E - Escalate Efficiency (A to Z Tips)

Escalate efficiency

Now is not the time to cut back on your marketing efforts. Saving budget is a false economy. Now is the time to invest. The beauty of online advertising is it can be tested to ensure maximum efficiency. Arrange for your marketing messages to be split tested so when the bulk of your communications go out, they are guaranteed to generate the best response and the most efficient return on investment.

You are doubtless already juggling staff and parent communication, endeavouring to keep team morale buoyant whilst combating parent fee queries and welcoming back those first year groups.

The best way to minimise the impact of the fee queries and parental concerns is to remain positive, create humorous, heartfelt messages daily, be visible and accessible and be all things to all people, whilst ensuring your school remains financially viable and your teaching academically sound. Easy if you say it quickly.

You are probably busier now than you have ever been, yet, here you are reading this blog, which tell us all we need to know about you as a leader. You care, you are still looking for solutions and you remain hopeful. In the words of many teenage posts and Facebook friendly messages – You got this! Which, despite being grammatically incorrect, is actually ‘a thing’.

But time is tight and you still need a solution. Those of your admin team not furloughed are awaiting instruction, your SLT is awaiting inspiration, parents are expecting answers, and time is ticking.

Now is the time to be efficient in your efforts, to allow you to increase your communications and intensify your parent contacts.

Been there, done that.

Now is the time to delve into that bag of “been there, done that” and pull out all those tried and tested solutions that have worked before. Whether it was a previous recession, a less than satisfactory inspection, you have weathered storms before and come out the other side older and wiser and now is the time to draw on that precious experience.

List the things that have proven most successful in the past:

• Previous communications that were well received

• Motivational team talks that rallied the troops

• Marketing activity that generated new leads

• Money saving initiatives that paid their own way

List your previous successes and see what can be adapted to suit your current situation. How would you need to subtly adjust them to suit? Often, there is no need to reinvent the wheel; instead a little adjustment is all that is required.

Do more of it.

When you have settled on your weekly communication plan, enhance it. Add more. Parents will be looking to you, now more than ever during this crisis. Announcing plans, changes or anything that has a bearing on your school will be seen positively and will minimise frequently asked questions, freeing up team time to deal with other issues. Be brave, meet problems head on.

• Be empathetic. Parents will be looking for a connection during these times of uncertainty (refer to our A to Z blog, in particular C for Community). Show you are sensitive, show humility

• Be free with your information. People get unnerved if they feel information is being kept from them or deliberately avoided

• If you are communicating a message, share it on all the relevant media channels, including email, text, social, website and parent platforms. Anything you send to parents should be shared with your teaching and support teams too

• Be inspirational, share inspirational posts by others. Rally parents to donate to a special cause, to donate products, services, or time; and communicate how the school intends to become involved. Supporting a worthy cause helps people to deflect from their own anxieties

• Avoid anything controversial. Identify communications that need to be paused or postponed as a result of the situation. You are at risk of damaging your brand if a message comes across as insensitive

Headspace Academics; fresh thinking. Helping school leaders with solutions for their school’s long-term security.