If you manage the set-up in the right way and ensure there is a distance from your main brand, fixed price/commoditised off the shelf services can deliver.

1. Treasure island
Downbranding a service offering to appeal to the mass market provides
lucrative new territory for law firms, says Douglas McPherson
If downbranding strikes you as one of
those annoying unnecessary marketing
buzzwords, that’s because it is
October 2011 41
business strategy
allow you to offer and deliver cheaper
legal services using a no-frills transactional
model that’s primarily delivered online’.
I could make it more lofty, more
academic and more complicated than
that, but it would be a disservice.
Downbranding is simple. Think
supermarket ‘basics’ – bog standard
essentials with no fancy packaging or
bells and whistles. You pick it off the
shelf and you get what you pay for
and nothing more. In a legal context
that ‘shelf ’ will probably be a website;
highly search-engine optimised, easy to
navigate and riddled with ‘calls to action’
to maximise response. The site would
house a commoditised, form-driven
process that churns out only the desired
paperwork - a ‘basics’ range for law firms.
The primary target for every
private client practice has to be
the high-net-worth individual.
This is the type of client that generates
the ‘real’ fees – more frequent tax advice,
more complex estate and probate and a
higher likelihood of an expensive divorce
or multi-faceted trust arrangements.
One of these clients alone can amount
to thousands of pounds in repeat
purchase fees during their lifetime
and all a solicitor needs to do is make
sure they look after them properly.
However, in reality, what percentage
of the population can really be
considered to have a truly high net
worth? One per cent? Divide that group
(700,000 from a population of 70m) into
the number of law firms (11,000) chasing
those particular targets and you’re not
left with a wealth – if you’ll pardon the
pun – of opportunity.
Social climbing
The next rung down is the reality for
most firms. The ‘comfortable’ client.
This is the group that has enough in
terms of property, savings, investments
and dependants to have to make (and
subsequently update) a will and –
statistically – should create divorce or
family matters. There are attractive, if
not spectacular, fees to be made through
probate and, looked after correctly, they
will come back (semi) regularly for
conveyancing and other personal services.
Say these ‘comfortable’ clients
represent 15 per cent of the population
(and personally I think that’s probably
high), that’s still only 10.4m potential
clients for those 11,000 firms. Take into
account the total number of solicitors,
associates, legal executives and paralegals
in those firms and, well, you can see
where I’m going.
Those two quick calculations lead me
to believe there are, therefore, 58,900,000
potential clients currently being excluded
from receiving legal services due to a
number of factors, including price and
perceived necessity.
So, the question is, how do you find,
attract and service that huge number of
potential clients, without damaging your
firm’s value brand and the associated fees?
My suggestion would be to ‘downbrand’.
If downbranding strikes you as one
of those annoying unnecessary marketing
buzzwords, that’s because it is one of
those annoying unnecessary marketing
buzzwords. I hate them too, but it’s so
much easier to say ‘downbrand’ than
‘develop a brand completely separate to
your firm’s existing value brand that will

2. business strategy
Shelf life
Aside from the potential volume
of requests, the attraction for the
partnership is that the cost of sale will
be low and, as the manual work behind
the system can be undertaken by trainees
or junior associates, the output will be
more profitable. It also means partners
can engage in more profitable work
associated with the firm’s value brand
and, from an HR point of view, the work
provides a perfect (i.e. paid for) practical
training ground for junior fee earners.
But creating chiasmic distance
between the downbrand and value brand
is paramount. To maintain that distance
requires a different name, design and
tone of voice. Design and tone can be
covered by a good web designer and
copywriter but, when it comes to a
name, there are two schools of thought.
The first (proposed by an Essex
firm I can’t name as they’re readying
themselves for launch) is to use Google
Analytics or similar to find out the search
terms your prospective market uses to
find your services and buy the closest
URL. Although I can’t name the firm,
I will quote their BD director who
underlined his views on downbranding
perfectly with an anecdote from
his previous life in high-end estate
agency. When haggling over fees with
a prospective client he agreed to 1.5
per cent as opposed to the standard
2.5 per cent. The client was delighted
until he was told that wouldn’t include
the online advertising campaign, the
colour press ads or the Google work.
“Why not?” asked the client. “Because
that would cost 2.5 per cent.” Just like a
supermarket, when it comes to providing
the basics, firms have to be strong and
recognise the channel can only deliver
the service that’s been paid for.
The second is to choose a name
with relevance but not relation to your
current operation. Veale Wasbrough
Vizards in Bristol launched Augustine
PI (St Augustine is in their address) and
took the additional step of setting it up
not just online but also in their own
heavily branded offices opposite the
offices of the parent.
However, I know within firms of
every size there is, understandably, great
resistance to the idea of commoditisation
and, in fact, to using websites for more
than nuts and bolts promotional work.
After all, personal
legal services are
by definition a
personal service,
sold on the back
of close client
care and high-quality
bespoke advice. The case against
downbranding and commoditisation
hinges on one point: one size won’t
fit all.
The immediate answer to this
statement is conciliatory. If you don’t
feel right delivering a complete service
online, how about going halfway and
just using your website for promotion,
data capture and lead generation?
If you were to add forms based on
the interview you’d normally conduct
during your initial consultative meeting
with a client, the client would then be
confirmed as a serious buyer rather than
as a ‘tyre kicker’ fishing for the best price.
You’d also be two steps further forward
at your first meeting, enabling you
to conclude the matter more quickly.
And – this is for the marketers – even
if it came to nothing, you’d have a new
name on the database and an accurate
‘as we stand’ insight into what they’re
looking for.
Case closed. We can now go back to
delivering personal legal services in the
old way having tipped a hat tentatively at
this increasingly digital age. Not quite…
Target market
Finding the halfway house is a start,
but misses the point of downbranding.
Downbranding is there to provide a
standardised ‘no frills’ service at the
lowest price point for the sizeable
segment of the population who have a
requirement, but not the budget, for legal
42 Private Client Adviser
advice delivered in the traditional way.
Also – and again I’m being a realist not
a snob – the volume of assets in these
clients’ lives probably wouldn’t require
the in-depth reconciliation a more
affluent client would need.
That said, every transaction made
online should not be treated as one-off
and discarded afterwards. Each virtual
client should be treated the way you’d
treat any other client – record their name
and keep marketing to them. If you
apply the same cross-referral rules
as you would within your existing
private client practice and make those
suggestions either electronically or in
person, you may find an open door
to bring in new fees.
Likewise, where you see a
potential requirement to deliver more
sophisticated advice in person, make
sure those servicing your downbrand
recognise the signs and pass on the lead.
It may come to nothing but, for the cost
of a phone call, it’s an opportunity to
increase ROI that can’t be ignored.
There is already a thriving market
for PI claims, wills and divorce on the
internet. The demographic that values
bargains over service is already sold on
the fact you can buy legal paperwork
online and have decided that the fact
you can buy it must mean it is fit for
purpose. That means there’s a ready-made
audience ready for your commoditised,
standardised online service.
The idea behind downbranding
isn’t to make sure your firm can take
advantage of this market, it’s to make
sure you create a distance between
a ‘no frills’ approach and your current
private client practice so your existing
brand isn’t damaged by confusion over
fee levels or service levels.
This is the end of the market
in which Tesco/Virgin/Co-op will
gain ground quickest using proven
e-commerce models, existing client
data and call-centre type operations.
Why should your firm – with its history
and expertise – surrender this potentially
lucrative market to them? n
Douglas McPherson is director of
marketing consultants Size 10 1/2 Boots
Creating chiasmic distance
between the downbrand
and value brand is paramount