PR Pitches in 33 Seconds – part II

Posted on May 18, 2017 by splashways

Numerical Lists

The following counting lists might capture attention – and increase understanding, appreciation, loyalty and support!

Three Ways We Contained Costs This Year:

We made more frequent but less costly and more effective fundraising appeals through using social media.

We applied for and received funds to upgrade our inefficient HVAC system.

We partnered with another local school and a local senior center to qualify for significant volume discounts on office supplies.

Four is our Magic Number:

4 new innovations in our early childhood reading program.

4 new teachers coming aboard in September.

4 national Merit Scholarship Winners.

4 generations participate in our Yom HaShoah program.

Five Ways We Make Counting the Omer Meaningful:

Kindergarten students plant vegetables while learning about harvesting and the concept of omer.

Middles schoolers count omer over the phone with their nursing-home-resident “sefirah buddies.”

Eighth graders visit the bar kochba caves during their Israel trip

Sophomores explore one of the seven lower kabalistic sefirot each week.

High school seniors learn that “Torah is acquired through 48 ways (Avot, 6:5).” They then prepare for matan Torah by logging into Rabbi Noah Weinberg’s series, the 48 Ways every morning.

Use Numbers to Impress:

800 hours of Hebrew spoken in every middle school classroom

600 hours of STEM instruction in every fourth grade class

500 healthy snacks served every day

24 stimulating lectures and workshops for parents each year

If you are ready to jump to 33 – click here to read a past Lag b’Omer post offering 33 easy to implement marketing and fundraising tips.

Click here to read PR Pitches in 33 Seconds – part I

Should you have any questions about marketing, resource development, or about any of my day school services, please send me an email or call me at 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

Plant, Weed, and Sprout Sensational PR – part I

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

Tu b’Shevat catalyzes blooming PR!

I’m enjoying an exceptionally mild New York winter. I gaze outside and see small bare bushes, a proud sapling we planted a few years ago, a gnarled old tree we were advised to chop down years ago, as well as majestic trees whose vibrant green leaves stubbornly refuses to fall to the ground.

In fact, while researching the latest Tu b’Shevat resources to share with you, I found this tree age calculator. I’m going to find my trusty tape measure and determine the exact ages of my lovely trees. Your students might enjoy this challenge as well.

And while the different ages and relative strength of my trees cause me to think of my multigenerational family, it also makes me think of the obvious connections between trees and the work that you, Jewish educators, do daily. Whether your campus is bursting with blossoms or bare in the cold, it is a good idea to use Tu b’Shevat as a catalyst for blooming PR! Read on to learn of ways that you can use Tu b’Shevat to encourage your constituents to reflect about how you work to nurture seedlings that can grow into strong trees… with many strong branches.

Plant PR Seeds…
No doubt, your Tu b’Shevat plans are in place. Preschool and lower school bulletin boards are dressed in creative “trees” that may be blossoming self portraits, blooming mitzvah notes, or even sprouting pictures of students’ extended families. Hopeful little planters adorn classroom windowsills. Middle school students may be involved in multi-faceted projects that weave Torah and Science together. Perhaps they are participating in innovative cross curriculum projects such as Hazon’s Min Ha’Aretz.

Click here to read Plant, Weed, and Sprout – part II

Smiling faces, interactive cross-curriculum learning, and directly linking Torah with “Green” are all positive Tu b’Shevat pitches. Think about the crop you want to reap before planting your PR seeds! Sow strategically and you will not only gain clips; you’ll also achieve your goals! Should you have any questions about writing more effective press releases or about any of my day school services, please send me an email or call me at 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

Plant, Weed, and Sprout Sensational PR – part II

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

Weed PR Myths…
Possibly, your high schoolers decided to host a Tu b’Shevat seder for the seniors from the local nursing home and/or the public school students down the block.

Perhaps they are raising awareness about, and funds for, The Jewish National Fund’s National Water Task Force.

