In today’s busy world, everyone is trying to compete for our attention. That includes parents who are juggling their hectic lives and the lives of their children. For schools, getting your message across isn’t about communicating more, it’s about communicating smarter. That means choosing the words you use, and deciding how you deliver them.
With a comprehensive and flexible communication tool like School Stream, you can reach your audience effectively and efficiently.
Things to consider:
- How much information do you need to get across?
- Is your message time-sensitive, or can parents read it at their leisure?
- Who needs to see your message?
- Do you require action or a reply?
- Does your audience need to reach you?
How much is too much?
In a time-poor world, sometimes the best way to get your message across is by providing just the facts. Newspapers have used the ‘inverted pyramid’ principle for decades and it holds true today. State the most important information first, and then provide supporting details. In electronic communication that means using subject lines and headers to grab your audience’s attention with the most important thing you want them to see.
Use concise paragraphs that will engage your audience. Keep your sentences short and to the point, (the perfect line length ranges between 40 and 55 characters per line). Use bullet points and visual cues to help with readability. Provide additional information in the body of your message or link to further details online.
Using a communication tool like School Stream ensures your message isn’t overlooked. Let parents know exactly what they need, and only what they need:
- Use School Stream Notifications to highlight key information and calls to action.
- Use School Stream News to keep your school community up-to-date with what is most important.
- Upload your newsletters to School Stream or provide links to further details that parents can read at their leisure.
When it comes to reaching your audience, it’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter.
Time-critical messages
It’s no good telling parents that classes will be cancelled tomorrow if they won’t get your message until the following night. Use School Stream’s alerts to ensure your school community receive messages when they need them, wherever they happen to be.
On the other hand, you don’t want to bombard parents with notifications for information that can wait until they have a bit more time. Firstly, this is annoying, and secondly, parents won’t be able to differentiate between what is time-critical and what can wait.
Reach your intended audience
Newsletters and bulletins are great for increasing awareness of your school’s activities by sharing information across a range of areas, but when parents receive too many details, some relevant and others not, your message is more likely to get lost in the crowd.
School Stream’s customised categories can help you target your messages so they reach the people who need to see them. For instance, if your message is about Year 3 camp, using a ‘Year 3’ category helps you reach parents with children in that year.
You can also use School Stream ‘Events’ to let your parents know what is coming up. Events can be synchronised with your Google calendar so users can save the event details including what, where and when, to their online calendar.
When you need a reply
Communication isn’t always one-way and schools can struggle to get replies and information from parents as well. With School Stream, you don’t need to rely on parents recording the details of an event or filling in paper reply slips. With the touch of a button, parents can RSVP, or complete electronic forms, such as absentee notes, directly from their mobile devices.
When parents need to reach you
In addition to Forms and Events, if parents need to contact you, they can call or email from inside the app, where your school’s contact details are just a touch away.
When it comes to reaching your audience, it’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter. With a comprehensive and flexible communication tool like School Stream, you can reach your audience effectively and efficiently, from your mobile device to theirs.
