There are always stretches during the year when things slow down a bit. Your clients are away, deals pause or your calendar just isn’t as full as it usually is.
And while it may be tempting to fully check out during those moments, downtime is one of the best opportunities to focus on marketing.
It might feel counterintuitive. Shouldn’t you wait until things pick up again? But the slower periods are when you can work on your business instead of in it. It’s when you can take a step back, assess what’s working and spend time on the things that usually get pushed aside during the day-to-day.
In short, when others hit pause, that’s your chance to stand out.
Here’s how to make the most of those quieter stretches, whether it’s a seasonal lull or just a slower period in your practice.
Don’t Wait Until You “Need” Marketing
If you’re lucky enough to have a steady stream of clients, it can feel like you don’t need to invest time in marketing. But that’s short-sighted. Legal services are not an impulse purchase. When companies hire outside counsel, they do so because they have a need. Your job is to make sure you’re top of mind when that moment comes.
Marketing isn’t just about getting business today. It’s about ensuring you’re still getting business tomorrow.
That’s why the best time to market yourself is when things are going well. Not only are you operating from a position of strength, but you’re also building visibility and relationships that will pay off in the future.
Marketing Is Bigger Than Business Development
One of the biggest misconceptions about marketing is that it’s only tied to bringing in clients. It plays a much broader role in how you’re seen and where you show up.
When you’re visible in a consistent and thoughtful way, it starts to influence a range of opportunities. You’re more likely to be on a reporter’s radar, to be considered for speaking engagements or to be invited to contribute to an article or collaborate on something with others in your space.
It can also lead to leadership roles and board positions, especially when your name is already familiar and associated with a particular area of work.
These opportunities don’t usually come from one post or one event. They tend to build over time as people see you, hear from you and start to connect you with what you do.
That’s what raises your profile and positions you as someone people think of when something comes up in your area.
Start With Creating a Personal Marketing Plan
If you’re trying to be more deliberate about business development, it helps to start with something manageable and specific.
Pick a small number of actions you can realistically follow through on over the next few weeks. Three to five is usually enough. The point isn’t to cover everything. It’s to focus on a handful of efforts that you can actually execute and build on.
The more useful approach is to tie those actions to how you already work. Who are you trying to stay in front of? What types of matters do you want more of? Which relationships are worth spending more time on right now? Those answers should shape what you choose to focus on.
This also isn’t one-size-fits-all. A corporate partner, a litigator and a regulatory lawyer are going to approach this differently. The same goes for the clients they’re trying to reach. A healthcare investor, a private equity sponsor and a founder are paying attention to different things and responding to different signals.
When your plan reflects that, it tends to feel more natural and easier to sustain.
Reconnect with Former Clients and Referral Sources
One of the easiest and most effective things you can do is check in with people you already know.
Send a quick email to a former client with a helpful article. Ask a former colleague how their business is doing. Follow up with a referral source you haven’t spoken to in a while.
These moments of connection don’t have to be formal. In fact, the more natural, the better. The goal is to stay in touch and remind them that you’re a trusted resource, not to hard-sell them on your services. Strong relationships are still the backbone of a successful legal career. And maintaining them doesn’t require a marketing budget, just intention.
Update Your Bio and Practice Descriptions
This is the kind of task that’s easy to put off when you’re busy. But your bio is often the first thing prospective clients, journalists and speaking committees look at when evaluating you.
Take a few minutes to make sure it reflects what you actually do today. Highlight recent wins, include the industries you work with and make sure you’re using keywords your audience might search for. If you don’t say you do it, people might assume you don’t.
And while you’re at it, revisit your practice group and industry descriptions. These are often overlooked, but they’re prime real estate for showing expertise and attracting the right kind of clients.
Use events more strategically
Showing up to events is the easy part. What you do with them is where the value starts to build.
Think about the time you’re already spending. Conferences, panels, alumni gatherings, industry events, etc. There’s usually a lot happening in a short window, and most people move on from it as soon as it’s over.
There’s more there than just being in the room.
Pay attention to what’s being discussed and what stands out. A panel you attended, a point someone made, a theme that kept coming up in conversations. Those moments can turn into a short post or a more developed piece that reflects what you’re seeing in your work.
