You can\u2019t fit a square peg into a round hole, but as any toddler with an iron will and an overactive hammering arm will quickly demonstrate, you sure can try. For private sector companies, audiences can be broken down into neatly formulated shapes and sizes. If you want to market to the square pegs, utilize communications strategy A. If you want to market to the round holes, utilize communications strategy B.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for the public sector, most organizations don\u2019t have that luxury. Because the audiences of many government agencies generally include a much larger, more diverse swath of the public, creating a \u201cone-size fits all\u201d communications strategy simply isn\u2019t an option. Think of winter storm warnings, school closing announcements, drug recalls \u2013 these types of messages are designed to reach the largest audience possible quickly and efficiently. And in many cases, not reaching more people can impact the health or safety of citizens. So while making sure its customers know about the latest hot deal on a new pair of tennis shoes might be incredibly important to the marketing department at Nike, it\u2019s pretty safe to say that it\u2019s more important for messages from public sector organizations to reach their audiences.<\/p>\n
So how do you make sure your important government messages reach the broadest audience possible?<\/p>\n
Prince George\u2019s County Public Schools faced the reality of that question first-hand. PGCPS knew that it needed a way to better reach its students\u2019 families quickly and easily, but its current communications system wasn\u2019t up to the task. Because many of the district\u2019s low-income residents don\u2019t have access to the internet, relying solely on email updates for its communications wasn\u2019t an option. Research showed that many of those who didn\u2019t have access to Wifi did have cell phones, but because PGCPS previous SMS communications charged families to receive text messages, significant barriers still existed. PGCPS needed a system that was reliable, powerful, and effective, but still versatile enough to meet the needs of the families of all 204 of the district\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n
To meet those needs, PGCPS launched GovDelivery under one account, with automated communications bringing together the entire district under one umbrella while still allowing individual schools to craft their own messages. The district now sends a general newsletter to stakeholders twice a week and a daily newsletter to employees. For those families that don\u2019t have access to email at home, offering free SMS\/text messaging through GovDelivery has been a crucial component in making sure all of PGCPS families have equal access to important information. District residents can now choose the communications channel that best meet their needs, and PGCPS administrators are better able to serve every member of its community, regardless of income or internet access.<\/p>\n