Effective communication is vital for any organisation, and a school is no exception. With a clear and concise communication strategy, you will be able to promote your school to potential students, continue updating current students, and engage staff members. However, if you are new to the world of digital communications or marketing, it might be hard to know where to start.
When you are working on a communication strategy for your school, you need to have an actionable plan in place. If you know your school’s mission, understand everyone in your audience, make the content accessible, and focus on academia, you will be able to craft an effective communication strategy. Below we give some top tips on how to create an effective communication strategy for your school.
Know Your Mission
An effective communication strategy starts with a mission. It should be clear, practical, and achievable, and you should involve all of your staff in clarifying this mission. Starting with the end in mind might be difficult, but it will help you to focus on what is important and will provide clarity to your whole school community. Your teachers can also align their ideas with the school’s, making the experience for your students cohesive across the board. This mission statement should be reflected in all of your communications, from emails to social media.
All About The Academics
Your communication strategy should focus on the task at hand: educating and entertaining your current and potential students. It is important to have a mission that thinks outside of your school but your communications should be consistent. Academic achievements, and other achievements by your scholars, should be the goal and focus of your mission, which will drive the content that you send out. Be sure to include notable achievements by individual students to encourage further engagements.
Understand Your Audiences
Understanding the different audiences you are trying to reach will help you to create an effective communication strategy as well as a content calendar. Your audiences could include potential families with students who want to attend your school, current families with students at your school, and internal staff who might need clarification on issues. Creating specific content for these different audiences will streamline communication and will help to improve engagement with your school.
Decide On The Channels
You need to choose the right channels for your different communications. Sending out emails and newsletters should be done through your school’s email address, not through the personal email of your staff or heads of department. School websites can be used to update users to new happenings at your school, your mobile app can send out push notifications and reminders about important events, and your social media can drive more traffic from potential students. Be sure to choose channels which will reach the right audiences, so there is no confusion over what is meant for which group.
Set Realistic Goals
The goals of your communication strategy should be achievable, such as clarifying the school term dates for new parents or keeping current students updated about upcoming events. You will need to examine the strengths and weaknesses in your current communication strategy, especially in cases where there have been miscommunications between parents and staff or the school itself. Your goals may include improving opportunities to share good news about the school or boosting the responsiveness of your interactions with students and parents.
What Content To Share?
Once you know what channels to use and what goals you want to achieve, you can move onto thinking about what content you would like to share. Some of the content you should share with your audiences include crisis communications in times of possible emergencies, internal communications to staff and current students and parents, social media communications and press releases when needed, and content geared towards engaging parents, such as newsletters and emails.
Put It All Together
A communication strategy can help your school to reach its audience and can improve engagement on your school website. Start by knowing and understanding your mission, concentrating on your audience and deciding on the right channels. You will also need to set realistic goals and choose content carefully.
If you would like help with an improved communication strategy for your school, or if you need a refreshed website to reach your audience, contact Edumedia today for more information on our packages.
