It’s a busy market out there, hundreds if not thousands of other firms are jostling for the same clients as you. How do you stand out from your competitors without spending a leg and an elbow on advertising?
The solution is to own your niche.
In other words, build your firm’s brand by promoting it as the go-to expert in a particular field.
Sounds easier said than done, so here is a simple breakdown of how to do this:
Step 1.Identify your USP
Identifying your unique selling point is easy to do if your firm already has a clear angle such as family law.
However, many firms are all-rounders and pride themselves on being able to provide a variety of services.
The trick is to identify what makes you unique in each of your firm's sectors (chances are, it's your experts).
- what are their particular strengths?
- what do they do differently to your competitors?
- when looking at your success stories, can you identify any particular trends?
- is there anything that you’d like that sector to be better known for?
In other words, find an angle to give your sector, and therefore your firm as a whole, a stronger sense of identity.
Step 2.Identify your ideal client
The second important step is to identify your ideal client. This is helpful the more specific you are, so do spend some time creating a buyer persona.
There are several benefits to this: it allows you to be more focused in your marketing efforts while speaking to the most relevant people.
These two steps are interlinked, you are likely to find that building your ideal client informs the direction your quest for a USP takes and vice versa.
Combine the two
You might have heard noises about content marketing for a while now, which is a form of marketing in which you attract clients to your business by creating valuable and relevant content.
In other words: traditional marketing means telling people you’re a superhero, while content marketing means showing them.
Now that you know what makes you unique (or at least, what aspects of your business you would like to promote) and who your ideal target audience is, then you should create content that caters to both of these.
Demonstrating your expertise through content is the fastest and cheapest way to owning your niche. It demonstrates that you are active, involved in the field, and knowledgeable.
Build your Experts' Brand
Firms are only as strong as their experts, so don't forget to make this a team effort, they are your biggest asset!
So get your whole team creating content!