Business lawyers – your clients’ products are known by their brands. We’ve written many times about the tools you can use as a company’s attorney to help your clients build value by insightful trademark selection, appropriate trademark use, and successful trademark registration. But … what about your brand?
A product’s trademark is intimately tied to that product’s reputation. A personal brand is likewise closely tied to a person’s reputation. Your reputation is made up of various characteristics, such as your character, influence, notoriety, trustworthiness, dependability, repute and reliability. Those characteristics are formed over time – you don’t just instantly have them. It’s the same for a product trademark – brand value doesn’t happen overnight; it takes long-term and consistent product quality and distribution strategies.
CELEBRITY BRANDING
Celebrity branding is the ultimate form of personal branding and shows how it can be an interesting, powerful and sometimes fickle creature.
Taylor Swift is one of the most famous people in North America. Swift has won 14 Grammys. She is an extremely talented songwriter and performer. Her 2023-2024 Eras Tour is reportedly the highest-grossing concert tour of all time. She is on a roll, so to speak.
Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, is also on a roll. Since 2014, Kelce has played tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs team in the National Football League.
He is a three-time Super Bowl Champion, a nine-time Pro Bowler, and a seven-time All-Pro.
Swift and Kelce are uber-talented in their respective fields, and their union has amplified their individual celebrity endorsement values (such as Swift for Capital One and Kelce for Cheerios). They are both continually producing their products (entertainment services, of completely different natures) at consistently high levels.
PERSONAL BRANDING
Celebrity branding is, of course, a form of personal branding, albeit on a much bigger stage. The basic guidelines for success are the same, however, when dialed down to our non-celebrity level. As a lawyer you already have a personal brand, but you do need to intentionally refine and showcase it. The goal is to create a distinctive and memorable image amongst your peers and clients. To do so, you need to define your unique identity, expertise and professional persona.
These same essential attributes and actions apply generally to your clients’ product trademarks as well as to your personal brand. The first steps:
- Identify your individual strengths and unique personal Think: what sets you apart from other lawyers?
- Identify your expertise (or desired expertise). Focus on developing legal skills and knowledge that align with your interests.
- Define your target audience (e.g., business lawyers, construction companies, doctors, etc.).
PROMOTING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND
Those were the easy parts. Once you’ve done some of those, then you have to put yourself out there (a brand is nothing without some associated marketing). Here are some activities that can be employed to promote your personal brand:
Create content in your area of legal expertise. This can consist of blog posts, short articles (like the one you are reading now), social media postings, seminar/webinar presentations, etc. Then, release that content for consumption. Amplify the exposure of that content (and your associated expertise) to your target audience as much as you can such as via social media, email, and your firm’s website.
Join (and be active in) professional and legal associations. In doing so, seek mentoring guidance from senior lawyers and befriend your contemporaries.
Burn No Bridges! Do a great job, be personable, and don’t overpromise and then underdeliver. Several times after a dispute has been resolved, we’ve been approached by the other side or their attorneys to handle other matters, based on outcomes and the relationships we developed. You never know where your next client will come from. Never.
Be Consistent. When working for a client (large or small), treat that matter as the most important one on your desk. Always.
And … Be Genuine. Be your authentic self as you work, play and find ways to be involved with your intended consumers.
In the words of Philip Kotler (the Father of Modern Marketing): “If you are not a brand, you are a commodity.”
