A marketing plan, which looks at promoting the firm to a specific target audience, is very different from a business development strategy. It evolves less around clients, but instead takes a broader approach in order to promote the firm as a whole to a wider audience, which would not only include clients but would focus on prospects as well. A marketing plan should form part of the firm's wider strategy or business plan. A marketing plan would include goals and objectives following which one would set a marketing strategy to achieve those objectives. A successful marketing plan would address the so called “marketing mix”, it would include goals and objectives and would set out an action plan as to how these goals and objections will be achieved.

• Marketing mix: Provides a framework for marketing decision making. It is a framework which was originally proposed by marketer and academic E. Jerome McCarthy, and is widely adopted amongst marketers, also in professional services marketing.