My point? Tu b’Shevat is celebrated is a variety of ways. Analyze your school’s unique Tu b’Shevat from a public relations perspective. Then strategically sow your PR seeds and weed out any PR myths that may be threatening your harvest.

Your Tu b’Shevat PR should be about more than getting a picture in the paper. It should help attain your short and long term goals.

Dispel Myths! Myths persist and sadly the bad ones blossom. Use your Tu b’Shevat PR to weed them out!

Myth One: The school’s Judaic Studies curriculum is basic, boring, and not rigorous.
Promote your Tu b’Shevat Seder not only as a feel-good” photo-op but also as a concrete celebration of Jewish history and philosophy.

Share how students learned about the development of rituals. An Introduction to the Tu b’Shevat Seder by David Jay Derovan, provides excellent background, tracing the b’Shevat Seder’s historical development to the sixteenth century kabbalists of Tzfat.

Myth Two: Students put money in a tzedaka box every Friday and participate in bike-a-thons, but they don’t connect to them or Eretz Yisrael in a meaningful manner.

If such misperceptions keep you awake at night, your PR efforts should focus on how you teach a connection to the earth. Focus on your innovative, cross-curricular methods of teaching environmental responsibility.

Myth Three: The school provides and excellent Judaic and Secular studies education. Sadly, they don’t seem to be very Zionistic.

Your release should demonstrate that your Tu b’Shevat lessons foster a direct connection to Israel by addressing current environmental issues and challenges in Israel.

Sprout Sensationally…
It’s possible that your goal is simply to appear in the newspaper monthly. Even so, think about your overall calendar.

A simple PR calendar should reflect your school’s varied strengths. Even if you have a loyal base AND a pre-school waiting list, you must present a well-rounded image.

Clearly, a community day school promotes itself differently than a mesivta. Yet, the strategic rules are the same. If your goal is to be in print once a month during the school year, you still need to plan twelve releases and be sure that collectively they reflect ALL your priorities.

So while a mesivta might learn more heavily toward articles that reflect its Limudei Kodesh curriculum and the kesher maintained with alumni while students are studying in Israeli yeshivas and after they return to pursue college education. To reflect varying strengths, a mesivta should be sure to promote its AP scholar and state-of-the-art Science program. Similarly, the Community Day School might promote the way it stresses that stellar analytical skills are not only for acing tests but also for being productive and inclusive members of both klal yisrael and secular society.

More Tu b’Shevat Resources

Canfei Nesharim
Canfei Nesharim’s website includes many articles and Divrei Torah exploring the connections between Tu b’Shevat and the environment. It also features sample lesson plans to educate about the environment from a Torah perspective.

Lookstein Center
The Lookstein Center provides links to a variety of lesson plans, articles and printable Tu b’Shevat Sederim.

Hazon
Hazon is a dynamic organization that works to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community for all. Learn about its innovative educational curricula and resources and download the Tu b’Shevat Haggadah.

Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL)
COEJL seeks to expand the contemporary understanding of such Jewish values as Tikkun Olam, Tzedek, and G’Milut Chasadim to environmental action and advocacy. Its Tu b’Shevat page features creative resources.

Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is not only about tree certificates and little blue Tzedaka boxes (though they certainly are a source for both)! Access the JNF’s Tu b’Shevat Across America page which provides different Tu b’Shevat Haggadot, activities, lesson plans, sermons, and a host of other resources. Tu b’Shevat in the Schools program will provide you with free educational newsletters and posters.

Teva Center
The Teva Center is a non-denominational Jewish Environmental Education Institute. It runs single-day programs as well as residential programs (from two- to four-days in duration) for fourth- through eighth-graders. These intensive programs are designed to sensitize participants to nature’s rhythms and help them develop a more meaningful relationship with both nature and their own Jewish practices. (These programs take place at several sites in the Northeast.)

