Your School’s Electronic Communication Update

About 15 years ago, this article was titled, “Does Your School Have a eNewsletter?”

About 10 years ago, it was changed to, “Is your School’s eNewsletter Mobile-Ready?”

5 years ago, it was changed to “Your School’s Electronic Communication Update” eNewsletters were also called iZines, and publications started to be distributed electronically rather than on paper.

Today, things are different once again! While the need for electronic communication is commonplace today, there are still schools that don’t update their Websites DAILY, don’t post relevant content to inquiring families (but do post lunch menu items – like that’s important for parents who are interested in enrolling their children in your school), and schools need MULTIPLE channels of communication – phone, email and text.

But those email blasts you’ve relied upon are now ending up in your parents’ spam folders more and more. That’s because email protocols have changed over the past five years.

Therefore, the for relevant communication with your constituencies is now more important than ever, and, even though it’s “technology,” with security being paramount today, your communication effort require more and more work today!

And do you really want to call your “eNewsletter” a newsletter? A newsletter is informative, but the inferred design comes from the paper newsletter, where every bit of text was contained within the document. Many organizations that moved from paper to electronic communication simply “repurposed” their publication, including all the information and detail in the electronic version. Many paper newsletters were 11×17 sheets of paper that were folded in half to create a four-pager, and could hold up to 12 stories.

When programs like Constant Contact and Mailchimp were developed, organizations simply transferred that information to the computer, creating a scrolling nightmare in the process. Those of us in Educational Technology called that process “repurposing,” rather than using the power of technology to its fullest potential. Further, it provided no metrics on what articles were of significant interest to readers.

The moniker stuck too. A newsletter was quarterly or monthly, so an electronic newsletter (eNewsletter) was an easier way to distribute the same information, saving paper, printing and postage.

Today, organizations are using their eNewsletter differently, showing a photo associated with a headline and a “teaser” of an article, and a link to where the rest of the story can be found. For your school, that place should be your school’s Web site.

Then there’s the iZine, or “Internet Magazine.” It’s the evolution of newsletter, as magazines are published either monthly or weekly. Rather than scrolling through a sea of text and featuring 10 or 12 stories that occurred over the past few months or weeks, it can have a fewer number of “teaser” stories that makes the information easier to review.

The other subtle difference of a “magazine” vs. a “newsletter” is the newsletter infers that it contains “news.” “Featured stories” and “items of interest” are more in line with what a magazine does. You might even have a sponsor that could underwrite the cost, and offer a small ad that connects back to their Web site. Magazines have that; newsletters may not.

Now let’s look at the reason your school should have both – because they should be aimed for different audiences. Newsletters should be targeted to current parents; iZines should be targeted to donors.

Some time ago, I attended a seminar where a school administrator suggests sending home communications on different color paper based on the importance of the message – green paper means information; gold paper means something for the calendar; red paper means an emergency or situation of critical importance.

But even though there are schools that think it’s 1995, and parents will read paper notices, we now live in the era of TLDR – Too Long, Didn’t Read.

Indeed – today’s number one rule is: Nobody reads.

Therefore, if you’re still reading this article, congratulations! You’re one of the few remaining school leaders who don’t want “bullet points,” and would rather consume valuable content.

Communications are important today because you are marketing to four different audiences. One publication just doesn’t cut it. You need at least two – one for internal constituents, and the other for external constituents. Optimally – four.

The good news is you don’t have to create four different newsletters…you have to create two different ones, one that’s full of information for internal constituents, and one that’s packed with successes of your school, as well as invitations to events and to participate in the life of the school for external constituents. You can then tweak both just a little to appeal to the specialized audiences you’re trying to reach.

But you need to delineate your distribution lists, and make sure the right communication vehicles are going to the right people.

Remember, it’s all about building relationships.

As for when to release these, a weekly communication to all four constituent might be daunting at first. So, if you’re communicating with four groups, release one document per week, realizing you’ll have four mailing lists, and they must be mutually exclusive. Marketing is unlike development in this respect. When you have a Development database, you want to know that donors may belong to several constituent groups (parent, parent of alumni, last year but not this year, etc.). However, for marketing, it’s important that constituents receive the newsletter that is targeted to them (unless they’re board members and want to be informed about all communications that are being created and delivered).

As for paper vs. electronic, many schools have said, “But what about those parents that don’t have email?” Fifteen years ago, that was an issue. If you’re still doing that today, you are NOT considering the not just the “want,” and not just the “need,” but the “expectation” of your school’s market. Parents expect that everything about the school will be available on their mobile device.

If you have a person on your staff that’s reluctant to change to electronic communication, then it may be time to have an important conversation with them.

Today, the preferred communication of most parents isn’t even email, but text! If you have a service that creates your communication vehicles, you can delineate your constituencies, AND you can view the publications as Web pages, you can can text a link to them – but be sure you have permission to text them!

Fifteen years ago, I mentioned that the personal computer may become the new paperweight of future, and that and everyone will have a mobile handheld device. Indeed, this is today’s reality since your school’s parent community is made up of Millennials who use Facebook and Instagram more than they watch television. If they watch TV, more and more are watching Netflix and Hulu.

Why should you choose an eNewsletter or iZine service and not just send an email “blast” to those you’re trying to reach? Because today’s technology has advanced to the point that an email with lots of addresses may be recognized as spam. If you put the word “free” in a subject line, your email will probably end up in a spam filter or junk email folder. Also, if you have too many “Click here” messages in your text, it may be immediately deleted.

So if you’re using an eNewsletter service, why shouldn’t you say “click here?” After all, that’s how these services will track the readers’ actions when they want to find out what the rest of the article holds. If you’re still saying “click,” you’re thinking “computer.” When thinking “mobile,” there are no click – only taps. Or they could always “visit this link.”

Here’s hoping you and yours are blessed with a safe, happy and joy-filled Thanksgiving. Remember, we are called to “Always be joyful, pray constantly, and give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:16-18).