A January move most firms miss

If you’re wondering what actually deserves your attention in January, here’s one thing I always want firms doing right now.

Looking ahead to spring community events.

Not because you need another commitment today… but because January is when the smartest visibility decisions get made quietly.

By the time March rolls around, most of the good opportunities are already spoken for. The firms that planned early are on the calendar. Everyone else is reacting.

Here’s the practical move most firms miss.

Instead of starting from scratch, look backward.

This week, have someone on your team spend an hour doing this:

Go to your local community calendars, library calendars, senior center websites, and Facebook community groups.

Search for events that happened last spring.

Workshops. Seminars. Lunch-and-learns. Health fairs. Educational series.

Then create a spreadsheet:

    • The event name
    • Who organized it and their contact info
    • When and where it was hosted

Those events didn’t disappear. Most of them happen every year.

Once you have that list, your next step is simple.

Reach out to the organizer and say:

“I saw you hosted this event last year. We work with many families in this community and would love to explore supporting or participating this spring.”

That’s it.

No pitch deck. No commitment. Just a conversation.

This approach works because you’re not guessing. You’re following proven patterns that already attracted your ideal audience.

One important reminder while you’re doing this.

Events only create momentum when there’s a plan behind them.

Sponsoring something without a role, a follow-up path, or a clear next step is how firms stay busy without seeing results. Many teams struggle here, not because they’re doing it wrong, but because event strategy, promotion, registration, and follow-up require very different skills than legal work..

For now, your job is simply awareness, identification and locking in a few for this spring.

If you know what events already work in your community and who runs them, you’re already ahead of most firms.

We’ll talk more soon about how to turn those opportunities into real growth. Over the next few weeks, just start the list and lock in a few.

Laura Lee
Legal Marketing Maven

P.S. If community visibility has always felt like “something we should do someday,” January is when it becomes practical instead of overwhelming.