Master Class term 1, 2014 comms strategy

Master Class term 1, 2014
Communications Strategy:
featuring newsletter research
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni1

Master Class: Getting the communications balance
right without driving yourself mad

Communications for the time poor and low tech

I‟m only here because I needed to get some
shopping done in the city

The Punch line

Communications; it‟s that simple
You manage 2 content categories
Your website does 3 things
Engagement happens in 2 ways

The Background

The School Newsletter Research

What prompted the newsletter research?
“I don’t know why we bother. You
get tired of saying to parents - it
was in the newsletter”

Research Methodology

Content Mix

Content Mix: By type
School Newsletter Research June 2013: Denis Masseni
12
COMMUNITY
10%: Extra curricular activities
10%: Community news
10%: Advertising
INTERNAL
15%: Principals message
3%: Compliance
2%: Admin impacts
STUDENTS
25%: Student activities/showcasing
5%: Student acknowledgements
7%: Dates affecting students
PARENTS
2%: Parents supporting learni
2%: Parent education
3%: P&F/C
4%: Dates affecting parents

Today‟s newsletter
COMMUNITY 30%
INTERNAL 20%
STUDENTS 37%
PARENTS 11%

The Statistics
Average number of articles 23
Average number of pages 5
Average number of hours to publish 5
Average hourly rate $40
PA cost weekly cycle $8,000
Fortnightly cycle $4,000

Observations

The format of the school
newsletter hasn’t changed
since photocopiers were
introduced to schools.
The Newsletter

The newsletter format pre-dates the internet, smart
phones and 2 working parents. It also pre-dates a
time when information was scarce.

What schools told us
• No school said its newsletter readership was
high
• Schools that moved from weekly to fortnightly
publishing heard crickets
• No school could articulate its communication
strategy

The newsletter culture is so strong that „it‟ drives
the school instead of the school driving „it‟.

The school newsletter is driven by
space and time,
not by a communications strategy

More observations
• Almost no reference in the school newsletter to the school‟s website
– Calendar synch very low
– Missing opportunities to build resource culture

Managing 2 independent publishing mediums
• Word/Publisher & Website – Print vs Digital
• Resource strapped environment
• Merge and manage one

Most of a school newsletter is a PR exercise
A definition
Public relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish
and maintain mutual understanding between an organisation (or individual)
and its (or their) publics.
Public Relations Institute of Australia

Big assumption was audience is „like-minded‟
“Our parents like ………….”
„Squeaky wheel‟ formed the research base

Conclusion

You manage 2 content categories
Logistics
PR

Newsletter content
Logistics
PR
What do you want people to do?
What do you want people to feel?
20%
80%
Must know
Optional

Culture is to publish articles rather than content
outcomes
What business is Shell in?
Energy
We’re seeking the article outcome. What do you want
people to ‘feel’ about the school?

A Communication Outcome
1: Building community confidence in our teaching staff‟s capabilities.
Even our teachers never stop
learning
Congratulations to Margaret Masseni on completing her
Masters of Education – Student Wellbeing. It was 2
years of study giving up many nights and weekends
following her passion. “It’s been a life long ambition of
mine to study at Melbourne Uni. I’m very fortunate to
have married such a wonderful husband as Denis who’s
intellect has been a beacon of inspiration to me. I aspire
to his greatness.” Said Margaret choking back the tears.
Communication Outcome
Content

1: Building community confidence in our teaching staff‟s capabilities.
Even our teachers never stop learning
Congratulations to Margaret Masseni on recently
completing her Masters of Education – Student
Wellbeing. It was 2 years of study giving up many
nights and weekends following her passion. “It’s
been a life long ambition of mine to study at
Melbourne Uni. I’m very fortunate to have married
such a wonderful husband as Denis who’s intellect
has been a beacon of inspiration to me. I aspire to
his greatness.” Said Margaret choking back the
tears.
Communication Outcome
Content + Frequency + Medium
Communications Strategy

One reason why the newsletter is not being read; the
„must know‟ and „optional‟ mix
nottimelytimely
not important important
How much of a newsletter effects me? Can be down to 4%

wiifm
Dates effecting me
My kids
Classroom
The rest
My InterestContent Mix

Communications Context:
How platforms, devices and publishing
frequency matters.

