Your firm needs a strong brand to differentiate itself in the market and stand out among the competition. What should you do if your current logo, colors, images, and messaging are stale and do not reflect who your firm is and how you want to be perceived? Call LISI! We can help you through a full rebrand effort.
But what if it’s not quite that extreme? Most law firms live in this space. It’s possible, even likely, that the herculean effort that went into your last branding overhaul is still working for you in many ways. Your brand is consistently used, recognized, and building momentum, but it’s a little dated and dusty.
At LISI, we work with clients to understand their goals and the current situation before we make recommendations for big, complex solutions. You don’t want to buy a whole new car when you only need new spark plugs and a good cleaning.
Why Branding Matters in Legal Services
Your brand isn’t just your logo or firm name — it’s your promise. It conveys professionalism, trust, and credibility in an industry where reputation is everything. In a saturated legal environment, law firms must ensure that their visual identity and messaging are aligned with how they want to be perceived. When done well, branding reinforces your firm’s strengths, differentiates you from competitors, and helps prospective clients feel more confident in choosing you.
When is a Brand Overhaul the Best Option?
A total brand overhaul is a complete transformation. It involves redefining your mission, updating your brand voice, revamping your logo, website, and marketing materials, and sometimes even renaming the firm.
Firms typically go this route when:
- They’ve merged with another firm or expanded into new markets
- Their current image no longer aligns with who they are
- They’re launching a new practice area or repositioning their services
While a rebrand can revitalize your firm’s presence, it’s a significant investment that requires time, budget, and alignment across leadership. If your firm is not aligned on rebranding, it will be exponentially more difficult to successfully launch a new brand. If you know you need to make changes, but you also know the personality of the firm is anti-change, consider branding light. (Or be prepared to battle it out!)
What is a Brand Refresh (Branding Light)?
Think of it like IV hydration therapy for your brand. A healthy rejuvenation! Unlike a complete brand resuscitation, branding light makes a big impact by focusing on and addressing core areas for improvement.
Branding light is a more surgical approach. It’s ideal when your brand’s foundation is strong, but some visual or messaging updates are needed to stay modern and compelling. Maybe your logo needs cleaner typography, or your website could use a streamlined user experience. Perhaps your messaging just needs a more client-centered tone.
Benefits of a refresh include:
- Lower costs and faster execution
- Minimal disruption to existing brand equity
- A modernized look that keeps you competitive
We start by taking stock, asking and answering key questions to benchmark your present position and assess how your brand is currently perceived by your target audience.
- How old is your organization?
- How old is the current brand? This includes the current colors, logo, tagline, core messaging, mission, and values. Some elements may be newer, and some may be older. And please note that old does not equal bad. When implemented well, nostalgia can be very effective, as illustrated by consumer products, sports teams, and consumer services that revise or relaunch elements of past branding.
- Do you feel your current brand accurately reflects who your firm is today? To clients, prospects, referrals, employees, and potential hires?
- What is working well?
- Could anything be improved, refined, or changed?
- Where is there room for brand confusion?
- What words would you use to describe your firm and the brand? Do the elements of your brand support this?
Where Should You Start with Branding Light?
You should routinely take a critical eye to your brand and all its components. In fact, it’s probably helpful to keep a running list of ideas for improvements and changes, so you have specific topics to discuss when your branding team meets.
If a brand refresh is in order, consider one or a few of the following updates:
- Update the color palette or add a fresh accent color
- Revise the logo font, icon, color, or add/remove “Attorneys at Law” or “LLP”
- Update the homepage hero imagery and messaging
- Include a new tagline
- Rethink the social media or email templates
- Consider a different look for the images
- Get new bio photography that reflects your lawyers (Read: If bio photos are 10+ years old, they need new ones. It’s jarring when the face in the meeting or Zoom is unrecognizable compared to the bio, and makes clients question if anything else is misrepresented.)
Check Out the LISI Rebrand!
At LISI, we aim to consider our own agency as a client, meaning we ask ourselves these questions and keep a running list of things we should improve. As our list grew, we decided it was time for a LISI rebrand.
In our discovery phase, we determined that we could be clearer in the way we describe our services to better align with the way our clients buy digital marketing services for law firms. We have a very clearly defined process for website projects, outsourced legal marketing, SEO, and our other core services, but we believed it did not translate into our website design. And finally, our colors felt tired and did not reflect our firm’s vibrancy!
It can be hard to self-reflect and look at these things with a critical eye because many of the folks on this team were here during our last website and rebranding effort, and we all worked really hard to build up the LISI brand. But we all share common goals to improve every day.
