Digital Communication in Public Schools

In our information driven society, with the proliferation of mobile devices, social media, and the Internet, it's still hard to get the right information to the right people. 100 years ago the challenge was simply getting the right information, physically to the right person. With the invention of the telegraph, the only other competition for information delivery was the pony express. Now, it's the opposite problem. It's easy to get your message out, but now your competing with a thousand different delivery methods, in the hopes your audience will not only receive it, but find the time to read it.

Pubic Schools have a monumental task when it comes to communicating with students, faculty, and parents. I think you can ask any administrator it's probably one of the most significant challenges schools face. The days of the bulletin board in the entrance hallway are gone. If you want to reach your audience you need to place the information in an easy to access location, and get it in their face.

Outdoor LED Message Centers and a Communication Strategy 

Developing a communication strategy starts with understanding the basic components of messaging. I have listed four of the basic components of you communication strategy.

• Audience: Who do you need to reach. Parents? Teachers? Students? Community Members?
• Desired Result: What specific actions do you want your audience to take based off your message? Buy more stuff? Support the football team? Support a charity event?
• Message Content: Once we know the desired result we can develop an effective message. Digital message need to be short and to the point. Basically the who, what, when, where and why in a few short words.
• Message Execution: How often do we play the message? How does the sign interact with the audience. Is it at the entrance of the school? Is it by the road? How many messages are we displaying in a certain period? 

Developing the messaging strategy requires input from key organziation stake holders. I recommend getting department heads and key administrators together in a meeting to decide how the sign will be used and who will be responsible for administration. In some high schools we recommend getting student organizations involved in managing school communication using the outdoor digital sign.

Common Mistakes with Digital Messaging

Some of the common mistakes people make when developing their message stragety usually hinges on the message execution portion. Putting too much information on a sign and then playing it too fast or too slow. Understanding how your audiance is going to interact with the Outdoor Digital Sign will determine the amount of time the message should play. If the sign is near the entrance to the building and the audiance has to walk toward the display the audience may have a significant amount of time to view the message. A slow frame rate is recommended. If the sign is near a busy road with traffic passing by at 35 to 45 MPH, then you might only have 5 to 15 seconds of viewable time to read the message.  

Signdealz can help you with your digital sign strategy for your school. Feel free to call us at 800.405.0686