Why Some Firms Are Right For Branding and Others are Not
Let's begin with the assumption that there are many reasons why branding is not right for professional services firms. (See below: A Conversation with an Anti-Brander.)
Chief among the objections is the nature of the professional service business. This is a relationship-oriented business, proven out of countless surveys of how decision-makers hire their outside professionals. Where the relationship is based on one-on-one interaction, quite unlike the purchase of commodities by volume like soup or tissue-paper, there can be no single brand that applies to all fee earners and the unique ways they relate and sell. When trying to create, broaden or deepen a personal relationship, a slogan-ish claim of distinction seemingly has no role. Or so the argument goes.
For many professionals and their firms, this is true. But there is a time and a place for brand identities in the industry. Not only have several well-known accounting and management consulting firms put their toes into the water but several North American law firms and professional associations are also exploring the possibilities, including Toronto firm Goodman & Carr's well-known "Hard Working Law" program as well as California law firm Haight Brown & Bonesteel's "The Precedent" program.
While branding isn't right or necessary or even needed for some firms, it can help others in immeasurable ways.
Beyond Parity
The issue for most professional services businesses, whether they be law firms, accounting firms or other types of consulting organizations is one of parity. At a certain level, products and services in mature markets essentially are viewed as equal. Sophisticated buyers of professional services ultimately come to an understanding that there are many highly qualified providers and they could be well-served by any number of them. It then becomes harder and harder to differentiate between firms.
Several studies of professional services buying patterns in the mid 90's showed that the professional services buying process involves two stages. The first is a qualification stage-- does the firms qualifications match the company's needs? The second stage is one of connection-- does the company like the outside service providers and believe they can work together?
What is happening in today's professional services market is that a third step is being added to this process. Companies today are asking what their service providers stand for and whether their goals as institutions fit together.
Recently, the general counsel of a large utilities company told me, "The firm I use for intellectual property is largely interchangeable. They are not the best; we could replace them in two weeks, if need be. The reason we stay is because their entrepreneurial spirit matches with ours. Not only do we have a relationship with the firm but our core values are in line with theirs."
In this example, the outside law firm's work was viewed as commodity work. What differentiated the firm and what maintained the relationship was not simply having good relationships with key lawyers at the firm but an alignment of core values. The utility company wanted to work with lawyers that had as entrepreneurial a mindset as theirs.
At its best, branding can help create a level of alignment between professional services companies and their clients. It can build the image behind the products, services and service providers themselves and create a personality for a firm that is attractive to clients. "In a parity marketplace, the only real differentiating feature that a marketer can bring to consumers is what those consumers believe about the company, product or service and their relationship with the brand," explained Dan Schultz in his book Integrated Marketing Communications.
At its worst, branding is just a clever new name for an advertising campaign or a firms tagline. What changes a mere campaign into a brand is the firms ability to identify its essence internally and then create a culture that fosters that essence, most probably through internal training and education. Only after internal credibility and believability exist with partners and staff should the brand be externalized through advertising, brochures, trade shows and other aspects of an integrated marketing program.
When Is a Brand Appropriate?
Some firms may never need to see their own branding day. Their reasons may be many-- from having a comfortable reputation in their industry to being utterly out-of-touch with market perception. But a number of firms in the professional services marketplace are exploring how branding themselves can create more equity in their organizations.
When is the time right to look at branding? Some possible scenarios include:
1. Changing Perception- With a law firm in the Western United States, they had a market reputation as an insurance defense firm even though they were a full-service firm. To change the market perception, the firm hired a branding firm and redesigned themselves internally. As part of their program, they plan to conduct internal training sessions about their brand for at least a year before any external applications might appear in the marketplace.
2. Following a Merger- A large organization recently completed a merger and was facing something of an identity crisis. While trying to integrate employees from both companies under a new management, issues continued to arise about what the company stood for and how it should do business to very different customer segments. A branding exercise helped it re-focus on its core values and create buy-in among all employees.
3. Confusion in the Marketplace- For an architectural design firm, their name was remarkably similar to several other players in their market. Buyers of their services were constantly confused about their name. Following a branding exercise, the firm made refinements to its name and adjustments to the way it provided its service to differentiate it from it's competitors.
4. Lack of Local Identity- For one office of a large international law firm, it faced a total lack of recognition in its local marketplace. The dynamics of its local area were such that it believed it could benefit by branding itself locally (within the context of the firms overall institutional parameters.) Its branding session helped it identify local core strengths, created internal momentum and the foundation for a local business development programme.
5. Lack of Practice Group Identity- For another large international law firm, it was well-known for just one area of its practice. Other areas of the practice, while equally strong, lacked recognition among the client base. A single practice group, litigation, undertook a branding exercise to identify its points of differentiation in the marketplace. This session helped the litigation group in its selling efforts with clients. The program became so successful internally that the firm saw no reason to create external applications for it.
Anne Gallagher is a partner of Extreme Marketing and can be reached at anne@extrememarketing.org
