1-800-HURT-®com

when you're HURT in an accident call 911, then call 1-800-HURT-911 K

Distribution Rights

What is branding?  Branding is an attempt to entrench an image in the mind of the target audience by use of a memorable symbol or name that can later be evoked.  Law firm advertising can brand the name of the law firm or a vanity telephone number.  A brand capable of graphic representation can be protected by registering as a trademark or servicemark. 

What can be branded?  Almost anything can be branded, names, words, symbols, style, shape, color, sound, smell, look of a product, or even someone's face.   NBC's^® three tone chime was the first audible servicemark registered in 1950, Harley-Davidson’s^® motorcycle exhaust note is a distinctive brand which they attempted to protect with a trademark but later withdrew their application, and the distinctive shape of a Coca-Cola^® bottle is a trademarked image indelibly branded in everyone’s mind.

The goal of advertising is long-term branding, direct response or a combination of both.  Law firm advertising is no different.  An example of TV advertising for long-term branding would be advertising for Jaguar^®.  Jaguar doesn't expect you to see their TV commercial and call a 1-800 number at the bottom of the screen to order your Jaguar, but it is intended that repeated viewing of their commercials will create a positive image in your mind that you won't forget.  Direct response advertising sells a product or service and expects consumers to directly respond by calling a telephone number in the advertising.  A vanity telephone number (a number which spells something) is usually used for direct response advertising, however, when unavailable, some ads use numeric telephone numbers and sometimes only a web site address.

Before deciding on how to brand your law firm in advertising, you need to determine what you want your advertising to accomplish, which will depend upon the field of law that you practice.  Corporate law firms will advertise more to facilitate "sales" and for future business, then to have the phones ringing the moment their commercial airs on TV, while advertising for law firms servicing individuals in practice areas such as personal injury, divorce, bankruptcy and criminal law will lean towards direct response advertising.

Corporate law firm advertising can focus on long term branding of the firm name alone or together with the message to be associated with the name by emphasizing practice area and/or aspects important to corporate clients, such as power, influence, access to advice, speed of service, and billing issues.  Seeking to make sales easier when their salespeople called on companies, a previously little known insurance company, Aflac™, decided to try something different to increase name recognition.  Daniel P. Amos, President & CEO of Aflac, says he has worked to increase brand name recognition by cutting operating expenses and spending that money on advertising.  With a very large budget and a brilliant idea using humor and the now well know Aflac Duck, Aflac's web site says it achieved an increase in name recognition from 2% in 1990 to 71% in 1999.  Now, Aflac's sales people have an easier time, because the people and companies they sell to have heard of Aflac.  This idea worked because Aflac committed the advertising dollars, the name is easy to say and because the duck was different, funny and they made the name sound like a duck quack.

If a corporate law firm has a vanity number matching the firm name, it should be used in the law firm advertisements.  Drug companies have quickly learned the value of using vanity telephone numbers even in advertising solely for brand enhancement.  Although they can not sell prescription drugs by direct response advertising, the companies use their vanity numbers and web sites to provide further information for the consumer and to garner caller information which can be used to send coupons and brochures.  One of many examples is Imitrex (for migraines) which advertises 1-800-IMITREX and imitrex.com.  In his study, "Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising on Television", Juhee Cho at Michigan State University, found that of the 11 ads studied, 90.9% (10) advertised a 1-800 number and 90.9% (10) advertised a website.

Law firms have unique issues which make branding their firm name difficult.  Law firm names typically comprise the names of various partners.  Partners come and go and the names change.  Unlike Aflac, law firm names can be quite long and are frequently difficult to pronounce or cumbersome to say.  It would be best for branding purposes to limit the name to only one or two names.  For instance, the Law Firm of Pedrangelo, Schneider and Woodward could be more easily branded as The Woodward Law Firm or "Woodward... the Law Firm corporations rely on", however, it's unlikely that the other partners would agree on that.  Jacoby & Meyers^® has become a successful brand because the name is short, easy to pronounce, easy to say and they have spent millions of dollars for continuous and sustained advertising which is necessary for a successful brand.  Jacoby & Meyers offers services to individuals in direct response advertising.  Their focus of branding is the firm name “Jacoby & Meyers”, but, can you remember their vanity telephone number?

