Your development team should be different from your marketing team. That is an important detail to remember. While they may seem the same and could possibly serve similar functions, they are all too different.

While it is natural to do what you can to keep operational costs at a minimum, like having one staff do the work of two, don’t ever get tempted to have only one marketing and business development team. Otherwise, you are looking at negative long-term results.

You might be wondering why. Why is it so important to have them separated when in fact they seem so similar? Shouldn’t they be interchangeable at least?

What is Law Firm Marketing?

To understand the difference between the two, it is important to know the key roles and responsibilities of each. For law firm marketing, it is all about raising awareness for the business and the services it delivers.

No matter how great your firm is with all the cases you won and the flexible payment options you provide, if nobody knows anything about it, you are not looking at any potential customers.

Awareness is what gets you the attention you need. That in turn will eventually convert to leads and customers.

The bigger responsibility of law firm marketing is to highlight key details. What is your rank as the best law firm? What is your win rate on your cases? And several others that can make you stand out from the competition.

What is Business Development?

When talking about business development, it is spreading the footprint of the business. It involves creating key connections, cultivating partnerships, and fostering existing clients. The goal is to forward the overall status of your business in the industry.

It may seem no different to marketing by spreading awareness. However, looking closer at the picture, it is more on creating key connections and acquiring potential resources.

Law Firm Marketing vs Business Development

At this point, you either know what’s different between the two or are only more confused. To put it simply, marketing is creating awareness among leads and potential customers. On the other hand, business development is about spreading awareness to connections.

Law firm marketing is what you get to see and what the company tries to show. While business development is what happens on the inside. It is more than just gaining new clients, but growing the firm in other aspects as well such as reputation and available resources.

Now you know that each of these teams have their own responsibility to perform and they are both quite different from each other. A good marketing team doesn’t automatically mean they can be good in business development. The same concept is true the other way around.

However, this still doesn’t answer why there should always be two teams. Why can’t one person or group specialize in two different responsibilities?

Each Plays an Important Role

While it may be clear at this point that the two have different responsibilities, at a certain degree, the distinction can be blurred. The two are doing the same thing and that is spreading awareness. What differentiates them is who they are targeting.

It is this thin distinction that serves as the problem. For a marketer, it can be fairly easy to get carried away and be more involved in internal workings instead of marketing to potential customers.

The same concept can be applied the other way around. A business developer can find marketing campaigns to potential audiences much easier than to hold a one-on-one conversation with a key industry connection.

When you have one team working on two different tasks that are easily interchangeable, you are opening the possibility of an unequal work output. Your team could either veer more towards marketing or business development without them even knowing it.

You don’t want that, because marketing and business development work side by side. One is not more important over the other. Instead, marketing makes it easier to develop business and a developed business is easier to market. The failure of one can mean the downfall of both. So, you cannot risk underperforming on either one.

Law Firm Marketing: Who Should Be Doing It?

You now have a solid understanding of separating the two. Now, the problem is, who are the right people to do each job? When one person can’t do both, who should be doing either one?

Law firm marketing is not so different from other forms of marketing. Other than it being more of a niche service which requires it to be more targeted to a specific audience, it is the conventional social media and traditional marketing approaches.

Therefore, any experienced marketer should be enough for the job. If you are running on a tight budget and can’t hire an inhouse person or team, outsource marketing can be an option. The best part about it is that you strongly delineate your marketing team from your business development department by having one not being in the same office.

Law Firm Business Development: Who Should Be Doing it?

How about the task of business development, who should be tasked to have this responsibility?

Since it is more technical, this is something that only an expert can effectively perform. In most cases, business development is performed by lawyers themselves. However, it is not exclusively limited to them.

Business development has a much higher risk. By dealing with key industry connections, a successful transaction could either make or break your law firm. It could add important resources at your disposal or you are looking at going back a few steps.

In Conclusion

Most firms try to cut down on their operational expenses by using one team for everything. That includes people tasked to do the marketing to develop business relations as well. It is not a wise move to make. While some have been lucky to have survived, it isn’t true for the majority.

The potential for risk is high. You open your firm to a high chance of business failure. Not worth the risk of saving a few paper bills.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential if you are serious about making your site perform potentially well, and you deserve real deals in the near future. SEO is a complex and rewarding activity, and if you want to stay online for a long time and well, it is very important to create an SEO website with the help of an expert in the field. When it comes to in-depth SEO services, it is urgent and profitable to hire the best SEO company to be successful quickly. To get a successful result, you are sure to find a suitable SEO company in Singapore .Are you wondering about the best ways to choose a good company? Here are ways on how to choose an SEO company in Singapore.

