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Creative Communications
Day School Services Include:
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PR Plans
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Should you have any questions about any of my day school services, please call me at
(516) 569-8070 or send me an email.
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Picture Perfect
No doubt you'll
include several pictures in your year end press releases and
newsletter. Be sure that your pictures are conveying the right message!
I've tossed
hundreds of pictures - because, for one reason or another picture was
out of sync with my client's message image. Recall a terrific shot of
three ecstatic ball players who just won the season's' finals! In his
excitement, this Modern Orthodox foreword guard removed his Kippahwhile doing a victory "air punch!" If you looked closely, you could
detect the missing Kippah in his hand. Did I use the picture?
No way! Remember if you have a slight doubt - trust your instinct!
Instinct of course will
not ensure great pictures. To help you take pictures that will be
noticed, I asked photographer Judah S. Harris
to share his thoughts about day school photography.
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Greetings!
Chag Sameach. As we approach Z'man Matan Torateinu, I salute
you - creative Jewish educators who not only transmit our precious legacy from
generation to generation but also bring it to life!
We live in challenging times. The dialog about the future of
Jewish Day schools can be depressing yet exhilarating. The solutions expressed
on the internet, in the Jewish press, in and out of synagogues, schools, and
boardrooms, are overwhelming.
To be sure, innovative modifications and totally new models
will arise. Some schools will mange to hold or reduce tuition through slashing
expenses (through responsible oversight including partnering with other schools
or institutions for certain goods and services and outsourcing seasonal
projects to consultants. Communities will rise to the challenge recognizing
that Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh La Zeh. In fact, the Northern New Jersey Tuition
Crisis Committee in Bergen County, New Jersey is in the process of establishing
a community wide non-profit fund, which will aim to place some of the
responsibility for tuition on the entire community rather than only on parents.
For more information, click here. In addition to finding innovative ways to cut
costs without cutting quality and find new sources of funding, new models will
arise. These models will include "no-frills" and cultural charter
schools, and perhaps a return to the public school combined with after school
Cheder, Talmud Torah or Hebrew School.
The calls I've been receiving almost daily reflect this new
economic reality. Some schools have asked for me to mentor staff and/or lay
leaders, others want me to take over specific events, and others are opting to
out-source tasks that were previously done in-house. If you are exploring any
new models or making major modifications to your present day-to-day operations,
I welcome your questions concerning effective ways to promote your new
strategies to your stakeholders.
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 | Year End Themes
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I turn now to more mundane,  but timely and important, public
relations advice. Now is the time to plan your end of the year public relations
(I've received way too many "graduation" issues after the start of
the following school year!) From a fundraising point of view, it is very
important to reach your graduates' parents and grandparents while they are
still excited about graduation! Include plenty of smiling cap and gown pictures
to reinforce positive memories. For concrete picture taking tips, read my Q&A
with photographer Judah S. Harris, below.
Use the next few weeks to solicit and obtain articles from
staff and lay leaders. Be sure to give them a clear deadline. If you had an
overall theme of the year, ask that their articles mention that theme.
Consider the following year-end themes:
Shavuot harvest theme: Shavuot and the end of the school
year are times of reaping. It's ok to boast about your school's
accomplishments. In order to avoid "tooting your own Shofar," be sure
to acknowledge those often unsung heroes who tended, nourished, weeded, and
supported the "plants" daily: teachers!
Report Card time: Did you implement new programs or
curricula report card-rating this year? Share your report card!
If you didn't earn all A's - be honest! Let your
constituents know where you "need improvement" and your plans for
improving! (Honest humility builds trust and loyalty!) Of course, this report
card may be a way to plant the seeds for future fundraising campaigns as well.
(We didn't do a well as we would have liked in terms of physical education
because of our poor gym facilities . . . We couldn't enter the Intel
competition because we need to hire a consultant to mentor our students ....)
Be sure to include your back-to-school and other important
September dates.
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| Photography Primer
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Q & A with Judah S. HarrisImage courtesy of
Judah S. Harris
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CPH: We've all heard that press releases have a better
chance of getting published when they are accompanied by photos. What are the
pictures that papers are most likely to publish?
Judah S. Harris: A good photograph tells a story, or at
least part of it. For printed materials, a school can show lots of faces, even
architectural shots, but in the context of newspapers, each picture should
stand on its own. Newspapers look for seasonal material (think Jewish holidays
and celebrations, even back-to-school themes) or stories that are of concern to
the community. A pre-Pesach food pantry, a job fair that attracted neighborhood
residents, a mock mayoral election debate, or a Shavuot "best" cheesecake
competition are events with a good chance at coverage.
CPH: Judah, how can schools ensure that they are not being
penny wise and pound foolish when opting to shoot their own PR pictures? What
should the staff or even student photographer keep in mind?
JSH: Look for the story, the moments that will say something
that a paper will want to share with its audience. Get close, compose properly,
and wait as the scene unfolds, before clicking the shutter. You're physically
at the program, and newspaper readers need to feel that intimacy through your
photographs.
CPH: I recently heard you suggest that photography can be
exercise. What did you mean?
JSH: It's hard work. The photographer needs to shoot a scene
from different angles and heights. If an administrator who stands 6-foot-4
walks into a classroom and photographs the kids, the pictures will be looking
down on them. Younger students are shorter than adults; kids in early-childhood
are really short. The photographer should meet them at their level. Sit in a
chair, sit on the floor; and if you're really adventurous, lie on your stomach.
I do that when photographing young kids who are playing on the floor. I put
myself where I need to be. Photography can be exercise. It's a physical
workout, not to mention a mental one.
CPH: Thanks, these tips will help schools gain positive PR
and contain costs. I'm wondering though, when would you advise schools to hire
a professional photographer?
JSH: Day Schools need to enlist professional talent when there
is an important project in the works. This means a redesign or upgrade of the
school website, a new recruitment brochure, a capital campaign or other
fundraising piece. As a rule, I'd say that if a school is producing a new
brochure that will have a shelf life of two to three years, it should invest in
professional photography. Of course, professional writers and graphic designers
should be consulted as well. Good photography, good writing, good design and
good printing are a must for any school that is serious about recruitment,
fundraising, and good marketing practices. We've all seen a lot of brochures
out there that don't impress. Schools convey pride and good taste when they
create a piece that can impress. A newsletter can be homegrown, more casual -
but still should look nice. But a viewbook or brochure can't be lackluster.
There is too much riding on it and too much being spent to not be articulate
visually and verbally.
CPH: Judah, we've been talking about containing costs. How
else can photography be used as a relatively inexpensive marketing tool?
JSH: I think every single school knows that the best sales
tool is an actual visit to the school. In addition to photography and video, I
produce large photographs of school scenes that are mounted on the walls around
the building. They provide a sense of continuity throughout the physical space
and are great morale boosters. This is a real affordable way to give a school
building a facelift, and the PR/Marketing value is high since a selection of
singular moments of school life greets all guests that visit the school.
CPH: Thanks for sharing your helpful insights.
 A highly regarded photojournalist, both in the Jewish
community and beyond, Judah S. Harris trains school staff members to take great
pictures and offers "visual literacy" programs for students. For more
information about Judah's workshops, wall murals, and other creative services,
contact him at judah@judahsharris.com or on the web,
http://www.judahsharris.com/visit. Please click here to see more of his day
school photos. |
Should you have any questions concerning these Shavuot suggestions, the photography
hints, or any of my day school services, please call me at (516) 569-8070 or send me an email.
Until the next issue, Kol Tuv!
Sincerely,
Candace Plotsker-Herman
Creative Communications
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