June 30, 2025 • 12 mins
Why Your Law Firm's Branding Matters More Than You Think
Your firm's brand goes far beyond your logo or website colors. It's the powerful, often subconscious impression that forms in a potential client's mind before they ever speak with you.
Think about it—when someone receives a referral to your firm, their next move is almost certainly to Google you. In those critical moments scrolling through your website or reviews, they're already forming judgments about whether you're the right fit. That gut feeling? That's your brand at work.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Why your law firm's branding matters more than you
might think.
Welcome to Legal Marketing 101.
I'm Toby Rosen.
If your firm disappearedtomorrow, would anyone notice?
If not, we've got well abranding problem.
We are talking today about thehidden ROI of branding, why
logos and colors are probablythe least important part, and
(00:29):
how elite firms are buildingtrust with their clients before
a single phone call is made or asingle email is sent.
So let's get something straightright off the bat.
Your brand is not your logo.
It's not your fonts, yourcolors, that tagline you paid
some branding agency 15 grand tocome up with in 2016.
Those things are visual assets.
(00:50):
They're design assets, they'remarketing assets.
They're important, sure, butthey're just sort of the outer
layer of this.
Branding is a lot deeper thanthat.
It's the gut feeling thatsomeone has about your firm
before they ever even pick upthe phone or, you know, make
that final decision to hire you.
Think about it when someone'sbeen referred to your firm, what
(01:11):
happens next?
They're probably going toGoogle you.
They're going to land on yourwebsite.
They're going to check out yourreviews, glance at your
Instagram feed, and every one ofthose touch points is silently
telling them this story.
It's maybe a little bitsubconscious, but it's telling
them this because here's thekicker they are already forming
(01:32):
an opinion about you beforethey've read anything about your
biography.
They may never get to your bio.
They're already forming thisopinion, though, and branding is
that feeling that the persongets when your intake
coordinator picks up the phoneand they either sound like they
care or they sound like they'vebeen on hold with Comcast all
morning.
It's what your office feelslike when you walk in.
It's what your emails soundlike and how confidently your
(01:56):
firm's message carries fromplatform to platform.
If your Google reviews say coldand your homepage says you're
compassionate, that disconnectthat is the root of a branding
problem.
Jeff Bezos is widely quoted ashaving said your brand is what
people say about you when you'renot in the room, and that hits
(02:16):
pretty hard in the legal field,where so many referrals happen
behind closed doors.
Essentially, if someone says,call these guys, they're sharp,
they don't waste time, that'syour brand at work.
But if someone else is saying,eh, they're okay, but they never
really followed up with me, orthey didn't call me back or they
didn't help me with this,that's your brand too.
And here's the part that mostfirms miss.
The best branding does notshout, it whispers.
(02:40):
It builds trust before you'veeven made your case or talked to
the client.
It doesn't need to convince.
It confirms what people alreadywant to believe about you that
you're credible, that you care,that you know what the hell
you're doing.
So no, branding is not justabout looking the part.
It's really not about that atall.
(03:00):
It's about being consistent.
It's about being intentionaland memorable in every action,
especially the ones you don'teven realize you're having.
So here's the mindset shiftthat most firms need to make.
Branding isn't just this fluffymarketing expense we cut when
things get tight.
It's a multiplier.
A strong brand doesn't justlook good, it makes everything
(03:22):
else work better.
Let's look at our cost per lead.
We can take Google Ads as aspecific example of this.
But when someone already knowsour name, when they've heard
good things about us and thenwhen they see our online
presence feeling pretty dialedin, that person isn't going to
need multiple clicks.
They're not going to need threefollow-up emails, two sales
calls.
(03:43):
They're already 50, 60, 70%sold by the time they talk to
you the first time.
And that kind of trust shortensyour sales cycle and lowers
your cost per acquisition a lotover time.
We're not just buying clickswhen we go to do advertising
like Google ads, or we push onSEO.
We are converting belief intobusiness, and the same goes for
(04:05):
your intake team.
A strong brand removes friction.
People come in with fewerdoubts, less hesitation, more
urgency to move forward, fewerquestions, fewer annoyances.
That's what I mean.
It's not magic, it's momentum.
Your team is going to spendless time convincing people and
more time taking their creditcards.
And here's something thatlawyers don't talk about really
(04:28):
at all, but I'll just say enoughInternal branding.
