After scheduling the best times to promote and sell the yearbook, you’ll need to come up with promotional pieces and/or a theme that attracts attention to the upcoming sale dates, times and locations. Many yearbook publishers provide items to help you. Of course, you can always create your own promotional pieces to supplement what you’ve been given. Be creative and come up with clever slogans and messages if you really want to personalize the sales campaign to your school. Naturally, the use of simple statements like “yearbooks on sale!” or “don’t miss the opportunity!” or “last chance!” are always effective and a fast and easy way to draw attention to the yearbook sale.
Other ideas for making the sales campaign fun and effective include:
1. Tap into the principal, teachers, coaches or others heavily involved in planning school events to find out what activities are already planned that you could work around and use as a forum to promote the sale of the year book and possibly even start taking advance orders. (i.e. are there some Open Houses, pep rallies, sports events, activity nights or other events that draw kids and their parents to the school and are a natural venue for promoting and selling a school yearbook?)
2. Identify the heavy traffic areas in your school where posters and banners could be hung to capture student’s attention about the yearbook. The school cafeteria, library, entrances (and even restrooms!) are used by everyone…don’t miss the chance to catch their
eye as they’re going about their day.
3. Don’t forget about school announcements, student and parent news letters and web sites! Work with your school administration and newsletter staff to determine how to take advantage of these opportunities to get the word out about when and where to buy a yearbook.
Gather Input and Buy-In from Students and Staff
There’s no better way to entice students and staff to buy a yearbook than making sure they’re included in the content and the development process. After all, making sure that the yearbook is representative of the people, events and happenings at your school is the whole value of the yearbook.
1. Develop polls and buyer surveys through English classes at all grade levels. Have these surveys ask for ways the yearbook can be improved and help you better understand their perception of value versus cost. You will be surprised how many people appreciate your effort and how much stronger your yearbook program and sales will be as a result.
2. Conduct a cover design contest and use the winner’s design for the cover or the title page if your school has already chosen a cover style. Miniaturize some of the finalists’ designs and use them as custom clip art throughout your book. This way, more students will receive recognition.
3. Include quotes from student interviews about selected topics. Include as many student
quotes as possible.
Stay tuned for more ideas.
The importance of marketing and selling yearbooks is often overlooked and yet it is just as significant as creating the book itself—if not more so. If you hit your sales goal, you can pay for your yearbook. If you surpass your sales goal, you can use the additional revenue to add more pages to your yearbook or add features like a supplement, current events and/or autograph pages. On the flip side, if you miss your sales goal, you will owe money or have to cut part of your program. Whatever the case, marketing and selling your yearbook is critical and this guide is intended to help you simplify the process and succeed!
As with any project, proper planning and organization will go a long way in helping you accomplish your goals. In this case, the first step is to assess your school’s past yearbook sales success and build on it. This means taking some time to ask and record answers to the following questions:
1. What worked well in last year’s sales process? Why?
2. What didn’t work so well in last year’s sales process and why?
3. If you are new to your school, ask the school secretary and the teachers how well the marketing and sales process worked. Great questions to ask could be: What did you like the most about the process? What one thing would you improve about the process?
4. Review all materials that are available from your publisher pertaining to marketing and selling your yearbook. Do you have everything you need? Posters, flyers, money collection envelopes, etc.? What else do you need in order to be prepared for your campaign?
5. If your school has a tradition of keeping the yearbook a secret, consider changing that tradition. The yearbook is one of a few items where a person is asked to pay in advance with the promise of receiving a high-quality product later—simple things like including the student body in the design of the book or taking peeks into the yearbook by sharing cover ideas are ways that can increase awareness and connection to the book which, in turn, drives a student or others to purchase one.
Learning from last year’s experience is an important first step in building a successful sales and marketing plan for this year’s book.
Now it’s time to brainstorm and plan your sales activities!
If you’re new to the yearbook sales process, it’s helpful to think about it in 4 key stages: (1) scheduling the timing of sales campaigns, (2) creating several sales activities that generate awareness and excitement about the yearbook being on sale, (3) collecting orders and payment and (4) distributing the books when they arrive.
