Highly marketable products don’t just happen. This is especially true in the consumer marketplace, where the most successful products are carefully conceived with marketing at their core. For example,

• Frito-Lay’s “Flamin’ Hot” line of snacks was specifically designed to capture the expanding Latino market in the U.S.
• Dyson’s Airwrap curler is a product that’s perfect for TikTok demonstrations.
• Lululemon is a catchy name for a product that’s precisely in tune with the cultural moment.

What if law firms were conceived the same way—with marketability as their guiding principle?

Our Dream Client
Enter Sharp & Savvy—our fictional dream client. It’s a firm that has been carefully and deliberately designed to stand out. Every element of its brand, positioning, and service delivery has been crafted to capture attention, differentiate in a crowded marketplace, and support sustained growth. 

But is such a firm possible? We think so. And here’s what it would look like:

• It’s well-positioned. Sharp & Savvy has vastly reduced the number of firms that can viably compete against it. Like many well-positioned businesses, it’s focused exclusively on a single market—for instance, venture-backed technology startups. And each of its practice areas is carefully built to support its firm-wide positioning.
  
  For example, its Financing practice area has deep ties to the venture capital community. And its IP practice is focused on technology matters unique to the startup community. Why? Because the authority that comes with this type of focus is tremendous. It tells clients, “We get your industry. We live and breathe it. We’ve got a deep bench of experts to help you.”
   
• It’s not bound by geography. Sharp & Savvy understands that clients are willing to hire a lawyer located halfway around the world—as long as that attorney can demonstrate specialized expertise that is not available locally. As a result, Sharp & Savvy encourages each of its attorneys to become the world’s leading expert in a highly specialized and lucrative niche.
   
• It invests in attorney bios. At Sharp & Savvy, attorney bios aren’t just resumés—they’re powerful marketing tools. Each one is carefully written to position the attorney as a go-to expert in a specific niche, backed up by a rich collection of reputation-enhancing content like articles, blog posts, and case studies.
  
  Because every attorney’s growth strategy is different, the firm uses a flexible bio format that can adapt to individual needs. For some, that might mean tabs showcasing multiple areas of expertise. For others, it could include personal stories and photos to create a strong emotional connection with potential clients.
   
• It has a culture of thought leadership. Sharp & Savvy doesn’t just hire great lawyers—it hires thought leaders. Sharp & Savvy’s goal is to create an idea factory because the firm realizes that attorneys that write and think about cutting-edge legal issues are better able to serve their clients. The firm also realizes that disseminating those ideas helps build the firm’s brand and ultimately brings in more work.
   
• It elevates marketers—and pays them more. In a fantastic Mad Men-themed blog post, legal marketing dynamo Heather Morse wrote about how law firms need an account executive like “Pete.” On Mad Men, Pete acts as the bridge between the client and the creative team. He keeps clients excited—and wanting more. Sharp & Savvy takes a similar approach. It hires biz dev people who are as smart and (differently) talented as its attorneys and pays them as well as its legal talent. Why? It frees attorneys to serve clients and create compelling thought leadership.
   
• It spends more on marketing. Sharp & Savvy thinks of itself as a B2B company. And, like most B2B enterprises, it spends 7-10% of its gross revenue on marketing and business development. That puts it ahead of most law firms, which in 2023 were reported to spend 1% to 2% on average (which was down from the 2% to 3% in the pre-COVID times) of gross revenue on marketing and business development.
   
• Leadership leads by example. The firm’s senior partners (and other firm leaders) don’t just talk about the importance of marketing. They demonstrate it regularly. They’re proactively writing, speaking, or leading events. They prioritize this in their schedules, and the firm’s culture supports these activities.
   
• It’s a lead-generation machine. The goal of Sharp & Savvy is to create a lead-generation machine. Its leaders seek to build a brand and a marketing apparatus that transcend any single attorney. They are accumulating knowledge and expertise and creating business processes that are institutional assets. And along the way, they are radically reducing their dependence on traditional lawyer-rainmakers. They don’t want to live or die on the fortunes of rainmakers who could easily walk out the door and take their clients with them.

Could Your Firm Be “Sharp & Savvy”?

Sharp & Savvy is a fictional firm—an idealized example of marketability. While achieving this is not easy, a key first step involves establishing a thoughtful, well-defined market positioning.

For many law firms, developing clear market positioning is no small task. This is especially true for firms offering hundreds of services to a wide range of clients. So, how can you do it effectively?

Our recent article “Breaking the Mold for Law Firm Websites” explores how firms can leverage Silent Positioning—a powerful way to differentiate your firm without sparking internal controversy. We also share additional strategies for standing out in today’s crowded legal marketplace.