Brabners Business Circle event highlights how aligning marketing & BD can maximise growth
We share key insights from the latest Business Circle event, including how aligning marketing and BD can lead to stronger, more measurable results.
Brabners Business Circle event highlights how aligning marketing & BD can maximise growth
AuthorsNikki Whittle
3 min read
High‑growth businesses often face the same challenge: marketing and business development (BD) teams working hard but not always in sync.
At our latest Business Circle event, Kathryn Bistacchi and Kirsty Forman — directors of North West business-to-business marketing and BD agency Definition Consulting — shared their perspective on how integrating marketing and BD can significantly improve results.
Creating one shared strategy
They highlighted the common ‘busy but not growing’ cycle where teams are active but not generating meaningful returns and explained how a joined‑up strategy can help break that pattern.
Kathryn shared that a combined marketing and BD strategy is key to managing potential customers or clients effectively throughout the acquisition journey. Without it, teams risk duplicating effort or missing opportunities.
She said: “Marketing and BD teams need to sit together to work on a strategy of how visibility translates into engagement with potential new clients and customers. This creates joint ownership — both teams will work together to protect what they've developed.”
Using data consistently and purposefully
Kirsty emphasised the importance of consistent data use once a shared strategy is in place. She noted that when BD teams know a contact is close to onboarding, marketing should adapt communications accordingly rather than sending general sales‑focused content.
She said: “You need to be focused about what you measure. Identify what metrics are important to both marketing and business development, then track these and show your results. Only measure things that you’re going to act on.”
Turning clients into advocates
Kathryn also stressed the value of ongoing engagement with existing clients and customers, helping them to become advocates who can refer further work where appropriate.
Supporting Lancashire’s scale‑up community
The Business Circle was established in Lancashire in 2023 and is one of four invite‑only groups that we host for growing business leaders. It’s led by Nikki Whittle, a Partner in our corporate team who’s based in our Lancashire office.
She said: “Lancashire has a high-profile community of fast-growing businesses, including Brabners clients, Partners and others. As a firm, we’ve been championing scale-ups in Lancashire for decades and are currently sponsors of the Scale-up Award at both the Red Rose and Be Inspired Business Awards.
We launched the Business Circle around three years ago to support the owners and senior leaders of scaling businesses — giving them a place to build new connections with peers who share the unique challenges and opportunities of growth, as well as access to high‑quality speakers who provide knowledge that they can implement immediately.
The growth of the group over that period is a real testament to the passion and ambition of this community and I’m excited to be part of its continued development. We have a fantastic lineup of speakers being finalised for the rest of the year.”
How to join Business Circle
All Business Circle events are invite-only because we want to make sure that attendees feel comfortable in their surroundings and are able to talk openly without fear of disclosure elsewhere.
If you're a business owner or senior decision maker interested in joining Business Circle, you can register by completing our contact form below.
Register to join Business Circle
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