Sunday, November 25, 2007

What Women Know About Marketing that Law Firms Should Heed

It is my understanding that women dread showing up to a party to discover another woman is wearing the same outfit. I can relate to that experience in a small way.

I attended a performance of Cirque de Soleil a few weeks ago as the guest of a friend(it was both a business event and performance perk). I wore a dark blue suit and a mustard colored shirt -- guess what he was wearing! The implication (in regard to first impressions) was that everyone would think we were not individuals but part of a team. Major oops!

When it has come up in any discussion I have never met a woman who did not care about this issue of duplication. Certainly TV and movies have made the issue legendary.

So what does this have to do with marketing a law firm? Everything!

Imagine your marketing programs are what you choose to wear. Would you choose to put on the exact same outfit as that of your competition?

Too often we see what our competition is doing (in marketing) and decide our best course is to do something similar. The result is that we do not look like a law firm that stands out to our target market... we only look like we fit in with the others. Homogeneous -- completely vanilla.

To stand out you need to be different. Not revolutionary, just different.

I go to a lot of evening events where many of the women are wearing a black dress. Without duplication each has chosen the style and cut that best presents them as original and unlike any other women in attendance. Women know this secret about being different and still fitting in -- your marketing can do that too.

Graphic Artists are Crazy

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