Not everyone fully grasps the importance of marketing, particularly in professional services. However, simply establishing a firm and assembling a capable team isn’t enough to generate business. Marketing activities are essential to raise awareness of your offerings among potential clients and guide them toward becoming long-term clients. This is the fundamental essence of marketing.

As someone who began their career in product marketing, I can attest to the essential role marketing plays. Product marketing often appears straightforward, as it can be driven largely by a dedicated marketing team. In contrast, marketing within professional services firms is more complex but equally, if not more, crucial.

Why Marketing is Vital for Professional Service Firms

In professional services, the marketing function is indispensable for managing the firm’s core assets – such as the logo, website, and overall brand. Moreover, marketing serves as the ‘conductor’ orchestrating activities that elevate the firm’s visibility and credibility in the market.

However, in service-based businesses, client-facing professionals play an equally vital role. Whilst the marketing team lays the groundwork, it’s the behaviour and actions of these professionals that ultimately convert prospects into clients. In essence, clients are not just purchasing a service; they are ‘buying’ the people who deliver it.

Key Principles for Client-Facing Professionals

To maximise the impact of your marketing efforts, client-facing professionals need keep these key principles in mind:

1. Clients Purchase the ‘What’ and the ‘How’:
   • Whilst clients seek out your technical expertise, how your team interacts with them significantly influences their decision. This impacts:
     • Winning the Work: People differentiate your firm from competitors; services alone often do not.
     • Day-to-Day Collaboration: A strong client relationship reduces friction and fosters smoother collaboration.
     • Business Development: Positive interactions encourage clients to discuss broader issues, creating new opportunities.
       
2. Target Client Profiles:
   • Understand the types of clients your firm aims to attract, which may vary by department. Tailoring interactions to fit these profiles is crucial.
     
3. Consistent Messaging:
   • Align with the firm’s messaging to ensure a consistent narrative when engaging with prospects and clients. This includes every touchpoint, from reactive business such as responding to initial enquiries through to proactive business development such as networking events, social media and prospect meetings.
     
4. Cross-Departmental Awareness:
   • Have a broad understanding of the services offered by other departments and build relationships with colleagues across the firm. This enables you to provide comprehensive solutions to clients and identify cross-selling opportunities.

Enhancing Collaboration Between Marketing and Client-Facing Teams

To ensure that your client-facing professionals build on the marketing function’s work, consider these strategies:

• Alignment with Marketing Strategy:
  • Ensure that the entire firm, especially senior leaders, is aligned with the marketing strategy, plan, and messaging.
    
• Leveraging Client Insights:
  • Marketing should regularly gather insights from client-facing individuals to stay informed about key client pain points and expectations, refining the marketing strategy accordingly.
    
• Sharing Opportunities:
  • Marketing should share relevant opportunities with client-facing professionals, such as events, speaking engagements, and content creation possibilities.
    
• Engagement in Business Development:
  • Encourage client-facing professionals to contribute to business development by:
    • Expanding Existing Relationships: Develop deeper relationships with current clients to secure more work and explore new avenues.
    • Fostering Client Loyalty: Deliver exceptional service that motivates clients to refer your firm to others.
    • Engaging New Clients: Participate in business development activities to attract new clients.
      
• Providing Clarity and Support:
  • Clearly communicate expectations regarding business development contributions.
  • Provide the necessary training and tools for professionals to actively engage in business development, whether it’s networking or utilising marketing materials effectively.
  • Establish clear departmental plans for business development with accountability measures in place.

What do you need to do?

For marketing to reach its full potential, and for your firm to achieve sustained growth, a well-integrated approach to marketing and business development is essential. Establishing a strong business development structure and cultivating a culture where it becomes second nature is challenging, particularly when balancing current workloads and the pressure of chargeable hours. However, without looking ahead and laying the foundations now, your firm may struggle to grow and sustain its success.

Maximise the impact of every pound spent on marketing by ensuring it is supported by robust business development efforts.

Joanna Gaudoin, Managing Director of Inside Out Image, specialises in helping lawyers excel at relationships in different professional situations, helping them improve firm and individual performance and achieve their goals. She offers tailored training programmes for law firms and works one-on-one with lawyers.

Discover more about Joanna’s Business Development Accelerator, designed specifically for mid-size law firms. This programme equips your firm with the essential foundations and tools to build on your marketing efforts, win more business from existing clients, increase referrals, and attract new clients.

Joanna will be running an online session for mid-size law firms Mastering Law Firm Growth: Key Foundations for Business Development Success on 8^th November to answer all your questions about business development. Sign up here to receive the joining instructions.