Well 2020 certainly served us up a doozy of a year. And while we all experienced some form of disruption to our business-as-usual, there are a multitude of positive transformations that have changed the way we will do business forever.
The meteoric rise and acceptance of using digital channels to communicate is one of these transformations. Another is that as a result of the enforced social distancing requirements, the desire for people to more deeply connect with other people has increased.
However, the desire to connect with people is not new. There are a multitude of studies that reveal that as mammals, we are profoundly shaped and influenced by our social environment.
This is why in business, it’s much easier to engage in a relationship with an actual person as opposed to a logo or a faceless corporation. So in 2021, if you are looking to create a deeper connection with your existing and prospective clients, it makes total sense to bring your amazing team to the forefront of your marketing.
There are four things that you can do to ensure that you are leveraging the people behind your brand to make for effective marketing. They are:
A really easy way to do this is to forget using stock images in your marketing communications. Instead use photos of the real people in your business. Share stories of your team and where your clients are happy to, stories from your clients. Publish video and written testimonials across all of your marketing touchpoints. You may also want to consider how you can become more visible in your local community. Can you join your local Chamber of Commerce or other business networking groups in town? Is there a sponsorship opportunity that will allow you to tap into a group of people that represent your target audience?
As consumers begin to search for true connection with the people they do business with, there has never been a better time to build your key team members personal brands. The perceptions about your key people will ultimately have an effect on how people perceive your businesses brand. The Partners, Solicitors and Conveyancers in your firm will benefit from being aware of their current visibility to your existing and potential clients as well as how each of these key team members are perceived by your community.
Your legal and conveyancing team are the people that ultimately form a large part of the experience that a client will have with your firm. So it makes sense to bring that experience forward in your marketing by ensuring that their personal brands are consistent and complementary to your business brand.
The best way to demonstrate the skills, expertise and personality traits of your team is to publish thought leadership content via your website, social media and email channels. If you have been practicing conveyancing for years, then you will have a wealth of valuable information that you can publish to demonstrate your experience in this area. Similarly if you have prepared hundreds of commercial leases or prepared a multitude of complex Wills and Estate documents, you will have the thought-leadership content required to differentiate yourself from less experienced or less visible competitors.
Engagement remains as the key currency for the social media channels that your firm uses for their marketing. Social media algorithms have been designed to penalise businesses that are using their social media channels simply to broadcast their messages. People don’t want to be sold to anymore. They want to build relationships with the people they do business with. So in 2021, be prepared to be more interactive with your digital channels to deepen and strengthen relationships by selling less and conversing more.
If you are looking to create real impact with your marketing in 2021, it could be these recommended tweaks that help you to more effectively engage with your existing and potential clients.
