My Tip of the Week: Managing Email Addresses
What's your plan for gathering a great list of parent email addresses this upcoming school year? I can tell you both from personal experience and from hearing from a ton of groups that effective use of email can make a huge difference for your group. Promoting events, soliciting volunteers, communicating key updates -- all can be more effective (and easier and less expensive) if you have a good email list.
What
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t's your plan for gathering a great list of parent email addresses this upcoming school year? I can tell you both from personal experience and from hearing from a ton of groups that effective use of email can make a huge difference for your group. Promoting events, soliciting volunteers, communicating key updates -- all can be more effective (and easier and less expensive) if you have a good email list.
The trick is that it doesn't happen by accident. You may want to use an opt-in form so that parents can give you those addresses and give you permission to email. You'll most likely need a different system (and a separate OK from parents) than what the school itself uses. You'll also want to talk to your principal now so that she knows and is OK with your plan for communicating via email.
Another step is deciding how you'll be emailing, where those email addresses will be stored, etc. While some groups still use one member's email account, that can be very limiting, and better solutions exist. The best example is our new, free Parent Express Email service that manages all the addresses and helps you send good-looking emails quickly and easily. It's definitely worth a look for the new year.
Simple as it is, I consider email the PTO "killer app" of 2009-10. It's definitely time to get on board.
The trick is that it doesn't happen by accident. You may want to use an opt-in form so that parents can give you those addresses and give you permission to email. You'll most likely need a different system (and a separate OK from parents) than what the school itself uses. You'll also want to talk to your principal now so that she knows and is OK with your plan for communicating via email.
Another step is deciding how you'll be emailing, where those email addresses will be stored, etc. While some groups still use one member's email account, that can be very limiting, and better solutions exist. The best example is our new, free Parent Express Email service that manages all the addresses and helps you send good-looking emails quickly and easily. It's definitely worth a look for the new year.
Simple as it is, I consider email the PTO "killer app" of 2009-10. It's definitely time to get on board.