When your team actually feelsproud to wear the logo, when
your values are clear andconsistent, retention gets a lot
easier.
Recruitment gets a lot easier.
Suddenly, you're not justanother firm offering a paycheck
, another windowless room in atower that someone can work in.
(04:50):
You're a place that people wantto be a part of.
Yeah, it does sound likeFacebook or Google from 10 or 20
years ago, but the reality isthat companies do this every day
.
They make their office a placepeople want to be a part of, and
when it comes to your frontdesk or your sales, it shines
through.
And then there's damage control, because every firm does get a
(05:10):
bad review eventually, or youlose a big case and something
bad happens.
But when you get that weirdcomment on social, if the team
believes in the mission, if it'sa something that they really
want to be doing and if peoplecan obviously see what's what's
going on the strong brand thatyou've built, it acts like a
buffer.
People will give you thebenefit of the doubt because
(05:31):
you've built this trust, equitywith these potential clients,
with the community, and that isvaluable.
It certainly can bring in moreclients, but it's also really
valuable as insurance If you'rea good person, a good firm, an
active member of the communityand you build a brand that
people really like.
One bad comment on social media, one weird thing on Facebook,
(05:54):
it's not going to spell the end.
And finally, before we jump offof these ideas, I want to talk
about pricing power.
This isn't something we'regoing to spend a huge amount of
time on, but the firms that haveforgettable brands they race to
the bottom.
But when people are actuallyable to believe in your value,
they're not going to questionthe rate.
They just want you and whateverit is you're working on,
(06:16):
they're going to figure out howto pay for it.
Okay, so you're on board.
You understand that brandingmatters, but what now?
You've mastered the thingswe've just talked about?
How do you actually know ifyour law firm's brand is working
for you or against you?
How do you actually know?
If you've mastered those things, let's talk about how to audit
what you've got and make someactually meaningful upgrades to
(06:38):
your system.
So let's start with a quickself-check.
First is is your messageconsistent?
Look at the website, yourGoogle business profile, your
email signature, your socialmedia, even your hold message on
the phone system.
Does it all sound like it camefrom the same firm?
Or does it feel like thispatchwork of different voices,
tones, priorities that differentmarketing and consulting
(07:00):
agencies have stitched togetherover the years?
Next, do your visuals match thekind of clients you want to
attract?
If you're a boutique estateplanning firm for high net worth
families, but your websitelooks like a you know template
for a coffee shop from 2012,that is a disconnect that is
costing you.
People make snap judgments.
(07:20):
It's just human, and designspeaks volumes about
professionalism, quality andwhether you're going to get the
person.
Now let's also ask would astranger understand what our
firm stands for in 30 seconds orless?
What about 10 seconds or less?
This isn't just about ourpractice areas.
It's about our positioning.
(07:40):
Do we fight for the underdog?
Do we deliver concierge levelservice?
Do we fight for the underdog?
Do we deliver concierge levelservice?
Do we specialize in high stakeslitigation?
Whatever it is, that messageneeds to be the most obvious and
most consistent thing you do,because if someone has to dig
for this and they can't figureout what it is you do in the
first place, you've just alreadylost them.
Now let's talk about upgrades.
(08:02):
First is tighten your valueproposition.
It's time to ditch vague claimslike we handle all types of law
or we fight for you.
That doesn't tell anyoneanything.
It tells us less than nothing.
Instead, be really specific.
We help small business ownersnavigate complex employment
disputes without draining theirtime or their budget.
(08:24):
That's a message.
It's a little wordy, but it's amessage.
Next, align your brand voice.
Most law firm websites stillsound like they were written by
a bored paralegal channeling a1980s law textbook that they
sniffed Loosen up.
Speak like a human whounderstands the emotional weight
of legal problems.
Because you do, you can beauthoritative without sounding
(08:45):
robotic.
Most of you are doing thisevery day with your staff and
with your clients.
Do it on the website.
And another upgrade invest inprofessional photography and a
clear visual identity, or put itthrough the AI.
Honestly, your brand isn't justwords.
It's images, fonts, layout,color.
Yes, I said it wasn't, but it'sall the pieces.
If everything looks generic,people are also going to assume
(09:07):
that your work is generic.
So make sure that you havesomething that looks good,
because this doesn't need to beflashy, it doesn't need to be
over the top, but it does needto make you look intentional.
And here's one that getsoverlooked all the time.
Honestly, it's probably thebiggest one but your intake team
.
