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inspire an individual to take action. This could happen by taking a survey, signing up to volunteer or visiting your website for the first time. Branding is much more than just a logo. Think about being consistent with color scheme, fonts, logos, iconography and even your district voice. Your district’s brand should encompass the attitude, uniformity in the choice of words used and core values of your organization. It is essentially who you are, and your graphics should reflect this. Using the established colors, fonts and images for your district are just as important as having one voice in your writing. Your visual brand is essential to continue establishing trust with your audiences.

What platform will you use to post your content?

The platform you choose will determine the size of your graphics. Most platforms, whether in print or digital, have specific size requirements. Using the correct sizes and resolution allows your image to be displayed at the highest quality. For graphics that are printed, a 300 DPI (Dots Per Inch) and 4” by 6” image minimum is recommended. For digital graphics, a 72 or 97 DPI is advised. Be sure to test your digital images on computers and mobile devices, including iPads and mobile phones. Responsive design also should be considered for digital images, meaning these images enlarge or shrink when moving from desktop to mobile.

It is important to stay up to date with current

trends of graphics and graphic design. You do not want to be stagnant and recreate the same graphics over and over again. Find an organization or a designer that you like both in school district communications and commercial entities and follow their work online, via social media and more. Keep a sample file on your computer or device and in your office of work that you want to emulate.

MARKETING

By Stephanie De Los Santos, Director of Client Engagement Harris County Department of Education TSPRA VP At-Large Position 2 Establish your goals and objectives. First, it is important to grasp that goals help you achieve your overall purpose and objectives are the actions taken to help you achieve those goals. An example goal may be to increase awareness about a new program offered by your organization. In order to achieve that goal, an objective could be to promote the new program at various events and conferences. Goals and objectives are vital for an effective branding strategy.

Know your target audience. When you know your target audience, you are able to create a more targeted brand strategy. Depending on who you are trying to reach, whether it be parents or legislators, you want to ensure your brand strategy is relevant and caters to your target audience.

Keep your message simple. A key concept to remember when branding your organization is … less is more. Eliminate the unnecessary extras while keeping your message aligned with your goals. Always stick to what works and remember quality outweighs quantity. The effectiveness of your message is not dependent on the quantity of words used, but of the quality of your content. Sometimes it only takes three words to make a lasting impact.

Make sure your branding represents who you are.

It is important to analyze the current reputation of your brand. You can do this by asking yourself: “How does your target audience perceive you?” “What do they think about your brand?” “Do they know you have a brand?” Answers to these questions can be found through polls or surveys. The results will help strengthen your brand.

Be consistent. When you are consistent with your branding, people will not only recognize your brand, but you will build trust with them. It is important that the consistency of all marketing pieces (same logo, color, images and messaging) is implemented across the board in your organization. Have a style guide available as a reference and be sure to stick with the established guidelines.