Speaking and Communicating Podcast

0:00:00 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
It's not just the tactics, it's not just sending the press release, it's not just taking photos and putting them on social media. It's the strategy. It's working with your leadership team, it's providing that counsel and being considered a trusted leader.

0:00:14 - Roberta Ndlela
Welcome back to the Speaking and Communicating podcast. I am your host, Roberta Ndlela. If you are looking to improve your communication skills, both professionally and personally, this is the podcast you should be tuning into. Communication and soft skills are crucial for your career growth and leadership development. Whether you're about to speak in public, make a presentation at work, pitch to investors, or an entrepreneur looking to showcase your brilliance to a wider audience, you'll be glad you joined us and by the end of this episode, please love onto Apple and Spotify. Leave us a rating and a review and what you'd like for us to discuss on this show. Now let's get communicating. My guest today is Molly McGowan Gorsuch, who is a public relations specialist and the director of client engagement at Rhodes Brands, for schools especially, and other educational institutions. Welcome, mali. Hey, thank you so much for having me. Thank you for being here. Please tell us a little bit about yourself, I'd love to.

0:01:28 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
So my background is in public relations and communication, specifically in K-12 public education. I spent almost a decade with Henderson County Public Schools as their public information officer and that's a mid-sized public school district here in Henderson County, north Carolina and then throughout that process I learned a lot.

I was part of a lot of really strong national and state organizations that taught me a lot about the public relations profession and also specifically in K-12, how it is a little bit different than in other industries and then also through that process and through those relationships, I ultimately pursued my accreditation in public relations just got that last year and then also transitioned to a new role and I'm proud a team member at Rhodes Branding, which is a branding land, a strategic marketing and communications firm for districts, schools, independent schools, just basically the entire K-12 sector. It's bringing my knowledge of school comms and PR to there and their clients.

0:02:38 - Roberta Ndlela
That's exciting, and what got you started on public relations?

0:02:44 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
So it's actually an interesting journey and it's kind of similar to a lot of folks in PR. I actually started as a reporter. That was my dream. I wanted to be a newspaper reporter and I went to JEAT school and I did that and I loved reporting and was doing that for about four years a couple of different beats that you're reporting and then also started working on school specifically and I became invested in the local school community because that's what I was covering. And then from there I made a lot of connections and I met the superintendent of the district and a job became available in the communications for that district and I took it. My transition from being on the media side to then over to PR where I'm doing everything from community relations, public relations and crisis communications all that for a district was an interesting transition, but it was really really fun and really got me to realize that is my passion.

0:03:50 - Roberta Ndlela
So PR communications where is that? Yeah, you know, as the general public, when we think of public relations, we think, okay, hollywood scandal, somebody do damage control, or my Hollywood movies about to come out, make me do something that's gonna go viral so people pay attention to me, sort of thing. Why do schools need public relations?

0:04:17 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
PR is pretty hard to define and it is kind of hard to wrap your mind around, especially if you're not in it every day. So first I wanna kind of define that, like across industries, pr competencies and functions are broken down to include everything from internal and external communications to the actual media relations with reporters, setting up press release, setting up press releases, et cetera. And then there's community relations and then publicity and special events like that. Publicity is kind of what you're talking about is getting things viral. And then, of course, there's always the crisis communication and crisis and issues management, which is not always the fun part of the job but a necessary thing, and you need someone to be able to do that. So all of those things encompass what PR does.

So you're right, a lot of people ask why schools? Why do we need that? Well, if you think just about the internal and external communications alone, school districts are some of the largest employers in most counties and in most communities, and so if you have that many people in your workforce and you're also serving, like, thousands of students and families, it's really important to have really strong communications both with your internal and external stakeholders. So guiding, that is huge, and messaging and positioning your district. That's important. Part of that is brand reputation and management is key.

It doesn't matter whether you're a Fortune 500 company or school district. Things are gonna pop up that you're going to need to manage, and having someone in that role who is able to handle the strategy behind it and work alongside with whoever may need to be part of that conversation, like if, like you said, if the scandal it might be with HR, it might be with bus drivers you know, something might be happening with bus drivers and we're having to work with facilities. So the idea of being able to be part of all of that and be part of the trusted council too, to see what's coming down the pike. We call that issues management. There's so many things on the state, local and national level that impact K-12 every single day that needs to be explained and communicated accurately and transparently to parents and families and teachers. But then also other things like media relations and making sure that your message is being delivered the way that you want it to your hospital. But we know how the media is.

