The Personal Note Multiplied

Last week I had the opportunity to spend two days at Northside Christian Academy in Charlotte, NC. During one of my focus group meetings with the faculty and staff, they mentioned that they intentionally sent out personal, handwritten notes to parents as an intentional effort at the end of the school year. The purpose of these notes were to communicate positive and encouraging things to parents about their child(ren).

The result?

An overflow of positive comments made from parents about the impact of these notes.

I remember back to my days as the Director of Admissions at Cornerstone University. One of the things that stood out about the president was the time he often took to write personal notes to the faculty and staff. Knowing that he would take time out of his busy schedule to write a personal note went a long way to encourage those around him. He also effectively used this strategy to write notes to donors and other key friends of the university.

Personal notes can and still do make a difference.

Today it is easy to crank out an email, text message or some other form of instant message. While these methods are a very important part of our communication strategy, I believe it is important to send personal notes.

Personal, handwritten notes can stand out. And, if everyone at your school is taking this approach, the multiplying impact can be exponential.

Let’s say that you have seven members on your administrative team. What if each administrator wrote five personal notecards every week? This would result in 35 personal notes each week and 1,820 for the year for the team.

Now what would happen if your team wrote five notes five days a week? This would result in 175 personal notes each week and 9,100 for the year.

What if you expanded this initiative to your entire faculty and staff? Let’s say that your school has 100 faculty and staff members writing five personal notes every week. This would result in 500 personal notes each week and 26,000 for the year.

It’s a rather simple and old-fashioned communication’s strategy. Yet, it is one that has profound impact and is not out-of-date.

And, it doesn’t cost that much besides a few minutes, hand cramps, stamps and cards for every person at your school.

Think about the buzz this would create on your campus and in your community.

Think about the positive vibes from your faculty, staff, parents, donors and friends.

Think about a real word-of-mouth marketing strategy that can work at your school.

Now, go and make this part of your school’s marketing strategy for this year.