the 'new' newsletter the future of school publishing summary
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Summary of presentation and research findings on 200 school newsletters. Presentation 'The 'new' newsletter: the future of school pubslishing'TRANSCRIPT
The 'new' newsletter: the future of school publishing
Summary
Key Pillar 1: Websites have moved from infotainment to ‘search’.
Key Pillar 2: Short bite-sized skimmable content.
Key Pillar 3: We don’t all absorb content in the same way.
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Key Pillar 4: The Power of Context
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Context Rule 1: engagement strength varies by content accessorising
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Context Rule 2: Frequency is context
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Context Rule 3: Devices and platforms are context
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Key Pillar 5: Analytics
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Key Pillar 6: The Communications Strategy
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The Future of School Publishing
Halving your publishing time and doubling parents engagement
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The format of the school newsletter hasn’t changed since photocopiers were introduced to schools.
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Started asking questions?
• No school defended its newsletter readership as being high
• Schools that moved from weekly to fortnightly stated that there was not a murmur from parents
• No school could articulate their communications strategy
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It pre-dates the internet, smart phones and 2 working parents. It
also pre-dates a time when information was scarce.
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Conclusion: the newsletter culture is so strong that ‘it’ drives the school instead of the school driving ‘it’.
It’s a beast that demands to be fed
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The school newsletter is largely space and time driven not driven by communications strategy
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Research Methodology
• Analysed over 200 school newsletters• Victoria, Western Australia• 90% primary, 10% secondary
• Interviews with over 50 principals• Mix of incidental and prescribed
• Conferences, Seminars, PD’s• Exposed research to hundred’s
• Online Survey – productivity• 30 responses
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Content Mix: By type
COMMUNITY 30%10%: Extra curricular activities10%: Community news10%: Advertising
INTERNAL 20%15%: Principals messageBlowing school’s trumpetKey staff messages3%: Compliance2%: Admin impacts
STUDENTS 37%Teaching in actionClass reportsThemed events25%: Student activities/showcasing5%: Student acknowledgements7%: Dates effecting students
PARENTS 11%2%: Parents supporting learning2%: Parent education3%: P&F/CShout outs volunteersGovernment prog’sFundraisers4%: Dates effecting parents
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Today’s newsletter
COMMUNITY 30%
INTERNAL 20%
STUDENTS 37%
PARENTS 11%
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Over half of your newsletter is……..
?
PRPublic relations is the deliberate, planned and
sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or
individual) and its (or their) publics
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More observations
• Almost no reference in the school newsletter to the school’s website• Calendar synch very low• Missing opportunities to build resource culture
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The Statistics
Average number of articles 23Average number of pages 5Average number of hours to publish 5Average hourly rate $40PA cost weekly cycle $8,000Fortnightly cycle $4,000
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One reason why the newsletter is not being read
not
timel
y
timel
y
not important important
How much of a newsletter effects me? Can be down to 4%
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wiifm
Dates effecting meMy kids
Classroom
The rest
My InterestContent Mix
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Context is singularly the most important factor in effective communications. Schools do not have a content problem; they have a major context problem.
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72%
click here13%A reminder about Friday’s….9%
6%
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Imagine if facebook was a fortnightly newsletter from your ‘friends’. Would you read it? Same content, different context
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Context: Devices, Platforms and Publishing Frequency
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How do you achieve a 50% reduction in your publishing efforts?
• Write more often (website)
• Change the 23 articles a week (or fortnight) to• 1 article per day (work to a plan)• Cyclical summary
5 vs 23 10 vs 23
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Communications Planner
Communication Strategy
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Turn your NEWSLETTER into your HOMEPAGE then into an EMAIL (or facebook, twitter an app)
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Responsive Template: Reacts to mobileover 40% of web views are from mobiles
Goal: to halve the publishing time and double parent engagement
Blockers to re-engineering your communications
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Re-engineer Your Communications
• Take a 12 month view – term by term incremental changes
“I need to see it and archive it”
Event Calendar Expires naturally
Policy/Compliance Web page Ongoing (or replaced)
Students Awards Web page Annual delete
Community News Web page Over-ride (expires)
Forms Web page Ongoing (or replaced)
Excursion PR Web page Annual delete
“If it wasn’t for Karen chasing me around the office for the principal’s message every week it’d never get done.”
Outcome Content /term Frequency Medium
Events Event announcements As they occur Calendar, email, fb, app
Event reminders 12 Weekly email, fb
Teacher Capabilities
1 Teacher focus 3 monthly email
Community Consultation
Community polling 3 monthly fb, online form (page)Email
Curriculum Class activities 6 f/night fb
Happy Kids 6
“There’s no way I’m going to be thinking about communications and creating content everyday.”
“I agree so write it once per week.”
“….but send a piece
everyday.”
“Some parents won’t like it.”
Call it a trial
Measuring Success
Don’t ask parents……….If they like the change
….ask them this week to name 3
things in the newsletter
….then ask them after the trial to name 3 things they recently
read about the school
The Solution: 2 Step Plan
Technology
Deliver to popular platforms
email, fb, app
Receive on pc, tablet, mobile
ProcessImplement a ‘term communications plan’
Write….. oncelessmore often
1 2
Thank you
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The sponsor-ed GroupW: www.sponsor-ed.com.auE: [email protected]: 1300 755 010