Well, and that's why media relations is such an important part of the PR function is because it's not all.

As a former recorder, I have to say not everybody is out to get you. I think that's one of the things that when you get to know the people, and that's what it comes down to relations, right, pr, public relations you are managing relationships and that can be divisive if you let it, with reporters or anyone in the community. But what I've found is that they're out there doing their job and the idea is like, if you know what they're seeking, right, if you know what kind of information they're going to need and what's going to be a good story for them, but also what is going to be what is going to serve your district, what is going to serve your school, like meeting them in the middle and just knowing that they're doing their job and kind of knowing those boundaries, that it helps. So I have to say I still have a lot of reporter friends that I can still run into on the street and say, hey, how are you doing? You know I'm not going to read a day, but it's good to see you.

0:08:01 - Roberta Ndlela
Right, yes, it's the relations part, which is what type of communication should you be cognizant of if you want to strengthen those relations? Pay 12 specific, you mean.

0:08:14 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Or just in general.

Just in general, and then we'll get down to pay 12 specifically, exactly, we broken down into your internal and your external communications with your outside stakeholders or the folks that are working within your organization. Those are key because both constituents, both groups, are going to want different information. Every audience is different but they're deserving of that information. So that was something we were trying to keep in mind at the school district level. You know, knowing how your audiences want to be communicated with and the kinds of information that they are wanting is incredibly important. I'm sorry, that's okay, hi Kitty.

So the note like, for example, you know some communities of school communities, their families are going to want to hear about a crisis a certain way. They'd rather be informed by an immediate text message and a call, whereas their emails they would rather use that form of communication for, say, a non-emergent sort of information like updates, stuff like that, whereas external communications. You know you're going to want to prioritize the things that those audiences are going to want to know If it's the media looking for something like what's going to be timely and relevant to them and then positioning those things differently. So I think a focus on you know, knowing your audiences and knowing those external and internal communications is definitely a big part of what you want to be focusing on in any organization for PR.

0:10:03 - Roberta Ndlela
You certainly need to understand your audience and your customers. Which brings us to the parent part. Especially since the pandemic, the students had to stay home to learn on Zoom. And then you have parents being worried. Are they learning? Are they locked on while I go to work? And how will I know that they did their schoolwork? They attended their classes because I wasn't at work. I don't know what's going on.

0:10:31 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Yeah, that was a very interesting time and a difficult time globally, but in the communications world, everything was heightened because what was interesting there is yes, you're dealing with your normal day to day, but most crisis communications are a short period of time. The crisis happened. You're prepared with a crisis communications plan, ideally, and you have your protocols and then you have your after event and usually that's a short period of time. But what we globally were dealing with was a very extended period of time. So, knowing that we are doing constant crisis communications on top of just the normal day to day internal, external and all the media relations, I think that was a huge adjustment period for everyone in the communication world and everyone in public relations. But because of that, anytime we as a society go through something really difficult like that, I think we can also come out on the other end learning some new things and with new tools. So there was definitely the zoom burn. A lot of people got way, way too tired of zoom recordings, but I think it also showed room for efficiency in a lot of meetings and day to day things that even in communications, you know like having some of those internal communications methods change within an organization. You know like what could have maybe taken a day of organization and getting people together in one space for a meeting. It could now take 15 minutes on the zoom call and then you have the rest of your day.

And also to your point about knowing your audiences and what kind of information is key, like at the beginning of the pandemic, for instance, everyone was hyper aware of. You know what their status was in their county, like you know whether it was red or orange. You know whatever level of concern they should have with the CDC was saying. And in communications, and specifically in K-12, that translated a lot into what are we communicating from the state and federal level. Parents need to know about you know whether they're keeping their kid home. Who's in charge of you know testing? Is it the school district or is it the individual county health agency that may be doing it?

