Personal Branding for Lawyers

Personal Branding matters more than ever now that we are online basically 24/7. Yes, even if you are a lawyer. Why? Let me tell you why and how to make it work for you! If you want to know more, feel free to get in touch at any time!

What is personal branding?

Personal branding is the most important thing you can do for your career. It’s what sets you apart from everyone else in your field, and it’s essential to creating a successful law practice.

But what exactly is personal branding? Personal branding is a promise of value that helps people understand why they should use your services over someone else. Your personal brand is part of your reputation, so when people hear about you or see how you operate as an attorney, it will help them decide if they want to work with you or not. If they trust and believe in your brand, then they know what kind of experience they’re going to get when working with you.

How to build your brand

Personal branding is a process that helps you develop a reputation in your field and build connections with clients, colleagues, and other professionals. It’s also an important part of any job search in today’s competitive market.

If you’re confused about what personal branding means or how to go about building your own, this guide will help you understand the importance of defining your brand and how best to do so.

Here are five tips for creating a successful personal brand:

• Develop your personal brand statement. Think of it as the elevator pitch for who you are as a professional—a short description that communicates why someone would want to work with or hire you. When developing this statement, use keywords from the job descriptions that interest you so employers can find their way back to your profile when they search online (this will help boost visibility).
• Polish your online presence. Make sure all social media profiles are consistent with one another and include all available contact information (email address, phone number); make sure there aren’t any embarrassing photos floating around on social media sites either! Also remember that Google+ accounts may be hidden from search engines while others like Twitter don’t hide content unless certain settings are changed which could lead people looking at them without being aware of what they contain!

Why a personal brand is important for lawyers

Personal branding is the process of creating a recognizable identity, brand name and reputation. It’s important to develop a personal brand because it can help you stand out in your field among competition, establish trust and credibility, and position yourself as an expert in your field. When done right, it can also help you land new clients, get referrals, and attract new opportunities.

5 tips for creating a personal brand

• Your brand is your reputation.
• Personal branding is a process, not an event. It’s important to know what you want your brand to be so that you can focus on the desired end result and invest in it accordingly. It won’t happen overnight, so be prepared to put in the time and effort necessary for success.
• You must be able to communicate your strengths—and there are many ways of doing that!

Develop your personal brand statement

A personal brand statement is the key to developing your professional identity, and it’s what will ultimately help you stand out among the crowd. Your personal brand statement should be short (1-2 sentences) and convey who you are as a professional, while also representing your values. It should paint an accurate picture of who you are as a person, so that others can recognize the real you when they meet or work with you.

Here’s how to write one:

• Make sure it’s about YOU! Focus on what makes YOU unique—not what others say about YOU (for example: “I am an experienced attorney” isn’t helpful).
• Keep it simple—no jargon or complicated explanations needed here! Just keep it direct and clear; this is not where anyone needs details on how awesomely good at lawyering stuff up was last year. Instead, focus on how being good at lawyering stuff up affects other people directly in their lives; remember that these are people who want someone like them for representation because they want someone who understands them personally.”

Polish your online presence

• Establish a presence on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Make sure that you are the only person with access to these accounts and that the content published is accurate and consistent with your professional reputation.
• Create an online portfolio or blog by creating a website for yourself or by writing for others. This should be available to anyone who wants to see it.

Find interesting ways to network professionally

• Get connected. If your goal is to be found by potential clients, then you need to be where they are. Join professional organizations, volunteer for community outreach programs and attend conferences for lawyers in your area. You might even consider taking on pro bono work or doing something else that will put you in the public eye as a person who cares about helping others.
• Be persistent when networking online and offline—and don’t be afraid to ask! When contacting other professionals through email or social media channels like LinkedIn, always be sure that you’ve done your research on them first so their response isn’t “Who are you?” If possible, offer some kind of value-added information upfront (e.g., “I noticed [company] was hiring attorneys—I just graduated from law school last month!”).
• Don’t miss opportunities at conferences and events hosted by professional associations because they’re too busy networking with old contacts and making new ones at sponsored expos booths; instead try talking directly with vendors about how their services could help solve problems faced by lawyers such as yourself during lunch breaks or after hours when everyone’s had too much alcohol consumption (or not enough!).

Say yes to more opportunities

When you say yes to more opportunities, you will become more visible in the eyes of your target audience. You can use this strategy as an opportunity to practice your personal brand statement and see how it fits with the types of opportunities that arise. As you gain confidence in your ability to deliver on a message, you’re more likely to land work that matches what you’re looking for.

Hone your writing skills

You might be a stellar legal mind and an impeccable professional, but your writing skills are what will set you apart in the highly competitive field of law. Many lawyers struggle to write well, which can be a major hindrance on their careers.

You can hone your writing skills by blogging about topics that interest you or that relate to your practice area(s). This will help develop your voice as well as teach valuable research and writing techniques. You could also try pitching a piece for publication in one of the many legal publications available (such as Lawyerist or Above the Law) where there’s a built-in audience for your work—and even better yet: someone will pay for it!

Seek out feedback

There are many ways to get feedback. A few include:

• seeking out people who can give you honest, constructive criticism
• getting feedback from your peers
• asking for a referral from an existing client or colleague

Personal branding is important for lawyers because it can help you stand out among competition, establish trust and credibility, and position yourself as an expert in your field.

As a lawyer, you know how important branding is. It’s imperative that you stand out from the competition and establish trust and credibility in order to position yourself as an expert in your field. The fact is, personal branding for lawyers will help you do all of these things – and more.

Here all that in presentation form and don’t forget that I’m always here for you if you want some help with your personal lawyer branding!