The September 2022 BD Round-Up


Elizabeth Petersen
October 31, 2022
BD, Sales and Marketing insights round-ups

Welcome to the September 2022 BD Round-Up.   

In this month’s edition of the BD Round-Up, I highlight and provide an overview of articles relating to marketing budgets, the themes discussed at the Law Firm Marketing Summit in London last month, the impact of cybercrime on a company’s reputation, why simple writing pays off (literally), how to build your personal brand at work and how to conduct a content audit for your brand.  You will find plenty of on-point reading material. 

Happy reading! 

The September 2022 BD Round-Up

The ‘Triple-Cooked Chips’ budgeting method: The full recipe (marketingweek.com) by Mark Ritson 

I find Mark Ritson’s tone and approach refreshing! 

He raises some interesting points about marketing budgets and metrics. I particularly like this comment: “Older, more experienced heads will shake and admit the process is a calamitous, moving bag of snakes.”  

In my experience, sensibly formulate (with assumptions) an amount for your marketing and business development budget and then halve it…(you may even adopt a percentage of projected revenue to get to your budget number and then build your budget) that is always the formula that generally got the stamp of approval from the “Chief Fryer Officer.” 

No more ‘business as usual’: why law firms are rethinking business development – The Global Legal Post, by Multilaw member firms (Guilherme Zuzarte, Abreu Advogados; Hugo Pena, Gonzalez Calvillo; Jasmine Trillos-Decarie, Lathrop GPM; Sally Luxmoore, Macpherson Kelley; Rolland Keane, Penningtons Manches Cooper; Ben Buckton, Shakespeare Martineau; Zac Robinson, Tilleke Gibbins)

The themes of this article, including technology, innovation, inclusion and diversity, business development awareness, and transformative organisational change were discussed at the Law Firm Marketing Summit in London in September 2022. 

An important takeaway is that experienced BD professionals have never been in such a strong position to add value both strategically and operationally and ultimately to guide firms on their transformational journey.  

The impact of cybercrime on company reputation: A 2022 update – Agility PR Solutions by James Daniels 

This article is particularly relevant given the recent Optus and Medibank cyber-attacks. 

In James’ view, there are many factors that affect a company’s reputation, but like trust, what takes many years to build can be brought down instantly.  One of those instances is a cyberattack.  While being a victim of a crime isn’t inherently going to cause customer loyalty, your approach to being attacked will play a factor. The way your organisation is perceived after a significant data breach depends on the type of attack, whether you kept your customers informed and how you worked to improve the situation post the attack.  

Were you one of the customers impacted by the Optus and Medibank cyber-attacks?  Do you think that these organisations did a good job of informing their customers of the situation in a timely manner?  What do you consider could have been done better? 

How to implement a content audit for your brand – Agility PR Solutions by Gerard D’Onofrio 

Content is King.  Long live the King (Charles III)!  

It is recognized that content builds brands visibility, it boosts your SEO and consumers can’t get enough of it!  But do you know what a content audit is?  The article goes on to explain that a content audit gives you crucial content intelligence by cataloguing, categorising, and analysing your content assets. Your content assets are the vehicles by which you get information to your audience.  

How to Build Your Personal Brand at Work (hbr.org) by Nahia Orduna 

Building a personal brand takes time and it can be challenging to find the time when you have a full-time job. 

This article suggests that you focus on the following four things: Define your brand; Find Organisational initiatives that are aligned with your brand; connect with colleagues who have similar interests and finally, create and share content.   

Research: Simple Writing Pays Off (Literally) (hbr.org) by Bill Birchard 

The cost of bad writing stems from the way the brain works. Science shows that if you don’t give the mind a stimulus that’s appealing — a piece of good writing in this case — fails to respond with pleasing neurochemicals that motivate people to read further.   

The September 2022 BD Round-Up Conclusion 

Hopefully, this piece of writing has maintained your interest and you were motivated to read the September Round-Up until the end! As always, we aim to collate an informative and thought-provoking series of articles. 

By way of reminder, if you have read any great articles that you think we should cover in future editions of the Round-Up, then please send them as we would love to read and share them. 

Ben will be bouncing back with next month’s Round-Up covering October. 

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