Business development planning for lawyers

As you begin your business planning for 2025, make sure you have a healthy mix of marketing AND business development.

The two activities are not the same, and they serve different purposes.
Law firms LOVE to lump the two together.

Marketing gets you visibility and helps you stay top of mind with your clients.

Business development is when you connect those marketing activities directly to your clients and relationships.

In practice, this would look like:
-You wrote an article (marketing): explain why the article you just wrote applies to them directly (BD).
-You recently spoke at a conference (marketing): pull out a few points from your recent speaking engagement and tell your clients how it applies to their challenges (BD).
-You posted on LinkedIn (marketing): you begin chatting via messages and set up meet+greets (BD).

Make it easy for the clients and prospects to understand how you will help them, what it's like to work with you, and why engaging you will positively impact their business.