Super Chill Summer Communication Guide

Summer always prompts an attitude and behavior shift, with people spending more time outside, heading on vacation, and kicking back a bit more than during the long school-year months.

This summer, the chill’s on steroids with newfound freedom from a year of lockdowns, social distancing, Zoom overload, and emotional pain and strain creating a pent-up demand for making the most of all things summer.

For those of us looking to stay engaged with key audiences, this reality needs to be taken into account in the ways you are communicating from now through Labor Day. Here’s how:

Meet your audience where they are: Which this summer could be just about anywhere from a mountain cabin to a beachfront bungalow, to a checked-out staycation. Keep that in mind as you’re planning and writing communications, even looking for some lighthearted ways to reference our shared newfound freedom.

Zap the Zoom: Do you want to spend a beautiful summer day on a 90-minute Zoom or webinar? Me neither. While it might not make sense to bring webinars to a screeching halt, make sure you schedule them and other videoconferencing sparingly. When you do, aim to inject some fun into the content while getting to the point quickly. If you can meet in person, do it.

Keep it short: This tip already has me paranoid about the length of this article, but here it goes: A year of staring into screens of all shapes and sizes has tested patience and shortened attention spans. Get to the point. Get out.

Do the “need to know now” test: I recently made my first purchase through Etsy and I swear if I get one more cutesy email from them, the laptop is getting deep-sixed into Lake Erie. Sure you want to keep a cadence of communications going, but think about dialing back the frequency of that cadence for the next few months. Before you hit send, ask yourself if your audience needs to know this information now. If the answer is no, hold off.

Next-level out-of-office: Communication takes many different forms, and they all matter to varying degrees. Take the tired old out-of-office message. Adding a little fun and levity might prompt a smile – and endear you a bit more to those you communicate with via email. Here’s an example I received of a gem that landed in my inbox from marketing communications consultant, Abby Badach Doyle:

Fortunately for humanity, there are still places in this world without WiFi or cell service. Unfortunately for you... I am in one of them.

I'll be out of the office June 4-11 exploring the backcountry of Yosemite National Park, taste-testing the newest Clif Bar flavors and unironically wearing socks and Tevas.

I’ll return to civilization on Monday, June 14. See you then!

Welcome back Abby, and thanks for making us smile.