Slides for my talk on personal branding for lawyers in 2020 at the Tilleke & Gibbins forum in Bangkok, Thailand. Thanks for having me! More on www.kiteconsult.com
Sascha Funk
Co-Founder at Kite Consult Co.,Ltd.
Professor at Thammasat Univ., BJM.
Sascha Funk is based in Bangkok, Thailand where he works as University
lecturer at Thammasat University, Mahidol University & Stenden University
lecturing in Journalism, Online Business and New Media related subjects while
overseeing research projects focusing on new media, communication & society
as well digital currencies and educational technology. Prior to shifting his
professional career to Southeast Asia he worked in management for New Media
and Digital Marketing agencies in Europe. Now he just co-founded KITE Consult
Co., Ltd.
Symbiotic relationship
Balance between personal brands and
the firm’s overall image.
Attorneys and staff should have brands
that align with the firm.
Attorneys with strong personal brands
can be assets to the law firm.
A respected lawyer’s reputation
might affect the firm the work for.
Both, lawyer and firm, benefit from
increased business.
Attorney branding basically works in
the same way.
It helps you to let people know why
the should trust you, what makes you
unique, and why the should choose
to work with you.
For law firms branding is a way to stand out
from the crowd, to highlight why clients
should decide working with them.
Firm branding and attorney branding
might overlap at times. When it comes
to personal branding the focus,
however, is on you.
Think about why clients hire lawyers.
Some clients go for famous law firms,
others try to find the lawyer that fits
their needs best due to his or her
expertise.
For example, you may be skilled in
regards to all things family law. When
starting your personal brand, you
would focus on the fact that your law
firm helps in lots of family law related
cases and that you are the go-to
attorney for such cases.
Benefits of a strong personal brand
organically attract more clients
projects
opportunities
media attention
What lawyers use social media for
*ABA Techreport
Career Development / Networking
Client Development
Education / Current Awareness
Case Investigation
Other
How clients find lawyers
96%via Search Engines 74%
Taking action on website
How social media impacts client relations
27%Retain services via social
media 80%
Get clients through
blogging
Agenda
Personal Branding Concepts
Cases
Tips
Focus on LinkedIn
Take aways
What is personal branding and why is it important
Real life examples of personal branding
Why LinkedIn is good for personal branding and how to use it
1
2
3
4
5
Tactics to improve your Personal Branding
You’re not defined by your job title and you’re not confined by
your job description. Starting today, you are a brand.
”
“
The Internet is now more important than
your resume and if nothing interesting
comes up when someone googles your
name then you have a problem.
Particularly, if you are in a position where
you handle high paying cases and clients
as they want to know who they work with
and why they should trust you.
Sascha Funk
Your Personal Brand Is The
New Resume:
Over the years the importance of personal branding has
grown astronomically. Social Media platforms like Facebook,
Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube provide us with
easy access to share and document our experiences.
In regards to sharing knowledge and expertise, there are also
blogging solutions such as WordPress, Wix, and Medium,
that are rather easy to set up and maintain.
Expressing what makes you unique by creating your own
website or blog and showcasing your expertise through
multimedia storytelling, social media, and so on helps
potential clients to verify who you are and what you stand for.
YOU
Your
Image
Your
Mission
Your
Value
Your
Vision
Your individual personal brand is created by
the personal values that you believe in and
how you build your professional reputation
through contributions to your communities,
online and offline.
What will you gain from a strong personal brand
reputation x trust x attention x execution
1 Personal Branding Concepts
• What type of content have you created that
your followers have responded to most?
• Can you replicate this with other similar
content?
• The more unique and engaging content you
create on your chosen topic of expertise, the
more your followers will start to think of you as
a leader in your chosen field.
Define your area of
expertise
1
1. Ask your self why do you need
personal branding?
What is your goal? Do you want to create a
personal brand to be ‘cool’? Is that really
important or do you have more to offer?
2. Branding in the right place,
For example: If you want people to
recognize your professional skills you can
focus on building your LinkedIn profile. If
you want to be known by a wider audience,
you could build up your Twitter profile .
Define your branding goals
2
My goals
3
Develop strong brand
statement
Why brand statement?
Make the audience get to know you in order to
feel better connected. When someone feels
connected to a brand or personality, they are
more likely to have more trust.
What is brand statement?
A brand statement is one way to connect with
your audience in a way that briefly, but clearly,
defines you as a brand.
How to make brand statement?
It should highlight your area of expertise, the
values that you stand for, the mission you want to
accomplish, and the vision that you embody.
How to develop a strong
brand statement ?
