Educators are hearing all the time how we need to market our schools and classrooms – telling our story – the great things happening in our classrooms – so that others don’t fill in the void with negative stories. So many educators have jumped on board with this idea of sharing our stories and pointing the spotlight to all the positive things happening in our schools, but how can we do that most effectively? What do the marketing experts say? They say we should be using visuals to SHOW our story as we tell it.

When people hear information, they’ll likely remember only 10% of that information 3 days later. If relevant images are paired with that information, people retain 65% of that information 3 days later.

Content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.

So if we want our parents, students, and community members to see and remember the messages we are sending out about our schools and classrooms, our best marketing move would be to include visual content.

Here are 3 ways you can use apps right on your phone to create visual content quickly and easily that look professional quality!

1. Still Image with Your Logo

You may have used the popular image creation website Canva.com before. What you may NOT know is that there is also a Canva app that you can use right from your phone – and my favorite feature is that you can upload your school’s logo to add to photos or graphics you create! Here are some examples I created using the Canva app recently:

As you can see from my examples, you can add text over an image you took right on your phone or you can use backgrounds available in the app! Adding the school’s logo gives it that extra oomph and makes it look very professional!

Here’s how to add your logo using the Canva app:

• Download the Canva App
• Create your image or insert a picture from your phone
• Click on the plus sign in the bottom corner
• Choose Logo
• Choose the plus sign
• Find your logo from the pictures on your phone
• • If you don’t have your logo on your phone, an easy way to get it there is to email it to yourself and then save it to your camera roll
• • This is a one time set up – now every time you open the Canva app and go to logos your logo will be there for you!
• Add your logo to graphics, pictures from around your school, or any image!

Canva is a FREE app (no need to pay for the upgrades – everything I need can be accessed through the free version) for iPhone and Android devices!

2. Text animation

I know whenever I am scrolling through my social media feeds, I am always drawn in by the images that have moving text. I figure if they pull me in and cause me to take the time to read the text they display, perhaps I can find an app to use to create my own and draw in my parents and community members. I tried out many, but my favorite by far is the Legend app. Here’s a gif I made with Legend and posted on all of our school’s social media sites to remind my parents and community about an upcoming choir concert.

This is a FREE app for Apple devices. I’m so sorry to all you android users, but at this time, Legend is only available to iOS users in the Apple App Store. If you are an android user, I recommend Hype Type to create similar animated text gifs.

3. Video

A great way to share out about the great events in your classroom or on your campus is through video. We can all agree that picture slide shows or short videos giving an overview of an event are so effective – yet educators do not share them very often because they are time-consuming to create. NOT ANYMORE! There are many apps out now that can create a video with transitions, music, and a title slide describing your event in the matter of just a few clicks! My favorite by far is the Quik app by Go Pro. It is completely free and you have the option to disable the slide that says “Made with Quik” at the end (giving it the appearance that perhaps you DID spend hours creating this content). Here’s an example of a video I created using Quik to show our parents what a great time our students had at our Adventure Dash Fun Run:

To create your first video with Quik, here are my top tips:

• Take pictures and short video clips of the event
• Open the the Quik app
• Choose the plus sign at the bottom to start a new movie
• Choose the pictures and videos you want – but be sure to click on them in the order you want them to appear in your video. You may need to start at the bottom and work your way to the top.
• Tap the word “Add” in the top right corner
• Scroll through and click on the different filters until you like the style of the movie
• • How cool is this?!?!
• Click the words you see at the beginning of the video and then the pencil that pops up to edit the words to be a good title for your video
• BOOM! You’ve got a movie!
• Click on the blue Save button in the bottom corner and share it with your school community!

If you want to spend a little more time on your video and have a little more control of the end result, tap on the preview of your movie and click on the pencil that pops up. This allows you to scroll through each image and video within your movie and gives you several editing features for each one. You can determine the exact moment in a movie clip to show (for example, if you need to include that amazing catch), boost or turn down the sound in a video clip, or choose what part of an image to focus in on. You can also choose between different songs, change the speed of how quickly the app goes through your images and clips, and more great editing features. These features will take you a little more time – but you’ll still get a finished video completed much faster than going to your computer and using video editing software.

Quik is available for FREE for both Apple and Android devices!

Start Making Some Great Visuals!

So pick up your phone, oh wait! It’s already in your hand! Great first step! Download Canva, Legend, and Quik to quickly and easily market your school or classroom by sharing the great things happening and keep your community informed about upcoming events!