School Leadership
It’s been a tough year. We can all agree on that. So, it’s probably time to look at what we can do to turn things around. We can’t control the world around us, pandemics, weather, or most economic conditions, but we do have some control over our perspective on our world and our lives. Gratitude is just such a control mechanism.
Here are six tips for building strong school public relations. We’re going to help you get out of your comfort zone and look at some school communication risks that can vastly improve your school’s public relations.
It’s not easy to be a risk-taker. After all, “risk” involves the possibility that something unpleasant or unwelcome may happen. But risk also includes the possibility of something wonderful or amazing happening. What kind of school leader are you?
Empower your school's CTO to use their technical expertise to improve student outcomes.
Trust—all across our country—is perceived as wounded and limping. Whether within corporations, government, or our schools, many feel the damage is irreparable. We disagree, and you should as well. You have the ability to rebuild trust in your circle of influence and create optimism that replaces cynicism. Trust rules. It drives your school’s cohesiveness. It drives performance. It even drives student achievement.
Implementing change is like flying solo for the first time. It scares the crap out of you when you look down at the runway, but once you land, you can’t wait to get back up into the sky.
Because our work here at School Webmasters bridges the world of education and the world of business, it is easy for us to see similarities and differences. Here’s what we’ve learned.
As a baby boomer, I am not exactly proud of the fact that my generation is stereotyped as rebellious when it is also associated with self-centeredness.
There are always leaders and lemmings in the world. Of course, you want your school website to be viewed as an asset and representative of your outstanding educational services. But often, unbeknownst to many respected educators, their school websites are lemmings, or worse, they are losers, and the school administrators are not even aware of it. How can you fix this problem?
While schools across the country are shut down for various lengths of time and staff and students work remotely to ensure students continue to learn, administrative staff can focus on improving communications.
Are you a school board member, or do you know someone who is? Learn how the most effective governing board members help the schools they were elected to lead become more successful in meeting their goals.
What is your school customer service costing your school? Does it effect your enrollments, your staff morale, your school brand? You bet it does!
The level of technological connectivity in today’s world is beyond anything we as digital immigrants have ever seen before. What can school leaders do to navigate these uncharted waters?
It’s the kind of news we never want to hear—a tragedy has struck. Unfortunately, in our world today, the news media daily reports the reality of violence, accidents, and death, and our schools are not immune.
What is your school culture like? How would your students describe it? What about your staff? How can you improve it? Here are some ideas!
Nationwide, schools in the United States have a public relations problem. It would seem they could fix these problems with some well managed strategic communications and marketing efforts, right? But, the problem goes deeper than that. It isn’t even entirely a perception problem; some of it is a reality. We must respond to these issues quite differently.
If you’ve been following our blog for any length of time, you know that we believe communication is at the heart of every school’s success. That includes your school reputation, public relations, school marketing, customer service, and crisis management. In each of these areas, without rock solid communication strategies in place, you risk losing control of the situation.
Working in a school can be a tough job. It is also one of the most important roles in American society.
Take note, today’s staff members want to be asked for feedback and to be heard.1 I think we also recognize that in addition to more frequent communication, how we communicate can mean the difference in how effective we are as leaders. This means better listening skills.
Managing your school’s social media can be a challenge. To make your posts engaging and effective is even more so. But, there are some basics you should know and use with school social media strategies. In this blog, you’ll learn five steps to get it right.
If you've accepted the idea that a school blog can be beneficial, take the next step and add the power of storytelling to your blog articles. Here are some tips!
In the era of social distancing, you’ll need new tools, new approaches, and new processes to overcome the challenges schools face in internal communications, stakeholder engagement, and alternative learning delivery. Video conferencing has emerged as a key element of all three.
Can your school improve its school customer service by considering its virtual services? Find out how.
You’re a principal or superintendent with no school in session, charged with continuing to communicate during a quarantine closure. What can you do to make this work? Check out the tips and resources to find out.
Learn why it is important to get in front of a crisis and when unable to do so, how to improve your messaging moving forward.
If you are going to get the attention of potential families, you must do it BEFORE they need you. To accomplish this, you should know what they want, need, and value. Here are three tips on how to create such content and how to deliver it to the right people.
You know the value of a blog for marketing and communications, so now learn how to have a school blog that rocks.
Need some tips to help your parent-teacher organizations help your school and connect with your community? Use your school website to get things rolling!
Parents are stressed, and like the “bad moms” of the movies, even the best moms and dads in your district act like “bad moms” at some point. So what is the most effective way your school can communicate with the majority of parents?
What is your school customer service costing your school? Does it effect your enrollments, your staff morale, your school brand? You bet it does!
Your school website and social media presence are public relations tools that help you build and nurture relationships with audiences that are already connected to you; a blog can do the same.
Where is your school spending the funds allotted to hosting and managing its website? Is it the best option and are you getting what you pay for?
Blogging shouldn’t seem like a new fandangled idea any more, especially as you delve into your position as school marketer. You might be hearing about it in conference sessions, in articles about school social media impact, or from other education blogs.
The question school marketers should be asking themselves is, "to blog or not to blog?"
No other industry would even consider asking their technology department to manage their communications, public relations, or marketing strategies. These two areas of expertise require radically different skillsets. It would be like asking a prima ballerina to conduct brain surgery. Both are experts in their fields, but their fields are vastly different. But public schools do it all the time. So, how did this come about?
I’ve been preaching for years that content is king. I’ve written numerous articles espousing this recommendation. However, I’m kind of old-school and I actually read content—on the Web, in books, in ads, etc.