Want to Inform Your Community? Paper Remains Strong…and is Getting Stronger!
We all know that communication is a key part of running a successful school district. If you don’t tell your story, no one else will, or they might tell their own version of the story. That is why we ask for the community’s communication preferences on every survey we administer for you. So, given how important communication is and how much work it is, we put together a report for you summarizing what we have learned about the past several hundred community surveys we have conducted over the past 14 years.
What About Your Other Communication Efforts?
Email- Busy parents far and away prefer emails from you. But, parents only make up 25-30% of your community. Most districts don’t have emails for the other 70-75% who don’t work for you or have kids in your system.
Phone/Texts- Much like email, parents also rely heavily on this communication strategy, particularly in times of need. So, for weather-related decisions (I miss those days 😊) and urgent school safety announcements, phone calls and texts work great. In each of these cases, parents recognize the number and answer your call at a high rate. If they don’t recognize the number, they likely will ignore your call just like I should have for the 5 credit card offerings I received over the past two weeks.
Website- We look at your websites all the time and they are more beautiful and informative than ever. Parents are drawn to them when they are looking for something. But, what is drawing the 70-75% of your community that don’t work for you or have kids in your system to the website?
Social Media- Despite the mixed feelings we all have about social media, it has its place. But, the algo rhythms in place make your posts very hit and miss and again, there is a pretty high likelihood that the non-parents and non-staff in your community are not following you on social media.
Local Newspaper- It’s no secret, the newspaper business is struggling. Communities with a strong local newspaper have been identified as a critical source of school news, particularly for that hard to reach non-staff/non-parent majority. Unfortunately, many of the districts we serve do not have a local paper or its readership is down.
So, What’s Behind the Paper Surge?
The Power of Your Mailbox- Some of the school boards we report to ask the question, “Who checks their mailbox anymore?” The answer is, “Everyone!” With the rise in e-commerce via Amazon and other online vendors, the mailbox has become a renewed part of our daily routine and is stronger than ever.
Paper Waits for You- Paper communications from your district and surveys from School Perceptions wait patiently on your counter next to your to-do list and the grocery list you are going to take care of on the weekend. E-newsletters and digital communications for the email addresses you do have can get buried in their in-box within hours and forgot about. We are seeing record response rates for our paper community surveys and there is definitely a surge in responses over the weekend when everyone has time to come back to those things they meant to do during the week. Paper communications stay in front of them better than any other option.
65+ Residents Crave Paper-25-30% of your community members are 65 or older. Over the past 14 years our data continues to confirm their preference for paper over technology. When given the choice between taking our surveys with a weblink, QR code, or by hand, approximately 70% choose paper. For parents and younger respondents, that number drops to 30%.
What About the Cost?
No doubt, a community wide newsletter can be costly, but what is the cost of NOT communicating with ALL of your community. Here are some tips:
Limit the Frequency- Make the most of the newsletters you do send out and prioritize the most important things you feel they should know.
Look for Partnerships- Local municipalities face many of the same challenges you do, look for opportunities to partner with your local rec department, town council, or city hall and split the cost.
Data Summary
Here is an easy to review summary table put together by our research team sharing our findings over the past 14 years. Of particular interest are the changes since 2020:
Simple Summary- The bottom line, communication needs to come in many forms to reach your entire community, and it is a lot of work. We hope the information we provided will help you choose the means that are most efficient and effective for you.
Daren Sievers, Project Manager, School Perceptions