Promote Your Schools Using These Five Freebies

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Now that doing more with less is the new norm, how do you market and promote your school district and successful programs? Maybe it’s time for a brainstorming session with your school public relations professional. Don’t know where to start? I’ll kick the conversation off with these five freebies:

1. Create desktop wallpaper and screensavers for computers. This nice little free gift is a great way for education supporters to express school pride. Make sure you have student image release forms signed and on file. Inform the groups that will be featured. Rummage through existing organization, club, band, sports team, arts and mascot photos – you get the idea. Many of these pictures may already be on your school websites or in school publications. Create the image at a common resolution size (1024×768 pixels or 1280×1024 pixels) as either a low resolution PNG or JPEG file for easy use. The larger the file, the harder it is to download.
2. Record cell phone ringtones or podcasts. Have an awesome show choir or school quartet? Is your band or orchestra the best around? Have a musically talented faculty member? Do your violinists, guitarists and soloists deserve a recording deal? Use your portable audio recorder or even the audio recording software on your computer to capture a performance. Remember to put the microphone as close as possible to the performers to avoid background noise. Save the audio as an MP3 (for podcast) or m4r (for ringtone), then offer it online for download. Record a brief advertisement or announcement at the beginning of the performance, or end the audio with details about an upcoming concert. E-mail the recording to benefactors to thank them for their support. Burn the audio recordings to a CD to sell as a fund raiser. Podcasts are also a great way for school leaders to record monthly updates for parents, other stakeholders and key communicators. Podcasting and audio freeware are available online. Check out iTunes, Audacity and PodProducer, to name a few.
3. Consider social networking. Used responsibly and carefully, this is a lovely no-cost way to get the word out. Many of your students don’t recall life before Facebook, and their young parents feel the same way about smart phones. Most social media sites automatically send updates as messages to cell phones and phone apps. Study each social media option carefully – and the privacy settings – to match one with your promotional needs. I’d be the first to warn against starting a social media page just for the sake of it. The page has to have purpose, and yes, someone has to manage it. But, chances are, someone is already sending the same messages out in print. Takes a few more clicks to use an aggregator such as HootSuite and TweetDeck to do the same thing online. You should also understand that if you’re not sharing your school district’s official story out there in the social media world, it’s very likely that someone else is making it up. Don’t forget to post your rules for social media etiquette and for handling malevolent messages. Use common sense and practical judgment, and discuss the pros and cons with your communication and legal staff.
4. Tag along. Find education, business, civic and other entities that share common objectives and goals with your school district. Ask about opportunities to piggy back on their education-related advertising, promotions and public relations efforts. Is a local group encouraging volunteerism and civic citizenship? Does your school teach civic citizenship and need a few volunteer mentors? Will a state group promote projects during USA Weekend’s national Make a Difference Day (set for Oct. 22, 2011)? Are your students and faculty planning projects to make a difference in the lives of others? Does your city’s economic development team use the local education district to lure newcomers, industries and businesses? Is your school district providing the economic development team with the latest facts, figures and successes occurring in your school district, and do promotional materials include positive images and messaging from the district? These are just a few scenarios, but there are plenty. It also helps to ask for donated space on electronic marquees around the community to promote school events or observances. Ask the media or billboard companies to fill unsold ad space with your school district’s public service announcements. Ask the local chamber of commerce, tourism office, PTA or others to include school information in their print and electronic calendars and publications. Above all, make sure requests are ethical, appropriate and mutually beneficial.
5. Keep bloggers and tweeters informed. I know, I know … local bloggers and Twitter users are not always your favorite folks, and many aren’t old-fashioned journalists with a fair and balanced approach. Certainly, there are those with an axe to grind who use these platforms for idle talk and tomfoolery. That’s why it’s important to focus only on legitimate blogs or tweeters and to know the kind of followers and audience they serve. If they are influencing large numbers of parents, faculty, students, staff, local leaders and others, it may be worth your while to add them to your media list. Frankly, if they don’t have enough followers to warrant the extra outreach, don’t bother. If they do … well … think of it this way: if you aren’t telling them your story, who is? Rather than complain about the erroneous information they’re sharing and rumors they’re spreading, consider telling them the true story and giving them accurate details. No need to argue every rant, but politely rebuff damaging misconceptions and fallacies with fact (without repeating the error or negative statement). Tell them your key messages and talking points. Encourage your legion of key communicators – the group of stakeholders your district keeps in the loop – to contribute to the blogs or to send tweets. Not every blogger or tweeter is a reason to cringe, either. A growing number are legitimizing themselves with journalistic principles and are highly influential options for quickly getting the word out. Remember to keep communication with bloggers and tweeters short, simple, timely and professional.

If you have some suggestions that I can add to the list, leave them in the comment box below.

Our contributor, Denise Berkhalter

Denise L. Berkhalter is Director of Public Relations for the Alabama Association of School Boards. She edits the association's magazine, writes a newsletter, maintains the website, participates in statewide collaborations, handles media inquiries and oversees public relations, marketing and meeting activities. Prior to joining AASB in 2005, she served as Tuskegee University's director/coordinator of marketing, public and media affairs and has worked as an assistant managing editor, editor and a reporter for several newspapers. Her degrees are from Troy University-Montgomery and Jackson State University. She is a member of the Council of School Board Association Communicators, the Alabama School Communicators Association, the National School Public Relations Association and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.