Putting Your District In The Spotlight

Putting Your District In The Spotlight! Brad Domitrovich PR Zealot, Speaker, Educator

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The Challenge •  School districts face many challenges. •  The job of an effective school board is even more difﬁcult when faced with issues that divide your community. •  Bonds, boundary changes, school closings, standardized dress codes, curriculum, school ﬁnance, football, cheerleaders, etc.

Importance of Communications •  Gets your message out to parents, community, and employees. •  Allows you to clarify your goals and objectives. •  Provides a vehicle to dispel rumors.

Public Relations Public Relations plays an important role in creating a positive buzz about your school district with every one of your stakeholders.

Who are your stakeholders? •  Students •  Parents •  Taxpayers •  Employees

What makes the news? •  Something controversial. •  Something that is timely. •  Something that involves a lot of people. •  Something that’s important for the public to know. •  Something that is a ﬁrst.

Believe It Or Not! Members of the media: • Are very competitive. • Not always out to get you. • Can get the “truth” from somebody else. • Are human beings.

What does the media do? •  Inﬂuence concern about key issues. •  Increase public awareness. •  Increase public knowledge. •  Help the community form an opinion. •  Make school districts accountable for their actions or decisions.

What do schools want? •  Keep community conﬁdence level high. •  Avoid negative publicity. •  Deliver a positive message. •  Make their district stand out from the rest.

What does the media want? •  An exclusive story. •  An interview with key individuals - not always the schlep. •  Something controversial because it sells! •  To be helpful.

Is it possible to build a relationship with the media? •  The best time to build a relationship is when their is no major story brewing. •  Stay current with names and contacts. •  Be proactive - don’t wait for bad news to begin developing relationships with the media.

Important things to do ... •  Don’t treat the media as if they were the enemy. •  Be cooperative. •  Respond in a timely manner. •  It’s OK to tell them if they misquoted you in the past or misrepresented you.

School district news ... •  Poor test results •  Great test results •  A divided school •  A school board board working together •  Poor ﬁnancial •  Excellent ﬁnancial management management •  Lousy facilities •  Great facilities •  Teacher doing •  Teacher doing something wrong something right

Interviewing Tip #1 •  If you are not the spokesperson for the district, politely tell the reporter you will have someone promptly return their call.

Preparing for an interview ... •  Know the facts. •  Anticipate questions. •  Set the ground rules. •  Rehearse your message. •  Avoid personal opinions.

Responding to the media •  Communicate ﬁrst with your heart. •  Your ﬁrst words create an image. •  How are you perceived? •  Listen with your face. •  It’s all about the kids. •  Keep your message simple.

Guidelines to remember •  Keep the energy up. •  Remember your audience. •  Remember your message. •  Create a sound bite. •  Always restate your message. •  Never say “no comment”.

One last interviewing tip ... There is no such thing as off the record.

Interpersonal Communications •  Chamber of Commerce •  Ministerial Alliances •  Convention/Visitors Bureau •  Campus PTO Meetings •  Advisory Meetings •  Exhibits/Shows

Media and News Releases •  Simple, factual, and innovative. •  Timeliness and connection to major issues/controversies. •  Get your side out ﬁrst. •  Factual, simple when it comes to Board Meeting recaps.

Website Marketing •  Primary marketing tool. •  Evolving website - nothing worse than a static site. •  Train your audience to go there. •  Promote your website always.

Electronic Communications •  Fast, timely, cost effective. •  Build your database through parent sign-ups, on-line forms, etc. •  Some examples:   Electronic Newsletters, Updates, Board Brieﬁngs, Emergency News, etc.

Social Media Social Media is empowering parents, students, and schools.

Schools and Social Media •  Social media is more than just using social networking sites. •  Social networking is about sharing and building communities. •  Currently it is being used as an adjunct to school district marketing.

Parents and Social Media Parents are using social media to: •  See what other parents are saying about their school and its staff. •  Get support and insight into educational and parenting issues. •  Build awareness about an issue or a cause.

Importance of Communications •  Gets your message out to parents, community, and employees. •  Allows you to clarify your goals and objectives. •  Provides a vehicle to dispel rumors.

Public Relations Public Relations plays an important role in creating a positive buzz about your school district with every one of your stakeholders.

Questions?

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Putting Your District In The Spotlight! Brad Domitrovich PR Zealot, Speaker, Educator

Putting Your District In The Spotlight

by Brad Domitrovich on Jun 03, 2010

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