Better Async Communication Using 5 Content Marketing Principles
In the day of remote and hybrid work, async (asynchronous) communication is the daily norm…but it isn’t always the smoothest process. If you are wanting better async communication, then you need to follow and abide by a few content marketing principles that will help you increase meaningful and beneficial communication across your whole team.
Content marketing for better async communication?
Believe it or not, but there are a few basic content marketing principles that can improve your async communication.
You may be thinking this post will talk about how to improve your grammar but I urge you to continue reading. It’s so much more than using commas correctly (the Oxford Comma saves lives!) and spelling.
1. KISS
KISS is something you have probably heard before: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Well, that is a common copywriting practice. You cut and trim until you are able to say something as efficiently as possible in the simplest format possible.
When it comes to better async communication, keeping messages clear and simple will go a long way to improving your ability to work with your team efficiently.
2. One objective per sentence
It may seem like you need to give each point or objective you want to communicate with your team all the context for it to make sense.
But here’s the problem: they are going to have follow up questions at some point, right?
So make it exceedingly clear what you want with one sentence for each objective/goal/point you want to discuss. Allow questions from there if you need to.
Keeping this laser focus on the actual issues will quicken your process to communicate more clearly for better async communication.
3. Read it out
Before you hit send on any async communication…take a minute to read it out loud to yourself.
This is a practice applied to a lot of content marketing: when you read it out you will catch errors more often than not and, also, you will typically find a better way to rephrase something once you hear it spoken out loud.
It’s a super easy trick that will likely drastically change how you talk with your team.
4. End with a single takeaway
Typically, there will be more than one singular thing you want to communicate with each message.
However, if you can narrow each conversation down to one key takeaway, and then communicate that clearly, then you will be working towards better async communication. You may even notice you need to communicate less because you are able to get details and clear up problems faster than normal.
In content marketing, we would call this clearly defining your CTA!
5. Don’t neglect voice and video
While content marketing is usually associated with written content like blogs or web copy, there is a lot more that goes into it than that.
Over the years, as technology has evolved, content marketers have begun to adapt and repurpose content across multiple platforms.
Take the same approach with your async communication.
Would this be more effective if my voice could be heard? Would showing my face improve my ability to communicate these points? Keep these questions in mind and don’t hesitate to use all the mediums at your disposal for better async communication.
Communicate with the best
Now that you have taken these 5 async communication tips to heart, you are ready to boost your communication by 2, 3, or even 5x. Faster response times, clearer communication, and efficient team collaboration are within your grasp, you just need to take the reins and make your communication channels work for you and not against you.
If you like what you have been reading, then I invite you to check out more on my blog. But if you have questions feel free to email me directly.
On the other hand, if you find yourself thinking that you want someone to write posts for you like this, then contact me at DSM Story Forge and I will get the ball rolling for you ASAP.
As always, I appreciate you, friend!