Defining your practice niches...

My wife and I attended a very nice folk music festival in Woodstock last Sunday...you know the cute little town square out there right (county seat of McHenry County)? But what I was struck by was the number of law firms on the square; probably not too different than many county seats. My question: how the heck would a consumer know which firm to choose? It's all these individual names or partnerships and other than the ethnicity associated with a last name you can't tell lawyer A from lawyer B.

Before a person has a relationship with you or your firm I think this is tough but I want to do better. One thing I'm thinking about is using a practice area in our firm's name. If one of the firm's on Woodstock's square said the "family law offices of Peter Olson" and I were considering divorce I'd have gone to that one. Here's an interesting way I know one firm is doing this:

Mickey, Wilson, Weiler, Renzi & Andersson, P.C. in Aurora. Then separately they have the Elder Law Center, P.C. I know one of the partners in the firm. I don't think you can have subsidiaries in law firms to protect yourself from liability but I think there are "branding" benefits. Perhaps you brand different parts of the umbrella firm..."family law services" or "The Olson Law Firm, LLC's Elder Law Section". Then start creating these distinct brands through separate Websites and newsletters, ect.