Click here to read Plant, Weed, and Sprout – part I

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

Chaunkah Unwrapped – part I – The Latke Story

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

As Chanukah approaches, I think about the Chanukah stories – not only those about the nissei ha chag but also about the miracles that occur in your classrooms. And somehow, sizzling latkes and sugary sufganiyot creep into my thoughts (and to-do list)! Last Chanukah, I shared some tips about enhancing your PR efforts through the lessons that can be gleaned from these Chanukah treats. Readers who implemented them thanked me for the “gift.” If you didn’t use all the ideas (or even if you did) – get ready to unwrap these tried and true hints.

Did you know that the Lookstein Center offers wonderful Chanukah resources? Click here to find original Chanukah lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, and articles created by Lookstein Center staff or contributed by Jewish educators.

What does a latke have to do with a story?
Well, you start with something simple – a potato. Add some ingredients; do something special to them – and what do you get? A delicious latke. OK – unleash this image on your parent ambassadors and ask them how their children’s teachers took something simple and turned it into something spectacular.

Are they stuck?

How did a seemingly simple teaching strategy turn a child who was frustrated with Rashi script into a parshanut super-star?

How did a morah’s simple yet magical words take a sulking child – whose mom was in the hospital having a new baby – and transform him into a proud big brother and cooperative second-grader?

Latke Cooking Activites
Here is another thought to share with your parent ambassadors:

Tell them the many ways that your teachers transform a latke cooking activity into a comprehensive cross-curriculum event.

Let’s count eight ways!
A Jewish History lesson.

A Math lesson.

A Science lesson.

A Hebrew language lesson. Read the ingredients in Hebrew rather than in English.

A Music lesson.
Students sing songs about latke making while they grate the potatoes.

A small group collaborative activity.
One group peels, another grates, and the third measures.

A bracha review. What is the bracha for a potato latke?
What if the potato latke is part of a larger meal?

A chesed activity. Students share their latkes with the class next door, the school secretary, the crossing guard, the security guard, and the school nurse.

Click here to read Chanukah Unwrapped – part II

My team and I are here to help you communicate effectively, increase visibility and loyalty, recruit and retain students, and raise needed funds. To discuss your needs, please send me an email or call 516.569.8070. Wishing you a happy and healthy Chanukah!

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

Chanukah Unwrapped – part II – Sufganiyot: The Mystery

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

What’s inside your Sufganiyot?

Sufganiyot are special not only because they are fried but also because of the hidden surprises they contain. Ask your parent ambassadors to recall those special moments, the hidden benefits they have reaped as a result of their letting you be their partners in educating their children. Suggest that they think about the issues they struggled with when they were deciding if they should choose your school – and how these benefits have convinced them that their decision was correct.

Share your own stories as springboards for your parents. But encourage them to think of their own, more personal narratives. These personal stories are the ones that will ring most true and will therefore be most compelling.

Add Sizzle: Once your ambassadors-in-training think of their stories, help them add sizzle and spice.

Encourage them to rehearse, so they will feel comfortable, not robotic.

Talk to them about effective word choice. Active, concrete language will transform mundane stories into compelling, convincing drama (just as spices, eggs, and oil turn bland potatoes into sizzling latkes)!

Click here to read Chanukah Unwrapped – part I

My team and I are here to help you communicate effectively, increase visibility and loyalty, recruit and retain students, and raise needed funds. To discuss your needs, send me an email or call 516.569.8070. Wishing you a happy and healthy Chanukah!

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

Advertising vs. Publicity – part I

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

Advertising is something you get by paying for it. You create an ad, paying meticulous attention to its content and design. You choose your media outlets, and pay. Your ad appears exactly – and as often – as you want.

Publicity, however, is something you try to obtain. You submit a request for coverage or a story after the fact. The assignment editor decides if a reporter should cover the story or if the submitted material should be published. Your perfectly chosen intergenerational picture may end up on the front page, your chesed story may appear as a slightly edited feature, or the launching of your smart board program may become part of a larger feature about incorporating technology into the classroom. Your event may even end up on TV. Or, your request or release may be ignored, edited severely, buried in the back pages, or shelved until it is no longer relevant.

So, why try to get publicity that you can’t control instead of paying for a sure thing: advertising? Doesn’t that seem counter intuitive?

