Yesterday I went to the Association of Legal Administrators monthly luncheon. The speaker was Burkey Belser from Greenfield Belser, and it was by far the best presentation I’ve ever seen at an event like this.

Mr. Belser is “The Father of Legal Advertising”, and is recipient of the Presidential Design Award. You’ve seen his work every day, as he is the designer of the Nutrition Facts label on foods.

And he knows a LOT about law firm branding.

During the presentation, he made some very interesting and valid points that have relevance to legal blogging:

1. Promoting your firm doesn’t take a lot of money: It takes a lot of committment.
This is why blawgging has really taken off in my opinion. It doesn’t cost much, but it takes a level of committment from the blawgger. And as I’ve said before, once a lawyer has started maintaining their own site, it’s much easier to get that committment. Blogs give individual attorneys a sense of ownership and responsibility not seen in a firm’s main site.

2. Consumers of Legal Services Have Implied Trust
It’s something I really never thought of that way. When you’re looking for an attorney to represent you, wondering if an attorney is competent is already implied. So instead of trying to promote your firm as competent and trustworthy, it’s a better idea to actually set yourself apart from your competition.

There are so many lawyers out there, and it’s nearly impossible to tell two firms or attorneys apart by just looking at a web site. And once a visitor gets to your site, they already believe you can do the job. But they also believe your competitors can do the job.

What you really need to do is set your firm’s site apart from the crowd. Your firm has to be a brand, not just another “mid size full service general practice firm.”

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