At the PM Forum’s Marketing and Business Development (MBD) Assistants training session last week there was much talk about career progression. I’ve focused on a few topics: how we are perceived, the attraction of variety in roles, event management and MBD career specialisation. This article supplements the learning resources for the session. 21% felt that they would like to specialise in a particular area of marketing and business development. Specialisation ideas included: Key Account Management (KAM), pitching/tendering and research. 13% intend to look at professional marketing qualifications and the same number feel that working on their personal brand will be important. Happily, 57% felt that their firms support their professional development and career progression. MBD Assistants – Perception, variety, events and specialising for career progression. Details of future PM Forum training sessions.
About the MBD assistant delegates
16 marketing and BD executives joined us for this online session. Most were from large and small law firms but there were also representatives of accountancy, insolvency and consultancy firms. Quite a few were new to their roles. A few were keen to learn more about business development as opposed to marketing. The majority hadn’t studied marketing previously. It was the first external training event attended by several delegates.
Delegate aims (at the start of the session)
Three separate groups discussed their aims for the session but the answer from all was a desire to learn how to progress their careers. This book was suggested as a resource How to advance your career in professional services marketing (kimtasso.com)
Reflections from delegates during the session included their familiarity with marketing frameworks – and some felt it was helpful to have a refresher. Over 60% had never studied marketing – and they were interested to learn about SOSTAC™.
Delegate key ideas and actions (at the end of the session)
- Develop my personal brand (three delegates) How to create and promote your personal brand – Kim Tasso
- Look at CIM qualifications (two delegates) Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) updates standard (kimtasso.com)
- Learn more about promotion and role progression
- Keep working on my career progression and future specialism
- Look into the mentor programme Mentor Match – PM Forum
- Develop our client portfolio and KAM
- Speak to the fee-earners (to learn what they really want)
- Do more networking Book review – Great networking by Alisa Grafton (kimtasso.com)
- Prepare a personal plan to develop role and knowledge Managing challenging behaviour and Personal Development Plans (kimtasso.com)
- Look into reading the books that have been mentioned
- Would like to help the fee-earners around me understand my role and what marketing can help them with
- Have more face-to-face interactions with fee earners
- It’s nice to hear that other people in the same role are feeling the same and have the same ideas and agree on what they like and dislike
Perception
“Whenever two people meet, there are really six people present. There is each man as he sees himself, each man as the other person sees him, and each man as he really is.” William James
How we perceive others and how others perceive us is important for our relationships. Brand, to some extent, is about trying to manage perception. We want to align our aims and personality to create the desired perception. But we all perceive things differently. Our perceptions – how we interpret information – will be shaped by our background, culture and experience.
Perception: The Sensory Experience of the World (verywellmind.com)
Perception Is Not Reality | Psychology Today United Kingdom
Person Perception: Understanding Your Perception of Someone (verywellmind.com)
This word cloud uses the three words each delegate selected to describe their personal brand
Most delegates choose to describe themselves in terms of what they do – rather than who they are, how they are different from others and the outcomes they achieve. How would you like to be perceived in the future?
How would fee-earners describe the MBD team?
Negative perceptions:
- “What is it that you do?”
- “CRM again”
- “Can you…”
- Tedious
- Reactive
- Time consuming
- Lack of knowledge
Positive perceptions:
- Proactive
- Helpful
- Busy
- Approachable
- Adaptable
- Instant
- Understanding
- Punctual
We then discussed how we would like fee-earners to regard us as individuals and as a marketing and business development team.
Variety is the spice of life
In one exercise, groups considered what they most liked (and disliked) about their roles.
Variety was the most frequently mentioned benefit of the role. They liked that every day was different.
Another well-liked feature was the ability to be creative and social. Generally, delegates enjoyed their supportive teams and the encouragement they received to develop, grow and progress. Some delegates felt they had the option to select projects that helped them stretch their capabilities. Some mentioned the options to travel as a key benefit.
On the “dislikes” list were: slow responses from fee-earners, having to chase people (especially for mailing lists) and not being understood or appreciated. Some felt there was too much admin (AI should be able to help with that!).
There were mixed views about “being thrown into the deep end” – some liked the challenge, whereas others would prefer more training and guidance.
Areas that people wanted to spend more time in included web sites, social media and events.
We talked about the value of mentors. And delegates were reminded that PM Forum operates a free mentoring service Mentor Match – PM Forum
Digital marketing courses from Google Online Courses and Digital Marketing Training – Google (grow.google). PM Forum marketing, digital marketing and business development training PM Forum – PM Forum
Event management
Despite all three groups choosing events for their operational brainstorm (as opposed to internal communications, PR and sales/client contact) this was not an area chosen for future specialisation. But maybe the social element of events is what attracts the delegates (see the personality assessments below – lots of “dogs”!)
The crowdsourced items to consider when preparing events included:
- Ensure the event is part of an integrated marketing and business development campaign
- Produce a plan (with aims/objectives and measures)
- Research and segment the guest list (use and update the CRM)
- Consider how to attract and engage the audience
- Keep the firm’s brand style and messaging in mind
- Organise the logistics carefully (including having a crisis plan)
- Brief and liaise with external suppliers (e.g. venue, caterers, photographers, PR agencies, social media advisers etc)
- Create a budget
- Craft a detailed project plan with timelines and responsibilities
- Produce high quality content – and distribute/repurpose after the event
- Brief, train and rehearse the speakers
- Plan the follow up activities in advance (and support implementation)
- Measure audience satisfaction and assess feedback (learn for the future)
- Assess the effectiveness and return on investment
The venue is often a key reason why delegates decide to attend. Some venues mentioned by delegates included: The Barbican, Sky Garden, the Gherkin and St Paul’s Crypt.
See also: Update on event management – Kim Tasso and (XR) and Virtual Reality (VR) could transform online events (kimtasso.com)
Consider joining #EventProfs Community
Delegate poll results
Have you formally studied marketing?
- 36% Yes
- 64% No
- 0% It’s complicated
Where is most of your time spent?
- 7% Strategic marketing
- 33% Tactical marketing/communications
- 0% Selling
- 20% Client and referrer relationships
- 33% All aspects
- 7% It’s complicated
“I chose it’s complicated because I think most of my role is spent researching suppliers/companies to use for our events”
What do you spend most of your time doing?
- 25% Supporting M&BD executives and managers
- 19% Organising events
- 13% Supporting internal communications
- 6% Managing data, databases and systems
- 6% Undertaking research
- 6% Preparing pitches and tenders
- 6% Answering queries from fee-earners
- 6% Drafting and editing copy/content
- 6% Issuing and managing mailings
- 6% Something else
Where do you want to spend more time in the future?
- 31% Strategy and planning
- 23% Key Account Management
- 23% Pitches and proposals
- 15% Digital marketing, content management and social media
- 8% Profile raising, PR and media relations
After reviewing those key marketing theories, how would you rate your knowledge?
- 6% Really good – I knew much more than I thought
- 38% Good – I am familiar with most ideas
- 50% OK – I’ve just learned quite a bit
- 6% Needs improvement – I have a lot of learning ahead!
How happy are you with your CRM (and integrated mailing, analytics and relationship management capabilities)?
- 8% Really unhappy
- 17% Unhappy
- 50% It’s OK
- 17% Happy
- 8% Really happy
One firm didn’t have a CRM
Amongst the delegates the most common CRMs in use were Salesforce and InterAction
See also: Proactive marketing and business development executives – CRM (kimtasso.com)
How would you rate your firm’s digital marketing strategy?
- 8% Brilliant
- 42% Really good
- 33% Average
- 17% Needs improvement
See also: create a digital marketing strategy in a professional services firm (kimtasso.com) and
Book review: Build your digital marketing strategy by Steve Brennan (kimtasso.com)
Do you think you and your fee-earners are mostly:
| Me | My fee-earners | |
| Dogs | 80% | 7% |
| Cats | 20% | 53% |
| Bears | 0% | 40% |
See: dog, cat and bear personalities – Better business relationships (kimtasso.com)
How would you rate your skill/ability in selling?
- 7% Very low
- 27% Low
- 33% Average
- 33% Good
- 0% Very good
What do you think is the most important skill/attribute of an aspiring M&BD professional?
- 33% Delivery of value and results
- 27% Ability to work with fee-earners and M&BD team members
- 27% Communications skills
- 7% Understanding of markets and clients
- 7% Strategic ability
- 0% Service orientation – proactive and responsive
- 0% Marketing/sales technical knowledge and qualifications
What percentage of your fee-earners do you think are engaged with and keen to do marketing/BD?
- 7% 10-40% of fee-earners
- 21% About 50% of fee-earners
- 43% 50%-70% of fee-earners
- 7% Over 70% of fee-earners
How do you feel about your career development prospects?
- 0% I’m confident I will be promoted in the short-medium term
- 14% There is a clear path for my promotion
- 57% My firm supports my development and progression
- 7% I have a lot to learn and do before I will be promoted
- 21% I would like to specialise in a specific area of M&BD
- 0% I doubt there will be progression for me at my firm
Related posts for Marketing and Business Development Assistants
Don’t forget that all PM Forum members can access over 5,000 articles and numerous webinar recordings at Skills Development – PM Forum
Connected to the marketing and business development topics discussed at the session
Managing challenging behaviour and Personal Development Plans (kimtasso.com) September 2023
Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) updates standard (kimtasso.com) September 2024
Update on event management – Kim Tasso August 2024
Build your brand advantage with PM Forum and Sholto (kimtasso.com) June 2024
How to create and promote your personal brand – Kim Tasso May 2024
Marketing and BD case studies in legal, accountancy, consultancy (kimtasso.com) April 2024
What do you do when your boss is a micro-managing control freak? (kimtasso.com) March 2024
International Marketing Benchmark 2024 from Meridian West (kimtasso.com) January 2024
Law firm media relations and integrated campaigns (Kysen) (kimtasso.com) December 2023
Proactive marketing and business development executives – CRM (kimtasso.com) December 2023
Case studies: Marketing and Business Development at law (kimtasso.com) November 2023
Preparing M&BD professionals for the future – learning, skills (kimtasso.com) October 2023
Professional services marketing/BD case studies (kimtasso.com) August 2023
Book review: The psychology of successful women by Shona Rowan (kimtasso.com) June 2022
How to advance your career in professional services marketing (kimtasso.com) April 2022
From previous sessions for marketing and business development assistants
Marketing and Business Development (M&BD) Assistants can shine (kimtasso.com) September 2023
marketing and business development (M&BD) team structures (kimtasso.com) September 2023
Marketing and Business Development (M&BD) Assistants (kimtasso.com) March 2023
Insights into the needs of the latest generation of M&BD Assistants (kimtasso.com) September 2022
New Marketing and Business Development Assistants (kimtasso.com) March 2022
Marketing and Business Development Assistants: The impact of Covid (kimtasso.com) March 2021
Six insights from marketing and business development assistants (kimtasso.com) November 2019
improve impact, assertiveness and effectiveness for marketing and BD (kimtasso.com) August 2019