So all of those things were changing rapidly too by you know, sometimes by the day, so kind of navigating that allowed communicators to, I think, see you know what was really important to parents and constituents and what was top of mind and as the pandemic I don't want to say aged out because you know it's kind of still technically here as things progressed, you know, those needs changed. So they didn't necessarily want to see at least in our community. They didn't necessarily need to see the dashboard every day or they weren't as concerned about the numbers. They were more concerned about what we were doing within the school to address. There had been, you know, an established level of trust because they'd been able to see, over a few months at least, of what would be done. Again, that's where the communication played is like if we're sharing information, just say what we're going to do and then we follow through, then that creates trust and that positive trust and engagement ultimately serves you in the long run.

When there are more, either extended crises or a new one comes up, because there's trust from your stakeholders they're going to do what they say they're going to do.

0:14:21 - Roberta Ndlela
Yes, it's the actions that create the trust, because you do what you said you're gonna do. And when it comes to parents, did you have any cases? You don't have to mention specific details, but did you have any cases where parent felt I wasn't let in in the loop or I Wasn't informed Timously about something, or I found out too late because, as you say, everybody was just trying to navigate this period? But Were there any concerns in that regard from parents?

0:14:56 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
I think to had that concern and that was one of the main struggles and main pain points that I Felt. I talked to other folks in in the profession at the time. It weighed heavily on us because we we knew that our responsibility was to Essentially these families. We were sharing this information, so we're we're tasked with getting the timely information out to them at the time that they needed it. But I think the thing that was difficult sometimes was they wanted the information before we were able to Provide it in some cases, like when things were changing so quickly at the CDC level, it's a balancing act.

Right, we have to share the information, but only once it's been vetted and we know it's accurate. Because of course you know there's the tendency to want to say, hey, yes, we've got this information, let's share it. Well, if God forbid that that, that information may there might be something inaccurate and it's gone out and maybe we've shared that to go back and retract it. That reduces our credibility and then causes a whole other firestorm, or then you know we've just done more damage than good. So I think the the difficult part with that was was having to almost keep Parents and families at bay to a certain certain extent, just saying like listen, we know we want to be able to give you more information, but either we don't have it yet, which was the case in a lot of a lot of times because we were waiting for directives as well, or we have it and we're figuring out.

You know, logistically, how this is going to work because you know, as the changes were made Whether it's changes in testing, whether it's mandates you know decisions had to be made at the district level. They were. There were school board Meetings that had to be called a special school board meetings in order to make certain changes to policies and procedures, and so, before we can get that finalized information out, all those things have to be done. So, yes, there were definitely times when parents were saying like I want more information and we're like we hear you, we want to give it to you and you're gonna give it to you as soon as possible. But I think there were definitely frustrating times when, regardless of who you were, you weren't really getting the information, as much information, as quickly as you wanted, and that's part of our culture too. It's like we are used to getting it fast now. So there is, yeah, we instant-qualified.

0:17:22 - Roberta Ndlela
Yes, because I can imagine. I've never been in PR, but I can imagine how tough it is to backtrack Go on an apology tour, because usually when you go in an apology tour especially, we sit there rolling our eyes and going, yeah, back to the the media again and narrative. So, yes, I can imagine that you want to make sure that the story you're about to release, that the information is about as accurate as possible. Now tell us a little bit about roads branding. I'd be happy to oh well.

0:17:57 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
So roads branding is a full service agency for, specifically for K-12. We are actually located in the southeast, but we serve states all throughout the United States. Our work is based in in branding, like knowing that you have a strong brand position and Knowing where you are in a competitive landscape, because K-12 has become increasingly competitive. Knowing where you are then allows you to build on that and create a really, really strong marketing plan. Regardless, if it's for recruitment, you know you're trying to get more teachers, which I think everyone is is working on right now. If it's enrollment, regarding specific programming, we've been doing a lot of work with career and technical education department, specifically because CTE is the future, and and also, you know, just general student enrollment as well, or admissions in private schools. Sometimes that looks like you know you're wanting to build your alumni base and fundraise as well. So all of that plays into you know the need for for marketing and I think Something you and I had talked about a while ago, like why is that necessary? Right, why does a school district or a school need to promote themselves? And it's because education has changed. It's no longer the case where you're going to Whatever school you're districted for, you know whatever. That's how it was when I grew up. But now families have so many more choices and Changes are going on at the state level where, where families have more opportunities and you know vouchers or Just school choice in general, and then the actual physical locations are popping up everywhere, so there is more choice and more opportunity.

