Summer is often a slower time of year for many businesses, and a smart communications team use the downtime to plan and execute special projects that will help set their department and organization up for success in the fall. Whether an initiative benefits the team members themselves, the whole company or its clients, there are many productive ways to leverage extra time that isn’t typically available during busier seasons.
Here, 15 members of Forbes Communications Council outline the special projects and key initiatives their teams are undertaking this summer, along with the reasons why. By reading the plans and objectives these members share below, communications leaders can gain inspiration to ensure their teams make the most of a summer slowdown.
1. Auditing Our Client Success Documentation
Our team is currently focusing on client success. We regularly gauge our clients’ satisfaction levels, but during downtime, it becomes necessary to conduct an in-depth audit of our client success documentation. This allows us to measure their satisfaction and assess if they are achieving their goals with our tool. By doing so, we not only improve the client experience, but also improve our product. – Lauren Parr, RepuGen
2. Helping Clients Reevaluate CX Strategies
Prepare, prepare, prepare for high-volume periods, such as back-to-school and peak holiday shopping season. These are critical moments to provide an excellent customer experience when all else is in a frenzy. Summertime is when our team is busy helping clients reevaluate CX strategies and budgets and implement AI tools for strong success in the new year. In retail, CX rarely gets a rest. – Andrew Kokes, HGS
3. Creating A ‘Summer Of Wellness’ Program
Our team created an organizationwide “Summer of Wellness” program. Staff can earn cash prizes by participating in eight biweekly challenges based on the eight dimensions of wellness. Employees submit their progress using a branded “tracker.” Prizes range from gift cards to cash, and more. The program focuses on improving overall health and promotes HR resources, engagement and a positive company culture. – Jennifer Gaier, Elwyn
4. Adapting Solutions To Leverage AI
Our teams are focused on leveraging AI to deliver better content experiences and solutions for our clients. We are spending a lot of time educating ourselves on the various AI tools and models that our clients are asking about. We still feel the best storytelling and content is human-led, but we are also adapting our solutions to provide new AI services where they make the most sense. – Ahmad Daher, Envijo
5. Hosting 23 Diverse Interns From 17 States
This summer, our company will host 23 diverse interns from 17 states. They will engage in meaningful projects to enhance their skills and strengthen our team. Our company moves rapidly, living at the forefront of innovation to drive meaningful change. We don’t often slow down! These young professionals are our next generation of leaders, and as they learn from us, we will learn from them. – Marija Zivanovic-Smith, IEX
Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
6. Reflecting On The First Half Of The Year
The slower time of year is about reflection and process. I typically schedule a venting session with my team to talk about the highs and lows of the first half of the year, and then use the slower time to evaluate our processes, what’s working and where there is room for improvement to streamline efforts, gain efficiencies and help us balance our workload. – Jill Roberson, Velir
7. Auditing And Optimizing Content
In anticipation of the slower summer season, we have planned a special content audit and optimization project. This initiative aims to benefit our company, clients and consumers by delivering highly targeted and valuable content. Through this enhanced content strategy, we’re striving to strengthen brand loyalty, improve performance and maximize the overall impact of our communications efforts. – Jawaher Al-Khuzaei, GWC
8. Ensuring Post-Merger Brand Alignment
Going through a multi-prong merger can feel like the ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet, leaving you no time to properly build up the materials and stories for your company’s employees to share. This summer will be invaluable for aligning all materials under our new brand so that we are all telling the same, unified story to cut through the noise of the market. – Patrick Ward, Formula.Monks
9. Creating Consumer Surveys
Being able to control your news cycles without dependencies on seasonality, product releases or client announcements is critical. One great way to do this is to create consumer surveys that not only answer questions for your executive and product teams, but can also be of great interest to journalists. Done correctly, this can create big off-cycle media wins. – Jonathan Sasse, Metova
10. Doing An ‘80/20’ Project
In slower times, I challenge my team to do an “80/20” project. What is the 20% of our effort that is driving 80% of our results? Where can we reduce effort in areas that aren’t netting the output we need? Nothing is off the table. This typically leads to a lot of “aha!” moments in data analysis and really creative thinking on how we can redeploy the time more effectively. – Sarah Esteverena, Acceleration Partners
11. Hosting A Networking Social
This summer, our team is hosting a networking social for our target audience around a big conference that’s coming to our city. We hope to use this time to build connections with prospective clients, grow our brand awareness and develop our lead pipeline, which will likely start to bear fruit in the fall. – Roshni Wijayasinha, Prosh Marketing
12. Starting On Holiday Deliverables
So many marketing initiatives occur in the fall, especially ones themed around the holidays, so any summer lull is a great time to get started on those projects. Tasks that require a higher amount of production, such as video, should always be started as far in advance as possible to mitigate the last-minute frenzy that so often occurs with large deliverables. – Clay Tuten, KeyMark Inc
13. Improving Our Client Onboarding Process
Our team has planned to focus on enhancing our customer experience through an in-depth analysis and improvement of our client onboarding process. Optimizing our internal workflows and communication, enhancing our team’s productivity, reducing errors and creating a more cohesive and efficient work environment should lead to higher client retention rates and increased referrals. – Cade Collister, Metova
14. Launching A Content Refresh
This summer, we’re launching a content audit and refresh. We’ll evaluate our existing materials, update outdated information and create new, relevant content. This benefits everyone. The company will have more accurate and engaging materials, the team will refine their content creation skills, and clients and consumers will receive higher-quality, updated information. – Jonathan Shroyer, Arise Gaming
15. Ramping Up Rather Than Winding Down
If your business has a slower cycle at the same time each year, the answer from a comms perspective is often to ramp up with the winds of seasonal change rather than wind down. Increase your email marketing cadence. Produce more value-add content. Spend time engaging with the comments you receive. Use the extra time to nurture the business, clarify your message and strengthen brand loyalty. – Melissa Kandel, little word studio
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