Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms. Sean Larkan

Transcription

1 Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms Sean Larkan Published by In association with

2 Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms is published by Ark Group UK/EUROPE OFFICE Ark Conferences Ltd Paulton House 8 Shepherdess Walk London N1 7LB United Kingdom Tel +44 (0) Fax +44 (0) publishing@ark-group.com NORTH AMERICA OFFICE Ark Group Inc 4408 N. Rockwood Drive Suite 150 Peoria IL United States Tel Fax publishingna@ark-group.com ASIA/PACIFIC OFFICE Ark Group Australia Pty Ltd Main Level 83 Walker Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia Tel Fax aga@arkgroupasia.com Online bookshop Editor Evie Serventi eserventi@ark-group.com Reports Publisher International Fiona Tucker ftucker@ark-group.com UK/Europe marketing enquiries Robyn Macé rmace@ark-group.com US marketing enquiries Daniel Smallwood dsmallwood@ark-group.com Asia/Pacific marketing enquiries Steve Oesterreich aga@arkgroupasia.com ISBN: (hard copy) (PDF) Copyright The copyright of all material appearing within this publication is reserved by the author and Ark Conferences It may not be reproduced, duplicated or copied by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. ARK2205

3 Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms Sean Larkan Published by In association with

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5 Contents Executive summary...vii About the author...xi Acknowledgements...XIII Foreword...XV Chapter 1: Understanding brand The fundamentals... 1 Introduction and trends... 1 Why brand is vital for law firm success... 2 The role of design, creativity and innovation... 5 Why brand is challenging... 6 Who to involve in developing, maintaining and building brand... 9 Three important types of brand for all law firms... 9 Subsidiary brands Why it is critical to develop a brand strategy Chapter 2: The key elements of a brand strategy The elements of a brand strategy Brand vision The charismatic brand Brand offering Strategic key objectives Strategies Avoiding a Brand Gap Brand management, monitoring and discipline Who should manage and lead the process? Stress testing your brand strategy Case study 1: DLA Piper and DLA Phillips Fox merger Chapter 3: The brand offering What is a brand offering? The importance of the brand offering What are the elements of the brand offering? III

6 Contents Why a one-page brand offering? A framework for a typical brand offering: Bloggs and Jones Lawyers Chapter 4: Brand fusion What is brand fusion? Achieving brand fusion Unity and amplification is key Issuing a brand compass or brandometer to partners and staff Chapter 5: Where brand rubber hits the road The role of design and aesthetics Law firms can take real lessons from this approach The challenge of left-brain thinking Brand icons Websites, packaging and the reading sequence The written word What s in a name? Taglines or mantras The role of leaders Chapter 6: Avoiding a brand gap and building strategy alignment Strategy alignment How can these gaps arise in practice? Inherent challenges impacting alignment Chapter 7: Stress testing brand strategy A road map to strategic implementation Why stress test strategy? Challenge your strategy Other recommendations How to get there A stress test checklist Chapter 8: The employment brand What do we mean by employment brand? Challenges in developing your employment brand The benefits of developing a separate employment brand The importance of good people practice in your employment brand Stress testing the firm s brand strategy The foundational elements of building a strong employment brand Building engagement levels Employment brand fusion The critical role of trust Good times sometimes create a false sense of security Assessment and review of employment brands IV

7 Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms Education Employment brands for partners Employment brands and firm websites Chapter 9: The firm brand How do we develop the firm s brand? Addressing the fundamentals Leadership involvement The importance of USA (unify, simplify amplify) SWOT test your brand Identifying brand SKOs Developing brand strategies An action plan and timeline Crafting the firm's brand offering Staff involvement Where brand rubber hits the road Chapter 10: Personal brands Personal brands Why bother? Developing a personal brand strategy A personal brand strategy framework A personal brand offer Personal skills and soft skills A summary statement or value proposition Personal brand key objectives The importance of thought leadership skills Building a personal profile A personal plan Chapter 11: Brand challenges No formal brand strategy Brand seen as comprising the firm's name, logo and aesthetics Brand management left solely to the marketing department No brand discipline Lack of brand fusion No personal brand development Variable recruitment and retention success rates for the firm Brand strategy is developed then lapses Chapter 12: Brand and strategic communication Means of communication Digital communications Key factors law firms need to consider The importance of online digital communication channels Other digital media V

