When it comes to developing a name into a brand, is it better to try to be a big fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond?

Being a nationally or internationally famous lawyer would certainly be wonderful, but developing “a name” in the legal community, broadly defined, is very rare indeed. On the other hand, we all probably know lawyers who have managed to achieve a considerable measure of success in branding themselves. I would venture to say that, with a very limited number of exceptions, those lawyers have achieved such notoriety within a particular practice area, or in a certain geographic market, or both.

With time and resources at a premium, a broad, unfocused branding effort is an unattractive and impractical proposition. For lawyers contemplating how to better brand themselves, niche marketing is a concept not to be overlooked.

A number of years ago, some of my colleagues and I identified an attractive opportunity to market some of the attorneys and our firm’s legal services in a particular niche market. Over the years since we initiated those marketing efforts, we made some observations about the advantages and dangers presented by niche markets. Here are resulting thoughts on how to succeed with such efforts.

The First Thought: Develop Substantive Expertise

It probably goes without saying that, to set the stage for a successful niche marketing effort, you need to have substantive expertise relevant to the given niche that you can market. No prospective client wants to pay a lawyer to learn on the job. Moreover, any moderately sophisticated consumer of legal services will examine attorneys’ qualifications and experience before hiring them.

But experience relevant to a particular niche market can be developed in many ways. Some practitioners may have generally relevant legal experience that they can couple with prior work experience in a particular market. Others may be able to apply generally relevant legal experience to a market with which they are familiar due to a personal interest such as a hobby. It is quite possible that you may have sufficient expertise to support a niche marketing effort without realizing it. Rethink the types of matters you have handled as an attorney. Viewed from a new perspective, they could well represent meaningful expertise in a particular niche.

One point worth keeping in mind if you are affiliated with a firm with multiple lawyers is that your colleagues may have client relationships or experience that can serve to offer you a point of entrance into a niche market, too. You may be surprised by the relationships and resources to which your partners have access.

A point of caution, though, when marketing to a niche based on other matters you have handled in that particular niche market: Beyond the question of whether your clients will permit you to use their names is the question of whether doing so is a good idea. Do you know what your client’s reputation is in the niche market you want to target, and have you considered how that reputation will affect yours? In the small world of a niche market, talking up the representation of a well-respected market participant can generate instant credibility, but touting representation of a client that is, unbeknownst to you, a pariah can be a brand killer, not a brand builder.

The Second Thought: Be Creative to Build Your Bona Fides

Developing expertise and a good brand in a niche market need not begin and end with billable matters. You can significantly enhance your understanding of a niche market as well as your reputation in it by other types of tactics. Obvious opportunities include writing articles and giving speeches on topics relevant to your targeted market. Less obvious, but equally effective, are tactics such as offering to handle matters under alternative fee arrangements as a way to earn representations that will help you build your niche-specific resume, particularly in matters that have a high profile within the niche you have targeted.

Here again it is important to keep in mind that the smaller scope of a niche market that makes it an attractive venue for efficient and effective brand building also poses unique risks. Always be sensitive to whether the matters you are taking on or the things you are saying in a speech or article or brief will potentially close doors for you in your targeted market, either owing to content or to the identity of the party whose interests you are working to advance. And with respect to alternative fee work, consider whether you are creating a reputation as a bargain alternative in the marketplace. Once you develop a reputation for charging a certain level or type of fee, clients and prospective clients in the market might resist or reject any efforts to shift to a different or more profitable fee structure.

The Third Thought: Actively Monitor Your Target Market

To be credible as a provider of legal services in a niche market, it helps immensely to be conversant in the goings-on in that market. Thanks to modern technology, following virtually any conceivable niche market is simply a matter of investing some reading time. Web sites, news filtering services, industry publications, blogs and e-mail alerts all can be accessed through or delivered to your desktop, laptop or mobile device. When you can speak knowledgeably about the latest news or issues that are the talk of the market, you earn credibility that cannot be overestimated.

