Miami Legal Business Development | Branding | Law Firm Coaching | Paula Black

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Just because you keep bios in a consistent format doesn’t mean they have to be carbon copies. Play to your strengths but stick to your brand.

This week we asked: Are your firm bios consistent?

1) Yes - 45%

2) No - 55%

My Thoughts: More than half of you were not convinced that your firm bios were truly consistent. Time to change that. Even in smaller firms, keeping bios in the same format looks more professional, more branded and more cohesive.

The best way to ensure that bios look uniform is to charge one person with the task of organization and upkeep. Be it a marketing director, administrator, secretary or even receptionist, identify someone to take charge of the project and keep it on track.

Tip #1: The first step in a revamp is to create a questionnaire (click here to download ours) and use existing bios to fill in the information. Then send those questionnaires back to each individual attorney so that they can fill in any blanks or update outdated information.

Tip #2: Pick a format and stick to it. In what order do you want to present the information? Will you put dates on Bar Admissions? Undergraduate information before JD or vice versa? Will you separate membership listings in charitable organizations from professional organizations? All questions you should consider.

Tip #3: Look at your head shots. Do they look like they were photographed by the same person? Are they outdated? If you answered no to the first question and yes to the second you may want to look into investing in some new photos. Never underestimate the power of a strong head shot.

Black Pearl: Just because you’re an accomplished attorney it doesn’t mean you can’t have a sense of humor. Not all attorney bios are as serious as you may think. While you don’t have to take it as far as this guy (http://nylawblog.typepad.com/legalantics/2008/09/best-lawyer-bio.html), there are small ways to incorporate a sense of personality. My team and I came across D.C.-based Beverage & Diamond by accident and were impressed and inspired by their “Professionals” section. Take a look at the way they used photography to punch up their bios while still remaining, well… professional. (http://www.bdlaw.com/attorneys.html)
 

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Whenever I begin working with a new firm, one of the biggest challenges my team and I tackle (once the branding and positioning has been determined) is collecting and refining the firm biographies. Inevitably all of them will be formatted differently, many will contain out of date information and none of the head shots will have been taken by the same photographer. Sound familiar? Organizing, updating and creating consistency with your firm bios is a project, but one that can reap true rewards for your entire firm. So how do you go about it? Check back Thursday and I’ll share some insight.

Question of the Week: Do your firm bios reflect a unity within your firm and your branding?

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By regularly reevaluating even the simplest of marketing tools, you will make it easier to continually present a current visual representation of your firm.

This week we asked: When was the last time you evaluated your marketing materials?

1. ... within the last 6 months. 15%

2. ... within the last year. 37%

3. ... within the last 2 years. 13%

4. ... within the last 3 years or more. 35%

My Thoughts:
The results are almost evenly split... 52% that have focused and kept materials current... and 48% that have ignored their materials and the potential they have to help or hinder your business development efforts. Where do YOU fall?

As I mentioned on Tuesday, these five marketing materials are important tools in your ongoing marketing and business development efforts. They are what clients and potential clients will remember about you and your firm when you’re not around.  A few tips:

• Your website. Forget the fancy bells and whistles, does your website reflect your firm? Can a visitor to the site immediately understand who you are and what you do? If not, it may be time for an update.
• Your attorney biographies. An easy way to update your materials. Keep the information short and relevant to the clients that you are trying to land, not the ones you already have       
• Your business cards. Think outside the box...turn them vertical if your logo allows, go for a 2-sided card so that your firm name (or logo) takes center stage on one side or even add a tagline for extra marketing message punch.       
• Your brochure. Does your brochure have personal quotes from firm partners? Does it give statistics on the number of closings you did last year? Does it feel like it truly fits with your other materials or could it be generic to any firm your size? Use the website to get into real details...use your brochure to set the tone and keep it short and to the point.      
• Your E-mail. It may be simple but having a formatted e-mail signature with your firm logo, tagline (if you have one) and contact information lends an extra air of sophistication to an otherwise basic form of communication. Have them personalized for each attorney, secretary and paralegal...it will be a small detail that people will notice. 

As Gail McQuilken of Kozyak Tropin Throckmorton says:

“Brochures are not something that gets you the business. They are follow-up pieces that make people feel good about you. We take our firm’s brochure with us when we go out to see people. It’s a nice piece that carries through the look and feel of the firm, and the level of skill we have in handling sophisticated cases.”

Black Pearl: Although he hasn't yet posted his reviews for 2010, Micah Buchdahl's internetmarketingattorney.com is a great place to spend some time browsing through others firms' websites. By ranking and evaluating these law firm websites, Buchdahl gives great insight and might just inspire some new ideas for your own firm.