They're really the key part ofyour brand.
If you're spending thousandsand thousands of dollars on ads
(09:30):
and your receptionist answersthe phone like she's annoyed
that someone called her, that'sa branding fail.
Train your team to carry thesame tone you project online.
It needs to be consistent,whether it's friendly and
supportive, elite and exclusive,scrappy and aggressive,
whatever it is, everyone on thefront lines need to live that
branding, because your brand isnot one big thing or it's not
(09:53):
one thing made up of a fewthings.
It's a thousand tiny things,each one either reinforcing
trust or, in the worst cases,each one either reinforcing
trust or, in the worst cases,eroding it.
Doing a brand audit, making afew smart upgrades, can have a
ripple effect across your entirefirm.
You don't need to be MorganMorgan to have a strong brand.
All you need to do is be clear,consistent and do something
(10:17):
that people can actually feel.
Whether you're working on yourwebsite or working on adjusting
the pay-per-click ads so they'remore consistent with what
somebody gets when they pick upthe phone, the key is to make
that experience consistent fromA to Z.
For more than a decade, I'veworked with firms that work with
marketing agencies that givethem cookie-cutter websites.
They get the same thing thatthe guy down the street has, or
(10:39):
the guy two blocks over has, andit's the same thing that the
guy in the next state has andthe guy in that state over from
that has.
They put these templates up forthousands and thousands of law
firms and while this can work ifyour brand is strong offline,
it's really important tounderstand how all-encompassing
branding is.
Whether it's your website,whether it's your Facebook page,
(11:01):
whether it's the way you'redriving down the street with
your law firm's bumper stickeron the car, your branding is
your conversation engine, it'syour first impression, and
whether someone's going to seeyour Google my Business, or
they're going to see you on TVor they're going to hear you on
the radio.
This is your reputationfirewall.
When we're talking about issues, when we're talking about
saving money, the brand is thefirst thing we need to rely on.
(11:24):
Now, I'd love to say we'll beback with more branding episodes
in the future, but it's,frankly, a little bit unlikely.
Branding is something that isabsolutely necessary, but it's
also something that firms reallyhave to take on themselves, and
it's something that you have todo in a lot of different ways,
depending on your situation,depending on your community, and
(11:47):
it's one of those things that,while I would love to be doing
something more service relatedwith this, it's really best when
just done right.
So that's it for LegalMarketing 101.
Check out RosenAdvertisingcomfor more Thanks.
Why your law firm's branding matters more than you
might think.
Welcome to Legal Marketing 101.
I'm Toby Rosen.
If your firm disappearedtomorrow, would anyone notice?
If not, we've got well abranding problem.
We are talking today about thehidden ROI of branding, why
logos and colors are probablythe least important part, and
(00:29):
how elite firms are buildingtrust with their clients before
a single phone call is made or asingle email is sent.
So let's get something straightright off the bat.
Your brand is not your logo.
It's not your fonts, yourcolors, that tagline you paid
some branding agency 15 grand tocome up with in 2016.
Those things are visual assets.
(00:50):
They're design assets, they'remarketing assets.
They're important, sure, butthey're just sort of the outer
layer of this.
Branding is a lot deeper thanthat.
It's the gut feeling thatsomeone has about your firm
before they ever even pick upthe phone or, you know, make
that final decision to hire you.
Think about it when someone'sbeen referred to your firm, what
(01:11):
happens next?
They're probably going toGoogle you.
They're going to land on yourwebsite.
They're going to check out yourreviews, glance at your
Instagram feed, and every one ofthose touch points is silently
telling them this story.
It's maybe a little bitsubconscious, but it's telling
them this because here's thekicker they are already forming
(01:32):
an opinion about you beforethey've read anything about your
biography.
They may never get to your bio.
They're already forming thisopinion, though, and branding is
that feeling that the persongets when your intake
coordinator picks up the phoneand they either sound like they
care or they sound like they'vebeen on hold with Comcast all
morning.
It's what your office feelslike when you walk in.
It's what your emails soundlike and how confidently your
(01:56):
firm's message carries fromplatform to platform.
If your Google reviews say coldand your homepage says you're
compassionate, that disconnectthat is the root of a branding
problem.
Jeff Bezos is widely quoted ashaving said your brand is what
people say about you when you'renot in the room, and that hits
(02:16):
pretty hard in the legal field,where so many referrals happen
behind closed doors.