It also gives you a natural reason to reconnect with people. Following up with speakers or attendees and referencing something specific you discussed or heard tends to lead to more meaningful conversations than a generic check-in.
There’s also a longer-term angle. If you’re attending the same events regularly, think about where you could be more involved. Speaking, moderating or contributing to programming changes how you’re perceived and gives you a different level of visibility.
When you approach events this way, they don’t end when you leave. They carry forward into content, follow-ups and future opportunities.
Write Something (Even if It’s Short)
Content doesn’t have to be long to be effective. But it does have to be clear, relevant and consistent. One of the easiest ways to stay visible and top of mind is to create short, thoughtful content that speaks to what your clients and contacts are dealing with right now.
Start with what you know. Think about a recent client question, a new regulation, a trend in your industry or even a topic you discussed at a conference. These are all content opportunities. If you’ve said something useful in a client conversation or email, it can likely be adapted into a post or alert.
Keep the format simple. A short LinkedIn post that highlights one takeaway. A client alert that breaks down a development in plain language. A blog post that offers three quick tips based on your experience. You can also repurpose existing content – turn part of a CLE presentation into a post or write a quick reaction to a relevant article.
If writing feels intimidating, partner with a colleague or referral source and co-author something. It’s a great way to stay accountable and double your audience. You can also involve your marketing team to help shape your ideas and polish the final version.
Avoid overthinking it. Your goal isn’t to publish something groundbreaking. Your goal is to be helpful, visible and consistent. Every piece of content you share reinforces your brand and expertise.
Thought leadership isn’t reserved for published authors or keynote speakers. It starts with showing up, offering useful information and doing it regularly. That’s how you build trust. And trust is what leads to new work, referrals and stronger relationships.
Audit and Repurpose Past Content
A lot of the work you’ve already done still has value. It just isn’t being used to its full potential.
Go back and look at your past content across formats. Blog posts, client alerts, LinkedIn posts, webinars, presentations. Which pieces actually resonated? Which ones led to conversations, shares or follow-ups? That’s usually a better indicator than views alone.
It’s also worth looking at what still holds up. Some content is tied to a moment in time. Other pieces reflect themes or issues that continue to come up in your work. Those are the ones that are worth bringing forward again.
There are a number of ways to do this well. A longer article can be broken into a few shorter posts. A webinar can be turned into a written summary with key takeaways. Two related pieces can be combined into something more complete. Even a simple repost with a more current perspective can give a piece new life.
This also tends to surface patterns in your work. You start to see which topics you return to and where you have a consistent point of view. That’s useful from a positioning standpoint.
Repurposing content makes your efforts more sustainable. You’re building on what you’ve already created instead of starting from scratch each time, and your strongest ideas have more than one chance to reach the right audience.
Check In on Your Competitors
Spending time on competitors is less about watching what they post and more about understanding how they’re positioning themselves.
Look at the substance behind their activity. What are they choosing to write about and how closely is it tied to actual client work? Are they showing a point of view or staying generic? Which industries keep coming up and which ones are getting real attention from their partners?
That’s where the useful information is.
You’ll start to see who is being deliberate and who is just filling space. Some firms are clearly aligned around a few areas and show up consistently. Others are all over the place, which makes it harder to tell what they’re known for.
Pay attention to who is visible. Which lawyers are getting asked to speak, being quoted or showing up repeatedly in your feed? That usually reflects where relationships are forming and where firms are gaining traction.
This also helps you spot gaps. There are always areas where very little is being said, even though clients are dealing with those issues every day. There are also topics that are overdone and hard to differentiate.
Having that perspective makes it easier to decide where to focus and how to show up in a way that feels more considered and specific.
Create (or Clean Up) Your Email Strategy
Your email list is one of the most valuable tools you have, and unlike social media, you own it.
It’s worth taking the time to clean it up. Add new contacts, remove duplicates and make sure the information you have is current. Think about how you’re organizing it as well. Segmenting by industry, geography or type of relationship makes it much easier to send something that actually feels relevant to the person receiving it.
From there, think about how you want to use it. A regular email doesn’t have to be overly produced or time-intensive. It can be a focused update that pulls together what you’ve been writing, speaking about or seeing in your work. A few strong pieces of content, paired with a short explanation of why they’re worth paying attention to, is often enough.
