The Wire, which aired on HBO, is hands down my favorite television show of all time. The gritty drama that told the story of the streets of Baltimore felt so real. A textured portrait of an American city in decline, told many stories, and taught us many lessons.
Reexamining the show many years later, I realized it not only taught us lessons on life, but it also taught lessons we can use in School Public Relations and School Marketing.
Here are my thoughts as I use quotes from the shows most interesting characters:
“Where’s it all
go? The money, where’s it go?”
- D’Angelo Barksdale
The higher ups never look at marketing and public relations
as an investment. They always want to
put an expense on our work. It is hard for them to realize that what we do makes
the district a better place for our staff, students, parents and the community.
The best way to prove your worth is to show them a return on
their investment. Show how your work is
making an impact on your district. Learn
and be able to prove how your work is making a difference.
“You cannot lose if
you don’t play.”
- Marla Daniels
The way our profession operates is changing all of the time. It can be very scary to try the newest
communication or marketing tool on the market. But
just remember, if you are not trying new things, you might not lose, but you
are certainly not going to win.
You need to examine the trends. Try the new tools. Today’s
“never in a million years” idea, could be you main "Go To" tool tomorrow. Anyone remember when your district blocked
Facebook for your students and employees, including your department? Don't knock it until you try it. That's my motto.
“Them days are gone…”
- Horseface Pakusa
“They use to make
steel there, no?”
- Spiros Vondas
“Don’t matter how
many times you get burnt, you just keep doin’ the same.”
- Bodie
School PR and School Marketing are more than just putting together
a weekly newsletter. We must be pros in
social media, content marketing, web design, branding, graphic design, video,
analytics, publishing, email marketing, and much, much more.
Some people in our profession are fine with doing what they are
comfortable with. That is the quickest
way to get destroyed by the competition.
Expand you tools.
Learn everything. We are the
voice of the district. We are the
storytellers.
“What they need is a
union.”
- Russell
“Just cause they’re
in the street don’t mean the lack for opinion.”
- Haynes
We might be the experts, but we need strong partners in our
quest to tell our district’s story.
It is vital we partner with our parents. It is vital we
partner with our community. In our
district we call them Ambassadors. They
are the trusted voice of the district.
People don’t believe salespeople anymore. They will, however, trust other
customers. It is very important to
establish a community the spreads the good things that are happening in your
district. And that community needs to be the people have children or have an investment in our schools.
“You play in dirt,
you get dirty.”
- McNulty
You have to get dirty.
It is very important to get in the sandbox to know about all
the new toys.
That means we must live in the schools to know what is going
on in modern education. We can’t pretend
to know. We need to tour
classrooms. We need watch our teachers
interact with our students. We need to
see what our parents are saying at the PTA meetings.
There is no way to win if you sit on the sidelines. The best way to tell a story is to know what
your story is about. Visit your schools.
The stories will be there.
- Templeton
If you are not telling your story, someone else is. Parents and potential parents have so much
information at their fingertips. People
can Google pretty much anything they
want to know about these days. That is not
good for the seller.
Before parents even step foot inside your schools, they
already know so much about the building and its employees.
This is why it is very important to tell your district’s
story. You must provide accurate information on your website and social media
so the community knows the real story. Be
the trusted expert before your competitors do.
“They don’t teach it
in law school.”
- Pearlman
In conclusion, remember this. Unless you graduated from college today, your
studies probably did not prepare you for today’s marketing and public
relations. You must educate yourself on
the trends and most current tools on the market on a daily basis.
That means you need to read articles and journals, listen to
podcasts on the industry, read leading blogs on marketing and school PR… do
whatever you can to stay current. Always
continue your education, so you are not left in the dust.
