(Blog post 3 of 3)
Tag lines are hard – a small handful of strategically selected words that encapsulate everything you stand for and want your target audience to know about you. In this 3-part post, we detail some of our favorites, along with some of the background info for context (Read parts One and Two HERE and HERE.) :
We make the complex simple.™
Segal McCambridge, Chicago. National class action defense firm that emphasizes winning at trial by simplifying the issues for the juries in complicated cases. They’re not mocking the jurors. They’re simply recognizing that MDL litigation in class actions over asbestos, latex gloves, and other issues involve extremely complex biology and anatomy, as well as hyper-technical legal and procedural issues. And to win, they have to explain all of this incredibly complicated info to a lay jury. Segal McCambridge lawyers win because they excel in that skill.
Many insurance company clients actually requested additional copies of the clever firm brochure and marketing materials to send to their friends and bosses. See the award-winning marketing materials here.
Built for Speed.™
Levenfeld Pearlstein, Chicago. Aggressive, full-service firm with especially dynamic leadership. At the height of the dot-com boom, fast-paced companies routinely complained that their law firms moved too slowly and couldn’t keep up. LP was designed to be the 24/7 alternative, and effectively marketed their understanding of the demands placed upon this market segment.
The Lettuce Lawyers.™
Noland Hamerly, Salinas, CA. A terrific full-service firm’s targeted agricul
ture-industry marketing campaign. A 25-lawyer central California firm that wanted to market their general practices better, we persuaded them to expend more marketing resources on the region’s largest industry, agriculture, leading to significant gains in revenue, profits, and prestige.
Calling them “Noland Hamerly’s Agriculture Law Industry Group” would have sucked the energy and creativity out of the marketing initiative. No one in their target audience would have noticed or cared.
Alliteratively calling them “The Lettuce Lawyers” made it immediately memorable, and helped us generate dozens of feature stories worldwide. But yes, we did have to assure the lawyers that the shippers, growers, and others wouldn’t get confused that they only represent Lettuce, and would also include farmers who grow broccoli, etc. Remember, lawyers are very literal. Click here to see the other Best of Show-winning marketing materials.
As powerful as our name.™
Waterfall Economidis, Tucson. One of Arizona’s leading full-service law firms focuses its marketing on its unique name, particularly during this tragic drought. Great lawyers and blessed with a positive and fortuitous name, this tag line reinforces both their name and culture. To reinforce the message, we are changing the firm’s domain name from the hard-to-remember WECHV.com to simply WaterfallAttorneys.com (we rejected WaterfallLawyers.com as having too many Ls in a row, which could lead to confusion or typos).
How Potent is Your Patent?
Sterne Kessler, Washington DC. Sterne Kessler is one of the nation’s finest intellectual property firms. Fishman Marketing was hired to develop a marketing campaign to help market their leading patent-prosecution practice. We particularly liked the tag line’s rhythm and how it focused on the effectiveness of their work. See the ads here.
Legal Skills. Doubled.™
Glenn Feldmann, Darby & Goodlatte, Roanoke, VA. This small, skilled, full-service law firm is the Roanoke Meritas firm. Colloquially called “Glenn Feldmann,” the lawyers sought to brand the firm in the local market and hired Fishman Marketing to help. Two particularly marketable aspects of the firm are its Double-N first names, and that the firm name, Glenn Feldmann, sounds like a person, rather than a firm.
Each Glenn Feldmann lawyer was a leader in their respective practice areas, so we wanted to leverage their reputations and local visibility. We selected the firm’s name as the platform for the website. But the launch ads highlighted the Double-Ns in the names, to reinforce the firm name.
Protecting People Against Polluters.
The Pollution Lawyers, Chicago. These White Knight lawyers represent the poor and underprivileged whose homes, schools, or neighborhoods have been polluted by some mysterious toxin in the air or groundwater. A two-firm team combining lawyers from The Collins Law Firm and Varga Berger Ledsky Hayes & Casey takes on the big companies on behalf of the neighbors. Click here to see the website and marketing materials.
Our name is easy to remember. Our work is hard to forget.™
Bryant Miller Olive, Florida. A finance-oriented firm using an “Olive”-themed campaign to generate name recognition (See www.bmolaw.com). They had great awareness in their home market of Florida, but when opening their first office in a new market, they needed a simple marketing campaign that would help them build awareness quickly and cost-effectively.
When you have a good word in your name, it’s worth exploring whether you can use it in your marketing, to make it more memorable. When you see the Olive, you notice it. When you see it again, you remember that you’ve seen it. No one can forget the giant Olive. See the award-winning marketing materials here.
OK, now contrast those above to the typical law firm slogans:
Below are law firm tag lines from an issue of Inside Counsel magazine, a publication where many large firms advertise:
- National Firm. Midwest Value.
- Driving Business Advantage.
- The confidence to proceed.
- Canadian Lawyers.
- Deep relationships. Forward thinking. And not just one lawyer. A team.
- More together.
- Top of Mind.
- Singular focus. Outstanding results.
- Intellectual property law by the numbers.
- Driving Business Advantage.
Do you know which national law firm is “More together” or “Drives business advantage”?
Which firm offers “The confidence to proceed?” How does “Top of Mind” benefit a client?
Consider whether your tag line is equally applicable to your competitors. If it is, your marketing is wasting an opportunity. Take a step back, rethink your strategy, and focus on a message that helps you stand out and achieve measurable ROI for your marketing investment.
How does your tag line or website compare?
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