1.Find out what people think of you. You
already have a personal brand! Ask the question
below and make a list.
What are three words that describe me?
E.g.: Motivated Futuristic Considerate
How to develop a strong
brand statement ?
2. Consider what makes you unique to help
differentiate your brand
• your skills, education, i.e. Family Law
• interesting companies you’ve worked for
• other skills that come from your personal life
Differentiating factors
How to develop a strong
brand statement ?
3. Develop a quick and engaging pitch to
describe your brand to others
● BOLD: your pitch should show how you change the world
● RELEVANT: your pitch needs to relate to what you actually do
● AUTHENTIC: your pitch can be aspirational, but you have to live up to it
● NOTABLE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND: your pitch should be concise and
memorable, making people want to know more
● DIFFERENTIATED: remember, different is better than better
A brand statement should be
WWW
Website - get in
touch later - rn we
assume you all are
happy here at
T&G ;-)
Social media - our
focus today
Live events
Communicate what you
want to be known for
•Decide which social media account(s) you are
going to focus on
•For the networks you will be using, make sure all
of your information is complete and accurate.
•showcase your work
•Delete questionable content from years past that
doesn’t have a positive effect on your professional
image.
this will help you to build traffic to the networks
you want to focus on
Manage social media accounts
Mohpichai •1st
Mohpichai
Pitchanee Mohpichai
Entrepreneur
Create engaging content!
Old times: the more you post,
the bigger your reach
Today: over-posting leads to
fatigue and annoyance
Find out (analyze) engagement
data once you see some and
identify which times and what
content works best
Curate engaging content
Reposting is a good way to stay engaged.
It shows that you care about others’ work
as well
It shows that you are not only on social
media to post about yourself but that you
spread the love
It gives you content to post
Do share different kind of content
Do not overshare though
As you evolve as a person, make sure your personal brand evolves with you
Content you could post
new posts about you
sharing content that isn't yours
interacting with others
advertising products you love
Become the go-to source
Become THE source everybody wants to talk to!
Be Ubiquitous
• have multiple social media
• Be dedicated - don’t ‘spray & pray”
• Blog
• Social media (fb, ig, twitter)
• YouTube
This will increase your visibility
Be active
Once you start, you can’t
stop.
questions, discussions,
comments, replies. Etc -
whatever it takes to build
strong relationships and
increase loyalty
Use apps / software Hootsuite
This just makes life so much easier.
Buffer, Hootsuite, etc. -
screenshots
Be part of a group
Social Media Groups Can Help You:
- Challenge and motivate yourself
- Push you to achieve your goals
- Keep you accountable
- Get ideas
- Receive feedback
- Gain confidence
- Expand your skills
- Test your knowledge
- Develop leadership skills
- Help others
- Do some good
- Make friends
- Discover new opportunities
Daily picture sharing
on Instagram
Visual storytelling via design apps (e.g.
canva.com) to create distinctive looks
Use relevant hashtags for content
discovery. As user and producer.
Facebook Page for
your digital brand.
Create value in your area of expertise. Make sure
you are well prepared in said area.
Share content from your blog and other websites
coherently. Boost posts once in a while for
enhanced lead generation.
It’s a visual world! As of now the content that shows
the highest interaction is video content, especially
live video. Plan your content accordingly.
Share your videos
on YouTube.
Learn how to handle audio, lighting and camera
angles.
Actively follow video content creators on
Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube and build
relationships.
Record screencasts, webinars, informational
videos and behind-the-scenes content to show
your expertise and educate and provide value to
your following.
Interact on Twitter.
Create detailed, segmented, Twitter lists of
interesting people.
Regularly retweet the people on your lists.
When they respond, start conversations about
topics you share and they are passionate
about.
Bonus - Hot Topic 2020 - Podcasts!
Move slide up!
Podcast facts / ‘boring’ examples
Find your
niche
Optimize your LinkedIn Profile for search and discovery
Add potentially interesting
connections (professors,
colleagues, friends, etc.)
Get references from previous
clients or management to
highlight on your profile.
Complete your profile to its full
extend. Don’t leave anything out in
order to optimize it for discovery and
LinkedIn search. Do use keywords
related to your industry and your
particular set of skills.
How LinkedIn can help you?
• personal brand
• traffic and visibility
• business leads and opportunities
• connections
• reach
z
INCREASE
How LinkedIn can help you?
• invitations to conferences
• panels
• groups
Leads to
Highlight your Unique Value Proposition
Pimp your profile picture
and your headline
Optimize your summary.
don’t ramble, avoid
buzzword bingo
Be clear about what you do