.

We possess a unique combination of experienced lawyers with backgrounds in various legal fields.

Our clients appreciate our unique combination of specialized expertise and broad experience.

Our firm's culture is a unique blend of the conservative and entrepreneurial.

Our exciting practice and unique collegial ambiance distinguish us from other law firms.

We have a unique ability to offer our attorneys unlimited opportunity for personal, professional and financial growth.

We have a unique Pro Bono Policy that demonstrates the Firm's support for pro bono.

There is a unique spirit at work here, a collective "can do" attitude that empowers every member of our Firm.

At our firm, your first reward is the unique opportunity to explore your interests and build your practice.

Our attorneys and staff have a passion for justice and a unique commitment to the needs of our clients.

We don't think you will find another law firm anywhere that has such a unique combination of excellent lawyers, challenging and diverse practice opportunities, decent people, and a genuine sense of community.

One of the things that makes us unique — and uniquely effective for our clients — is that our people live in the real world, not inside dusty law books.

A law student or graduate should be wary of a firm that is one-sided and does not present a balanced mix of quality legal work, people, and lifestyle. We believe we have succeeded in achieving such a balance, which makes us unique in today's legal community.

If the unique firm we have described here is one that appeals to you, we encourage you to contact us about career opportunities.

What is your strategy?

Thanks to Paul Williams at Brand Autopsy for this post about a marketing agency satire website. I think their strategy could have been written for lawyers:

Our main strategy is to convince people that we do stuff they can't do themselves, and that we deserve lots of money for it. The best way to do this is to always look good, and always sound like we know something you don't. If you're still not convinced, we'll show you lots of market research and cost analysis and global positioning strategy reports to confuse you and hopefully convince you that we're so knowledgeable you couldn't possibly succeed without us. Because you can't. So don't even try.

I personally like their take on solutions:

When we deliver your new business strategies to you, they'll be in really snazzy binders that look nice sitting on big, round meeting tables, so you'll know you got your money's worth. When your project has been completed, we'll give you several follow-up phone calls to give the appearance that we even remember who you are or what we sold you.

And client satisfaction:

Our clients are always satisfied with our service. If you knew who any of them were, you could confirm this for yourself, but, since you don't, you'll just have to take our word on this one too. Client satisfaction is always our first priority. Well...actually...maybe something like third or fourth. But we really do take care of our clients. More or less, anyway.

Business insight from drug dealers?

Fascinating series of posts here and here at Brand Autopsy about what drug dealers can teach us about marketing and business.

Before you automatically dismiss this as outlandish and ridiculous – think for a second. Drug dealers must design their business in the same ways that legitimate businesses do. From procurement of product to making strategic real estate (location) decisions to acquiring customers … the parallels between street corner selling and running a legitimate business are endless.

Lessons come from the book Dealing Crack -- at popular booksellers (and street corners) near you.

Trading Up

Ran across the Business Evolutionist Blog today and found this post on Trading Up, the book by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske. John Strande highly recommends the book and has gotten me to order it. I'll let you read his post, but one of Strande's readers suggests that the lessons in the book seem equally applicable to selling both goods and services. I'll post my thoughts on the book (and applying its ideas to legal practice) once I finish it.

Naming Law Firms (Again)

I have spent a lot of time talking about naming law firms because I am still struggling to find that perfect name for my perfect firm. I have posted here and here about naming strategies. In this article, Jeff Wuorio adds his naming suggestions. His seven tips:

Don't make up a name. "It's good to be creative when considering names for your business. But don't bend the English language to a point where you're cooking up a purely ersatz title. Verizon and other big companies can get away with it because they have the muscle of name recognition. But calling your coin-operated laundry Cleanacopia, Sudsadelphia or some other like concoction is not merely confusing, but it also conveys nothing to a customer with sacks of muddy clothes and jingling quarters at the ready."
Avoid forced alliteration. "If your name is Smith and you sell highly seasoned breakfast foods, then Smith's Spicy Sausages may be a perfectly appropriate name. But, it's generally a good idea to avoid alliteration for the sake of alliteration. Again, unless it occurs naturally, you may confuse prospective customers about what it is you do."
Never say "aaaaaa," or even "aaa.""We've all seen this at the very front of the phone book — business after business naming itself AAA, Aaaabracadabra or something like it in hopes of elbowing its way to No. 1 in the listings. Sure, it's fine to be first but, once again, a hollow name that sacrifices information and persuasion for numerical order is likely to be a loser."
Wuorios need not apply. The author makes the point that having a name that is difficult to spell or pronounce (like his) is rarely a good thing.
Keep it short. "Unless you're a law firm with a dozen partners, it's rarely a good idea to have an unduly long name. Keeping things short and to the point makes your name easier to remember, easier to look up if need be and visually less obtrusive on everything from signs to business cards." (Author's note: I think that these rules should apply especially if you are a law firm with a dozen partners.)
Don't limit growth. "Surprisingly enough, a poorly chosen name can actually hinder your business's development. For instance, Jim's Stereo Repair might seem like a perfectly suitable name. But the trouble comes when Jimbo wants to move into televisions as well. So make sure that your name is sufficiently broad to encompass whatever direction your business may take."
Make sure it's for the taking. "Once you've settled on a name, check to make certain you can, in fact, use it."

Saw this on the Viral Marketing Blog about a New York restaurant offering a $2,500 prize to the person who submits the best name for the new venture. Would that work with a law firm? I'll see if I can come up with an extra $500 or so and maybe do the same thing. Look for details next week.

Meaningful Marketing

Every once in a while I find a book I can't put down. I don't know if I have gotten lucky with the last two books I've read, but after reading The Brand Gap, I picked up Meaningful Marketing by Doug Hall, and realized that I'd just gone two-for-two! The author is the founder of Eureka! Ranch, a well-known business idea thinktank. Hall, with his co-author Jeffrey Stamp, looked at over 2,000 business studies and distilled the results into 100+ "Data Proven Truths" set out in the book. Each "Truth" is accompanied by two to four practical ways to apply the truth to your business.

When I read books, I fold down the corner of the pages that contain pasages I want to review later. Looking at my copy of the book, I am certain that more pages have folded-down corners than pages that don't! To be sure, many of the studies upon which the book is based relate to the retail industry, but I gleaned dozens of great ideas. For example:

Do one thing right. Meaningful Marketing is about building a trust between customers and your brand. Trust is built on the belief that you and your company have a higher-than-normal level of expertise in a specific area. This trust results in greater customer loyalty and less price sensitivity. A customer's trust in yor expertise is dramatically enhanced when you focus on doing one thing better than anyone else. Analysis of over 901 new products found that when the marketing message was highly focused on one benefit, the brand was 60 percent more likely to succeed in the marketplace than when the message was unfocused. . . . Think hard aobut your offering. What is the one element that, above all others, defines why someone should become your customer? What is the one Meaningful difference that is most Meaningful to your customers?

Doug Hall has this to say about naming your business:

Your brand name defines who and what you are. The more your sales and marketing message offers a Meaningful difference that aligns with the suggestive nature of your brand name, the more likely customers will recall and remember it. . . . Your brand name is a clear and overt declaration of what you offer. The more related and synergistic your name is whith your message, the more effective your marketing will be. A[n] analysis of some 901 new products found that the odds of long-term marketplace survival were 34 percent greater when the new product's brand name evoked the benefit instead of being an absract or unrelated name.

My favorite idea comes from the section titled, "Keep it Simple, Stupid," where the authors cite a study that found that brands with messages written at or below a fifth-grade reading level were 25% more likely to survive than those with more complex messages. The authors suggest explaining your sales and marketing story to a fifth-grader, and asking him to repeat what he just heard -- and correcting the difference between what you said and what he said.

The book comes with an audio CD that I haven't yet listened to, but it is going in my car's changer tomorrow.

Market your law firm like Harley does.

In this MarketingProfs.com article, Sean D’Souza looks at how Harley-Davidson's Harley Owner's Group (HOG) has energized the brand. The community of Harley riders that is probably Harley's best salesforce cost Harley next to nothing.

In 1997, Harley Davidson spent just $1 million on advertising. Before you say, “Oh, I don’t have a million,” look at Harley’s advertising budget for 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992... all the way to 1984. Zero. A big fat zero. All their money, squillions of dollars, went into creating an absolutely top-notch product. And then creating a community that would buy into the brand.

