Working in the school context: Marketing to Schools
Methods of Communication
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Be strategic with your communications!
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Forward planning, timing and targeting are essential in ensuring your message gets through
to schools and teachers.
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The ArtsEdge ‘Active Schools List’ includes general contacts for all schools in Western
Australia K-12, public and private. Use the list as a starting point to create your own contacts
database. To request public school address labels, see information provided by the
Department of Education here.
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Consider starting small, and targeting select schools or networks of schools rather than the
blanket approach.
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If you have to call teachers, do it before 8.30am or after 3.10pm and try not to call during
lunch. The phone ringing is too disruptive. Ask the teacher via email to advise when is a good
time to call them and let them know what hours during the week you are available.
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Email - Make it concise, clear and specifically directed to the appropriate staff member. Be
aware that principals receive approximately 200 emails per day: If you have to email a
principal make sure the subject line is relevant and specific. Department of Education (DoE)
servers more often than not identify emails as spam and send them directly to the junk mail
folder. Check the format and size of email attachments – anything over 1MB and it probably
won’t make it into the school or teacher’s in box. Put a hyperlink to you or your company’s
website in the body of your email: Including this information will save the teacher/school time
and make it easier for them to view your work.
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The best method of communication is to send a letter with concise information addressed to a
specific person or title. Call the school and ask for the name of the Head of Learning area
(HOLA) or specialist teacher. The HOLA is more likely to have more time to go through your
information than teachers. The HOLA may also be able to ‘table’ your information at their
weekly teacher meetings. Add this information to your contact database. Getting no response
doesn’t necessarily mean the school or teacher is not interested. Follow up with an email
asking to make a phone appointment with the teacher so you can talk through the information
you have sent.
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Contact the Regional Education Offices for the contact details of the Coordinator Regional
Operations (CROs), Coordinator Regional Services (CRSs) and Primary Education and
Challenge (PEAC) Coordinator and send information to them.
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Cells - secondary school principals regularly meet with the principals of their feeder primary
schools (i.e. cells) so this could be a way of getting information out to a number of schools if
you have workshops for students or incursions to offer.