eNewsletter Groups

At this point in time, your school needs to be doing some type of eNewsletter communication. 

Actually, at least TWO types of monthly eNewsletter communication.

The first is intended for current parents and guardians.  If you're still printing papers and putting them into backpacks or large brown envelopes, trusting students to deliver the messages to their parents and guardians, chances are the paper is just sitting on a table or desk somewhere...if it's not still in their backpacks.  Remember that your parent/guardian eNewsletter is different than your Marketing newsletter since parents/guardians are dealing with the day to day realities of the school - events, deadlines, activities, etc. 

There are eNewsletter services - like iContact, Constant Contact, or MyNewsletterBuilder - that will help you create great-looking email messages that help to support your school's brand identity.  Remember that the eNewsletter should just be a short "teaser" of what happening at your school.  Each news item should have a "Read more about this" link that connects to the full story or article which is posted on your school's Web site.

If you're saying, "But our Web site is very difficult to edit, and we don't do a whole lot with it," it's time for that mentality to change, too. 

The other eNewsletter should be geared toward those who are "outside the school."  Parents and guardians to whom you are marketing today for enrollment purposes represent the end of the Generation Xers and the start of the Millennials.  They communicate via email, use the Web for all information research, and are connected through social media like Facebook and LinkedIn.

This eNewsletter needs to go to FIVE groups of constituents - Board members, Alumni, Businesses, Prospective Parents and Friends.  You might even "tweak" the eNewsletter sent to each of these groups to appeal directly to them.

You should also create a sixth group - Unsubscribed - since you need a place to put the contact information of those that request to be removed from your email list.  A constituent should never be deleted from your list unless they are deceased.  At that time, their name should go on a list of past constituents.  It's where your CRM (Customer Relation Management) software comes into play.  Those that are "related" to that person can be approached to memorialize their loved one...which is a function of Development.  Just another example of how all the processes of the DREAM impact one another.

More work?  Certainly!  But it needs to be done to ensure your school is still around to serve families and their children as we advance into the future.

© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2010 (Original Publication Date: 20101101)