You don't have to be a big company to build a community of your customers. The article gives the following example many law firms could implement:

Katrina runs a little dress store in a town that boasts of less than 15,000 residents. Business can be cutthroat, especially with the big mega-stores within small business gobbling distance. Yet, Katrina’s done a “Harley.” Every month, Katrina heads out for coffee. And she’s not alone. In the quaint little cafe down the road, there’s a hubbub of excitement. Katrina’s customers are having a whale of a time. They’re laughing, chatting and tucking into cheesecake—while Katrina picks up the tab month after month. Do you see the word advertising anywhere? Printing of glossy brochures? Hundreds of dollars spent on publicity? All it costs is $2.50 for a coffee. Per customer. Per month. That’s all it takes. And Katrina’s community builds one customer at a time. Customers bring friends, friends bring friends and the dresses fly out of Katrina’s dress store.

If you are going to build a customer community, you don't have to spend a lot of money, but you will have to spend some time. Institutionalize the event. Make it like Southwest Airline's chili cookoff. I am planning my new firm's first customer appreciation event -- an outing to a Minor League Baseball Game. My cost is about $10.00 per person, which will include transportation and tickets. My dad and I will BBQ before the game in my office parking lot and we'll all take a bus to the game. I will invite fifty or so clients (and ask them to bring their family members, friends, and business associates) and one will be able to throw out the first pitch. For the cost of one yellow pages ad, I hope to have 100+ people talking about what a fun time they had because of my firm. What is your firm's signature event?

Speaking of Southwest Airlines, David has this post up on ethicalEsq about a law firm with Southwest Airlines-like focus on employee hapiness.

Branding vs. Naming Part III.

In my previous post, I discussed Marty Neumeier's advice on "branding" a business from his book "The Brand Gap." The author also sets out seven criteria for a good name:

1. Distinctiveness. Does it stand out from the crowd, especially from other names in its class? Does it separate well from ordinary text and speech? The best brand names have the "presence" of a proper noun.

2. Brevity. Is it short tenough to be easily recalled and used? Will it resist being reduced to a nickname? Long multi-word names will be quickly shortened to non-communicating initials.

3. Appropriateness. Is there a reasonable fit with the business purpose of the entity? If it would work just as well -- or better -- for another entity, keep looking.

4. Easy Spelling and Pronunciation. Will most people be able to spell the name after hearing it spoken? Will they be able to pronounce it after seeing it written? A name shouldn't turn into a spelling test or make people feel ignorant.

5. Likability. Will people enjoy using it? Names that are intellectually stimulating, or provide a good "mouth feel," have a headstart overt those that don't.

6. Extendability. Does it have "legs"? Does it suggest a visual interpretatiuon or lend itself to a number of creative executioins? Great names provide endless opportunities for brandplay.

7. Protectability. Can it be trademarked? Is it available for web use? While many names can be trademarked, some names are more defensible than others, making them safer and more valuable in the long run.

As I discussed in this previous post I have been thinking seriously about renaming my new firm. My present name: Homann Law and Mediation fails criteria 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 set forth above. Wow, what a stupid name that was.

What are your favorite law firm names? Mine is Competition Law Group.

Branding vs. Naming, Part II.

Just finished Marty Neumeier's "The Brand Gap" this weekend. It is a wonderful (and really short) book on branding. Neumeier defines a "brand" as

a person's gut feeling about a product, service, or company. ... When enough individuals arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can be said to have a brand. In other worrds, a brand is not what you say it is. It is what THEY say it is.

The author suggests every company should be able to instantly and unambiguously answer these three questions:

1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. Why does it matter?

This is a really hard exercise for lawyers. Go ahead, try it. I admit I get hung up on the second question before I even get to the third. I am (and have been for nearly 8 years) a "general practitioner" -- that kind of small-town lawyer who tries to be everything to everyone. In the past week, I've worked on a divorce, filed three evictions, drafted five deeds, and prepared two contracts for a client selling his business. Neumeier argues that "focus, focus, focus" are the three most important words in branding. He says that it is often better to be number one in a small category than to be number three in a large one. And if you can't be number one (or even number two)? Redefine your category. Being a general practitioner runs counter to Neumeier's advice to focus one's business. As I build my new law practice, I clearly have some work to do.