In an environment where reputation drives opportunity, clarity around your law firm’s market positioning is essential, affecting everything from pricing power to client loyalty.
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Walk into any client pitch, scroll through LinkedIn, or sit through a panel discussion, and you will notice one similarity: Every lawyer wants to be seen as a trusted advisor, a problem solver, or an innovative leader. But how many lawyers have actually taken the time to define how they want to be perceived and then built a strategy to support that perception?
The answer? Not many. And in an industry where attention is scarce and competition is fierce, that lack of clarity comes at a cost.
Lawyers often underestimate the importance of deliberately shaping how they’re perceived in the marketplace. Yet, in an environment where reputation drives opportunity, clarity around your law firm’s market positioning is essential. Without a defined message that articulates your unique value and audience relevance, others — competitors, prospects, and even clients — will fill in the blanks themselves. And when left to interpretation, that perception may be inaccurate, unremarkable or misaligned with your goals.
You Are What Others Perceive
For lawyers and business leaders alike, reputation often precedes the work. Before a client calls, a referral is made, or a proposal is read, assumptions are already forming. How do they know you? What do they believe you specialize in? Are you seen as strategic, tactical, expensive, affordable, niche, generalist, bold or traditional?
These perceptions, fair or not, affect everything from pricing power to client loyalty. And without a clearly articulated positioning strategy, you’re leaving all of that to chance.
Crafting Your Law Firm Market Positioning Statement
Crafting a positioning statement isn’t simply a marketing task. It’s a business imperative.
Where to Start? Ask the Right Questions
Many professionals begin with themselves: their services, their credentials, their firm’s accolades. But the most effective positioning strategies begin with the audience. They begin by asking:
- Who are we trying to reach—and what pressures are they under?
- What challenges keep them up at night?
- How are they evaluated in their roles?
- What information do they need in order to make a decision?
These are more than marketing questions. They are strategic business questions. The answers can — and should — influence how you introduce yourself at a networking event, what you include in a proposal, or how you draft your bio.
Take, for instance, the difference between speaking to a CEO and a general counsel. While both are decision-makers, their pain points, priorities and communication styles differ.
The Risks of Skipping This Work
What happens when you don’t take time to define your market positioning?
The consequences are subtle, but costly:
- Proposals that fall flat because the messaging didn’t resonate
- Prospects who remember your name but not your value
- Content that generates no engagement because it wasn’t relevant
- Networking conversations that lead nowhere
Worse still, you may find yourself mischaracterized. Perhaps you’re seen as too junior, too niche, too expensive or not innovative enough — all because your messaging didn’t reflect who you really are or what you actually offer.
Positioning isn’t about creating a polished veneer. It’s about surfacing what’s true and valuable and making sure the right people see it clearly.
Law Firm Market Positioning as a Competitive Advantage
When you do invest the time to clarify your law firm’s market positioning, the results can be transformative.
- You attract more of the right work.
- You can secure more favorable pricing.
- You waste less time chasing poor-fit opportunities.
- Your marketing feels easier because it’s focused.
- Your audience recognizes themselves in your messaging and responds.
This isn’t about trickery or polish. It’s about relevance.
Your positioning statement is not about you. It’s about what you can do for your audience and your clients. While that is a subtle shift, it is one that makes all the difference.
The Power of Personalization
Once you’ve clearly defined how you want to be perceived — and by whom — the next critical step is personalization. This is where positioning moves from strategy into action. Effective personalization ensures that your message is not only clear but also relevant to the specific individuals or audiences you are trying to reach.
Personalization means recognizing that different audiences value different things. A managing partner at a regional law firm will prioritize different aspects of your message than a general counsel at a multinational corporation. Even if the services you offer are the same, the lens through which each audience evaluates your value is distinct.
Today, a wide range of tools—from email segmentation and CRM tags to marketing automation platforms—make it easier than ever to scale personalized outreach. But even without sophisticated technology, personalization begins with discipline: understanding your audience’s needs, speaking their language, and addressing the challenges that matter most to them.
Trying to appeal to everyone typically results in diluted messaging that resonates with no one. Relevance requires focus—and focus starts with knowing exactly who you’re trying to reach and what they need to hear.
Clarify, Test, Refine
Like any strategy, market positioning isn’t set in stone. The market changes. Your offerings evolve. Your clients’ challenges shift. That’s why measurement matters.
- Are the right people opening your emails?
- Is your LinkedIn content getting the right kind of engagement?
- Are prospective clients responding to your proposals the way you hoped?
You can measure this in hard data — clicks, calls, form fills — but also in conversation. Ask people how they perceive you. Ask clients why they chose you. Ask peers to read your positioning statement and reflect back what they think you do best.
If what they describe doesn’t match your intended message, you’ve got work to do.
Law Firm Market Positioning as a Leadership Skill for Attorneys
At its core, positioning is about self-awareness, strategic empathy, and clarity of purpose. It requires you to step outside your own perspective and see yourself—and your work—through the eyes of the people you serve.
And when done well, positioning doesn’t just boost your brand. It builds trust, fosters loyalty and creates traction where there was once friction.
Perception is everything. But it’s not a mystery. It’s a strategy. And it’s one you have the power to shape—deliberately, confidently, and authentically.
Leslie Richards and Francois Lassalle are members of Furia Rubel’s International Faculty, an elite group of professionals in key global markets who help law firms manage change, navigate complexity, and achieve their most critical strategic objectives.
Image © iStockPhoto.com.
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