Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar.
Iceland’s volcano timelapse
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their place and supplies it with the necessary regelialia. It is a paradisematic country, in which roasted parts of sentences fly into your mouth. Even the all-powerful Pointing has no control about the blind texts it is an almost unorthographic life One day however a small line of blind text by the name of Lorem Ipsum decided to leave for the far World of Grammar. The Big Oxmox advised her not to do so, because there were thousands of bad Commas, wild Question Marks and devious Semikoli, but the Little Blind Text didn’t listen.
Collecting Yearbook Orders and Payments
Not surprisingly, the process of collecting orders and payments is all dependent on organization and detailed tracking. Take time to think through all the people and supplies you’ll need to make this process run smoothly. Some items will be obvious, like creating a sign-up list of people to collect orders at different venues and an order form that collects the student’s name, grade, homeroom and address as well as the yearbook quantity and total payment due. Most yearbook publishers provide you with money collection envelopes and sales flyers to greatly simplify this process.
Other items you’ll need may be less apparent. For instance, potential items to have at a yearbook sales table include:
- Table and chair(s)—for order takers to sit and work efficiently.
- Posters or banners—so it’s obvious that yearbooks are being sold.
- Student and staff list—to quickly locate and record who has submitted an order for a yearbook and how much has been paid. This information can be tracked manually or electronically depending on the sophistication of your money collection system.
- Money collection envelopes and/or cash box—to keep orders organized, together and secure.
- Sales receipt pads—to act as proof that a sales transaction has been enacted. If possible, use a sales receipt pad that enables duplicate carbon copies. That way, each party has a record of the purchase—this is especially important for cash purchases should there be a record-keeping discrepancy later on.
- Lots of pens—to record order information quickly and enable purchasers to borrow them if writing a check without a pen at their fingertips.
- Other office supplies—such as a stapler, extra staples, note pads, scissors, etc. since you never know what items will need to be followed-up on and you’d rather be over-prepared than under-prepared when you’re working with a crowd of purchasers.
- Copies of previous yearbooks—for people to peruse along with anything else that will engage curiosity and excitement about the upcoming yearbook!
Enlisting others to help you think through the entire order and payment collection process will really help you build a game plan with confidence. Perhaps you can start by talking with seasoned staffers about what methods worked well (or not-so-well) during last year’s process and build on their experience.
Great tips for the school yearbook club! Learn more about making the process of collecting orders and payments for school yearbook sales easier from the yearbook experts at YearbookLife. Contact us for more information at 888-680-0143.
PART 5: Selling and Promoting the Yearbook
Get Parents and Other Community Members Involved
1. Send postcards to parents letting them know that yearbooks are available to purchase for themselves or their child. Suggest purchasing two books, one for the student and one for parents to keep.
2. Ask local businesses to display yearbooks to promote community awareness.
3. Work with your local community newspaper and/or radio station to write up
announcements that let your community know this is a special time for your school.
Invite a reporter to visit your yearbook class or club and see how the yearbook
project is created.
Keep the Momentum Building!
1. Offer an incentive for early ordering of a yearbook—it could be a discounted price off the yearbook (which is always enticing) or a special gift such as a pen, magnet, button or pencil. A simple message stating “I ordered a yearbook” will let others know that they’re available.
2. Use brief morning announcements to promote yearbook sales, organize groups for
photos or give progress updates.
3. Create a monitoring device to show sales progress (i.e. a chart or graph) or have a countdown using signs or announcements to remind students of the last day to order a yearbook.
4. Send a “Last Chance Memo” to those who haven’t yet purchased a book.
5. Create and publicize a signing party for the last day of school.
Make the distribution of books very important. Gain permission to allow students who have ordered yearbooks to leave classes early. Serve refreshments, make it fun!
The goal is to get everyone excited about the yearbook to a point that they are willing to purchase immediately. Brainstorm with your staff to see what other ideas you can generate.
PART 4: Get the Student Body Involved in Promoting the Yearbook
More tips on marketing and selling yearbooks:
1. Send “See You in the Book” notes to students whose pictures were taken (include page number and coverage subject) as a reminder that this is their book with their picture in it. It will let students know they will be in the yearbook and increase their interest in buying one.
2. Choose a marketing theme that conveys the essence of community and belonging that yearbooks represent. It can be used in all promotional materials and announcements such as “Making Our Mark”, “Together We Are One” or “On Our Way.” Your staff is sure to come up with other unique ideas!
3. Give invitations to students to buy their yearbook. Make them special and individualized.
4. Create and decorate a “Thank You” bulletin board for purchasers to autograph when they turn in their order.
5. Scan and post yearbook photos from previous years and include them on flyers asking the student body to guess who’s elementary or faculty image is pictured. All correct answers will earn a $5.00 coupon off the yearbook.
Promote the Sale of Yearbooks in Every Reasonable Venue
1. Post announcements and images on the school website announcing yearbook sales to the general public. Also consider announcing yearbook sales through a calling service if your school subscribes to this kind of service.
2. Develop a sales brochure and order form you can leave in the front office for campus visitors to review. Many times parents come on campus to visit the nurse’s office, the attendance office, or the front office. These three places are great locations for brochures so parents can learn about your yearbook sales campaign. (You may also want to contact the feeder middle schools and elementary schools to see if you can leave brochures on their campuses as well. Many times classmates may have a younger sibling attending one of those schools and the more exposure to parents, the better.)
3. At freshman orientation, have student body leaders discuss the yearbook and describe its importance to incoming students.
4. Create a skit during an assembly or audio commercial during morning announcements about yearbook sales to get the student body excited about upcoming sales. Pass out forms at the end of the presentation.
5. Enlist the aid of key influential people on campus to help promote the yearbook. Have teachers bring their yearbook the week of sales so they can share their stories. Have coaches and sponsors inform their teams of the value of purchasing a yearbook and demonstrating the ultimate sign of school spirit.