Essentially, if someone says,call these guys, they're sharp,
they don't waste time, that'syour brand at work.
But if someone else is saying,eh, they're okay, but they never
really followed up with me, orthey didn't call me back or they
didn't help me with this,that's your brand too.
And here's the part that mostfirms miss.
The best branding does notshout, it whispers.
(02:40):
It builds trust before you'veeven made your case or talked to
the client.
It doesn't need to convince.
It confirms what people alreadywant to believe about you that
you're credible, that you care,that you know what the hell
you're doing.
So no, branding is not justabout looking the part.
It's really not about that atall.
(03:00):
It's about being consistent.
It's about being intentionaland memorable in every action,
especially the ones you don'teven realize you're having.
So here's the mindset shiftthat most firms need to make.
Branding isn't just this fluffymarketing expense we cut when
things get tight.
It's a multiplier.
A strong brand doesn't justlook good, it makes everything
(03:22):
else work better.
Let's look at our cost per lead.
We can take Google Ads as aspecific example of this.
But when someone already knowsour name, when they've heard
good things about us and thenwhen they see our online
presence feeling pretty dialedin, that person isn't going to
need multiple clicks.
They're not going to need threefollow-up emails, two sales
calls.
(03:43):
They're already 50, 60, 70%sold by the time they talk to
you the first time.
And that kind of trust shortensyour sales cycle and lowers
your cost per acquisition a lotover time.
We're not just buying clickswhen we go to do advertising
like Google ads, or we push onSEO.
We are converting belief intobusiness, and the same goes for
(04:05):
your intake team.
A strong brand removes friction.
People come in with fewerdoubts, less hesitation, more
urgency to move forward, fewerquestions, fewer annoyances.
That's what I mean.
It's not magic, it's momentum.
Your team is going to spendless time convincing people and
more time taking their creditcards.
And here's something thatlawyers don't talk about really
(04:28):
at all, but I'll just say enoughInternal branding.
When your team actually feelsproud to wear the logo, when
your values are clear andconsistent, retention gets a lot
easier.
Recruitment gets a lot easier.
Suddenly, you're not justanother firm offering a paycheck
, another windowless room in atower that someone can work in.
(04:50):
You're a place that people wantto be a part of.
Yeah, it does sound likeFacebook or Google from 10 or 20
years ago, but the reality isthat companies do this every day
.
They make their office a placepeople want to be a part of, and
when it comes to your frontdesk or your sales, it shines
through.
And then there's damage control, because every firm does get a
(05:10):
bad review eventually, or youlose a big case and something
bad happens.
But when you get that weirdcomment on social, if the team
believes in the mission, if it'sa something that they really
want to be doing and if peoplecan obviously see what's what's
going on the strong brand thatyou've built, it acts like a
buffer.
People will give you thebenefit of the doubt because
(05:31):
you've built this trust, equitywith these potential clients,
with the community, and that isvaluable.
It certainly can bring in moreclients, but it's also really
valuable as insurance If you'rea good person, a good firm, an
active member of the communityand you build a brand that
people really like.
One bad comment on social media, one weird thing on Facebook,
(05:54):
it's not going to spell the end.
And finally, before we jump offof these ideas, I want to talk
about pricing power.
This isn't something we'regoing to spend a huge amount of
time on, but the firms that haveforgettable brands they race to
the bottom.
But when people are actuallyable to believe in your value,
they're not going to questionthe rate.
They just want you and whateverit is you're working on,
(06:16):
they're going to figure out howto pay for it.
Okay, so you're on board.
You understand that brandingmatters, but what now?
You've mastered the thingswe've just talked about?
How do you actually know ifyour law firm's brand is working
for you or against you?
How do you actually know?
If you've mastered those things, let's talk about how to audit
what you've got and make someactually meaningful upgrades to
(06:38):
your system.
So let's start with a quickself-check.
First is is your messageconsistent?
Look at the website, yourGoogle business profile, your
email signature, your socialmedia, even your hold message on
the phone system.
Does it all sound like it camefrom the same firm?
Or does it feel like thispatchwork of different voices,
tones, priorities that differentmarketing and consulting
(07:00):
agencies have stitched togetherover the years?
Next, do your visuals match thekind of clients you want to
attract?
If you're a boutique estateplanning firm for high net worth
families, but your websitelooks like a you know template
for a coffee shop from 2012,that is a disconnect that is
costing you.
