Leveraging Rankings and Awards for Visibility
In a recent blog post, we talked about how to make the most of the annual process of gathering the matters and references needed for submissions to research-based legal awards and directories. (You can read our blog post here: https://www.create-cmm.com/blog/making-the-most-of-rankings-and-awards.)
In this blog post, we’re giving you tips for getting the most visibility out of your recognitions, whether that’s one or many this awards season.
To truly get the most visibility out of rankings, recognitions and awards, you need to do some planning before the first submission packet is ever uploaded.
Submit to the right programs.
One key to getting the most out of recognitions is to pick the right ones in terms of both quality and fit with your firm’s practices and lawyers.
The quality of the ranking or award organization matters. Most clients are savvy enough to be able to separate legitimate rankings or recognitions from vanity awards. Being ranked or recognized on a legitimate organization’s website or in its social media provides your firm and lawyers with an increased online presence as well as a digital, third-party endorsement. Vanity awards and rankings, however, will do nothing for—and could damage—the credibility of your firm and its lawyers. In addition, most online rankings or awards include a link to your firm’s website, which can drive traffic to your site and potentially enhance your firm’s search engine rankings. The quality of the backlink matters here too.
A little client and industry research will also help you identify the right programs in terms of influence with your clients and referral sources. Chambers and Legal 500 are the most well-recognized ranking programs, but they may not be right for your firm or lawyers. More “niche” directories, including those associated with industry organizations and publications, often have a targeted audience that more closely matches your firm’s practice and industry focuses.
Remember “info in, info out.”
With most research-based recognition programs, you’re given the opportunity to provide information on your firm and its lawyers, important work matters and client references. Of course, your best chance of success is to adhere to the submission guidelines and submit timely. But beyond that, the nonconfidential information you include in the submission is also the source of the information that the ranking or award organization publishes. Make sure the information you provide, including about the clients and work matters, is what you want highlighted in the published directory or recognition.
Enhance visibility through the reference process.
Many of the research-based awards and recognitions include a reference process through which lawyers and firms can identify clients and other market sources that will act as references. Engaging with clients and referral sources around the reference process is an opportunity in itself to enhance visibility—whether or not your firm or lawyers are ever actually recognized or ranked.
Once your firm has secured its rankings and awards, it’s time to make the most of them in your marketing and business development.
Consider whether paid programs are worth it for your firm.
Most, if not all, of the rankings and awards programs have some paid components to them, whether that’s an enhanced firm profile on the organization’s website or plaques and other extra goodies such as social media assets. These paid upgrades can be quite costly—a firm profile on Chambers can run to the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars—but they can provide an added measure of visibility, including the ability to upload your firm logo and to customize the description of the firm or practice and use of the logos and badges, as well as other assets. Some of the paid upgrades also provide access to extra tools and information aimed at helping the firm during the submission process, which should also factor into your decision.
Also under the umbrella of paid participation, if the organization holds an awards event and it’s geographically feasible and in your budget, or your firm has won a substantial award, consider buying tickets or otherwise sponsoring the event. The organization will likely publicize the event, including photos of the attendees and winners.
Celebrate the recognition on owned channels.
Whether or not your firm opts for paid upgrades from the rankings and awards programs, you can celebrate (and leverage) the recognition on the firm’s owned channels, including an announcement on the firm website and social media. Individual lawyers should also be encouraged (and possibly helped) to celebrate the awards and recognitions on their own social media accounts as well as send an announcement to alumni and other industry-related groups and publications. Don’t forget to include “red carpet” photos if you sponsor or attend the event.
Celebrating the firm’s or practice’s awards and recognitions with clients—especially those who served as references in the process—is also an excellent visibility and engagement opportunity. Although the news typically does not warrant a special client email, awards and recognitions can be added to templates for emailed newsletters or alerts as well as to email signatures for individual lawyers. You can also encourage lawyers to reach out to those clients who served as referral sources to thank them and let them know of the outcome.
Update awards and recognitions in your marketing and business development materials.
Any collateral that includes recognitions—practice descriptions, website pages, lawyer bios, pitch decks and templates for responding to RFPs, for example—should be updated to reflect the current year’s rankings and awards. In addition to the recognition itself, quotes from clients and other market commentators as well as any specific praise for the lawyer, practice or firm can be incorporated into these materials, along with the appropriate attribution.
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