8 Contents Chapter 13: The brand implications flowing from law firm mergers Challenges for a firm s brand post-merger Name usage Recommended steps for a merger Chapter 14: Brand discipline, management and brand champions Management Brand champions Brand compasses and brandometers Staff meetings and functions Chapter 15: Brand and law firm networks Brand challenges for law firm networks and members Particular strategies for law firm networks Encouraging trust and pride A brand vision Towards a charismatic brand Case study 2: Lex Africa Case study 3: Lex Mundi Index VI

9 Executive summary Brand is a valuable asset to every firm. How a firm s brand is viewed by existing and potential clients and other influencers determines a firm s success or failure. How a firm s employment brand is experienced will impact how existing and potential personnel regard working for the firm. Brand permeates everything. Everyone in a firm influences it by what they do and don t do. Everything the firm does or does not do influences it. It goes to the very heart of an organisation and is really about how an organisation is designed, how it functions, how it delivers service, from top to bottom, inside and out. It needs understanding. It needs creativity and innovation. It also needs strategic leadership and management. This report provides a simple, clear and practical framework around brand. It is aimed at everyone within a professional services firm environment (including partners, managers and staff), not just marketing or brand specialists. It is, however, primarily aimed at providing leaders and senior management with a clear understanding of brand and how it can be strengthened and nurtured as a valuable asset of every firm. It is relevant to every partner within the firm as it also focuses on personal brands and employment brands. I hope I have cut to the heart of what brand is about (and what it is not about) and provided a framework anyone in any law firm can use. Chapter 1 is about the fundamentals and understanding brand. It considers: Why brand is important and valuable; How brand can provide differentiation for a firm; What brand is and what it is not; That brand is dynamic and goes to the fundamentals of designing the firm s business model; The important role of design and aesthetics; Why brand is challenging but why it is important to keep brand simple; The benefits of a strong brand; The importance of trust; The risks of a weak brand and who to involve in building a brand; brand compared to reputation and creating a brand virtuous cycle; The three types of brand which are important; and Why it makes sense to develop a brand strategy. Chapter 2 outlines a framework to develop a brand strategy including: Who builds, leads and manages brand? The key elements of a brand strategy and what you should be aiming to achieve through that strategy; The executive summary and positioning, the brand vision and the charismatic brand; The importance of clarifying the brand offering and the need to achieve brand fusion; Strategic key objectives (SKOs) and strategies; VII

10 Executive summary Avoiding a brand gap, and the importance of alignment and stress-testing the strategy; The concept of Brand Virtuous Cycle Strategy; A brand strategy risk review and reality check; A strategy timeline and review program; and Brand discipline and management. Chapter 3 goes into more detail about the all-important brand offering including: What the brand offering is; Why is it important; The elements of the offering, including services offered, industry sector focus; and Distinctive elements of how services are delivered, for instance, geographic focus and people focus. Chapter 4 introduces the concept of brand fusion ensuring that what is offered by the firm as components of its brand are actually experienced by those who determine the brand and highlights the importance of communication, education and consistency. The role of Ken Carbone s USA test and the importance of unity and amplification are explained. The usefulness of issuing brand compasses to staff is considered. A brand strategy needs to ensure important, relevant information about a firm and its professionals is easily accessible and is conveyed to clients and others. Brand must also connect with the individuals on an emotional, feel level; it does this through the use of attractive, creative design, colours and aesthetic elements. Chapter 5 considers this important role of design and aesthetics, where brand rubber hits the road. These include brand icons and logos, websites, packaging, the reading sequence, brand names, writing, taglines and mantras. It also looks at the role of leaders. Chapters 4 and 5 address the link between brand and firm values and the importance of building trust; understanding how values underpin brand as does the engagement levels of staff; the role of partners and staff and getting them on board to support and grow the brand; collaboration and the concept of the brand compass. Chapter 6 focuses on the concept of avoiding a brand gap been firm strategy and brand strategy, and building strategy alignment between brand strategy and any other firm strategies. How the gaps can arise is also considered as one of the challenges in achieving alignment. Chapter 7 emphasises the importance of: Avoiding complacency and stress-testing and challenging strategy at every opportunity; Education, getting all key personnel involved, conducting on the go testing and ensuring regular report-backs is addressed. Providing a road-map to strategic implementation and incorporating a stress-test checklist, covering all elements of strategy from vision and other foundational elements, positioning, SKOs and risk reviews; Regular report backs on implementation and conducting formal reviews. Chapter 8 considers the critically important employment brand, focusing on the following: What is meant by an employment brand and what it is not. The challenges faced in developing an employment brand; Rationale for developing a separate employment brand; VIII

