WHAT SETS YOUR BRAND APART AND MAKES IT ‘UNIQUE’?
The positioning of a brand can be gauged and identified by its connection to connect with the audience. The deeper the connection, the stronger the brand. Personal branding is very important in the legal industry, be it on an individual level, a law firm, or any other legal setup. Branding enables the proper flow of knowledge, identification, and establishment of the brand’s authority, attracts potential clients, and deepens trust amongst existing clients and the legal environment at large.
Vulnerability in branding humanizes a brand, making it relatable to clients and the public. When a brand acknowledges its imperfections or publicly shares its previous shortcomings and challenges and the efforts made to overcome them, it instantly connects with the client and becomes relatable and practical. Vulnerability is a dormant quality that not many firms embrace, yet this can play a vital role in setting your firm apart and making it stand above the rest.
Once the subject of the legal industry embraces vulnerability, it tends to create meaningful and lasting connections with the clients (existing as well as potential), peers, and internally within the team. Vulnerability can enhance teamwork and collaboration within the firm. It creates an atmosphere where team members are more likely to share ideas, seek help, and work together effectively. Demonstrating vulnerability in front of clients increases the trustworthiness of a firm and makes it more authentic. Authenticity is about being true to oneself and consistent in values upheld. It is an alignment between what a brand says and what it does. Authenticity differentiates the positioning of the brand in the market.
HOW CAN A BRAND TURN ITS VULNERABILITIES INTO ITS UNIQUE SELLING POINTS?
Compared to the other brands, a vulnerability-driven brand can easily differentiate itself from others in the market. The public can easily relate to any entity that matches human psychology and behavior. Brands can be just like humans, imperfect and vulnerable.
Law firms as a brand can stand out in the market by utilizing vulnerability as a USP in the following ways:
1. A brand should reach out to the public at large and establish a strong emotional bond. It should invest in its clients’ needs by lending ears, being approachable, financially reasonable, transparent with its values and thoughts, and trustworthy. Once the public, or clients, feel a strong connection with the brand, they are more likely to become strong advocates.
2. When brands display their weakness, failures, and mistakes, they simultaneously display their authenticity by being transparent and true to their clients or the public at large. It means a brand shows its case as it is. An authentic and transparent brand leaves no scope for disappointment as the clients already know what they are dealing with. Therefore, vulnerability-driven authenticity creates the base for long-term clients and attracts new ones.
3. A vulnerability-driven brand highlights the range of uncomfortable yet important points that resonate with its value system, it could be any controversial topic or any topic that aligns with or contradicts its value system, such highlighting attracts a kind of audience having the same value system, this is also one of the factors that decide the positioning of brand in the market. Such brands generally promote resilience, inclusivity, and work-life balance which ultimately benefits the client as well as the brand.
4. When a brand lets its guard down and voices out its flaws, past mistakes, and drawbacks, it creates two impressions: one is being ‘transparent’ and the second is ‘open to constructive criticism’. These two impressions can do wonders in creating a success story and updating the brand image if it openly works on its setbacks.
5. An authentic brand that exhibits vulnerability displays the clarity of its target audience, client expectations, values, and aspirations, due to this clarity, the brand can communicate its core message and create a unique space for itself in the market. It tends to create a safe space for their existing and potential clients as clients can also express their setbacks and weaknesses which gives the ultimate clarity about the clients as a result a step-by-step action plan can be created to mitigate or avoid similar potential setbacks. A vulnerability-driven brand has the advantage over others because it knows the exact weaknesses and expectations of the clients which helps to form an ideal business model that can benefit the client in the best possible way.
CALL TO ACTION
Be Vulnerable! Be Authentic!
The legal industry is ever-evolving, and with it, the concept of legal branding is tilting towards a more authentic and vulnerable model. Brands can curate innovative and effective marketing campaigns with the appropriate tools and strategies considering their end goals which ideally should be client satisfaction and client retention.
In the field of legal branding, the exhibition of balanced vulnerability will attract the desired results as it deepens the connection with clients, sets a positive narrative, and differentiates the brand. Therefore, by embracing authenticity and transparency over perfection, law firms can make a lasting impact both within the legal profession and in the lives of those they serve.
