Changing the Pace of your Words for the Summer Slowdown

The business place slows in summer, and so do our brains. Here’s why changing the pace of your words for the summer slowdown is a good plan, and how to tweak your writing to do it. 

Summer is a weird time in business. Even if you’re not a slave to the school terms treadmill, there’s something hardwired into all of us that marks a change when July comes around. Time seems to stretch out and speed up all at once, and others in business around you will be feeling it too – for a whole host of their own reasons. Schedules shift, and people go quiet, or disappear entirely. You can send an email on a Tuesday and not hear a peep back until the following Friday, or September – and we all accept it, because it’s just what happens in summer.

When you’re writing for your audience during this time, it’s worth keeping this change of pace in mind. You may be keeping to business as usual, but the people reading your emails, blog posts, social content, or anything else may not be. Their reading habits will have changed as much as their working ones, and they will be encountering your words in a very different state of mind to normal.

Summer Reading

Your readers might not be at their desks browsing their social media feed, or opening your latest value email. They’re in a car on the way to a beach holiday with the family. They’re scrolling at the park while their kids play with a friend’s kids, and they’re swapping childcare. They’re trying to finish work early so they can pick their children up from holiday club, or sneak in some much-needed sunshine in the garden.

When we’re in the thick of summer, our brains aren’t working in their usual gear. We skim more, and we think in less of a straight and logical line. We’re less decisive, and we’re more emotionally responsive to warmth, connection, humour, and lightness – and to be honest, I’m far more likely to scroll past anything that feels like work.

But our “business as usual” brains don’t always think about what our readers might be doing differently, and you might be inclined to write in the same way as always: same tone, structure, and sense of urgency. But when everything else is shifting for the next few weeks, that’s not likely to hit the mark in quite the same way – so your style needs to shift too to be in the same place.

It doesn’t mean your message can’t still go out there and hit the mark, but it does mean you may need to change how you deliver it.

 

Write for where they are – not where you are

You might be indoors, writing in a heatwave, and fighting to get it all finished before their playdate next door is over – but your reader could be by a pool, in an airport lounge, doing a childcare swap, or taking ten minutes out on the sofa while their little one naps.

Try to picture them there as you write. What do they want to read? What would be easy for them to absorb right now?

When you shift your writing to meet your audience where they are – not just seasonally, but mentally and emotionally – it shows, and it works.

 

Shorter, Softer, Warmer

No, not a new Andrex advert – what I mean is it’s time to start slashing your word count. Cut things down, and then cut them down again. Elaborating for ages is something I’m certainly prone to, and summer is not the time to do it. You just can’t guarantee that people are in the right mindset to concentrate.

So if you usually write five paragraphs, try three. If you’d normally give a deep dive, go for a single, bite-sized idea instead – something that sticks without needing too much analysis.

You can also ease up your tone a bit in summer, and it’s the perfect time to try out being a little more informal. That doesn’t mean going off-brand or being flippant, but it might mean letting in a little more warmth, personality and lived experience into your writing.

 

Conversations, not conversions

One of the biggest writing mistakes you can make in summer is pushing too hard. You still want your reader to take action (you should always write with that in mind) – whether that’s reading more, buying something, booking a call. But summer isn’t the time for the hard sell.

Instead, this is a brilliant season to nurture. Build that trust, get people thinking (albeit quite gently), and start conversations; plant the little seeds for the more decisive, action-taking seasons ahead.

So soften your Calls to Action. Instead of “Book now” or “Don’t miss out,” suggest that they “Take a look,” or say “Here’s something to dip into,” – optional ways to engage. If someone’s on holiday with half an eye on their phone, your message is far more likely to sit well with people if it feels like a no-pressure invitation, rather than a demand.

 

We’re all in this slowdown together, and people don’t want to be told to get on it in July and August. They’ve got as much on their plates as they want, and sometimes too much. What they will respond to is feeling that the person writing to them is on the same page – that they are gently accompanying them through the seasonal shift. The time for action will come around, and before we know it, September will be here, and we’ll all feel like we’re back at school again for a brand new year. But for now, enjoy the change of pace, and write for the others around you who are doing the same.

 

More About Summer Writing…

Slowing down the pace of your words is the theme for my KnowHow video in Writing Club this month, where I show you how to do it too. I’m taking a standard value email and looking at how to tweak it here and there to make it more appealing to your readers.

Writing Club is my membership which supports you to write your own brilliant copy for your business. Learn from the monthly KnowHow video and come to a Writing Room to put your learning in to practice, getting your business writing done with my help on hand. It’s just £19 per month – for now!