Context Rule 1: Frequency is context
http://allfacebook.com/socialcode-best-practices-
engagement_b10701934

Frequency is „context‟
2 choices;
to deliver
1,000 words every 2 weeks or
deliver 100 words per day, which
has the best engagement?
35

Imagine if Facebook was a fortnightly newsletter from
your „friends‟. Would you read it? Same content, different
context.

Time of the day is „context‟
Research:
several thousand subscribers
Open rate 40%
Highest open rates occurred on Sundays
emails sent from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. are about three times more likely to
be opened than emails sent at 4 p.m
37

Time of the day is „context‟
• Most brands post during the week
• Best engagement is on weekends
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57411092/the-best-time-to-send-email-so-it-will-get-read/
38
Why not experiment and become the only school that delivers
content to parents when they’re most likely to absorb it
…..on weekends. In fact why not send your newsletter twice?

Often it’s not the content that’s missing the mark but the context

Context Rule 2: Devices and platforms are
context
http://allfacebook.com/socialcode-best-practices-
engagement_b10701940

45
PR/Logistics
Stumble upon
Bite size
Tone/vibe
PR/Logistics
Efficient
Skimmable
Multiple stories
Logistics
Alerts
Ergonomic

Your website does 3 things
1: Community portal; latest news
2: Allows community to self-serve
3: Your virtual front door

Engagement happens in 2 ways
Relevance: hitting the mark; my child‟s involved
(20%<)
Content Merchandising: making content
accessible; you‟ve made me want to read.
device – platform – frequency - content

Communications Eco System
Receiving
Push out
Pull in
Logistics
PR

An uncomfortable map for you to consider
You need a communications outcome plan
Public Relations
• Write on your homepage as you go – about 1 article per day
• Push out the 10 articles fortnightly; experiment with time/day
• Email with notifications also via facebook and app
Logistics
• Write on the homepage and populate calendar as you go
• Push out as early as possible
• Scoop up in fortnightly summary
• Email with notifications also via facebook and app

Future sponsor-ed upgrades

The app: we love push notifications
Allowing web content to be pushed out to a phone app
An article
A calendar event
A webpage
An email
&

Pushing out: a calendar event
Hawthorn West Primary School EVENT: Boroondara Division Swimming Carnival, August 5,
9:30AM – 12:30PM read more
This the way every post appears; exactly the same for facebook,
twitter, and phone.
For email the school’s name and email from are already in the
email. The subject line becomes ‘EVENT’
http://hawthornwestps.vic.edu.au/eventdetails/175/2014-02-27
Date is converted

What an email push looks like
• It‟s the same whether it‟s a push from an Article of Webpage
Article heading or Web
page heading.
In the case of an event,
the subject line becomes
EVENT.

What a phone push looks like
Tagged with the school‟s
name
Goes back to Article url or web page from where it was written
Hawthorn West Primary School: Principal’s Message, our school is a …….. read more
Article or page title

Alerts summary
The last 6 (?) items
pushed-out to the phone
are listed in an Alerts
summary available in a
section.
This is required because
once a push-out has
occurred there‟s no way of
checking what was
pushed if you didn‟t react
to it on receipt.

New Article rule
If nothing is written in the second box, the second
box is auto populated with the content from the first
box

Pushing out in an email
In the email client, we need a facility to push out an alert that the
newsletter‟s now available. Notification to go to phone, facebook, twitter
I think if you add a second text box like in Article and allow the user to write
what they want and have device tick boxes underneath to push to
Push-out text
Insert text here
Phone

Calendar Summary

Calendar Summary
14: Grade 5 Zoo
16: Trivia night
24: Parent teacher night
28: 1 week to go to hols

Master Class term 1, 2014 comms strategy

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