So that means competition does mean you have to really Identify yourself and hold your own and in a position and so that's where we come in to help you say, hey, what makes you different? Let's define that. Let's build your brand based on you know everything that defines you from, from messaging and visual identity and your customer experience, because like that is a huge part, like you get in the relational experience and then from there, once you know you have a strong brand, like we can market that. Let's share that with the community. Let's share that with your audiences. So, whether your audience, intended audiences, a teacher You're trying to get more teachers, or if you're trying to improve enrollment numbers, you know we're driven by metrics, we're always data informed and it's helping you find, finding your white space in all of your competition, owning that and then helping you Drive the numbers that matter to your district.

0:20:48 - Roberta Ndlela
I find the stuff recruiting the teacher one interesting Because a lot of people started, you know, the good college to be teachers. Do schools struggle to get teachers currently?

0:21:00 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Absolutely. Yes, that is one of the big. There's a lot of factors that plan to it and, honestly, that could be five podcasts, possibly 10. Some of it during the pandemic, the jobs description things. People have gotten burnt out. We saw a they called it a mass exodus of educators and, honestly, superintendents. We saw that and we have a couple blog posts about that as well.

But most states are sometimes struggling to pay their teachers or funding is an issue, and because funding is impacted by ADM or average daily membership or students in schools, then the number of students in schools is also very important. So that's why student recruitment and staff recruitment are usually the main things that we are tasked to help support in creating marketing and marketing campaigns. The staff issue is is hard. We are involved with and working with a few different districts who are going through their entire process with us of like what like I get into the relationship part like part of your brand is the relational element. So we do this process called journey modeling, where we're taking them through their, their persona or their audience's perspective of before they actually make the decision to apply to this school like. What is their motive? What is their driver? Who are they talking to, what are the questions that they're asking and what are the things that they're needing from you, again knowing your audience?

And then where along that journey are you able to pinpoint? Hey, you know, we don't have a touch point with them, or we can be, you know, be proactive and share something there. Or maybe here's a point along their journey where we're dropping the ball a little bit or messaging is off. Let's fix that, because ultimately, we're sharing and we're hearing and supporting from some of our partners is that it's not so much just getting them in the door, it's the engagement and ongoing retention that is so important, because it's the teacher churn that's going to be the problem. If they, once they get in the door, that's fine, but the ideal is for them to stay, because they're going to really like working with your district and what feel valued as individuals and educators. So it's a lot of things that go into it. But it makes what we do, when we do work with those clients and HR, so valuable and, I think, enlightening for teams too, because they're like, oh, this is what our educators are saying or this is what they're needing, so let's meet them there.

And seeing the light bulbs go off and saying, you know, okay, so now, now, how do we mark that like okay, now the fund marketing strategy comes in and we're going to reach them there. So, yeah, we get excited about about working with HR teams. We're actually going out. I'll be going out to ASPA, the American Association of School Personnel Administrators Conference in two weeks, so I'm excited to make a lot of connections out there and learn some more about the K-12 talent space.

0:24:06 - Roberta Ndlela
And relations for sure.

0:24:07 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Relations yes.

0:24:10 - Roberta Ndlela
Yes. So I'm wondering if I was a school and my funding depended on student enrollment. I know that the law or the rule is you must only enroll students within your zone, right?

0:24:25 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
There are lots of things there. Again to the whole idea about school choice. That's what's changing. That's a lot of the narrative right now. In the US it used to be that you could only take students within your zone, but now the idea of being able to accept students outside of your traditional zone is another element that's making that school choice more competitive.

So that's where the funding questions come in. That's where a lot of I think, yes, competition can be healthy, but sometimes I think it is definitely making for some hurt feelings across different tools and different industries. But that's why it has become a bit of a you know some heartburn in the K-12 community. So that's definitely something that you're going to hear talked about for a while. But knowing that it's not going anywhere is like what's in our circle of control. What can we do? What can I do? As a leader of my school, I can make sure that I am positioning it for success, regardless of whatever the person or the school down the road is doing, and make sure that I am attracting quality talent and students and families, based on what I can control in my own school. So that's where we're trying to really focus our efforts and say, hey, let us help you, because that's what we want to do. We want to amplify that.

