Lately—well, in the last 20 years or so—we’ve noticed many of the brands we’ve created go astray. All the money, time and effort spent in creating the brand is forgotten, as the brand grows older. Recently—well, in the last year or so—we’ve determined to take a close look at this drift in order to help our clients sustain their brands.

Our entire creative team (strategy and design) sat down to review two or three brands we developed with clients recently. We spread out the creative work in front of us as well as on a nearby monitor. Then, in each case, we promptly disagreed on many details that constituted the “brand.” As the meeting wore on, some light bulbs went on, such as…

Insight #1. Newborn brands share a lot in common with babies.
As brand strategists and designers we believe we know what we have created but, if our brand review was helpful at all, we learned that the only thing we’d created was a baby. We had no fully-formed notion of what the brand would look like when it was six years old, much less a teenager.

Don’t get me wrong. A baby is a miracle but requires lots of care and feeding to help realize its potential. Sure, a brand has your firm’s eyes and complexion, but there’s more unknown than known. So we realized job one is to take lots of pictures. Literally, spread everything out and create a baby album. See what the brand looks like from every conceivable angle. Analyze the font usage, the relative white space, the type of imagery used. Tickle the color palette. Listen to the voice.

And finally, see if it has five toes on each foot. A newborn brand has everything implied in its early shape and form but not every detail has been worked out. For example, imagine the as-yet uncreated small-space charitable ad. How will that future creative application reflect the brand? Your PowerPoint might have the right logo in the corner but does the overall presentation reflect the brand?

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I was recently talking with a colleague about how a majority of management event attendees say their law firms are doing client feedback in a systematic way; but when we ask clients if their law firms request feedback on service and performance, the answer is almost always “rarely” or “never.”

Clearly law firm management’s approach to client feedback is not resonating with their clients.

So where’s the disconnect?

Many attorneys and firm leaders believe they are doing client feedback when they meet with clients to thank them at the end of a matter or deal, or conduct social or leadership visits, or conduct market research. Meanwhile clients view those activities more accurately as business development calls, thank you visits or non-specific research.

Lawyers need to look at client feedback from the client’s perspective.

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Nothing could be more topical for professional services marketers than social networking. We’re all atwitter about the possibilities. After all, the delivery of professional services is built on relationships and that’s the promise of Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  While the jury is out on the effectiveness of these tools, particularly the ROI, none of us is willing simply to sit on the beach while the Next Big Wave washes over us. So, let’s jump and explain to your folks why you have carpal thumb syndrome.

Understand the basics

Businesses can no longer ignore the growing network of people communicating online and through blogging specifically. The number of blogs indexed by Technorati since 2002 is roughly 133 million, with over 346 million people globally reading these blogs. That’s a lot of people! The challenge is to create a blog where people will visit—and return.

Set your strategy and define your goals

The culture of blogging is all about being real—real people sharing real experiences and insights. Often, novice bloggers confuse their business blog with advertising or PR efforts. They try to use their blog as a forum for self-promotion instead of delivering value to their readers. Yes, blogging can align with marketing, but don’t let it be your main goal. Readers ignore blatant advertising tactics. If you try to scam them as Sony once did, you’ll get trashed online. The truth will come out. Therefore, it’s important to identify the goals of your blog from the beginning and layout a strategic plan.

Some common goals:

• Gain industry exposure
• Build brand awareness
• Connect with existing customers
• Deliver value through relevant content
• Be seen in the industry as a thought leader
• Build communities of supporters
• Drive traffic
• Increase new business.

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If video killed the radio star, online video will eventually beat down the slumbering mix of text and photos on most modern Web sites. Thank goodness.

The evidence is everywhere.

• Overall, growth in online video is robust, increasing 45 percent in 2008 from the year prior to 13.5 billion total monthly views. Thanks, YouTube!
• B2B and B2C marketers in the U.S. will take a closer look at online video in 2009, according to a survey conducted in December 2008 by PermissionTV. Most place it first on their digital marketing to-do list, topping social networking, podcasting and the like.
• More than two-thirds of respondents said they would focus their budgets on online video this year.
• More than one-half of respondents are also expected to be implementing or extending an online video project in Q2 2009. Less than one-third said they were doing so currently.
• Roughly one in four top 100 law and top 50 accounting/consulting firms use video on the Web today (mostly on career sections of firm Web sites or recruiting specific sub-sites).

Speaking of recruiting, it’s important to note that videos are not only for the young and young of heart. While Generation Y (ages 18–32) has the highest percentage of people using the Web for watching and downloading videos, Pew Research reports that nearly the same percentage of Generation Xers (ages 33–44) and almost half of Young Boomers (ages 45–54) watch online video.

So more online video is inevitable. Getting yours watched and remembered is not.

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An employer brand is one of the strongest tools available for attracting and retaining talent. And in the professional services business where your product is your people, your brand is reputation and where reputation is really all about behavior, your employer and consumer brands are inextricably linked (more on that below). So the question isn’t whether you need to articulate and express your employer brand. It’s how.

The place to start is with the right definition of an employer brand.

In an Economist survey of senior management and heads of departments, 60 percent defined it as an “expression of a company’s distinctive employee experience,” as opposed to the 7 percent who suggested that it has to do with the look and tone of recruitment ads and material, for instance. It’s apparent, then, that the majority of senior managers tend to get it. And that’s a good thing; they just may not be sure what to do about it. That’s where you can make a difference.

Speaking of definitions, employer branding clearly involves strong, consistent and compelling (read: hard to ignore) communications, which is critical in a world where we are on the receiving end of more than 3,000 messages—from ads to email— every day. But the process is more involved than having HR and a Cracker Jack agency combine to wow and engage the troops. Yes, communications about the employment experience need to break through the clutter. But a true employer brand is deeper than a campaign: it includes every aspect of how your people are handled—from the moment they make contact with you as recruits to how you handle their retirement party.

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