A firm that has led its city for decades is known through relationships. Its reputation travels by word of mouth among business families, local companies and the local Bar, and its identity has rarely needed to explain itself. The moment it wants clients in other cities, that changes. New audiences meet the firm first through its website, its people's profiles and what it publishes, and they meet it without any of the context that home clients take for granted.
What usually needs to change
- How the firm describes itself. Local references, abbreviations and assumptions that mean everything at home can mean little elsewhere. The firm needs to explain itself to someone who has never heard of it.
- The visual identity. Marks designed decades ago often read as local or dated next to national competitors, even when the work behind them is excellent.
- Proof of reach. National clients want to see the sectors, forums and kinds of matters the firm handles across India, not only in its home courts.
- People profiles. Partners' experience needs to be described in terms that make sense to clients outside the home market.
What must stay
The strengths that made the firm successful at home should remain at the centre of its identity: depth in particular courts and sectors, long relationships, knowledge of the regional business landscape, and its character as a practice. A refresh that erases those strengths trades a real reputation for a generic one, and national clients will notice the difference.
In fact, regional depth can be a significant advantage nationally. Companies expanding into a region want counsel who genuinely know it.
How we approach it
We start by asking two groups the same questions: clients in the home market and clients or contacts outside it. How do they describe the firm? What do they think it is best at? What would make them consider it for more work? The gap between the two sets of answers becomes the brief for the refresh.
From there the work usually covers positioning, a refreshed identity, a rewritten website and firm profile, and a plan for building visibility in the new markets through publications, events and directories.
Timing and sequence
A regional firm's move to a national identity works best when it follows real change, such as a new office, new partners or a growing share of work from outside the home city, rather than trying to create the impression of reach before it exists. Clients are quick to notice when a brand promises more than a firm delivers.
The short version
Going national is about being legible to new audiences while staying recognisable to old ones. The best refreshes feel, to a long-standing client, like the firm they have always known, presented with new confidence.
For CA and CS firms
The same questions arise when a CA or CS firm opens a second city or joins a network. ICAI's new Code allows network firms registered with it to run their own websites, which makes it more important to decide early how the network is named, and how each member firm describes the relationship.