Recently, we had a client ask us to colorize the only photo of an attorney they had, which happened to be in black and white. With the clock ticking and the deadline approaching, we asked ourselves, “Do we really have the time to spend colorizing this photo?” But alas, a quick Google search later, we came across a tool found in Photoshop that allows you to colorize a photo in seconds…not hours, not even minutes. A tool powered by AI.
How Firms Can Promote Client Successes to Establish Credibility
Your firm just won that huge case for its biggest client, acquired another firm to expand its capabilities and/or geographic footprint, or brought on a new rainmaker partner. Internally this is huge news, yet your outside audiences may be totally unaware of your big win. Generally speaking, prospective clients tend to be impressed and convinced by results, not potential. While broader brand awareness is certainly important and the first step in engaging a potential lead, firms should be more focused on brand distinction to draw in even more potential new clients.
Todd & Weld, a mid-size litigation boutique firm based in Boston, is known for their ability to try – and win – high-stakes cases for a high-end clientele. But that level of sophistication wasn’t being reflected on the firm’s website, which was ineffective in capturing who the firm is today or what differentiates Todd & Weld from the other competitor firms. See how Herrmann injected new life and energy into the firm's website that matched the sophistication and capabilities of their attorneys in the courtroom.
Liskow & Lewis, a full-service law firm located in the Gulf South, was looking to update the visual presentation of its brand. Their old logo and materials were stuck in the past, while the firm was producing leading-edge work in multiple sectors. In addition to shortening the firm’s marketing name to simply “Liskow,” the firm wanted a new logo and brand to effectively capture the energy and spirit they’re known for – both through their people and in the services they provide to clients. The old logo’s serif font and traditional color palette was no longer reflective of their forward-focused vision. They wanted something bold, modern and clean, but still classic, to respect the firm’s nearly 90-year history. And if possible, they wanted an element of forward motion to visually capture how they’re focused on the future, especially in the energy field.
Choosing the right fonts is essential to any brand. It is the one thing, besides color, that goes into almost every marketing touchpoint your firm will ever produce. And just like color, fonts can speak a lot about who you are and set a mood for the rest of your branding materials. If you’re a law firm, you’ve most likely been influenced by historical fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial and Helvetica. While these fonts may be simple, easy to read and easy to access, they can oftentimes make your brand materials feel underwhelming and uninteresting. We’ve come up with 5 font pairings and styles that are free, simple, and most importantly, bring a refreshing touch of interest to your brand.
Ways to Modernize Your Traditional Marketing Touchpoints
Many would describe living in this age as a “digital,” “paperless” and “virtual” world. As a result, brands have focused the majority of their time and energy towards building new websites, posting more on social media, launching SEM campaigns and embracing other digital marketing to reach the online crowd. And while these efforts are all worthwhile, it has often resulted in firms overlooking the opportunities to modernize more “traditional” touchpoints as well, such as business cards, newsletters, brochures, and other collateral materials. Here are some ways traditional touchpoints are evolving in 2023.
Ways to Revitalize Your Firm's Website Without Hitting the Reset Button.
Building a brand new website can be an intimidating project to start. Oftentimes, however, a less-intensive refresh can effectively extend the life of an existing site by focusing on design, UX and technology updates that can be implemented within the foundation and frameworks that are already in place. Here are a few suggestions.
How Professional Services Firms Are Embracing Values Based Branding
In industries where service offerings often fail to serve as an effective differentiator between competitors, one approach to separate your firm more effectively from the competition is to spotlight your firm’s values, ethics, vision and culture as primary selling points of working with or working for your firm. Consumers want to do business with brands that align with their value sets, and while this trend has been present in other consumer industries for several years, it has significantly expanded into the professional services arena in recent years.
Thinking about making your website ADA compliant? Here are 5 tips to help navigate tricky waters.
Website accessibility is quickly becoming a “must have” component of successful law firm website development. More and more firms that are redesigning their websites are now factoring it into their requirements, while firms that recently launched a website without it are considering a retrofit to meet compliance standards. If your firm is thinking about updating its existing website to be more accessible, or if you’re thinking about redesigning your firm’s website in the near future, consider these five tips to help ensure a smooth transition and a thorough implementation of WCAG recommendations.
CASE STUDY: Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds Website Redesign
In today’s rapidly evolving world of intellectual property, projecting sophistication and energy is imperative to attract cutting-edge companies and entrepreneurs. Not only does a law firm need to ensure it is prepared with talent and skill to address the latest developments, but its image must match its high-tech capacity.
CASE STUDY: Kane Russell Coleman Logan Branding/Website Redesign
On the eve of their 30th anniversary, the leadership of Kane Russell Coleman Logan (KRCL), a mid-sized Texas-based law firm, recognized their website did not effectively capture the firm’s brand. They felt the site lacked sophistication, energy, and messaging that conveyed who they were and what differentiated them from their competitors.
Hooray, life is getting back to normal! People are venturing back to their offices, seeing clients and colleagues, and getting on with business as usual. Uh oh, the marketing team just informed you of a company re-brand – complete with new bio photos. Gasp! When you want to look your best on your website bio, it’s important to keep these tips in mind.
Which attorney bio photography style is best for your firm?
Attorney bios are arguably the most important pages on law firm websites. They serve as that initial handshake. Being the first thing on the page that someone will likely see, the bio photo style on your website has an outsized impact when it comes to forming that initial impression of an attorney in the viewer’s mind.
