S03E144 Building a Bold Brand with Erik Pelton

We sit down with trademark attorney and boutique firm owner Erik Pelton to unpack how he grew from true solo to a trusted team by flipping the traditional playbook: flat fees over hourly surprises, simple videos over polished silence, and bold branding over bland names.

Erik traces the pivotal lessons from his early years at the USPTO and a string of internships that taught him what not to build, then shows how he engineered the opposite. We explore why price predictability unlocks small business clients, how internal systems and homegrown software drive efficiency, and the reason referrals compound when service becomes your strongest marketing channel. Erik explains how he bet on the early internet, built his first website himself, and later doubled down on YouTube and short-form video to teach generously, shorten the trust curve, and meet clients where they search.

Branding gets a hard reset, too. Erik breaks down how to create a bold, memorable identity that travels beyond logos and partner surnames, weaving personality, niche expertise, and clear messaging across every touchpoint. We talk practical tactics, batching 20 videos in an afternoon, capturing ideas in a running list, mixing contrarian takes with simple visuals, and why consistency beats perfection every time. Along the way, you’ll hear how cross-industry learning (including lessons from Zingerman’s) sharpened his leadership and culture, and why relationships with clients, colleagues, and community remain the most durable growth engine.

Reach Erik here: 
www.erikpelton.com
Building a Bold Brand Book: https://amzn.to/4tl4kvu
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tm4smallbiz/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:52

The Leadership in Law Podcast is here to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

From Solo Practice To Leading A Team

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Welcome to another episode of the Leadership in Law Podcast. I'm your host, Marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming my guest, Eric Pelton, to the show today. Eric is the founder and managing attorney at Eric M. Pelton and Associates PLLC, a boutique trademark law firm. Eric began his legal career as a trademark examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office before launching his firm in 1999 with the aim of making trademark protection accessible and affordable for businesses of all sizes. With more than 25 years of experience, he has registered more than 4,000 trademarks and represented hundreds of clients in trademark disputes. Eric is an author, host of Tricks of the Trademark Podcast, and has taught trademark law at both Harvard University School of Law and Georgetown University Law Center. I'm excited to have you here, Eric. Welcome. Thanks. I'm glad to be here. Absolutely. Tell us a little bit about your leadership journey.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

My readership journey has been an evolution over the 26 years I've been in practice by bootstrap, by necessity, because when I launched the firm, it was I was a true solo for many years, for about the first eight or 10 years. And realized then that I wanted to continue to grow, to have more volume, have more business, of course, and that needed more people. And so slowly have grown to have a wonderful team with me and learn about leadership that way by doing it. But by doing it really wasn't good enough. So I've learned along the way, after many mistakes, to seek out help and coaches and go to conferences and read books and continue my journey that way. And then I've also been active in many organizations from intellectual property associations and organizations and have leadership roles with committees and things like that, as well as locally here where I live in Northern Virginia, in local government committees and chamber of commerce and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

I love that. So you read, you do coaching programs. So you're looking at growing yourself as a leader and as a as an attorney, and that helps you lead your team.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Absolutely. I think figuring out what we don't know and knowing what we don't know is the biggest challenge sometimes. And I'm not afraid to face those things that I don't know. It's a lot easier once you recognize it and you can get help and explore different ways. And it's really, if you have that gap, but you're not aware of it, that's when it's a real exposure.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yeah, I agree. And I love the fact that you take on that openness and learning and then bring in the team. So now you've got the support structure to help you grow even more.

Learning Through Mentors, Books, And Community

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Yeah, yeah. And I've encouraged my team to get involved in leadership and go to some conferences and things like that. One of the most wonderful conferences that helped me on my journey is run by you, it's outside out of the box, is why I bring it up, is run by a place called Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is a delicatessen.

unknown 4:19

Really?

SPEAKER_03 4:20

It's a really well-known, pretty famous delicatessen. But they intentionally stayed local, stayed with their roots. But because their service was so wonderful, that they evolved into also hosting training and leadership and conferences around their business model and how that could apply across any kind of service industry. And so I've attended one of their conferences, and another person of my staff has attended their conferences. It has been really great to see how how leadership and these things work in other service industries outside of law firms, because law firms have their own unique set of circumstances, but sometimes we get too wrapped up in the world of law. True in my opinion.

Civic And Industry Leadership Roles

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yes, true. But leadership is leadership in culture, absolutely. In the beginning, you started your career in as a trademark design or USPTO. How did that experience shape how you later built your firm?

Lessons From Government To Entrepreneur

SPEAKER_03 5:20

Yes, a lot. It shaped a lot because working for the government has a lot of amazing benefits. I live here in Washington, D.C. area, so surrounded by some federal government and many friends and neighbors who work for the federal government or things affiliated with the federal government, but also has structures and seniority and history that is the complete opposite of being a solo or small entrepreneur. And so much of what I learned was really the things that I didn't want to be doing for the rest of my career and the way that I didn't want to operate in. Because a large organization obviously has its own unique set of challenges and circumstances. And being smaller, being nimble, but being able to reward creativity and thinking outside the box and efficiency. Efficiency has been huge for all practice, building our own software and those kind of things were really lessons that I learned from the government by from that role, by seeing how they do things and how I wanted something different.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

I love that. Yeah, seeing the systems and processes at that scale and then bringing it down to something that works really well. And before you went to law school, you did a range of internships and stuff that helped you figure out what you didn't want to do. That kind of plays along with that. So how did that process of elimination help you find the right path as well?

Process Of Elimination Through Internships

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Yeah, that's something that was really important in my journey that I still remember this many years later. And I tell law students, or I just spoke even just this week with an aspiring law student about taking advantage of all the opportunities that one might have for part-time jobs, clerkships, internships. I found was a tremendous resource. I worked for a nonprofit, I worked for a government agency, I worked for a judge, I worked for a small firm, and almost every iteration of different types of practice of law. And I learned a lot about not only the different areas of practice law and the different types of offices, but it really helped inform me as to what I wanted my journey and my career to look like, mainly by showing me a lot of things that I didn't like and that I didn't want and that I wanted to avoid. It was a hard and challenging journey to eventually find intellectual property and being an entrepreneur and that path that I love and that has been a great fit for me. But it was almost a process of elimination. But that process of elimination, while it's frustrating at times during that journey, eliminating all those things was tremendously valuable, especially at the internship type stage, because I wasn't committed to working somewhere and having to figure out, okay, if this isn't for me now, how long do I stay? How hard is it going to be to transition to something else?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

I love that. And I spoke with an attorney a few months ago that did a lot of volunteer work as well in different practice area type nonprofs that was really instrumental to help, again, eliminate what you don't want to do and find what you really want to do.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

Yeah, that sounds like a great way to get exposure to it too. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Yeah. It sounds like with the legal, with the opportunities you have, you can really can explore all the different parts and see this I really like, this I really don't.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

You really can. And that was a benefit of being in Washington, D.C., where when I went to law school that I didn't know at the time, you know, that because of the government layer on top of everything else, like literally any type of law job you can find in Washington, D.C. area.

Early Bet On The Web And Flat Fees

SPEAKER_01 8:51

Exactly. And you lost your firm back in 1999, long before online legal marketing was the kind of thing to do. What gave you the confidence to start your own practice so early in your career?

SPEAKER_03 9:02

So it incredibly, part of it was that online marketing piece in as the internet was just exploding. And many law firms in 1999 didn't even have websites, even big law firms didn't have websites yet. What why do we need this? What is this? I don't. And I had always been interested in technology and communications. And so actually, one of the internships that I had done that was non-legal was working for PBS public broadcasting system and working on their technology and actually learning how to code HTML and websites a little bit. And so when I launched the firm, I actually built the first website for the firm myself. And it it wasn't terribly beautiful, it wasn't great, but by the standards then, it was perfectly fine. And that put us in such a unique position where for the first several years, we were in the among the top rankings on Google when anybody searched for anything related to trademark registration or trademark law, just in the natural search results. And that was a huge advantage. And then also, I recognized that small businesses at that time didn't really have access to the legal services for intellectual property that they needed because the cost of entry and the barriers of entry were so big to deal with a bigger firm or even a big sophisticated boutique firm that it it just wasn't realistic for a small business. And so by by developing a flat fee model and advertising online, we just found a sweet spot that worked really well.

Predictable Pricing For Small Businesses

SPEAKER_01 10:38

I love that that was my next question. I was gonna ask you about what you saw the small businesses were missing, and you just filled the gap for them and made it easy to work with you.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

Yeah, and the other thing that I think they were missing, and we still see this evolving today, remarkably, 26, 7 years later, is the predictability of the fees. That we were flat fee model from day one and do very little hourly billing. And for small businesses in particular, they need they're faced with so many expenses, particularly if they're just starting up. We have a lot of, for example, mom and pop restaurants that are clients. And when they're starting up, all they have is bills and expenses before they get any revenue, just one thing after another. And so the predictability of okay, you're assuring me that it's going to be this and not it's this now, but if there's a problem or if I have questions, or if I need you, or if we need to meet that there's going to be these other things that spiral and cost a lot more, that that predictability really helped convince small businesses that we were a great solution for them.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Yeah, absolutely. You're right. It's all expenses before a dollar's made. Yeah, that makes it.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

My wife's in the restaurant business, so that's also an easy example for me to use because I've lived through it.

Content And Video As Trust Engines

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Yes. So with you jumped into digital tools early. How important are you thinking about all the things that you did internship-wise? The willingness to experiment with technology to help your firm's growth. Do you think that was a very great step that you took?

SPEAKER_03 12:10

Also been key. Yes. And again, I I wish I could say it was the vision and it was planned, and I had mapped it all out. I somewhat fell into it in that I just found that I loved, I love communicating. I love teaching. And so the first iteration of that was making videos on YouTube. And we had a whole library of dozens and dozens of videos and also lots of other content in other formats that we weren't afraid to share what we know. A lot of law firms, particularly 10 years ago, even still today, though, are seem to me afraid to share. If we tell them all about the process, what they'll wonder why do I need to hire a lawyer? In my opinion, and in my experience, we tell them about the process and they realize wow, an expert's going to make this process so much easier. I could never know everything that they know, having done this for all these years. And so we share openly all kinds of information and always have, but doing it on YouTube gave us a leg up because YouTube is such a huge search engine itself and that content. And then it gave us a wonderful connection with potential clients. I've heard over and over again, I found you on YouTube, or just when we start talking to a potential client, they feel like we've already had a conversation, like they already know me because they've heard my voice, they've seen my face. And it makes getting that rapport or that connection that's important that much easier.

Getting Started: Gear Myths And Consistency

SPEAKER_01 13:46

So in the beginning, your flat face structure was a game changer, right? Made it more accessible. When did you realize that doing so much video would be a game changer? Because you were one of the early ones to get a website. So you were like early in on all of this. And how did you when did you realize that the video was the way to go?

SPEAKER_03 14:04

The video was probably about 10 years ago when we really ramped up starting to have more and more content on video and realizing that yeah, it's great to have a beautiful setup, but it's not necessary. And in the end, and in fact, for relating to the small business and our target audience, having a normal setup or filming it in any kind of location worked just great. And so a lot of other lawyers and law promoters that I've talked to the over the years, oh, but we don't have a dedicated room with lighting and all this. Yeah. And of course, now the technology is improved with the phones and everything. That it's that that any equipment is that much better. But 10 years ago, there was more of a drop-off if you didn't have professional equipment. But we invested a little bit to have decent equipment and it was more done enough.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

I love that. Yeah, it's I run into that a lot with clients about I just can't do it. I've got to go get this camera and I've got to go get sliding. And it's pull your phone out of your pocket. There you have it. You're ready to go. Yeah. So, what advice would you give attorneys who know they should be visible? They just don't know where to start.

Bold Branding Beyond Names And Logos

SPEAKER_03 15:49

Yes, I love this question. Forget about all those bells and whistles. Like you said, the phone is as good as 99% of the cameras in the world were five years ago, right? So your phone is fine and the and just start. And don't start with thinking about what will this look like when I publish it and somebody else sees it. Just start and get used to it. You can record some videos just that you never publish if you don't want to, just to get practice doing it. And you can take multiple takes, but with editing, that's easier and easier before. And consistency is the other key. As from making podcasts or making videos, it's the consistency. In my experience, it doesn't look great if you make three episodes and then you're gone for nine months and one more episode and then something else. You gotta keep feeding the machine, keep generating the content. But we I would just take an afternoon and record 20 videos, and then I'd have content for six months. Or when I for the podcast, I would take a morning and I'd record five, six, seven episodes of the podcast. Okay, now I have two months in the bank. I don't have to worry about the pressure of having a great idea for next week and then the next week and then the next week. Just I make a dedicated notepad or document on your computer or whatever. Whenever you have that inspiration for an idea, you jot them down. And then you've got a list, and you take that list and make five, six at a time. And now you've got a process, and now you've got that library, so you're not under, you're not going to be under that pressure. I have to come up with the next one to keep it going.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, I agree. It's the batching content is a game changer for anyone that, you know, especially if you're nervous, bring three shirts, plan on recording 10 videos, switch your shirt out every now and then so you'd look like you did it on different days, but sit down, get it done, and then it's in the bank. I agree. It makes a lot of sense. I love you, do the same thing with your podcast though. So you get two months ahead and then you don't have to struggle or stress about it.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Yeah, exactly. And then it's nice if there is something timely, topical, you can always jump in, recorded episode, add it to the feed and push everything back, no problem.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah, exactly. Very good. Now, in your book, Building a Bold Brand, you focus on branding beyond logos and taglines a step. What does the bold brand actually mean for a law firm?

Platforms, Visuals, And Teaching Complex Ideas

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Yeah, so the book is written for any kind of business or small business owner, but that of course applies to law firms that we've had many law firms as client over the years. And what it means is choosing a name. Now, choosing a name is challenging for a law firm. We know a lot of them are descriptive of what the services are or the partners' last names, and that's still okay for the name, but for the overall brand, you want to do something that sets you apart, that's memorable. So we have a tagline making trademarks bloom since 1999, and we use a sunflower and this blooming analogy of your brand growing and shining like throughout all our website and our different marketing. And so it's something anything like that reflects the character, the personality of the firm or the lawyer, I think is tremendously valuable. Whether and it people sometimes get very personal, which is great about their family or their passion for running or traveling or bicycling or whatever it is, or it could be about your niche, is if your niche is doing intellectual property law for certain types of businesses that are very specialized, then lean into that and make that part of your brand so that when anybody sees any of your content, they know exactly what you do. And that then it has that through line through all of your content that connects it, harmonizes it.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Exactly. Okay, great. And then just your messaging and everything stays the same. And now you people get to know that as being you.

Relationships As The Ultimate Growth Strategy

SPEAKER_03 20:00

Exactly. Exactly. And lawyers, we often tend to lean towards being conservative, but like being bold is going to make you stand out. It's going to give you more legal protection in your brand, and it's going to make you stand out and more memorable to your clients, potential clients. And that's really important too, because if you think about buying a product in the store or the grocery store, right? And you want to be able to remember what it looks like or what it's called because otherwise you're going to have a hard time finding it. And if you're wearing a shirt or a hat and somebody really likes, and they say, Where'd you get that? You want them to be able to recall what it who makes it so that they can go find it. Not, I don't remember. It was something called the fabric store. Like that, that name's gonna be hard to remember and hard to stick out among all the other brands.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

And I think it comes back down to the know and trust factor. You want to make sure people, when they see that, they know you, they've seen your videos, and people do business with people they know and trust.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

So Yeah, the video is so big for that. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

All rolls together. So with after 25 years of running your firm, what marketing strategies have stood at the test of time and which ones have changed the most?

Resources, Book, And Where To Connect

SPEAKER_03 21:18

Oh, fabulous question. So usually when we think of marketing, we're always thinking of how do we attract new business? But I like to look at it as our most important marketing that we do is delivering great service to our existing clients because when they become repeat clients, it depends obviously what field you're in. But for trademarks, we have a lot of repeat clients as they grow their business or move on to something new. And referrals by getting great referrals, the cost of acquisition is so much lower that I and it doesn't take any time to build any trust. If someone picks up the phone and calls me and they said, Jill told me I must talk to Eric about this, they're not shopping for competitors, they know they're going to hire me already. So investing in delivering great work and great service to our existing clients is our most important marketing. And then in terms of our other marketing, it's being consistent, it's having a message, it's sharing information and content. You can't just be generic. Hi, we're here, we do trademarks. Like you have to tell people information that they some information that they need to know. And then if you to be really effective, I think you have to mix in at times being provocative, being contrarian, and not being afraid to stick out from the crack.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

I love that. And do you focus on what? Particular platform, or have you now expanded to other social medias?

SPEAKER_03 22:48

We are across all platforms. I would say video is still probably our primary core. But now, of course, the video also bleeds into Instagram reels and TikTok and other things. But we also love great design. And so we love coming up with great graphics. I think that using visuals to tell stories and convey messages, even before social media being everywhere, was really valuable to help distill boil down a something complex into I'm a visual learner. And I think a lot of other people are visual learners. So seeing that an analogy or a breakdown or a chart or a pie chart or something that explains a complex legal situation in a relatively straightforward way can be a tremendous tool as well. So we put up, we invest time and energy into doing that also. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Yeah, making it simple, making people, and then they know it's the education part of it I love. Tell people what you do, it explain it to them. Because when I needed a divorce, I didn't do it myself. You hire a professional, but it makes a lot of sense to teach, and then they understand the value. So looking back at you at what you've done and the way you've grown your firm, what do you think has been the single biggest factor in building your firm that's both sustainable and true to your values?

SPEAKER_03 24:11

I think the single biggest thing for me has been people treating people well, developing relationships, and that's relationships, of course, with staff, but with clients. We have client I was working on a project for a client today, and I went back to look at the start of the file, and I couldn't believe it would have been 20 years since we first met and started working together. We have long-term relationships. So relationships with people who are staff, people who are clients, people who are colleagues, going to conferences in person, meeting other people who, in some ways, they're competitors that I've never viewed them as that. They're resources for information. They might be resources for referrals, they're sounding boards. And so developing relationships across all these different ways for me has been like a really valuable thing in both what we do here, how we work with our clients, and I think part of the story of our success as a firm.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

That's such great advice. I love that. So taking that thought and what you've grown and where you are, if someone is new and they're like going, okay, I know I need a brand, I need to do videos, I just don't know where to start, what would you say is the first step?

SPEAKER_03 25:30

Yeah. Since we have all that great content and information, you can find it at ericbelton.com. It's E-R-I-K-P-E-L-T-O-N. And you'll find our videos, you'll find those visuals I was talking about, you'll find podcast episodes and tons of content to learn about it. And if you want a nice easy read, it's not terribly long. The Building a Bold Brand book, you can get it on Amazon in paperback, but you can also get it on the Kindle version for the cheapest price they allow, which I think is$2.99. And it's packed with lots of great information.

Host Closing And Calls To Subscribe

SPEAKER_01 26:06

We'll have a link to that in the show notes as well. Eric, this has been very good. It's been an amazing conversation. I appreciate that. I know that my visitors, listeners might want to connect with you. Where would be the best place to do that?

SPEAKER_03 26:18

Yeah, LinkedIn, obviously, Eric Pelton or our social media are all EMPNA, which is our acronym for Eric M. Pelton Associate. So EMPA trademarks is our handle on social media.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Okay, fantastic. Eric, thank you so much for being here today. This has been a really great conversation, and you've dropped a lot of good gold nuggets today.

SPEAKER_03 26:39

I've enjoyed it myself a lot. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Thanks for joining me today for this episode. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. And if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take the next step with a digital strategist to help you grow your law firm, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to Law MarketingZone.com to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, thanks for listening to Leadership in Law Podcast, and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law Podcast. Remember, you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the same sustainment. Head over to our website at lawmarketingzone.com. From there, connect with other listeners, access valuable resources, and stay up to date on the latest episode. Or don't forget to subscribe and leave us to review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with visible and keep growing your firm.