Introduction
Brand culture is the combination of connected factors that create the law firm’s work environment. Having a well-developed brand culture for law firms is hugely beneficial. If everyone on your team believes in the same values and strives to achieve the same goals, creating a strong brand comes naturally.
Furthermore, you will be able to foster an environment from which you can effectively communicate your brand outwardly. As a result, you will attract new customers from the targeted market, reach higher sales and elevate business profits.
The Benefits Of A Healthy Brand Culture
A healthy brand culture for law firms:
- Attracts like-minded people, whether they’re potential employees or potential customers
- Grows an environment where people are motivated to work for you and passionate about what they do
- Creates team members who are great brand ambassadors and boost your brand awareness
- Builds brands that are authentic and represent what the business believes
How To Build Brand Culture
Nurturing a strong law firm culture benefits both employees and the firm. When a firm has a healthy, strong culture, employees are more engaged and productive. And when employees feel better, they get better results for their firm. When you know what your firm stands for, your values can help guide decision-making in all aspects of your practice.
From the hiring process, growth and how you want to market your firm. Having a defined vision, culture and values can help people and clients understand why you do what you do and how you do it. Defined cultures and values also help give purpose and direction for your employees to work together towards common goals. When people can get a sense of your small law firm culture from the outside, you’re more likely to attract ideal clients for the business.
Define Your Core Values
Core values are the foundation of your company culture. They reflect what’s important to your organization. If used properly, they shape your people’s attitudes and actions. Use them as starting points for drafting your own unique company culture.
Your values are traits that drive your firm’s specific vision and culture and help your team pursue your firm’s goals. They are the foundation of your law firm’s reputation. Your law firm’s core values should clarify why you exist as a firm and what it is you offer. Moreover, they should align with the goals and vision you have for your firm.
Having clear values helps connect your staff to their work. People need purpose and direction to do their jobs well and having law firm values helps with that. Your values should guide and influence every decision you make. From hiring, firing, managing and interacting with clients, determining employee compensation and more.
There are many ways to define your law firm values. Start working from your own feelings and ideas. Work as a group to develop your firm’s values. Your values should also be specific, authentic and concise. They may change over time, but they should be true to you.
Codifying your law firm’s values help you show others what makes your firm unique, different from other firms in your area and help reinforce your work culture. Once you have your values in place, write them down and share them with your staff and the world. Let people know what you stand for and how you approach your practice. Afterward, use them to guide decision-making for your practice, including your day-to-day decisions or how to hire the right people for your firm.
Define Your Law Firm Culture
Use your strengths, unique selling proposition, vision statement and business fundamentals to define your law firm culture. These facets help your company’s employees to define the culture that provides the way forward for the entire brand architecture and strategies.
People who align with their company’s culture tend to be more productive, foster a positive work environment and have a sense of pride in where they work. People who don’t align with their company’s culture don’t get along with co-workers, negatively affect the work environment and ultimately leave their jobs.
Everyone at your firm is responsible for culture. Culture comes from interactions with everyone. In order for your law firm culture to reflect your values, your employees need to practice those values themselves. Your firm is the most productive when everyone on your team is in sync, knows their roles and moves together towards a common goal. Therefore, strive to build a culture that encourages trust between team members and confidence in individuals while having the right people in the right places.
Hire Employees that Embody your Company Values
The goal of the hiring process is to find the best fit for your firm. The job description is the first step of the process. Before writing your job posting, take time to review your law firm’s values and make sure they’re on your law firm’s website. Consider what skills, traits, and values you’re looking for in a candidate to help you determine whether a candidate will be a good fit for your firm.
As you write job postings, make sure they spend more time talking about your core values and vision than they do experience or education. The earlier and more often you talk about your law firm’s culture, the better the hiring process will be for you and your applicants. You should only hire candidates who match your culture and whose goals and values are aligned with the core values and objectives of your brand.
For example, if you’re a dog-friendly firm, include a note that applicants must be open to a dog-friendly office. Being specific about who you are and what you’re looking for is a great tool to use in job postings to quickly find the people who are most likely to work well with your team.
Reward and Recognize Your Company Employees
The internal employees of the company are its very first and crucial brand ambassadors. If they are happy and satisfied with the working environment, they will endorse the same within their social circle that will enhance the value of the brand. Hence, it is important to recognize and reward the significant work goals accomplished by the employees to keep them motivated.
Use Your Core Values as a Guide
When you’re faced with difficult decisions, look to your values to provide clarity and help you make informed choices that are consistent with your ultimate goals. Your law firm’s values can help you prioritize your goals and inform your strategic business decisions from hiring and staffing your firm, deciding how to manage clients and staff compensation. When making a decision, ask yourself if the decision is in alignment with your values. If you work in alignment with your values, you’re more likely to make decisions that you’re proud of and excited about.
Revisit, Review and Revise Your Core Values
Stay true to your established values because they can help leverage growth in your firm. For example, your core values set certain expectations and standards and encourage your staff to aspire to those values. Therefore, make them easy to find, reference them everywhere and show your clients what you stand for.
Revisit your values regularly and make neccessary improvements. Look at your law firm culture at regular intervals to determine if things need changing. Having values written down and regularly updated gives a direction on how you want your firm to grow. Furthermore, how you want your team to grow with you. Always make sure your company is embracing your law firm culture.
Work on Your Brand Elements
The next step in building a good Brand Culture involves working on the brand elements. For instance, your logo design, tagline and color palette that are specific to your brand, typeface, language and tonality. Corporate and brand guidelines need to be formulated and documented guiding the marketing department, branding department, design agencies and other vendors at every step of marketing and promotional activities.
Conclusion
Strong brand culture is an opportunity to set your law firm apart from the competition. It clearly tells potential clients and staff exactly what your firm stands for and the values its practices. By building a stronger brand culture for law firms, you create an environment that makes lawyers more supported and motivated. When people feel like they are valued, they tend to be more engaged and productive.
Good brand culture for law firms means that everyone is on board with the values and purpose that drive the brand. Instead of the brand being a public image that is projected only outwardly to customers, it’s something that is built from the inside out. It means that the people who make up the business are living, breathing embodiments of the brand that they represent.
A company that fosters a healthy brand culture is able to keep and attain the brand promises in a successful manner. The internal operations and workings are highly process-led and driven. The internal staff and employees are motivated and inspired to work with the brand and dedicatedly excel in attaining the aims and objectives of the brand which also makes them grow on the professional and personal levels.