Direct response advertising for law firms concentrating in areas such as divorce, criminal, bankruptcy, divorce or personal injury, primarily seeks to have consumers call the law firm right now, during or immediately after the commercial airs.  With direct response advertising, the method for contacting the advertiser is of paramount importance and it should be by telephone, not a web site.  It is far more important that law firm advertising entrench an image how to call the law firm than to remember the law firm name.  For instance, you probably don't know how to call Jacoby & Meyers, but branding 1-800-HURT-911 allows the target audience to remember how to reach you.

Branding can take one to two years of continuous advertising.  Since advertising is a long term proposition, direct response advertisers frequently look to build some branding into their advertising, thus creating a hybrid of both direct response advertising and branding.  Branding is defined by simplicity and consistency.  Consequently, if the vanity telephone number doesn’t match the law firm name, the vanity telephone number should be the sole focus of branding.  Branding both the vanity telephone number and law firm name, will result in competing brands and substantially decreased retention of both the law firm name and vanity telephone number. 

When using short duration media, such as TV, a 1-800 vanity number is critical for increasing call results, decreasing average call cost and being competitive.  Using 1-800-HURT-911^® resulted in a 51% decrease in call cost when advertised on New York TV from August to December 2004.  When advertising on even shorter duration media, such as radio and billboards, a 1-800 vanity number is imperative and will produce far more dramatic results, as much as 14 times more telephone calls in radio advertising.  In fact, law firm advertising on radio or billboards without a 1-800 vanity telephone number will guarantee failure.  Which number will you remember at 65mph, 1-800-487-8911 or 1-800-HURT-911?

Choosing a really good vanity telephone number is difficult and finding one is even more difficult.  Whether your law firm has a large or small advertising budget, your vanity number must be 1-800, not 1-888, 1-877, 1-866, or 1-xxx (people will dial 1-800 when they see another toll free area code such as 1-866); and must have no more than 7 letters (90% of cell phones can not be connected if an extra digit is dialed).  Your number should be good for branding, easy to spell, and easy to remember.  Additionally, if your law firm advertises for a specific area of practice, such as personal injury, you should select a vanity telephone number that is specific to your area of practice to avoid receiving a substantial number of unrelated calls.  People who see your law firm advertising and and then visit your web site will usually assume that you have a domain name consisting of your telephone number and will always type the domain name with a 1 in front of the number, so if your number is 1-800, you should have a matching domain name in the format of 1800NAME.com such as 1-800-HURT-911 and 1800HURT911.com (www.1800HURT911.com).

Whether branding a name or a telephone number, your brand should have what is known as USP or a Unique Selling Proposition.  In other words, does it tell a story?  Slogans can also be used to enhance memory of a brand by further telling the story.  For instance, in law firm advertising, 1-800-HURT-911^® tells a story.  It says if you're hurt in an accident, you can get legal help fast.  The slogan "When you're HURT in an accident, call 911, then call 1-800-HURT-911" ^sm enhances the USP.

The strength and success of your law firm brand is its continuing ability to influence the thoughts and actions of potential clients.  Your brand should differentiate your law firm from others in a way that influences prospects to think of you rather than your competitors, and to trust and utilize your services.  In the consumer's mind, a strong brand will increase the positive feeling toward your services, and increase memory retention, thus influencing potential clients to think of you first when they need you.  A brand becomes stronger as the consumer becomes more aware of the brand due to the 1) Frequency of advertising; 2) Length of advertising; 3) Distinctiveness; 4) Simplicity; 5) "Memorability"; and 6) "Likeability" of the brand.  For instance, people easily remember Brands which score well in categories 3, 4, 5, & 6 and those brands will become the dominant brands.  FedEx which has been heavily advertised for years, has USP, it says Federal and Express, which says trustworthy and fast.  FedEx is also 3) distinctive, 4) simple, 5) memorable, and 6) it’s easier to say, so people like saying FedEx, rather than Federal Express.