People make snap judgments.
(07:20):
It's just human, and designspeaks volumes about
professionalism, quality andwhether you're going to get the
person.
Now let's also ask would astranger understand what our
firm stands for in 30 seconds orless?
What about 10 seconds or less?
This isn't just about ourpractice areas.
It's about our positioning.
(07:40):
Do we fight for the underdog?
Do we deliver concierge levelservice?
Do we fight for the underdog?
Do we deliver concierge levelservice?
Do we specialize in high stakeslitigation?
Whatever it is, that messageneeds to be the most obvious and
most consistent thing you do,because if someone has to dig
for this and they can't figureout what it is you do in the
first place, you've just alreadylost them.
Now let's talk about upgrades.
(08:02):
First is tighten your valueproposition.
It's time to ditch vague claimslike we handle all types of law
or we fight for you.
That doesn't tell anyoneanything.
It tells us less than nothing.
Instead, be really specific.
We help small business ownersnavigate complex employment
disputes without draining theirtime or their budget.
(08:24):
That's a message.
It's a little wordy, but it's amessage.
Next, align your brand voice.
Most law firm websites stillsound like they were written by
a bored paralegal channeling a1980s law textbook that they
sniffed Loosen up.
Speak like a human whounderstands the emotional weight
of legal problems.
Because you do, you can beauthoritative without sounding
(08:45):
robotic.
Most of you are doing thisevery day with your staff and
with your clients.
Do it on the website.
And another upgrade invest inprofessional photography and a
clear visual identity, or put itthrough the AI.
Honestly, your brand isn't justwords.
It's images, fonts, layout,color.
Yes, I said it wasn't, but it'sall the pieces.
If everything looks generic,people are also going to assume
(09:07):
that your work is generic.
So make sure that you havesomething that looks good,
because this doesn't need to beflashy, it doesn't need to be
over the top, but it does needto make you look intentional.
And here's one that getsoverlooked all the time.
Honestly, it's probably thebiggest one but your intake team
.
They're really the key part ofyour brand.
If you're spending thousandsand thousands of dollars on ads
(09:30):
and your receptionist answersthe phone like she's annoyed
that someone called her, that'sa branding fail.
Train your team to carry thesame tone you project online.
It needs to be consistent,whether it's friendly and
supportive, elite and exclusive,scrappy and aggressive,
whatever it is, everyone on thefront lines need to live that
branding, because your brand isnot one big thing or it's not
(09:53):
one thing made up of a fewthings.
It's a thousand tiny things,each one either reinforcing
trust or, in the worst cases,each one either reinforcing
trust or, in the worst cases,eroding it.
Doing a brand audit, making afew smart upgrades, can have a
ripple effect across your entirefirm.
You don't need to be MorganMorgan to have a strong brand.
All you need to do is be clear,consistent and do something
(10:17):
that people can actually feel.
Whether you're working on yourwebsite or working on adjusting
the pay-per-click ads so they'remore consistent with what
somebody gets when they pick upthe phone, the key is to make
that experience consistent fromA to Z.
For more than a decade, I'veworked with firms that work with
marketing agencies that givethem cookie-cutter websites.
They get the same thing thatthe guy down the street has, or
(10:39):
the guy two blocks over has, andit's the same thing that the
guy in the next state has andthe guy in that state over from
that has.
They put these templates up forthousands and thousands of law
firms and while this can work ifyour brand is strong offline,
it's really important tounderstand how all-encompassing
branding is.
Whether it's your website,whether it's your Facebook page,
(11:01):
whether it's the way you'redriving down the street with
your law firm's bumper stickeron the car, your branding is
your conversation engine, it'syour first impression, and
whether someone's going to seeyour Google my Business, or
they're going to see you on TVor they're going to hear you on
the radio.
This is your reputationfirewall.
When we're talking about issues, when we're talking about
saving money, the brand is thefirst thing we need to rely on.
(11:24):
Now, I'd love to say we'll beback with more branding episodes
in the future, but it's,frankly, a little bit unlikely.
Branding is something that isabsolutely necessary, but it's
also something that firms reallyhave to take on themselves, and
it's something that you have todo in a lot of different ways,
depending on your situation,depending on your community, and
(11:47):
it's one of those things that,while I would love to be doing
something more service relatedwith this, it's really best when
just done right.
So that's it for LegalMarketing 101.
Check out RosenAdvertisingcomfor more Thanks.
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