Welcome back to another Interact Quick Tips for two-year college marketers. With the spring semester done and summer just around the bend, now is the time to think about how to warm up your messaging to students that you’d like to see back this fall. In this installment, Mary DeLuca is here to give you some tips on how to provide encouragement students need over the summer to make sure they don’t stop out and contribute to a retention problem. With a bit of common sense and creativity, you’ve got this!

Here are Six Tips for Summer Student Messaging:

1. Clear the academic jargon out of your student communications! You know what I mean. And if you’re giving them guidance about things they need to do, keep it simple! One step at a time … think bite-sized.
2. Don’t be afraid to have a little fun. Students appreciate humor too, so maybe work some pets into your videos or photos. And if you have a mascot, even better to let them deliver your message!
3. Don’t be afraid to be campy or retro to make your messages to students pop.
4. Look to trendy social media posts to find out what makes learners tick and follow their lead to make your summer student messaging more relatable.
5. Another way to interject a bit of playfulness to get your students’ attention and build rapport with them is to use metaphors and figurative language. That also gets gives you a starting point for creativity in your messaging. 
6. Remember that one of the best ways to create meaningful lasting experiences in your communications is to use storytelling.

You’ve got this! After making it through another academic year, you owe it to yourself to find some inspiration and get your creative juices flowing. What’s more, your students will appreciate it.

For the 4-1-1 on creative messaging strategies to really reach students, check out our latest blog: “Want to engage students, Boost Student Retention and Education with Relatable, Emotional Messaging? – Part Two.”