Once you’ve established core brand values and a message, it’s time to put some meat on the bones and give your brand a personality.
In Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy wrote, “The manufacturer who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit.” Although full of classic Ogilvy hyperbole, this statement is essentially true – for law firms as well as other businesses.
Here are some things to remember when creating your brand personality:
- • Do it within the firm instead of hiring someone else, although you may want to hire a moderator to keep the process on track. It should be your unique view, rather than something filtered through an outsider’s perspective.
- • Your brand personality is “who” the firm is under all circumstances – “to thine own self be true.”
- • Avoid creating an unrealistic “persona” for your brand. Your core values should work together naturally and should be easy to communicate in your advertising and marketing materials.
- • Put aside the rational arguments for why a client should hire you and focus on the emotional. The emotional level is where your brand will really touch prospects. Even the most rational people will find logical reasons to justify their emotional choices.
- • How you communicate is critical. Make all your communications clear, concise, credible and consistent with your brand values and message.
Since you’re creating a personality for your company, try to think of it as a person when you develop marketing materials. People communicate with each other as individuals; a company is often impersonal, and you can clearly see it in their marketing. Use the personal approach and avoid – as much as possible – acting and sounding like a company.
Posted by jeff 
