Increasingly post-COVID many lawyers are taking more of an interest in their own Personal Brand. Many are now taking more of an interest in LinkedIn, and other social platforms, feeling that with less face-to-face interaction, they need to get online to remain visible and relevant to their clients and target audience.

Yet personal branding isn’t only about online activities. It is any activity that a lawyer undertakes to help boost and further promote their business. A great deal of it in the modern world happens on-line, but activities like speaking at conferences, hosting seminars and having articles published in printed magazines are an excellent way of boosting your personal brand. Like all marketing activities it pays to have a mixed-marketing platform approach, so I’d advise you to employ both online/digital and offline activities.

There is a great deal to learn about personal branding, which is why we developed a guide to BD and Personal Branding for Lawyers. I have also laid out a simple 5 step plan for you to follow.

The 5 steps to strengthen a lawyer’s personal brand

1. Understand and define your brand

Before you think about promoting or strengthening your personal brand, you need to understand what it is. Launching into updating your LinkedIn profile or trying to get on the speakers/webinar circuit without knowing this will see you trying to be all things to all people, which is a personal brand that is nigh-on impossible to build.

Instead, think about within your market, the sector your work in, what you want those people to know you for. When your clients and target market think of you, what do you want them to think? As an example, it may be “A commercial lawyer that works alongside business owners and provides business focused advice to help them achieve their goals.”.

2. Make time for personal branding and marketing

Now you know what your personal brand is, the next thing is to spend time strengthening it. Like all marketing activities, consistency of delivery is key. The odd post on LinkedIn will get a few likes but will not create a recognizable personal brand.

Instead set aside time during the week, say 15 minutes Tuesday and 15 minutes Thursday, to spend posting and sharing articles etc on LinkedIn. Dedicate time to delivering and promoting webinars.

The best way to start here is to decide how much time you have and then build a personal branding activity plan.

3. Build a Personal Branding activity plan

Now you know how much time you can commit to your personal branding the next stage is to focus on what activities you will undertake to promote and strengthen it.

Make this plan clear and actionable. E.g.

• Update LinkedIn bio

• Post 8 articles on LinkedIn per month

• Post one long-form post on LinkedIn per month

• Host a webinar every 2 months

• Write one article every 2 months

Even simple bullet points like the above will make it easy for you to follow and deliver your plan.

4. Sharing information beats self-promotion

In any form of personal branding people will want to read what you post on social media channels or listen to what you have to say, if you provide them with information that is of interest to them.  A LinkedIn post in which you showcase your expertise will most likely get little traction. However, one that informs people of a recent law change and then points out which are the areas that those affected by it need to be aware of, is key.

In these posts and commentary, I recommend that you make it clear what areas your clients and prospective clients need to be aware of, you are not giving a legal opinion or advice.

5. Be consistent and stick at it

This is really a key part of any branding exercise. Make your activities regular and consistent in the messages they send to the market. 

If within the first month you’re not getting lots of connection requests, referrals and leads, don’t worry about it. Personal Branding is a longer-term part of your business development strategy. Keep at it and the rewards will start to come. If 6-12 months down the line nothing is happening, then look at refining what you’re doing.

In Conclusion - How to strengthen a lawyer's personal brand

The 5 steps above give you a good basis to start to strengthen and enhance your personal brand. Of course, the execution and how you deliver the activities is key. It pays to take time, see what others are doing, and get feedback from colleagues or even assistance from marketing professionals. Whatever option you take, it is important that you remain in control of your personal brand, because after all, it is your personal brand.