Well known social media marketer Gary Vaynerchuk authored a book called “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.” It’s all about brand building, marketing, and developing business in today’s digital environment.
The central thesis is that in order to stand out and gain your audience’s attention, you need to give, give, give before asking for someone’s business. Giving can take many forms, but in the social media world it most often means producing valuable, relevant content for your audiences.
I believe that Vaynerchuk wrote the book because he believes that too many people are throwing too many right hooks, and not enough jabs. They’re blasting people with offers and asks, and not giving freely of their wisdom in order to build authentic relationships online and off.
But sometimes I think that a right hook can, itself, be a jab. After all, if you believe that the services you provide can genuinely help solve some of the toughest problems that members of your audience face, then you’re doing them a disservice by not introducing your solutions to them. Just as it’s easy to get caught up in a cycle of selling and never providing value, it’s also easy to publish, publish, publish and never share the skills and experience that underlie your content.
As you may have guessed by now, I’m leading up to a right hook of my own. My agency, and the focus of my own work, has evolved over the years. Those of you who have been long-time readers of this blog – including many who have been or continue to be clients – came to know Harrington Communications as primarily a creative agency that helps law firms design brand identities, websites, advertising and marketing collateral. We still proudly and enthusiastically do such work, including for many of the top law and consulting firms in the country, both large and small. But today we do so much more, and I hope you’ll indulge an explanation of some of our current service offerings.
THE CORE OF WHAT WE DO
We help lawyers, law firms, and other professional services providers simply, creatively, and courageously build their brands in order to build trust and gain attention with key audiences.
HOW WE DO IT
Brand Strategy for Professional Services Firms. Great creative is built upon a foundation of strong strategy. To make a professional services brand meaningful, relevant and differentiated, it is necessary to understand the strengths and attributes that our clients possess, and the challenges and opportunities that they face. Through our research we’re able to gather relevant data and information that lead to actionable insights, ensuring that brand-related decisions are rooted in fact, not speculation.
At its core, brand strategy serves the purpose of challenging assumptions, validating conclusions, and unearthing new insights. Without strategy, creative is often aimless and off-point – a boat without a rudder. Spot on strategy – often marked by its elegant simplicity – helps firms tell their stories and project their identities to the right people in the right way. By bringing clarity to complexity, we help firms build brands that draw notice, enhance relationships and create loyalty.
Website Design and Development. A website is the first impression that potential clients have of your firm and its professionals. We help our clients make it an awesome one. We work with our clients to develop websites with compelling, distinctive design that are also functional, easy to manage, and optimized so as to attract the right audiences.
Coaching for Attorneys. One of the main focuses of my work is coaching for attorneys, particularly in areas related to business development and personal brand building. I encourage my coaching clients to think boldly and creatively in order to help them achieve their objectives. I also push them to be very proactive and action-oriented because, in my experience, the impediment to success for most lawyers is not the lack of a plan, but rather the failure to implement the plan. I believe that clients are the masters of their domain and have the solutions to the challenges they face within themselves. I simply help them to unlock their potential and set a course for success.
Speaking and Workshops. I also spend a great deal of time and energy focusing on speaking to and conducting training workshops for attorneys, primarily in the areas of personal branding and building a strong foundation for business development. This includes in-person training and talks at firm retreats and in other settings, as well as “virtual” training online.
The work I’ve been doing most frequently for mid-sized and large firms includes 2-3 hour in-person personal branding/business development workshop training for associate and junior partner level attorneys, often followed by a sequence of small group coaching via Skype/video chat.
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU?
More than anything, we enjoy helping lawyers, law firms and professional services providers think and act creatively in order to adapt to the challenges of today’s competitive marketplace. How can we help you? I am always happy to chat with lawyers, consultants, marketers and business developers about issues they’re facing. Let’s talk! Please contact me at jay@hcommunications.biz or 313-432-0287.
Want to get started building a powerful personal brand? Download my free Personal Brand Building Workbook that will help you assess your strengths and begin projecting them to the marketplace.