Branding (All wrapped up)

I might be a mad gift wrap tearer, but I love a present that's beautifully presented rather than left in the bag plastic bag it came in. A gift that is nicely wrapped up, neat and tidy, shows a completely different level of care. Most people love the experience of unwrapping, the feeling of the paper and the theatre of pulling it all back and revealing what's inside. The wrapping is purely part of the experience, but it's an important part that makes a significant impression.

It shows care, effort, and a willingness to go the extra mile.

Branding in many ways is like wrapping. It's an important part of the experience and leads to the ultimate prize (more work!).

Now unless it's Christmas eve and you're madly trying to wrap 30 presents from Santa, it's unusual to combine different types of paper, add different bows or simply throw it in any bag you can find!

But that is exactly what some firms do with their branding.

Somewhat of a hodge podge. A weird combination of visual and message that doesn't go together.

Check out any random firms website, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Check out the blog. Have a look at the client content they put out or the events they run. No matter the firms size I can almost guarantee you that lot of them have significant inconsistencies with their brand imagery and messaging. From billion dollar firms to one person bands, for one reason or the other, some firms can't master the art of properly wrapping their presents.

And it's a shame, as your brand is the first thing people see. It's what gets your present put on the top of the pile  and gets it noticed (and that's what we want!). But inconsistency and poor quality rob your brand of that opportunity.

Does your imagery and voice on all platforms and with all the content you send out consistently represents the your brand? Do you even think about the visual qualities of your brand? Or do you  say close enough is good enough and skimp on doing a proper job?

It's also contradictory by action. How many law firm partners will say it's ok we'll get the work, they know who we are and what we have done in the past. Anyone else realise that this is a brand? And yet, brand doesn't stand still. Just because you were great before doesn't mean the market will always see you that way. A 1994 BMW 7 Series was a great motor car, but it's nothing on the 2023 model.

So what do you need to do to fix it?

• Have high expectations on the QUALITY of your brand presentation and imagery.
• Make sure your brand and imagery is CONSISTENT across all channels
• Be honest with yourself. Does the final product reflect what you want for your business?
• Do you personally have time or skills to make that happen or do you need help? Doing it all yourself or getting someone off-shore to manage your brands image is a recipe for disaster for most law firm owners.