0:25:49 - Roberta Ndlela
Yes, because I'm thinking if student enrollment is so key in so many factors, I'll take anybody who's to be in my school. But I mean, I understand the logistics and why the rule existed in the first place. But now, with all this competition, as you said, it's healthy. Yes, it needs you to step up, but there's part of it where you say do I need to be that strict with the geographical boundaries?

0:26:18 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Yes, and it depends on the kind of school too. So schools and independent schools, because they are tuition-based, of course it's whoever wants to pay the tuition can get in generally, whereas public and public charters and other schools have rules and regulations and I will say it changes based on the state. So, yes, I can definitely say and a test from my time, in the last few years it's gotten feathers ruffled and it's gotten people very concerned. But at the same time, I think ultimately and this is what we say to our clients or to people who ask well, why do you serve both public or public charter and independence? Ultimately you as an parent or you as an individual are going to do the best for your child.

0:27:09 - Roberta Ndlela
Yes.

0:27:10 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
We are going to work with communities and school communities that are doing the best for their children. So it's really like rising tides lift all ships.

We want to make sure that K-12 in the US and, ideally, the world, one day maybe we'll have that kind of impact, but ideally that it is sustainable and that it is providing value, because ultimately the whole purpose is to build the next generation and make sure that they're going to be strong leaders. So let's help promote that anyway we can. Where we can do that is helping schools identify, maybe, their challenges but then highlight where they are really strong, show their constituents what they're made of and become really, really strong brand advocates and get more students and more staff.

0:27:58 - Roberta Ndlela
We certainly do need strong leaders for the future. Molly, is there something I haven't asked you yet that you were willing to share today?

0:28:07 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Oh well, yes, I always want to promote accreditation in public relations.

I have to say that, whether you're just starting out or thinking about it and even doing it for a while, going for the accreditation of public relations was a game changer for me, and that's because it taught me a lot, not just about the profession itself.

It taught me some of the things that I had learned incorrectly, kind of learned by doing along the way.

But it taught me and showed me that you know, like we were talking about those competencies before it's not just doing the tactics, it's not just sending the press release, it's not just taking photos and putting them on social media, it's the strategy, it's working with your leadership team, it's providing that counsel and being considered a trusted leader. To say this is my area of expertise, let me help shape the district, or let me help shape the school or the community or whatever organization you're working for, and say you know I can handle the internal need and external, and, yes, I can do the social media, but really let me in on the strategy side, because that is where we can really make impact and make lasting change. So that was something that I truly valued. It was a great professional and personal experience. And I have to say, give a shout out to the National School Public Relations Association, because it was through them that I learned and I got a lot of my contacts and my mentors.

But, ultimately, that was where I went ahead and got pinned. So you can find out information about accreditation and public relations on both the INSPRA website or the Public Relations Society of America PR essay. Lots of information and resources there. And, of course, if you're looking for a mentor or have questions about it, folks can feel free to reach out to me as well.

0:30:17 - Roberta Ndlela
Molly the mentor. I love it. Thank you so much. I will put all those details of those organizations on the show notes when this is released. But yes, we really appreciate that. And then, where can we find you on social media if you want to know more about the work?

0:30:35 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
that you do Well, you can find me. I'm on Twitter, formerly known as Twitter, at Molly M Gorsuch. So M-O-L-L-Y-M-G-O-R-S-U-C-H or LinkedIn, and I can provide you that link as well for the show notes.

0:30:53 - Roberta Ndlela
Yes, I will certainly put those in there. Thank you so much. This has been wonderful. You are so passionate about your work in communications and public relations. It literally came off the screen and I really enjoyed it. Thank you for being here today on our show.

0:31:09 - Molly McGowan Gorsuch
Thank you so much for letting me share and talk a little bit more about K-12 specifically. I've enjoyed it.

0:31:15 - Roberta Ndlela
Yes, we certainly love everything school related. Thank you, molly. Thank you for joining the Speaking and Communicating podcast once again. Speaking and Communicating podcast is part of the Be Podcast Network, where there are many other podcasts that support you in being a better leader and becoming the change you want to see. To learn more about the Be Podcast Network, go to BePodcastNetworkcom. Don't forget to subscribe, leave us a rating and a review on Apple and Spotify, and stay tuned for more episodes to come.