Case Study: PilieroMazza's new brand stresses a holistic approach
Read how Herrmann’s approach to rebranding a law firm headquartered in the nation’s capital is positioning it to deliver a broader range of legal services to clients.
Case Study: Creating a contemporary brand for Post & Schell's new website and logo.
When it was time to freshen up its brand with a new website and updated logo, Post & Schell turned to Herrmann. By applying the latest design and technology trends, conveying more content graphically and taking new attorney photos, the Herrmann team created a site for this Mid-Atlantic legal powerhouse that is visually pleasing, easy to navigate and full of the backend features that make managing content a breeze. Here’s the backstory behind Post & Schell’s new site and brand look.
Podcasts are becoming more and more popular among law firms as a platform to showcase their attorneys’ talents, experience and insights. While some may think it’s a new phenomenon, its origins in the legal world date back to an era long before the “podcast” term was coined.
CASE STUDY: Stroock Website Redesign/Brand Refresh
Stroock has been a fixture in the New York legal scene for more than a century. But today it is much more than simply a “Wall Street firm.” It now has offices across the country, a wide breath of practices and an influx of talented lawyers handling high-profile matters. See how Herrmann helped position Stroock’s brand to match its energetic momentum.
How firms are proactively addressing client concerns
As countries, states and cities around the globe transition to a “new normal” and cautiously face a world where COVID-19 is a daily concern, law firms – large and small – have been extremely proactive. Since the beginning of the year, lawyers have seen an uptick in client concerns – from both businesses and individuals – that defy traditional practice silos and demand unprecedented collaboration to deliver holistic solutions.
Delivering fresh, relevant content to your clients and prospects cannot be considered a “nice to have” in today’s competitive market, but rather a “must have” tactic that dovetails with your strategic plan and growth initiatives. In the legal industry, firms of all sizes – from solo practitioners to the largest in the world – have been embracing content creation for many years, and in turn, reaping the associated rewards. Ensure your brand is out front as websites and online platforms move to the forefront – especially now that in-person presentations and meetings are sidelined.
In Part 1 of this five-part series, we explored how firms could use message-driven visuals and a renewed focus on brand positioning to create a more effective and impactful website. Part 2 focused on how firms can utilize videos and micro-animations to stand out in a crowded market. Part 3 was a discussion around content personalization and how artificial intelligence has worked its way into the law firm website sphere. In Part 4, we talked about the importance and value of the technology behind your website’s internal site search tool. And now in the final part of our series, we’ll discuss the value in values-driven branding for law firms.
In Part 1 of this five-part series, we explored how firms could use message-driven visuals and a renewed focus on brand positioning to create a more effective and impactful website. Part 2 focused on how firms can utilize videos and micro-animations to stand out in a crowded market. Part 3 was a discussion around content personalization and how artificial intelligence has worked its way into the law firm website sphere. In Part 4, we talk about the importance and value of the technology behind your website’s internal site search tool, and how that search tool can be a driving factor in a visitor’s positive or negative experience with your website.
In Part 1 of this five-part series, we explored how firms could use message-driven visuals and a renewed focus on brand positioning to create a more effective and impactful website. Part 2 focused on how firms can utilize videos and micro-animations to stand out in a crowded market. Now in Part 3, we’ll shift tracks from visual tactics to a couple technology focused ones, beginning with a discussion around content personalization and how artificial intelligence has worked its way into the law firm website sphere.
In Part 1 of this five-part series, we explored how firms could use message-driven visuals and a renewed focus on brand positioning to create a more effective and impactful website. In Part 2, we’ll take a look at how firms can utilize videos and micro-animations to stand out in a crowded market.
Around five years ago, professional services firms started implementing a lot of new design styles and user experience (UX) trends that were, at the time, a big departure from what everyone else was doing. Eventually though, everybody else latched on to these styles until the once-innovative trends became the industry standards. What had been considered a unique approach became a predictable experience. How can you make your website stand out in an industry of imitators?
Seeking to harness its expanding national reputation as a premier regional law firm known for deep industry experience and superior client service, Jackson Kelly looked to Herrmann to help create a new brand image that would highlight its progressive stance and wealth of talent.
So what can you do to deliver something that truly resonates with prospects, clients or virtually anyone who wants to learn more about what your lawyers bring to the table?
Prevent your project from being derailed with these tips for project management
Project management requires a clear plan of attack as well as buy-in from your firm’s leadership, your team members and your vendors. Here are a few tips to help you establish effective vendor relationships that will allow you to stay on target and on deadline.
What Legal Marketers Can Learn From Client Feedback
Back in 2011, a LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell study found that nearly half of law firms around the world were soliciting feedback from their clients via in-person or telephone interviews, surveys or other formal information-gathering processes.
How is your firm preparing for the next generation of rainmakers?
A solstice of sorts is on the horizon. In 2020, millennials will become the majority in the workplace. With that inevitable shift on the way, what should partners – the majority of whom hail from the baby boomer generation – be doing today to make their firms more competitive, more productive and more in sync with those who will be soon be carrying the torch?
Why today's law firms should embrace a robust digital marketing strategy
Maybe your firm’s been on the fence about making the leap into digital advertising. Or perhaps you’re debating the pros and cons of committing a larger percentage of your budget on ads delivered to laptops, desktops, tablets or smartphones. If either describes your dilemma, here’s a projection that may propel you to take action:
