The highs and lows from a new MBD assistants’ point of view

October 11, 2025|Kim's Blog, Marketing|

There were many newly-appointed MBD assistants at the recent PM Forum training workshop “Practical and Professional Skills for Marketing and Business Development (MBD) Assistants” . One observation from the delegates was that marketing and business development (MBD) roles and activities were incredibly diverse. Roles depend on your firm, your MBD team, the services your firm promotes and the sectors served. Whilst assistants cherished the variety in their roles, they also observed that there were some challenges. The highs and lows from new MBD assistants’ point of view

The highs – Exciting elements of being a MBD assistant

Extraordinary firms – Assistants are impressed and inspired by the success of their firms. Firms that show a history of fast, profitable growth and smart innovation. Firms demonstrating confidence and ambition for everyone: future leaders, acquired teams, new offices and the next generation. Firms that sustain a sense of energy, urgency and enthusiasm. Some with a great commitment to a higher purpose.

People are valued – Professional services firms have a deep commitment to their people. Leaders and human resource teams are geared up to assessing development needs and providing opportunities to learn and develop. Most firms provide support services to help employees to reach their full potential and overcome challenges such as mental health, flexible working and life transitions.

Wonderful variety – Assistants are excited by the variety that their roles offered. The range of potential activities was exciting – brand, thought leadership, communications, digital campaigns, events, social media, data analytics, relationship management, pitches and sales – the list goes on and is constantly increasing. Variety is the spice of life.

Autonomy – Even in relatively junior roles, there is a sense of autonomy. You can make choices about how to tackle tasks – whilst leaning on others for support and insight. The potential for greater autonomy is built into marketing career progression.

Ability to learn and specialise – Professional services firms are supportive of their people learning and acquiring new skills. In larger marketing and business development teams, there are opportunities to focus on particular areas and to specialise. Some are moving more towards digital and analytics careers, some specialise in events or pitches and others are in pioneering AI-supported roles for information management and relationship intelligence.

Marketing is constantly evolving – Like other professions, marketing is constantly evolving. Continuously adapting to the new world order, geopolitical events, new client needs, new consumer behaviour and new technology. There are new frameworks and theories. There are new tools. The pace of change is exciting.

Ability to make an impact – Regardless of seniority, there is always an ability for marketers to make an impact. On the attitudes of fee-earners, on the reputation of the MBD team, on the success of marketing campaigns and on the satisfaction and value achieved by clients. There are many small ways in which marketers can see the impact of their work.

Opportunities for progression – The vast majority of assistants could see that there were many opportunities for them to learn, develop and progress in their careers.

The lows – Challenging aspects of being a MBD assistant

Inevitably, all roles have some downsides. Assistants were encouraged to identify challenges, reframe them to find the positive potential and co-create solutions to overcome them.

Lack of time – Assistants face an ever-increasing amount of demand for their support. Against a backdrop of reducing resources in an effort to achieve greater efficiency and ROI. Add to this the tight timescales to complete work. Some observed that sometimes timelines were not observed and that projects were delayed as a result. Some assistants feel frustrated that they cannot deliver their best work under such constraints. Solutions include: looking to the strategy to guide priorities, asking team leaders and colleagues to share the load and AI to automate repetitive and low value activities.

Reactive work – The nature of the assistant roles means typically they are reacting to the requests of more senior team members and fee-earners. They are relatively new in marketing and business development roles – so need to learn the ropes. By tackling reactive tasks we become familiar with everyone’s needs, learn the systems and procedures and establish trust with those we serve. As we gain expertise and experience, we will be better placed to be involved in things earlier, then to anticipate needs and thus be more proactive.

Working with some fee-earners – Most assistants enjoy the opportunity to work with highly intelligent and skilled professionals. Many fee-earners are respectful and supportive of MBD. However, in some firms fee-earner understanding and attitudes can be frustrating. A key part of our role is to develop empathy with our fee-earners – to understand their aims, see the pressures they operate under and why might have a different perspective. We have a role in educating and engaging them.

Technical nature of services being promoted – We are marketers not lawyers or accountants. So it can be hard to gain sufficient insight into the nature of the technical, professional services being delivered. Our role is to communicate complexity with simplicity and elegance. So we must focus on what value these services deliver to clients. We don’t need to know the intricacies of how a car works, to promote the brand and product to various audiences.

Huge amount of knowledge needed – MBD assistants have to learn a huge amount in their roles. Our firms are complex organisations with many different teams. They serve multiple sectors. Navigating this complexity – and helping to co-ordinate teams and promote collaboration can be hard when a silo culture exists. There is great diversity amongst the client groups too. And on top of this is the knowledge of technical marketing and business development theory and how to apply it in the professional services environment. But we never stop learning. We have to be agile – absorb vast amounts of knowledge and keep abreast of the constant stream of new knowledge.

Inadequate data – Data is the lifeblood of modern marketing and business development. But some firms have inadequate data to support marketers in their work. Data to shape goals, data to ensure effective targeting, data to monitor progress, and data to enable measurement. But there is rarely perfect data in any role. We must learn to make educated guesses with imperfect data. Marketing and business development people must seize the opportunity to identify what data is needed and help shape the systems that obtain, manipulate and leverage the data.

Limited opportunity to be creative – Time pressures limit time to think and to be truly creative. The dominant risk-averse culture of many professional firms sometimes means that truly creative solutions might be resisted. Some assistants felt that – as a result – their role was primarily about project management. But constraints are a great way to promote greater creativity.

Administration – Some assistants felt they were expected to manage more administration than they would like. However, they recognised the potential that AI bought to minimising the administrative burden.

Key insight into the MBD assistant role

A key insight was that as most of our time is supporting fee-earners that it was important to have empathy with them and see their point of view. To develop a greater appreciation of both the aims and ambitions of the fee-earners. And to see how they regard marketing and business development – it takes a relatively small slice of their mind space as they grapple with serving clients, keeping up to date with their technical area and managing the plethora of other demands on their time and attention.

Delegate feedback

Delegate takeaways

Set a specific strategy/project plan for my individual role
Create a career development plan
Get better at strategy and planning
Aim to become more specialised
Reflect on how the pressures of other people’s roles may impact their behaviour, and proactively consider how to work best with these individuals
Understand that lawyers are trying to be trusted advisors to their clients, so try and be a trusted advisor to them
Career progression
Add value in my role – adopting strategy/planning as a way of thinking
Build my personal brand and trust with the fee-earners
Be more proactive than reactive and have more empathy for fee earners
Have empathy for fee-earners and understand it from their perspective
Plan a strategy for career progression in the future

Delegate poll results

Have you formally studied marketing?

14% Yes
86% No

Where is most of your time spent?

13% Strategic marketing
38% Tactical marketing/communications
0% Selling
0% Client and referrer relationships
50% All aspects

What do you spend most of your time doing?

38% Supporting M&BD executives and managers
25% Answering queries from fee-earners
13% Drafting and editing copy/content
13% Undertaking research
13% Organising events

Where do you want to spend more time in the future?

50% Strategy and planning
25% Events, seminars, webinars and contact programmes
13% Key Account Management
13% Digital marketing, content management and social media

After reviewing those key marketing theories, how would you rate your knowledge?

50% Good – I am familiar with most ideas
50% OK – I’ve just learned quite a bit

How happy are you with your CRM (and integrated mailing, analytics and relationship management capabilities)?

13% Really unhappy
13% Unhappy
50% It’s OK
25% Happy

How would you rate your firm’s digital marketing strategy?

13% Really good
88% Average

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	75%	63%
Cats	25%	13%
Bears	0%	25%

See: dog, cat and bear personalities – Better business relationships (kimtasso.com)

How would you rate your skill/ability in selling?

25% Low
38% Average
38% Good

What do you think is the most important skill/attribute of an aspiring M&BD professional?

50% Ability to work with fee-earners and M&BD team members
38% Communications skills
13% Service orientation – proactive and responsive

What percentage of your fee-earners do you think are engaged with and keen to do marketing/BD?

13% Less than 10%
38% 10-40% of fee-earners
13% About 50% of fee-earners
38% 50%-70% of fee-earners

How do you feel about your career development prospects?

63% My firm supports my development and progression
25% I have a lot to learn and do before I will be promoted
13% I doubt there will be progression for me at my firm

The highs – Exciting elements of being a MBD assistant