Students can only have one primary zip code in Merit. However, you can share their achievements with newspapers in additional zip codes using Merit's Parent Postal Code feature. This is especially useful when a student has separated parents.
How it Works
To use this feature, your spreadsheet must include a column with an additional set of postal codes. In this example, we have an additional column of zip codes called Parent Postal Codes in our spreadsheet:
Pro Tip: You can more than one postal code in your parent postal code column. If so, separate these zip codes with commas. Merit will deliver press releases to newspapers interested in each of these zips.
After uploading your spreadsheet into the achievement workflow, you'll want to map the column in Step 2 under the Map Student Data section. Use the drop down boxes to select the appropriate column beside the Parent Postal Codes option:
Please note that you will need to map this column each time you publish an achievement in order to reach media in these secondary zip codes.
After publishing your achievement, these parent postal codes will be saved to your students' Merit accounts for future use.
Using Saved Parent Postal Codes
If your spreadsheet doesn't include a column for parent postal codes, you can still reach students' parent zip codes if they have been previously added to Merit. To do so, you'll want to use the Select Merit Data option:
You will then want to choose the Parent Postal Codes box, and click Add Selected Fields:
Your parent postal codes will then be added to your mappings below.
Pro Tip: If you plan to use the parent postal codes feature regularly, we recommend including the data in your student imports.