Kaitlyn Orred
If you're a teacher or a school principal, you will be well used to the types of special events that make up your school calendar. Sports days, concerts, themed celebrations, and events linked to some of these special occasions will probably be included within the life of your school. But how do you notify your student's parents of the upcoming events?
There are several communication methods you could use, but some are more effective than others.
You could send parents a letter.
This is the traditional approach taken by many schools. You can relay all the information you need on the letter and send them to parents via your local mail service or your student's school bags.
Unfortunately, there are several issues with this method of communication.
If you do send out letters via your local mail service, there will be a cost involved. The price of postage isn't cheap, especially when you are sending out information to potentially thousands of parents. Then there are paper and printing costs to consider as well.
Of course, there are no postage costs involved if you send letters out via your students. You can simply ask them to put the letters in their school bags and deliver them to their parents. In theory, they will then give their parents the letter when they return home. Or the parent will find the letter when they are sorting through their children's bags.
In truth, the reality can be far different. Your students might forget to give their parents the letter, and if parents don't check their bags regularly, they might not find the letter until after the event has passed.
Of course, even if parents do get hold of the letter, they might discard it accidentally or lose it within the other paperwork that is in their homes.
You will understand the problem, we are sure.
You could send an email.
To get in touch with many parents at once, you might assume that sending an email is the correct answer. This is sometimes a cost-effective solution, and your school might use emails already.
However, it's not a full-proof solution.
For one, the email could end up in the spam box instead of the inbox, meaning it might never get read at all.
Secondly, many people get a lot of emails every day, so there is the possibility that your email will get lost among the mass of other emails your student's parents receive. It might even get deleted accidentally when the parent is trying to clear their inbox.
But even if the parent reads the email, there is no guarantee that they will retain the information you have relayed to them. Again, they might delete the email after reading it and then forget about your school's special event. Or they might print out the email and lose it within the mountain of paperwork they already have at home.
What other methods of communication could you use?
Well, you could call your student's parents, but with so many phone calls to make, you will spend a lot of time using this communication method.
You could also use social media, but there is a chance that your message will get overlooked, as with an email. You are also relying on people having social media accounts. While many people will, there will still be those that don't, for whatever reason.
So, what is the best way to notify parents of special events? As you are already visiting our website, the answer is probably obvious to you. Use a mass texting and automated calling service. There are many benefits to doing so, as we will outline below.
Why Use A Text Messaging Service?
There are all kinds of reasons why you should use a text messaging service.
It's easy to send out mass texts.
How many students do you have in your school? You don't need to be a math teacher to know that sending out messages to their parents will be time-consuming, as you will have hundreds of people to get in touch with. Thank goodness for a mass texting service then. You can quickly send out a text to all of your student's parents in a simple and efficient way.
Parents will see the message sooner.
Not every parent will be at home to take a phone call. Not every parent will check their email inbox every day. And not every parent will think to ask their children if there is any communication from school that they should know about.
However, with a text message, parents will receive the information about your event sooner. Why? Well, it's rare to see anybody without their cell phone in their hands these days. It's for this reason that parents will be far more receptive to an incoming text, as they will instantly hear the notification jingle on their phone.
You can be sure that they have seen the message.
Can you be sure that your parents have heard your voicemail? Will you know if they ever read the letter that you sent out to them? If they don't turn up to your school's event, it might be that they have missed your communication. But with a text, you will have the ability to find out if they read it via the delivery system notification.
You can answer inbound questions quickly.
As a busy person, you won't have the time to check your email inbox regularly. You won't always be around to take calls on the school's phone system, either. However, assuming that you always have your cell phone with you, you will be able to respond to any parent queries that are texted to you. This way, parents will get all the information they need if they were unsure about anything in your original message to them.
You can send gentle reminders.
Reminding parents about your school event via letter or phone call can be both time-consuming and expensive. When making contact via social media or email, there is also the chance that your reminders will get lost within the other messages your student's parents receive. But with a mass communication system, you can quickly and easily send out appointment reminders to remind parents about upcoming events. These messages are unlikely to be missed, and you won't have spent a fortune sending them out.
Text Message Etiquette For Schools
Before you use a text messaging service, make sure you have parental consent before you start texting. And remember to be professional with all of your planned messages. You won't risk offending your student's parents if you follow best practices, so to learn more, read our step-by-step guide to text messaging etiquette for schools.
Text-Em All: The Best Text Messaging Service For Schools
If you're looking for the best text messaging service for schools, why not give us a try?
We are the perfect solution for all of your school notification needs, whether you are messaging about an event or getting in touch with parents for any other reason. You can quickly notify parents within minutes, and you can track who has received your messages with the easy-to-use software that we provide.
With our service, you can:
- Personalize and schedule your messages
- Add images (MMS)
- Reach large groups of people quickly
- Save messaging templates
- Inform parents of changes to your event
- Text-enable your landline
- Manage replies and carry on conversations
- Use automated calling features
And much more.
To learn more about our text messaging service, visit our information page on text messaging for schools. We tell you all you need to know about our service, including pricing plans and the other benefits of using our software.
Conclusion
There are many benefits to using a text messaging service, whether you're staying in touch with parents or notifying students and teachers about other matters relating to your school. It's an easy, reliable, and efficient way to communicate with others, and unlike certain other messaging methods, it is cost-effective too!
So, to ensure a successful turnout for your next school event, don't rely on methods of communication that are less than reliable. Those letters could remain in your student's school bags forever, and your emails could be deleted before they have even been read!
When you get in touch with us at Text-Em All, we will make sure that all of your communication needs are met. Your messages will go out at precisely the right time to ensure your student's parents hear about the events happening in your school. Whether it's a concert, sporting event, bake sale, trip, themed day, or something else besides, parents will always stay informed if you use our messaging service.
Get in touch with us today using the contact details on our website to learn more, or sign up for a free trial below.
