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With thousands of mid-sized law firms — and hundreds of thousands of lawyers — all competing for the same pool of clients and prospects, differentiation is one of the most important ways to gain recognition and build brand awareness. Communicating your firm’s unique characteristics, expertise, strengths and successes to a large number of prospects can be achieved through advertising.

Advertising is not about selling the skill of your firm, but about promoting the qualities that differentiate your firm from so many others. Differentiation is your brand, and advertising is about positioning that brand by promoting and communicating your firm’s differentiators to a targeted mass audience.

For a mid-sized law firm to be successful, it needs an effective marketing and sales initiative. Without marketing, public relations and a strong business development strategy, few clients or prospects would know about the firm and why it is unique, resulting in fewer opportunities for new business. Advertising is just one tool in a successful marketing and business development program that can help create new opportunities.

The goal of advertising is to focus attention on what sets your firm apart from others. Branding, through repeated, frequent advertising, is the most effective way to accomplish that goal. Advertising means generating opportunities, and good advertising is generating thousands of potential opportunities every day.

The only way to be heard is to speak, and the only way to be remembered is to repeat over and over a very simple, compelling, single-minded message. Consider that the public is faced with roughly 700 ads and brands per day. To stand out, you must not merely speak, but yell, breaking through the clutter and getting the attention of the prospect with the use of strong creative and a quick, easy-to-retain message.

Advertising broadcasts your differentiators to a targeted audience of mass proportions. It delivers your message to a broader audience and at a faster rate than any other marketing tool. Repetition and frequency are key components of a successful advertising initiative. Once you establish your brand message, you must drive that message into the minds of clients, prospects, and even staff members. The most effective and efficient way to do so is through frequent, repeated advertising in the same publications or airwaves reaching the same industry or targeted audience.

Lawyers often make the mistake of trying to measure the return on their advertising investment by asking, “What new business has this ad brought ME?” In most cases, it is next to impossible to measure the results of image advertising. But remember that most law firm advertising isn’t as much about selling a “New and Improved lawyer or law firm," as it is about creating the brand. To create that brand you must communicate the elements that differentiate your firm.

A successful advertising campaign brings many other benefits that law firms never seem to address. Some are extremely important when building a brand or positioning your firm within the marketplace. When weighing the value of an advertising campaign and whether advertising is right for your firm, you should consider these other benefits.

1. Advertising communicates success. The mere fact that your firm is advertising communicates success to clients, potential clients and competitors.
   
2. Advertising reminds clients and former clients of the quality service that your firm has provided and offers assurances that your firm will remain viable and successful well into the future.
   
3. Advertising is publicity, focusing attention on your firm in a public forum that people use to learn about law firms. If your firm is seeking publicity but an editor has never heard of your firm, that editor is most likely to doubt the importance of the information and not run it. Advertising can eliminate that doubt.
   
4. Advertising is movement and growth. Advertising breathes life into a firm, carrying it to new areas, new markets, and new industries. A firm that keeps moving grows and thrives, while dormant ones tend to stagnate.
   
5. Advertising "spreads the word" about a firm, and the more people who are familiar with a firm -- and with the brand -- the greater the firm's market power. Familiarity wields the power of persuasion creating an avenue for others to pass on your information with confidence.
   
6. Advertising boosts morale. An important, empowering element of advertising is pride. Advertising is a source of pride for clients who have chosen the firm as well as for staff who enjoy the excitement generated by an ad campaign.
   
7. Advertising stimulates conversation about a firm, among clients, potential clients and competing firms. When a prospective or existing client tells a member of your firm, "I saw your firm's ad today," you have just been handed an opportunity to build a relationship. Relationship building is vital, as success in the service industry is based on strong relationships.
   
8. Advertising can eliminate branding confusion, which causes an identity crisis both within and without your firm. Properly positioning the brand through advertising will communicate to everyone what your firm is about, removing all assumptions.

Advertising is an investment in growth, generating opportunities, positioning a brand and reaching thousands of potential clients. If the legal industry is based on successful relationships, then your next goal should be to learn to recognize and capitalize on the new opportunities brought to you through advertising.