Scheduling the Timing of Your Yearbook Sales Campaigns
During this stage, the goal is to identify ideal sales times that attract attention about the yearbook being on sale. Take some time to enlist students, staff and others interested in the yearbook to brainstorm ideas on what will work best for your school. Use a school calendar to compare your thoughts against school activities to determine the best times to have sales campaigns. Typically, you’ll want to allow a total of 3-4 weeks to conduct a sales campaign by the time you promote, sell and wrap up the campaign activities. Many staffs conduct 3 campaigns a year to ensure everyone knows they have the opportunity to purchase a yearbook. Of course, you’ll want to also have all the
material needed in advance. Here is a game-plan many schools use. Feel free to expand, refine and adjust it based on your needs—it’s just intended to get you started.
3 WEEKS BEFORE yearbook sale date(s) — create and organize the announcements, posters and other materials needed to promote yearbook sales. Make sure you take advantage of any promotional materials provided by your yearbook publisher.
2 WEEKS BEFORE yearbook sale date(s) — hang up posters and begin, “Creating Excitement and Awareness” about the yearbook
1 WEEK BEFORE yearbook sale — continue promoting yearbook sales happening the next week – send letters home and post info on school marquee. Have announcements begin!!!
SALES WEEK – Have fun executing the sales activities you had planned and taking orders!!!
1 WEEK AFTER SALES – Ensure all funds have been collected and accounted for. Enter buyer’s names and payment amounts into a tracking system or spreadsheet software so you know who has purchased the book and can use that list later on when distributing books when they arrive. Also, make a deposit with a bookkeeper or bank (if you haven’t done so already) to ensure that the yearbook funds are secured.
CAMPAIGN # 1 will occur week of: ___/___/___ to ___/___/___
Sales Price of Yearbook will be $_____
ALLOW A MINIMUM OF ONE MONTH TO PASS
CAMPAIGN # 2 will occur week of: ___/___/___ to ___/___/___
Sales Price of Yearbook will be $_____
ALLOW A MINIMUM OF ONE MONTH TO PASS
CAMPAIGN # 3 will occur week of: ___/___/___ to ___/___/___
Sales Price of Yearbook will be $_____
Consider the following tips:
• Gradually increase the cost of the yearbook for each sales campaign.
• Create special packages for buyers that include options like name stamping or an ad space along with the price of a yearbook.
• Consider adding options to all your offerings – this can increase sales!!!
• Develop a system to track and report sales as well as balances due by buyers.
• Consider offering a payment plan for students who cannot afford to pay for a yearbook at one time. Make sure you stress a non-refundable deposit.
• Consider offering families with multiple children at your school a discount for a second or third yearbook.
• Tie in gift certificates/gift cards during the holidays. Offer people the option to “sponsor” or donate funds so a book can be purchased for a student that cannot afford one… perhaps have a drawing for a lucky winner or winners?
• Consider using sales letters in both English and other languages to ensure that everyone knows and understands that a yearbook will be on sale.
• Make sure to offer Parent or Senior Ads during some of the sale campaigns.
• Use your school website as a sales tool by posting prices and deadlines for sales.
To begin your planning process, outline the specifications for your yearbook. This will provide you with an accurate quote of the estimated cost and allow your yearbook publisher to communicate timeframes for any customization or special order requests.
Specifications to consider:
Number of copies: You can increase or decrease your final quantity when you submit your production form with your book. (Note: quantity changes may change the price of your yearbook. To be conservative, plan for 50% of the student body population.)
Number of pages: You must work in increments of 4 pages (final count divisible by 4), unless you are ordering a Smyth boo . Smyth sewn books must be ordered in increments of 16 pages. If graphics/text do not fill all pages or count is pages will be added to the back of the book.
Type of cover. Soft or hard cover; stock (pre-designed) or a custom design; special treatments; etc.
Type of pages: Full color or black and white (full color is your BEST BUY!); paper weight; special uncoated autograph pages; etc.
Delivery Date: When you want your yearbook to arrive at your school (make sure to note holidays and school breaks.
Proofs: If you desire a printed proof, it may increase cost and add delivery time.
Options: Additional customization and personalization options.
As you decide your yearbook specs, reference what has been done in the past. If you can get a copy of last year’s yearbook and the invoice, you can review specs and decide what you liked or would like to change. If it’s your first year, contact your publisher tp walk you through what other schools are doing or to get advice on what might work best for your school.