11 Brand Strategy and Management for Law Firms Benefits of an employment brand and the foundational elements of a strong employment brand high engagement levels, employees as your marketers, access to high calibre candidates, fewer offer rejections, better support for partners, better succession planning, improved utilisation, lower recruitment costs and time spent on recruitment, improved sense of confidence creating a virtuous cycle, greater chances of referral from alumni, reduced negative staff turnover and recruited staff via referrals are more aligned; The need for strong engagement and maintaining strong productivity and team work; The foundational elements; Core essence and purpose in relation to employment brands; Building engagement while maintaining strong productivity; Partner/fee earner and manager/support staff teams; The oft-overlooked but important area of human resources systems and processes as a foundation for an employment brand; Employment brand fusion, avoiding an employment brand gap, the critical role of trust in relation to employment brands and the challenges of building and maintaining such a brand; Reality check good times sometimes create a false sense of security; Assessment and review of employment brands; Employment brands for partners; and Employment brands and firm websites. Chapter 9 highlights the distinctive elements of a firm brand, including vision and brand fundamentals such as core values, cultural attributes, practice areas and industry sector specialties. It also considers: Identifying brand strategic key objectives; Achieving brand fusion; The importance of building trust and loyalty; The role of leadership and communicating with and consulting partners; The importance of USA (unify, simplify and amplify) and the simple but important SWOT exercise; Developing brand strategies and crafting the firm s brand offering; The role of leadership and getting the staff on-board; and The importance of brand names, icons or logos, design and aesthetics. Chapter 10 introduces a guest author Shirley Anne Fortina of Pod Consulting and explains the relationship between personal brands, the firm brand and the employment brand. We consider the importance of professionals understanding their own personal styles of thinking, behaving and interacting with others, as well as personal and soft skills such as body language, communication, active listening and the use of social media as well as a summary statement or value proposition. Included is a framework to assist in crafting the personal brand offer and ways to build a personal profile and develop a personal plan. Chapter 11 highlights brand problems and challenges and solutions including: Having no brand strategy; Brand seen simply as comprising the firm s name, logo and possibly colour schemes; Brand development left in its entirety to the marketing department; No brand discipline; Lack of brand fusion; No personal brand development; and Variable retention and success rates for the firm. IX

12 Executive summary Chapter 12 addresses the important subject of brand and strategic communications which includes online digital media and the traditional media channels, and considers what clients are looking for in the way of online communication and information. It also looks at: The means of communication; The question of whether firms are getting this right and what it is clients are looking for; What firms need to be particularly conscious of; and What firms need to consider in relation to particular online channels such as websites; blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Chapter 13 deals with the implications for brand of law firm mergers and particular challenges which can arise, including: Building a shared vision amongst the merging entities; Values and cultural attributes for the merged entity; Communication and ensuring understanding of brand and its components between the partners and staff of merged, sometimes geographically dispersed firms; Achieving discipline and consistency; Recommended steps to take before, during and 100 days, or Golden hour, immediately following a merger; Strategy alignment and avoiding strategy gaps between the merging entities; and Name usage and different alternatives considered. a positive atmosphere around brand. Brand champions, brand compasses and brandometers are introduced as well as the importance of staff meetings and functions to highlight brand successes. Chapter 15 highlights the importance of considering brand in relation to the increasingly common advent of international and national networks of law firms. Other issues include: Special challenges due to the geographic dispersion of the network firms; Potential cultural and language challenges which call for special attention; Lack of knowledge of the network amongst member firm partners; Problems around proof of value, the need for education and the challenges of differing technology platforms; Finding the balance between independence and being part of a wellmanaged network; and The role of strategic communication. Chapter 14 emphasises the importance of brand discipline and the need for active management whilst maintaining X

