Finally. A marketing expert tosses us school folks an easy one. – SCN Encourager

It’s about time!

Hallelujah!

Usually whenever I discover rock-solid advice from a leading marketing expert, I find myself challenged to put it into action at school.

It’s usually because –
… I’m too confused,
… I’m too stressed,
… my budget is crunched,
… I’m too tech befuddled, 
… or Sportscenter is about to begin.

But amazingly, someone actually stepped up to pinpoint the best way to get our school PR trains steaming mightily down the track.

Of course, this gem comes from Chris Brogan.

Even Seth Godin’s powerfully straight-forward “marketing 7” from Monday begs the question about where to get started.

Author Simon Sinek in his famous TEDx talk would tell us that we should “start with why.”

Once we know our “why” he contends, we’re on the short path to the “how.”

Brogan says this is okay, but there’s a way better place to start.

And it’s a starting place we school leaders and communicators should be able to belt out of the park.

(Sorry… I just couldn’t hold back from making a spring training reference!)

Anyway, Brogan says leaders and communicators should start with the “who.”

Who do you serve?
Who depends on you?
Who needs you to make a difference today?

See what I mean?

Who could have a better understanding their “who” then us?

School folks should be all over this one.

Brogan had some additional remarks for us, though.

He said we need to understand our “WHO” beyond a basic demographic profiles and surveys.

If we want to be effective communicators, he says, we should know our “who” by their real-world names.

Or at least as many as you can.

We’ll be more effective as a result.

Since I’m on Chris Brogan’s mailing list, I emailed him a photo of me, so he’d have a photo to go along with my name.

Perhaps attaching a face to a name would boost effectiveness even more.

He returned the photo.

He said there’s no point in carrying this effectiveness thing too far.

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