The experience

Experience in this field is always important to achieve high quality and error-free results. Research the background to ensure the consistency, reliability, and confidentiality of the company. While knowledge and skills are a prerequisite for choosing the right SEO company, the experience is always reliable. The best SEO company will have the desired SEO experience. Also, the company has an experienced team of SEO experts to help select the best SEO services. The right SEO service company also offers relevant SEO consultants who are by your side at all times.

Analyze the previous performance of the SEO company

This is one of the most important things you can do when choosing an SEO company. You want to make sure that your SEO company has done a great job for your previous clients. Previous performance can help you quickly figure out who to consider and who to avoid. Remember, when customers choose your service, they look at what you’ve done in the past to see if you can keep your promises. The same method works if you choose an SEO agency. Always analyze the portfolio presented, potential industry awards, customer references, and case studies. Every SEO company should be prepared to prove your success. They need to have a wide range of websites that they have optimized in the past and be prepared to show them to you before sending you an SEO offer. Before demonstrating your clients’ success, take care of the companies that want to show you a list of their SEO services.

Check the credibility of the SEO company

When choosing an SEO company, it is very important to check the credibility of the company’s SEO services. Check what kind of clients they serve and what kind of SEO services they offer to their clients. It gives you the right idea and confidence that your chosen company is the most suitable for your website.

The company’s portfolio

When looking for the best SEO company in Singapore, you will come across various organizations, amateurs, and professionals. Don’t take words, but check the company’s portfolio. Work experience, results, results, portfolio, and the type of clients they worked for. Also, make sure that their services match the company’s portfolio and management style.

References

Although customer descriptions are very useful, it is recommended that you request the contact information of previous customers. Ask them about the company’s services and whether the results are satisfactory. Clients can provide the most relevant feedback about your SEO company that you want to hire.

Conclusion

You need to set your seo goals to improve your website traffic and search engine ranking. Using SEO services, you can integrate your website with social networks to identify international brands and increase online sales. So, take your time and pick the best SEO company in Singapore for good SEO results, promoting long-term business growth and avoiding wasting money and time.

Knowing how to lose your ego at work is essential if you want a fruitful and thriving professional career that fulfills you and gives you a sense of purpose. Otherwise, you run the risk of going through each workday with fear and dread. That’s probably not a situation you want to be in, yet so many are. In many cases, your ego is probably in the way of the professional life that you want, not your boss or your co-workers.

How To Lose Your Ego at the Office

Here are essential tips that you need to know about so you can have the work-life you actually want, especially if you want to have a better quality of life.

Practice Gratefulness

If you’ve read any self-help material, you’ve probably heard this one already. There’s a reason for that; it works well enough for anyone willing to consider it. A simple way to start is to just think about what you’re grateful for with what you already have. If you’re reading this article and have access to the internet, there’s probably something. It doesn’t matter if these aspects are big or small as they add up and can alleviate your ego’s irrational fears.

Also, consider what you’re grateful for about other people. This can be in your personal life or at your workplace. If a team member consistently does a good job for something you need to be done, that’s definitely something to be grateful for. If your boss is more pleasant than most, that’s also something to think about. Mentally going through your network in this way will help you develop better relationships and get yourself out of the way.

Praise Your Coworkers

Focusing on others is a great way to lose your ego, especially if it’s positive. Doing so will lessen the focus on yourself and put it onto others. In a work setting, this can be your managers or supervisors, co-workers, or subordinates. This is similar to the previous practice, though it communicates your gratefulness. Try to do this as much as possible when it’s appropriate, especially when it’s done authentically.

While this doesn’t directly help you with your ambitions and opportunities, it makes you more likable with your network. They’ll know that you’re trying to benefit the whole group rather than just yourself. This leads to better interactions with people you work with and interact with daily.

Consider the Journey

Too many people are either focused on past mistakes or future opportunities. More often than not, people’s sense of self is tied to their achievements, especially in the workplace. Try to avoid this way of thinking by focusing instead on the daily operations and your relationships with the people you work with. This helps you surrender the habit of trying to control more than you can, leading to a better career.