13 About the author Sean Larkan BA LLB MBA MPh CMC is a partner in Edge International, the leading specialist consultancy to the global legal profession. He specialises in assisting firms and legal entities with strategic issues including growth, market penetration and dominance, governance and structuring, mergers, and all activities necessary for strategy implementation and getting results. He is responsible for devising the Edge International vision and strategy as well as its brand strategy, and drives their implementation for Edge. He is a former commercial/tax lawyer, is MBA-qualified, an accredited Human Synergistics practitioner and is an internationally-accredited Master Coach. He works closely with firm leadership to get the results they seek and has a deep understanding of management and leadership challenges and methodologies. He specialises in assisting with strategic issues such as performance optimisation, governance and firm structures, growth and competitive market dominance, brand (organisational, employment brand and personal brands), strategy implementation, alignment and stress-testing, and all matters pertaining to partnership, where he has a track record of optimising partner-team (the critical cog ) performance. Sean has six years experience providing strategy, leadership and management consulting to professional service firms (PSFs), law firms and businesses and 20 years experience leading large corporate law firms in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in managing partner/ CEO roles. Sean has a track record as an innovator in the professional services industry, for example: He established Lex Africa (the oldest and largest network of exclusively African firms 30 countries); Achieved a first in linking bank mainframes to law firms and developing unique document assembly packages in the 1990s; His unique Brand Fusion methodology (to get brand understood and to build real brand value); His Responsible Partner program (to optimise partner/professional performance); Capital Fabric (the most important contribution a partner can make in a firm); and Unique ways of developing vision and strategy, and reporting on performance. Specialties: Law firm review, strategy and planning development at organisation, division and support service sector levels, focused on implementation, achieving dominance and getting results; Organisation/division/department/group/leadership review and development in particular around culture; XI

14 About the author Performance development, market dominance and growth development, team performance excellence, partner/leader performance and support management; Staff engagement and management systems; Strategic financial management, professional firm governance, unique brand and innovation strategy development. Sean can be contacted through his blog: XII

15 Acknowledgements In brand parlance, just as it takes a large number of talented people working as a team to build a cathedral, so it takes a village to build a brand. Similarly, in finalising this report I have had the help and input of many supportive family, friends, clients and professional colleagues. Ethical considerations at Edge do not allow me to name clients for whom I have done fascinating and challenging brand strategy development and implementation projects, but to all of them I am indebted. I have learned something new from each interaction and it has always been a wonderful, dynamic process. Thanks to them, and to my partners at Edge for whom I helped draft our Edge Brand Strategy, I have been able to road-test and find practical application for just about everything in this report. This is my first book, and without the ongoing, persistent support and encouragement of Evie Serventi of Ark Group, who regularly walked my fence-lines (good old Aussie term) to cajole me to the next step, it may have remained but an aspirational dream. Instead, here it is, so thanks Evie, and thanks too, to my partner at Edge, Nick Jarrett-Kerr, for having suggested me to Evie in the first place. Finally, my thanks to Cat Wirth of DLA, Rob Otty of Norton Rose, Pieter Steyn of Werksmans and LEX AFRICA, and Kathleen Pope-Sance of Lex Mundi for providing invaluable input and insights into their and their firm s own brand experiences. Oh, and one last thing (but the most important) my thanks to my wife Sharon for bearing with my grumbling and goings-on during crazy late night and early morning desk-bound sessions to meet publication deadlines. XIII

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17 Foreword Brand has always fascinated me given my wide range of interests around business and leadership innovation and in the creative arts, particularly photography and design. But frustratingly it was also something of a mystery to me. There was so much written and spoken about brand, but it all seemed a bit heavy with jargon and unfortunately, to over-complicate rather than clarify. During the 20 years or so I helped run large corporate law firms in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, I instinctively knew brand was important and valuable, but felt we did not truly understand it, nor were we managing or strengthening it the way we could and should be. We also didn t have a common language around brand that we all understood and could use for the benefit of the firm. There was also no simple framework of understanding available to ensure we could quickly grasp brand and explain what it meant to our partners and staff, and in this way get the best out of our brand. From discussions with other professional firm leaders I realised that many of them found themselves in a similar position. A book changed this for me: seven years ago I read Marty Neumeier s Brand Gap 1 (a so-called whiteboard overview book, so it is short, punchy and to the point) and it cleared up many of the brand basics. It enabled me to create a simple framework of understanding and to use this to develop and implement a brand strategy. It built my confidence and furthered my interest around brand, to the extent that I managed to develop a few of my own brand concepts and ideas such as brand fusion and have successfully put these into practice. I have expanded and evolved these frameworks ever since. They are at the heart of this book. Sean Larkan September 2012 Reference 1. Neumeier, M., The Brand Gap, 2006, New Riders. XV

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