This is also an easy way to get more mileage out of what you’ve already created. The content that performed well once will often perform well again when it’s shared in a different format or with a bit of added context.
When you send something thoughtful on a consistent basis, you stay in front of people in a way that feels useful. Over time, that familiarity is what makes someone think of you when something comes up.
Don’t Forget About SEO
If you want people to find you online, you have to make it easy for them to understand what you do and when to call you.
Start with your website and your bio. Read them the way a client would. Are you describing your work in clear, specific terms, or using broad language that could apply to anyone? The more precise you are about your experience, industries and types of matters, the easier it is for the right people to find you.
Structure matters just as much as content. Link related pages so someone can move naturally from one topic to another. Use page titles and headings that reflect how people actually search. Those details help your content surface and make it easier to navigate once someone lands on it.
Depth also makes a difference. Pages that are too short don’t give enough context. Each page should have enough substance to explain your work, the types of clients you represent and the situations you handle most often. That’s what helps someone quickly decide whether you’re a fit.
When this is done well, your content works harder for you. It shows up in search, answers questions and gives people a clear sense of what you do before they ever reach out.
Give Old Content New Life
Some of the most useful work you’ve already done is probably sitting unused.
Take a look at what performed well over the past year. Which client alerts got traction? Which posts were shared or referenced? Which webinars actually drew an audience? That tells you what people are paying attention to.
From there, think about how to bring that content back in a more intentional way. You can group related pieces into a short email, resurface them on LinkedIn with added perspective or connect them to something happening now. A quick update or a few lines of context can make older content feel current again.
This is also a good opportunity to highlight the lawyers behind the work. It reinforces their experience and keeps their names in front of the right audience without starting from scratch.
Not everything needs to be created from the ground up. There’s often more value in revisiting strong content and giving it another moment than constantly trying to come up with something new.
Get Involved Where It Matters
Most lawyers think about getting involved in terms of joining something. The better approach is to be more selective about where you spend your time and who you’re around.
Take a step back and think about the groups that are most closely aligned with your clients and the work you want to be doing. That might be an industry association, a board, an alumni group or a nonprofit connected to a sector you focus on. The goal is to be in rooms where conversations are already happening around the issues your clients care about.
The value comes from being part of something consistently, not just showing up once. When you’re involved over time, you start to build familiarity with the same group of people, and those relationships tend to develop more naturally.
It also gives you a reason to stay in touch outside of a transaction. You’re interacting in a different context, which often leads to stronger connections and better visibility.
Being thoughtful about where you show up tends to go further than trying to be everywhere.
And Yes, Focus on Social Media
Social media is still one of the most effective ways to stay visible and relevant, especially when it’s used with some intention behind it.
For most lawyers, that starts with LinkedIn. It’s where your clients are, where your peers are and where a lot of professional conversations are already happening. If someone hears your name or is referred to you, there’s a very good chance they’re going to look you up there first.
Your profile is the foundation. It should reflect what you actually do, the types of clients you work with and the matters you want more of. This isn’t the place for generic descriptions. The more specific you are, the more useful it becomes.
From there, it’s about showing up in a way that feels consistent and considered. That doesn’t mean posting every day. It means sharing perspectives, observations and insights that reflect your experience. It can be tied to your work, what you’re seeing in the market or conversations you’re having with clients.
Engagement matters just as much as posting. Commenting on other people’s content, staying active in your network and paying attention to what others are sharing all contribute to your visibility.
As for other platforms, you don’t need to be active everywhere. But it’s still worth claiming your name across platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. It keeps your options open and ensures consistency if you decide to expand later.
Used well, social media becomes part of how people come to know you before you ever meet them.
Don’t Waste the Quiet Moments
This is less about doing something new and more about being thoughtful with what is already in front of you. The relationships you’ve built, the work you’ve done, the content you’ve created. When you take a closer look at those things and use them more deliberately, they tend to go further.
It also makes it easier for people to understand what you do and where you fit. That clarity is what keeps you in the mix and makes it more likely that the right opportunities find their way to you.
Downtime is a gift. It gives you space to breathe, to reflect and to work on things that will pay off long after the busy season returns. So take advantage of it. You don’t need to do all of these things. Just pick a few that resonate with you and commit to them. Because while others are taking a break, you can be building momentum.
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