Hint: Use a copy of last year’s yearbook to determine if the number of pages were adequate in capturing your school year and representing the student population
More information on this topic is coming weekly.
Every school is different.. .some schools have a yearbook class that includes the creation and sale of the yearbook, while others have a group of students that meet outside of class or before and after school. Some even have just one faculty or parent volunteer handling it all. Whatever the case may be, our guide will help you organize your team so you know exactly what (and who) you’ll need to create a great yearbook – even if that team is just you!
ROLES DEFINED
As the yearbook adviser, you have been chosen to be the project manager of the publication. As project manager, your primary responsibilities lie in two areas:
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT (the creation of the yearbook) and
FINANCE MANAGEMENT (the sales and finances of the yearbook).
Production managers usually have to do or assign someone to the following tasks, along with a completion deadline for each item:
- Decide what will go onto each page
- Photograph key school events
- Write headlines, stories, and captions
- Choose a cover design
- Choose page designs
- Choose type/texVfont specifications
- Troubleshoot production issues
- Establish design custom page design
- Review/proofread page designs and stories
- Complete pages in a timely manner (if applicable)
- Complete advertisement pages
- Work with your yearbook representative
- Work with your school photographer
- Work with club sponsors and coaches for photos and more!
Tip:
Don’t overlook possible professional assistance from your portrait photography studio and the technical support team of your yearbook publisher. They can be great resources to share examples of what has worked for other schools.
Develop a small focus group of students that represents everyone on campus. Pass ideas by them if you do not have a student staff to rely on for input. What adults find appealing versus what students find appealing can be different.
Finance managers typically have to do or assign someone to the following tasks, along a completion deadline for each item:
- Balance the yearbook budget
- Develop and implement a plan for yearbook sales
- Develop and implement a plan for advertisement sales (if applicable)
- Develop and implement, if necessary, a plan for fundraising
- Track all sources of income
- Manage and track production and operation expenses
- Promote and sell yearbooks to the school population and parents
- Fundraise if necessary and more!
CHOOSING YOUR TEAM
Creating a yearbook can be a monumental process. An organized team can help you manage deadlines and milestones so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. There are about six basic responsibilities in most staffs, but how you organize your staff to best meet your style of management is up to you.
Depending on how large or small a team you have available for your yearbook staff, there may be one or two people with the same responsibility, or one person responsible for many areas. Below is a breakdown of some of the most common responsibilities:
- Overall Yearbook Production
- Finance, Marketing & Sales
- Design
- Pagination
- Reporting
- Photographing
TRAINING
Most students have not had experience running a business, marketing, selling or creating a product within a specified deadline. Returning yearbook staff members could be used in key leadership positions to assist in the management and training of new members.
To train new students, identify senior-level students or teachers with skill sets that translate into yearbook creation and sales. Set up times where tutorials and teaching sessions can be run for things like desktop publishing, yearbook software, photography, writing, sales and marketing.
Of all the positions in the yearbook staff, the most important one to fill is the
business manager role. Learning sales and marketing, as well as the tracking and
reporting of both advertisement and book sales revenue, will probably require the
most amount of work. If you are going to put a student in charge, ask your fellow
colleagues to recommend a student who might do well in this role or look for a
student who may have taken accounting, business or marketing classes.
Make a check list of all events in previous yearbooks. Are there any added events this year. Any removed?
Are there any special events this year? School anniversary? Time capsule opening? Significant retirements? Visits from dignitaries? Get them in the book.
Get a list from the office of every teacher and make a check list to ensure all teachers pages are complete.
Print each teacher’s class page and have them review each name and image. Is the name spelled correctly? Does the name match the face? Anyone there that shouldn’t be? Anyone missing? Be sure to have the teacher sign his/her page to verify it’s been reviewed. In the business we call it C.Y.A.
Create a checklist of every ad sold. Cross check to be sure all ads are in the book. Missing an ad that was paid for is gut wrenching to a parent of a “graduating” student.
Have more than one person check for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Actually have at least three. Include the English teacher or an administrator. Princiapls hate to see these types of errors in the yearbook. It reflects badly on them.
Try your best to get every student in the book somewhere. The more students in the book the more likely parents are to purchase the book.
Happy yearbooking!