Such industry knowledge is essential to your credibility and, in turn, to the success of your branding effort. In the highly specialized world of a niche market, you will not be able to “fake it,” and any efforts to do so are very likely to end poorly for you and the reputation of your brand.

The Fourth Thought: Market to an Industry, Not to an Area of Law

If you go to many law firm Web sites, you will find a link for “practice areas” or something with similar terminology. A click on that link will reveal a menu of choices that resembles a law school course listing. Depending on the firm, you are likely to see entries like corporate law, trusts and estates, intellectual property, real estate and immigration.

I encourage you to think about how your target customer views their own business and consider marketing on those terms rather than on those found in your law school course catalogue. To be sure, many sophisticated consumers of legal services know what type of legal services they are looking for, but marketing based on the legal profession’s categorization of services is far from ideal, particularly when trying to target a market niche.

The Fifth Thought: Seek Out and Build Relationships with Key Industry Figures

In my experience, niche markets have key figures known to most or all of the participants in the market. Sometimes these individuals hold titles in industry organizations, but just as often they can be less visible, though no less influential. For example, in one niche market with which I am familiar, the editor of the leading industry journal was among the most widely known and well-respected figures in the market.

Such individuals can be an invaluable resource to an attorney looking to build a brand in a niche market. They offer direct access to a broad swath of the market and add instant credibility through association. In some cases, like that of the journal editor, they can offer more tangible brand-building benefits as well, such as the opportunity to place an article or offer a pithy quote for publication about the legal aspects of a noteworthy recent development.

At the same time, be aware that the small world of a niche market is not without its dangers when it comes to such relationships. As much as a good relationship with a key figure can advance your brand-building efforts in a niche market, so too can a bad relationship with such a figure handicap—or even destroy—your efforts.

The Sixth Thought – Seek Out Face Time with Market Participants

Most lawyers are well aware of the value of face-to-face interactions with clients. Nothing can build a relationship quite so fast or so well. Niche marketing is no exception. Happily, niche markets are often of a sufficiently modest size and scale that they offer wonderful opportunities for face-to-face interactions with much of the target market all at once.

Lawyers are not typically thought of as stalwarts of the trade show circuit, but many niche markets have trade shows and those shows can be excellent and cost-effective venues for face-to-face interaction with prospective clients. Should you venture to such a show, you might well find yourself the only attorney in attendance! Other gatherings offering similar opportunities include industry awards events and dealer group meetings.

Although perhaps not as effective as face-to-face meetings, technology also offers excellent ways to develop, enhance or maintain contact with your target market. Blogs are now being developed by lawyers as a way to stay in contact with prospective clients. Social networking sites are another example of a way to make and maintain virtual contact with clients.

When contemplating how to use larger scale face-to-face marketing opportunities to your best advantage, be sure to investigate and consider the scale of the event and the financial investment necessary to render the impact you want to make. A trade show with tens of thousands of attendees might be so big that it would require a very large financial commitment to “make a splash” or get noticed, whereas a smaller show or event might generate excellent opportunities to publicize your name to your target market on much more modest budget.

The Seventh Thought: Be Persistent

Even in a niche market, do not assume that success will come overnight. A brand is typically built matter by matter, article by article, relationship by relationship and interaction by interaction over a period of years, not months.

I highly recommend that any concerted niche marketing effort be preceded by the development of an action plan, including the establishment of realistic, tangible and incremental benchmarks. Such periodic benchmarks not only serve to reinforce the notion that brand building is not an overnight proposition, but they also provide a structural opportunity to evaluate the relative success of a brand-building effort over time, and they assist with the budgeting process for a niche marketing effort.

Conclusion

As I see it, successful brand building for an individual lawyer is about focus, and niche marketing is an ideal way to develop that focus. By focusing marketing efforts to a particular niche market, you can maximize your prospects for building your name into a valuable brand. Although not without its unique pitfalls, niche marketing, when approached in the right way, can be a practical and highly effective brand-building tool.