There are two compelling reasons: cost and credibility.

1. Cost: advertising can be very expensive while publicity can be gained at relatively little cost.
2. Credibility: publicity has more credibility than advertising.

Cost: You pay not only for an ad’s creation but also for each and every placement. Sure, you pay someone to write and submit your releases, but one release can be sent to many outlets – merely by clicking send!

Credibility: People who read or hear about you in the news know that you are not controlling the message. Therefore, they perceive the message to be credible.

The bottom line? Effective publicity is vital. It is simply good sense to be sure that your parents and other constituents including potential parents, grandparents, alumni, neighbors, vendors, and present and potential donors are exposed to positive, consistent publicity about your school.

Click here to read Advertising vs. Publicity – part II

Should you have any questions about developing and implementing a winning PR and fundraising plan or about any of my day school services, please feel free to send me an email or call 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

Advertsing vs. Publicity – part II – Earned Media

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

Let’s create a case study:

Perhaps you’ve heard some suspicious whispers from the cynics:

Sure those kids learn Torah. But, I wonder if they’re prepared to enter the “real” world.

I bet they don’t even know much about the presidential election.

Your job is to convince your constituent groups that your students will be tomorrow’s responsible, savvy citizens.

Advertising
Let’s say you decide to develop a low budget ad campaign. At the very least, in addition to your time, you’ll spend the following:

ad creation (two ads): $1,500

ad placement
2x in a small Jewish paper: $1,200
1x in the local Anglo paper: $1,500

Your ad might pose the question: do you vote to produce students who can identify Plato, Palin, and the weekly Parsha? Perhaps it will include a picture of your students engaged in learning about the election – entering a “voting” booth, debating, or campaigning.

Publicity
Take the same $4,200. Put $1,800 in the bank (now, that’s a good vote)! Invest $2,400 and pay to have a publicist written request for coverage, a press release, and a feature story about your election curriculum and activities. Each story would feature a unique focus and be sent with a different picture. In fact, each story could be tweaked slightly and sent to additional media contacts.

Chances are that for less than half the cost of advertising, your school’s commitment to creating solid citizens will be featured in the newspaper, reaching your desired audience many more times than the three guaranteed by your paid ads. You might even be featured on the radio or local news. And remember – due to enhanced credibility, one “earned-media” placement can have an advertising equivalency that far exceeds the value of a small ad.

Click here to read Advertising vs. Publicity – part I

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

33 PR Tips – part I – Policy

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

Policy: What are your primary PR goals?

1. Recruitment?
2. Retention?
3. Credibility?
4. Parent Loyalty?

Who are your competitors?
5. Are they other yeshivot and day schools?
6. Are they public schools?
7. Are they elite private and independent schools?
8. Look at your answers to the above six questions and then ask yourself: does your PR address your challenges consistently?
9. If you need to recruit: does your PR calendar consider admissions, Open House, and enrollment schedules? A huge PR blast highlighting your strengths AFTER enrollment deadlines wastes time, effort, and money.
10. If you lose students at specific grades, for example, middle school, your PR needs to focus on specific skills gained during those grades that will not be mastered by students who opt out.
11. If you compete with independent schools, you need to make the case for Jewish day school education on a regular basis. Highlighting your excellent secular education will not suffice. You must document how your students thrive in the secular world as educated, committed, proud Jews.
12. If you compete with other yeshivot, you need to address concerns that keep potential parents up at night. How does your school address those issues in ways that your competitors do not? How do you differ from your competitors?
13. Are you complacent? Don’t be. A few years ago, I spoke with a principal who said, “Our classes are full, so we don’t need PR. Sadly, the school didn’t care about its image or the way parents were treated… until another day school opened in the neighborhood.”

Click here to read 33 PR Tips – part II

PR that is guided by a carefully articulated plan, will hit the target! If you have any questions about laser-targeted PR please feel free to send me an email or call 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

33 PR Tips – part II – Media

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

Dealing with the Media

The answers to the questions in 33 PR Tips – part I, should help you refine your PR goals. Next, you’ll be able to plan an effective PR calendar. While, of course, you can never guarantee which papers and stations will run your stories, you should decide what messages you want to promote and plan a schedule that promotes those messages strategically.

