You and your team spent months on the layout and design of your yearbook. Now it’s time to sell them! Marketing your yearbook is one of the most important activities for your staff members and a great way for them to learn all aspects of the business.
Here are some great marketing ideas that have been proven to be successful over the years:
Display posters in school with photos from the yearbook! Use bright colors so they are noticeable. Hang your posters in interesting and populated places at school, such as restrooms, locker rooms, the media center, cafeteria and office. Place them out in the community in high traffic places such as grocery stores, retail stores, the mall and fast food hangouts.- Offer a payment plan so students who cannot afford a one time charge can have an opportunity to purchase one.
- If your school sends home a mailer, ask to include a flier for yearbook sales. If necessary, send home flyers in multiple languages.
- Create ads in the school newspaper, or in football or basketball program, and use school radio or TV announcements.
- Place advertising stickers on items in the school snack machine.
- Pass around “Yearbooks on Sale” balloons in between periods and after school.
- Hang “Yearbooks on Sale” banners on the front or main entrance to the school and in the car drop off loop.
- Encourage Pre-sales by offering a discounted price early in the year that increases as the school year moves on.
- Create a sense of urgency to buy a yearbook. Have a one-week sales event. During the event, advertise through posters, T-shirts for yearbook staff members, fliers on car windows or in lockers. You could even use chalk to draw advertisements on the concrete. Be as enthusiastic about the book as you can.
- Organize a giveaway for your sales campaign. For example, you might draw one name of a student who purchased a book in a given week to receive a free iPad two tickets to the school dance.
- Have your students use social media to promote sales. If they have a Facebook, or Twitter account, have them post about the yearbook.
- Place a link on your school website that connects to the online store to purchase yearbooks.
- Have students man a table at PTA Meetings and Parent Nights selling books. Have samples of books from previous years on display. Anytime parents are on campus, you should take advantage of the sales opportunity.
- If your school has a database of parent email addresses, send out reminder emails prior to sales events. You could also use a robo-calling system to send a phone message home.
- Send every student who has not yet purchased a book a reminder. Include reasons why they should purchase a book.
A well developed marketing plan will give all students in your school the opportunity to buy a book and have those special moments to look back on years down the road. For more information, contact YearbookLife today!
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Want more information? Contact YearbookLife today to learn more about 3D yearbooks and how you can get started.
Wouldn’t it be great to have Mickey Mouse with a cap and gown on the cover of your yearbook? What about having Family Guy characters in-between graduates portraits? While these maybe creative and fun ideas, have you stopped and considered whether you have the legal right to include these images in your yearbook? More than likely, you don’t.
Since no one on your committee is likely a copyright lawyer, it is important that every team member be familiar with basic copyright and trademark laws.
According to 1976 Copyright Act, only the creator of a copyrighted work or the owner of a copyright is legally allowed to reproduce, perform, display, distribute of or create variations of a work. Any unauthorized use of that material is considered 
copyright infringement. If you use that image without obtaining permission from the copyright owner, there is the potential for legal action as well as a cease and desist to occur. For more details on copyright law, visit copyright.gov.
So how do you know if an image is copyrighted? For one, a watermark symbol may appear over the image or the copyright © symbol may appear next to the image. If you don’t see any of these, you may want to utilize Google and do a reverse-search on the image. This will allow you to view where the images have been posted, and possibly even tell you who the primary owner is.
Once you identify the owner, you will want to contact them to get written permission to allow you to utilize the photo or image in your yearbook. This can be a challenge as it can take a long time to get a reply from the owner and there is a chance that the owner will want to be compensated for your use of that image.
To avoid delays and any other challenges, you should consider using royalty free, stock photography images from websites such as Deposit Photos, ShutterStock and ThinkStock. Through these sites you can purchase great photos that you can use in your yearbook and not have to worry about any legal implications.
It is always recommended that before you submit your yearbook for printing that the book is reviewed by a high-ranking school official such as a Principal or Superintendent.
Most yearbook staff members know that planning and designing a school yearbook is not always easy. Whether you are getting a late start or have already begun the process of creating and designing your school yearbook, check out the following helpful tips and ideas every yearbook staff should know.
Here are several tips the yearbook staff should keep in mind:
- SELECT A YEARBOOK THEME: Choose and stick to a theme. Themes help create a cohesive look to the book and provide a framework for design.
- TAKE AS MANY PICTURES AS POSSIBLE: Gather photos throughout the school year of events, activities, and daily school life. Get as many as you can so you will have a large selection when layout time comes. The students, teachers, school staff, and parents are great resources for photos. Some yearbook software options (like Pictavo and YBLive) allow multiple users to upload photos online with ease, allowing all the members of the school community to share their photos with the yearbook staff.
- ASK FOR HELP FROM THE ENTIRE SCHOOL COMMUNITY: Enlist help from students, teachers, and even parents. Your staff may include writers, researchers, photographers, and layout artists, so ask around as early as possible. Ask students to submit their own stories, photos, or illustrations to include in the yearbook.
- MARKET THE YEARBOOK WISELY: Advertise the yearbook throughout the school year! Get the word out at school events, on the school website, through social media, through signage and automated calling that this year’s yearbook will be something the students will cherish forever.
- SELL YEARBOOK ADS: If you want to raise additional revenue for your yearbook, sell advertising space to businesses, students, clubs, and families.
- DON’T PROCRASTINATE: Set goals for all of your staff members to finish their assignments. Be sure that assignments are completed early enough in the process to allow time for review and edit.
- EDIT & PROOFREAD THE YEARBOOK: Edit the yearbook carefully. Read through each word, check the photos, and confirm facts. Pages should be edited by someone other than the designer and by as many people as possible. Editing is the crucial last step in assuring a quality product.
If you’re looking for a quality, affordable yearbook printer, and you would like to get a FREE yearbook quote, please contact us at YearbookLife or fill out our Request a FREE Quote form.
While the theme and content make up the most important parts of the class yearbook, a title is still very important. That is because in many instances the book won’t be referred to as the class yearbook but by its title.
So what makes for a good title? Here are some ideas:
One title idea that will always work is an inspirational type of title. Perhaps “Taking The Lead” or “Only The Beginning”. Both of these provide a sense not of ending one chapter but rather starting a new one.
A title based off the theme of the book is also a great idea. If your theme were current events perhaps you would want to go with a title like a newspaper such as the “(name of school) Times”. The yearbook is meant to capture the events that went on during the school year. This makes this type of title very appropriate.
Utilizing your school mascot is also a great direction to go in for your yearbook title. For example, play off the word Roar if your mascot is a tiger or lion. If your school mascot is the wolves you could play off the word Howl.
If the class had a theme song or chant, a yearbook may relate well if its title includes words from that music. Perhaps “This Is How We Do It.” Or “Once Upon A Time.”
If none of these suggestions work you can always look back at past yearbooks from your school and simply repeat it’s name and just update the year and colors.
Your yearbook title will stay with each of its recipients for generations to come. By making it memorable will make the book that much better.
