My wife and I got rid of 15 bags of stuff this weekend during a spring clean. I like the Marie Kondo organizing method of asking yourself, “does this spark joy?”
I also love having more space to think, even with a child in a 450-square-foot apartment in Manhattan. With all that extra space I had a nice new thought. It occurred to me that there is an awful lot of spring cleaning to do in most clients’ communications.
Here are my five tips to spring clean yours:
1. Ditch the extra meeting.
I was in a meeting last week with two other people when the leader asked, “does it make sense for us to meet?” And I realized, “no, it doesn’t!”. So, we cancelled the next one. It was a relief for all the participants. We’ll meet another day with some other people, regardless. I mean, hey. It’s a nonprofit. But if a meeting doesn’t align with your goals, then is it worth having? Definitely not. I am often struck by how a meeting can be a substitute for getting valuable work done.
2. Build a five-minute content strategy.
Now you’ve got some extra time, let’s use it well. This does indeed take five minutes. It’s also surprising how effective it is.
3. Clarify your organization’s tone of voice in 10 minutes.
I know. You’re thinking it took a lot longer than this and that you needed an army of consultants. But you can sort it out in the extra few minutes you’ve got left from that meeting you didn’t have.
4. Kill your darlings. Aka your favorite bits of copy.
This week I convinced somebody to chop the length of a 1,700-word draft in half, and then some. I wish I could have convinced them to cut it into quarters. The most common advice I give my clients is to write shorter.
5. Less is more on the pitching front.
Last week I helped a client see the wood for the trees on their pitching strategy. It turns out it’s better to approach journalists less often with higher value stories. I recommend using a targeted approach to media relations. Not spamming out press releases.
That’s better. If you’re still staring at an unwieldy communications work plan, let’s chat. I always say the best strategic frameworks are the ones people understand. That means they need to be engaging and people like to use them. Amazing, I know, but such things do exist. Better yet, they spark joy.
(Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash)