14. Sound bytes: be sure that you, your staff, faculty, and parent ambassadors can articulate your school’s mission and clearly and concisely.
15. Illustrate your points through stories about individual students and successes. Click here to read my past article, What’s Your Story?
16. Collect facts and statistics and use them creatively. Take a look at the way I used numbers on the back cover of a magazine I created for the Les Turchin Chabad House at Rutgers University. Note how a unique compilation of date yields a page (which could also be a story, a release, or an article in your weekly newsletter during a quiet week) where the sum is definitely greater that the total of its parts.
17. Develop relationships with editors.
18. Prepare phone pitches. Assume that you will have 30 seconds to convince reporters that your story idea will be compelling to readers.
19. Be super prompt about supplying any information, pictures, and additional contacts that reporters request.
20. Put procedures in place that outline office policy for dealing with the media during a crisis situation.
21. Summer is a significantly easier time of year to get publicity. Prepare a calendar of summer pitches now. These should include: looking back, graduation, accomplishments, and looking forward to the coming school year.
22. Don’t neglect nostalgia marketing. Many people who are still hurting from the economic downturn find comfort in looking back to the “good old days.” Share your school history with them. Old photos work wonders!

Click here to read 33 PR Tips – part I

Click here to read 33 PR Tips – part III

PR that is guided by a carefully articulated plan, will hit the target! If you have any questions about laser-targeted PR please feel free to send me an email or call 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman

33 PR Tips – part III – Parents

Posted on May 17, 2017 by splashways

Connecting with Parents

Parents must be your loyal ambassadors. Parents who proclaimed, “the teacher is always right,” raised me. Today’s parents, in contrast, often repeat tales of real and perceived insults that they or their children “suffered” at the hands of teachers and administrators. Prevent bad parent press and ensure great parent allegiance by cultivating parent loyalty.

23. Plan and execute concrete steps for you, your lay leaders, and staff, take to ensure parent loyalty.
24. Welcome each parent when they walk in the door! Security guards as well as volunteers can accompany instructions to “sign here” with warm, welcoming smiles.
25. Once parents enter the office, be sure that your office staff behaves like friends not foes. Sadly, I’ve observed school office personnel bury their heads in their papers as if hoping that the person at the next desk will greet the (clearly unwelcome) visitors.
26. Be sure parents are greeted warmly over the phone.
27. Be sure your voice mail system is user friendly. Call your extension. How many buttons did you have to push before encountering a human?
28. Institute a policy of mandating that all (non-emergency) calls are returned within 24 hours.
29. Think about your written communication. Does it consider what the parents want to know? They want to know about their children’s curriculum, accomplishments, and activities. They want to know that you are their partners in reinforcing critical values and midot. And of course, they want to feel secure that their children are gaining the skills they will need to succeed academically and professionally.
30. Use more than one method to inform parents about upcoming events.
31. Do not flood your parents’ in-boxes with messages that don’t pertain to them. Did you know that one of the top reasons people give for unsubscribing to emails groups is “too frequent emailing?”
32. Be honest: are you an email abuser? Think not? Think again. Click here to read my past article, You’ve Got Mail.
33. Communication guru Frank Luntz asserts, it’s Not What You Say, its What People Hear. Lose the knee jerk “how am I supposed to predict what they hear” reaction. Become familiar with parents’ pre-conceived notions, thoughts, biases, goals, and dreams for their children.

I realize that it’s hard to digest 33 tips. Read them, use them, and bookmark them so you can revisit them often and easily.

Click here to read 33 PR Tips – part I

Click here to read 33 PR Tips – part II

PR that is guided by a carefully articulated plan, will hit the target! If you have any questions about laser-targeted PR please feel free to send me an email or call 516.569.8070.

Kol tuv,

Candace Plotsker-Herman