Plummeting public school enrollment numbers are keeping educators up at night nationwide. That’s why Forthright Senior Advisor Ashley Peterson-DeLuca is sharing strategies for how to build strong relationships with families all year-round.
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If you’ve ever been a Forthright client, you’ve probably heard us say this a million times: “You don’t talk TO the media, you talk THROUGH the media!” While we value journalists for all they do, a simple conversation with an individual reporter rarely accomplishes an organization's end goal. That’s why we’re sharing our favorite rule for successful media relations!
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The good news is, tracking engagement (and building measurable goals) doesn’t have to be hard. That’s why today, we’re sharing our tips for the two key metrics you should always track on social media.
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We share actionable tips and tricks for how to build trust with families and with school staff, talk about the long-term need for meaningful community engagement, and reflect on what the future holds.
As we approach graduation season, I know many of you are planning speeches, from drafting your own to ghostwriting for your district’s leadership. We’re sharing a few tips to help you along the way!
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By making storytelling an integral part of your communications, you can build strong relationships with your community, funders and partners. And, you can highlight stories across any channel—sharing them on social media, incorporating story call outs in your annual report or including them when pitching media contacts. Check out our four research-backed tips (and examples) for effective storytelling.
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Today, we’re challenging this narrative in our work and want to help you do the same, informed by fresh data and new research on school-family engagement. Why? Because we know that the moment district leaders like you reject this myth, something amazing happens. You can begin the hard work of developing compassionate and effective strategies to reach every family.
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a vast and seemingly endless topic. But, with more than half of all web visits coming from unpaid search, SEO—which helps make your website easier to find for people—is an important strategy for every organization. So, in typical Forthright fashion, we’ve done the research so you don’t have to. Here are your “must knows!”
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With millions of students missing from public schools across the U.S. this year, it will take a fresh approach to build trust with families. We’re sharing three questions to ask yourself before you start planning, along with how to build trust that leads to student enrollment.
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Student enrollment is declining across grades, partly because of COVID-19 and increased concerns. That’s why we’re sharing tips to help you—the leaders and communicators in charge of enrollment—create an evidence-based enrollment campaign for the 2021-22 school year that directly addresses parents’ concerns.
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As communicators and leaders, we’re constantly having to put ourselves in other people’s shoes. At the heart of good communication is empathy—anticipating how our audience will receive information, and then customizing our approach based on that. I’m sharing my advice for how to do this here!
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Our hope for the holidays is that you find time to power down your big, beautiful brain long enough to enjoy a nap by the fire and enter 2021 equipped to incorporate self-care into your daily routines.
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As one of our experts in education leadership, Forthright consultant Ashley tackles today's hottest topic: trust. Here, she offers three key steps you can take to ensure your outreach builds trust for your community.
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If you’re struggling to slow down, remember this: your best work is produced when you are focused and calm. So what’s a chronic multitasker to do when faced with a global pandemic? Here are three ways we can all slow down.
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A recent Chronicles of Philanthropy report shared that your supporters and families want to hear from you during this pandemic. We’re sharing one of the best ways to communicate with them—and as always, we’re sharing the data behind our specific recommendations.
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Media monitoring tools scour the internet for you and send you email alerts when the search terms you’re interested in are mentioned in the media. Here are our recommendations for the best (free) tools to use, along with a step-by-step guide for getting started!
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As communicators, it’s our job to simplify our messaging so ALL our audiences understand what we’re sharing and why. That’s why we’re sharing why readability is important, what readability score writers should aim for, how to simplify complex messaging and how to use Microsoft Word to test readability through our blog and free PDF download.
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Our brains are wired to look for things we recognize and find patterns. So when you’re trying to make a complicated concept easy to explain, comparisons are your friend! We’re including tips on how to use them in your messaging here.
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Being invited to the table AFTER all the big decisions have been made can be disheartening AND make our work harder. So how do you ensure that you are looped in early and often? Here are three suggestions to try.
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Most Fridays, my husband and I take half an hour to read to first graders. Not only does the activity keep me grounded in Forthright’s mission and in a school setting each week, but it’s also a great place to be reminded of some communications lessons. Here are three things I’ve learned about communications from spending time reading with first graders.
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