In Conclusion

As long as you know how to lose your ego at work, you’re well on your way to building a successful as well as purposeful career. In many ways, people’s sense of self gets in the way of their fulfillment and even success in life. Much more can be achieved through collaboration in the long-run.

China is the world’s first major economy to recover from COVID-19 disruption, making the country one of your best bets if you want to launch an international business. It’s the world’s second-largest economy behind the US after a truly remarkable few decades of growth, and it also came third in US News’ 2020 Best Countries to Start a Business list. This high ranking was down to factors like China’s innovation, technological expertise, skilled labour force, and well-developed legal structure.

So, if you’re looking at the East Asian powerhouse as your next business destination, here are the main steps you need to take to launch a company there.

1.    Conduct market research

China is a mammoth country with lots of geographical, political and cultural factors to consider, so extensive market research is essential. This will help you ascertain where to do business, how competitors operate, and whether there are any good business opportunities you can exploit. Once you have all of this information, you can decide whether your business is viable in China, where to set up shop, and how exactly to approach customers.

Some of the best market research methods include surveys and interviews, as well as secondary research approaches such as analysing market statistics and trend reports. However, do prepare for some barriers. Market research is difficult in China due to unreliable secondary data, potential hesitancy to engage with research inquiries and cultural factors that might influence findings, and the fragmented nature of Chinese industries.

2.    Sort out the legalities

Visas

In order to enter China, you must obtain a visa prior to flying out. For initial visits to do things like conduct market research and set up an office space, you will probably only need a short-term business visa valid for up to 60 days. As noted by visa agents Gulf Visa: “You are eligible for this documentation if you are visiting the nation for commercial or trade-related activities.” However, you will likely require a permanent residence visa if you move there full-time.

Business structure

Your business structure legally impacts aspects like your personal liability and tax responsibilities. Your options in China include:

Wholly foreign-owned enterprises

This is a business established by non-nationals without direct involvement from a Chinese investor. Wholly foreign-owned enterprises (WFOEs) can operate across China and hire both local and overseas staff. This is the most popular legal structure for foreign businesses as third-party operators aren’t needed.

Joint venture

In a joint venture (JV) structure, local and foreign businesses merge. This is most commonly used in industries where foreign ownership is restricted such as the automotive, tobacco and legal sectors. Entrepreneurs can harness a local company’s expertise and network, though have to share the profits.

Branch office

A branch office allows companies to expand their reach by opening branches elsewhere in China. However, most foreign businesses need to set up a WFOE or JV first in order to do this.

Intellectual property

Intellectual property (IP) theft in China has made headlines around the world in recent years, but the country is improving its record on protecting IP and there are a number of preventative measures available to businesses there, such as:

Registering your IP

You’ll need to first register your trademarks in China as it doesn’t recognise trademarks filed in other countries. As a first-to-file nation, the first individual to apply for a trademark gets the rights to it. The Chinese government recognises logos, symbols, unique words, designs, letters, numbers, and colour combinations as signs of a trademark. You should also file a patent if necessary. Applications must be translated into Mandarin and completed before any public disclosure of your invention.

Requesting takedowns on Chinese websites

Once you’ve registered your IP, you can ask popular Chinese websites like Baidu, Alibaba and Taobao to remove infringing products and content. This typically involves submitting identification and proof of IP rights, and it can take around a week to resolve a complaint. That said, sites will generally allow the defendant to either challenge the takedown or appeal it.

Contacting customs

Chinese customs will not only block infringing products from entering the country, but those leaving China too. As such, registering with them can prevent your IP from being infringed outside the country, and protect it within every nation that imports your products.

3.    Use a Chinese recruitment agency to hire employees

It’s highly advisable to hire Chinese staff when launching a business in China, even if you do want employees from your own country too. Natives will better understand the local markets and can offer crucial insights to push your company forward. They’ll also help you navigate cultural and linguistic challenges, and it’s often much more convenient to employ Chinese workers than recruit from overseas. However, the talent is in high demand and can be hard to find, plus you may find it difficult to vet candidates properly and ascertain whether they’re truly right for the job.

This is why you should work with a Chinese recruitment agency. With their extensive range of contacts and expertise in assessing and recruiting, they’ll be able to find the right people and save you plenty of time in the process. When looking for a Chinese recruitment agency, it’s important to consider their experience, how in-depth their searches are, and whether they offer a guarantee. This will help ensure that you do indeed find the right candidates and get value for money from the service.