The October communications check-in

First of all, why October?

Well, to begin with, it’s the start of the last quarter of the year. Which means you have almost ten months of data to work with.

By now, you’ve probably noticed some patterns. You know which types of content tend to get attention, what gets people talking, what disappears into the LinkedIn void, and what takes your team three weeks and seventeen approvals to produce.

You’ve probably also noticed patterns in your internal processes. Where things flow, were they get stuck, and where good ideas tend to die somewhere between “great idea!” and “let’s revisit this next quarter.”

And then there is the weather.

It’s getting colder, darker, and generally more suited to sitting down with a cup of coffee and asking yourself some slightly uncomfortable questions about how things are working.

You could, of course, do this in December. But December has julebord, deadlines, holidays, end-of-year reports and approximately 47 things that suddenly need to be finished before everyone disappears for Christmas.

So… January it is? And then January arrives, and everyone is busy planning the new year.

Which is why I quite like October. It’s early enough to still do something about what you find, but late enough in the year to have some useful evidence to work with.

So, here are a few things I would look at.

1. Are you still talking about your company more than your people?

I know. You are here to do business.

You have impressive numbers, exciting projects, technical expertise, new contracts, growth targets and probably a long list of things you are very proud of.

But the people browsing your website, scrolling through your social media, attending your events and sitting across the table in your next meeting?

They are people too. And people like people.

I’m not suggesting you ditch the numbers or stop talking about what your company actually does. Quite the opposite. Your expertise and results are important.

I’m suggesting you add the human factor.

Show the people behind the work. Let your experts explain what they know. Share perspectives, stories, lessons learned and the occasional glimpse of what actually goes on behind the scenes. It can make your company more approachable to customers and stakeholders, help you attract talent, and contribute to a stronger and more recognisable brand.

Your company may be the subject of your communication, but people are the ones reading it.

2. Are you creating content, or just documenting activity?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing company updates: New contracts. Mergers and acquisitions. Project milestones. Events. New hires. Partnerships. Awards.

These things matter, and often they are exactly the kind of information your audience wants to know.

The challenge comes when this becomes your entire content strategy.

Because companies have busy periods. And then things slow down.

The event is over. The announcement has been made. The big project is completed. There is nothing new to announce this week.

And suddenly you are sitting there thinking: What are we going to share?

The solution isn’t to stop sharing timely company updates. It is to build a richer content mix around them.

Think articles, insights, educational content, evergreen topics, expert perspectives, customer stories, FAQs, explainers and content that gives people a better understanding of your industry and your business. That way, you don’t run out of things to say when the news cycle gets quiet.

And more importantly, you create a richer pool of information for people who are trying to understand who you are, what you know and why they should care.

3. Are you treating LinkedIn like a press release distribution channel?

This is closely connected to the previous point. And it doesn’t only apply to company news. It applies to reports, research, white papers and other heavy content too.

You spent months producing a report. Then you share it on LinkedIn with:

“We are pleased to announce the publication of our latest report. Read it here.”

And… that’s it.

But why should I click?

What did you find?

What surprised you?

Why does it matter?

What should I take away from it?

What is the one thing you really want people to know?

The way you present and explain something can be just as important as the thing itself. The key here is 1. Give people a reason to stop scrolling. 2. Then give them a reason to keep reading.

4. Make your content easier to consume

We are all busy.

And most of us are consuming information in small pieces throughout the day, often while doing three other things. So make it easy.

Break a long article into a carousel. Turn a complicated topic into a series of shorter posts. Use visual examples. Introduce breathing space into presentations. Break up large blocks of text with headings, images, diagrams or other visual cues.

Think about the journey you are asking your audience to take.

• Where might they lose interest?

• Where might something become difficult to understand?

• Where could a visual, example or pause make the information easier to follow?

I’ve done exactly that with this article by turning some of the key points into a carousel for LinkedIn.

The point isn’t to make everything “snackable”. Some things need depth. The point is to make the depth easier to navigate.

5. Don’t let AI make everything sound the same

I’m not saying never use AI (quite the opposite).

Use it. Use it smartly.

My preferred approach is to start with your ideas.

• What are you trying to communicate?

• What is the goal?

• Who are you talking to?

• What is the angle?

• What is the takeaway?

Once you have that, AI can be incredibly useful as a sounding board.

Give it your draft. Ask for alternatives. Ask it to challenge your argument. Ask if there are blind spots. Ask it to help you structure something, shorten something or see an idea from another perspective.

Then write in your own words.

Use AI as a ping-pong partner. Use it as an editor. Use it to get unstuck.

But don’t make it the main author of everything you put out there.

Because if everyone starts using the same tools, with the same prompts, to produce the same type of content, we risk ending up with a whole lot of communication that sounds… exactly the same. Including your competitors.

Yikes.

6. Ask yourself: would I stop scrolling for this?

Or, if it’s an article: Would I click “read more”?

Yes, this is partly about hooks, but it’s not only about grabbing attention. Because what happens after you have it?

Does your audience get something from what you are sharing?

A useful insight?

A new perspective?

Relevant information?

A question worth thinking about?

A story they recognise?

Something they can use?

Attention is not the end goal. It is the door, and frankly, what happens on the other side matters just as much.

7. Where are your bottlenecks?

You can’t fix what you don’t know is slowing you down. And this is perhaps one of the most useful things to look at before the year is over.

After almost ten months, you are sitting on a gold mine of information about your own processes, systems, content and results.

Where does communication get stuck?

Is it ideas? Skills? Capacity? Approvals? Design? Writing? Getting information from subject-matter experts? Too many people involved? Not enough people involved?

Are there things your team does every week that could be made simpler? Are there skills you keep needing but don’t have in-house? Are your people spending so much time producing that they don’t have enough time to think?

Look at the small annoyances, the everyday friction.

The things that slow people down, stop them from executing ideas, or mean they never get around to having the ideas in the first place.

Finish the year by working better, not just harder

October is a good time to take a step back. Not necessarily to make a huge new strategy. Not to add another 15 things to your content calendar.

And definitely not to create a 47-slide presentation about everything you are going to improve next year.

Just look.

Look at what is working.

Look at what isn’t.

Look at what your audience is responding to.

Look at what your team enjoys doing, what they are good at, and what consistently drains time and energy.

Look at the gaps.

Then decide what to improve, what to simplify, what to rethink, and perhaps what to stop doing altogether.

Because the goal for the final quarter doesn’t have to be doing more. Maybe it can be working better.

And if you find a few things worth changing now, you can take them with you into January, before the julebord, the Christmas break and the new-year planning have had a chance to convince you that everything can wait until next week ;)