TEMPLATES
• Choose from hundreds of single- or two-page spread templates
• Use as-is or as a starting point
• Create and save your own
FLOW PORTRAITS
• All the tools you need with the flexibility you want
FLOW INDEX
• Pictavo automatically identifies names to include
in the index – simply review and edit.
ADVANCED PAGE LAYOUT
• Grid view and rulers view
• Set rulers to inches or picas
• Rotate photos and clip art
• Double-click on an image to zoom, crop and resize.
ADVANCED TEXT FEATURES
• Choose from over 100 fonts
• Use multiple type styles and sizes in one text box
• Tab stops make designing scoreboards and grids easy
PICTURE-PERFECT PHOTOS
• Adjust to black & white or sepia-tone
• Adjust the transparency, brightness and contrast
• Add drop shadows
• Flip photos horizontally or vertically
ART LIBRARY
• Hundreds of choices, professionally designed for schools
• Easily add and use your own custom art.
With YearbookLife’s online software Yearbook advisers have may privileges. Some are as follows:
USER/GROUP PERMISSIONS
• Create Individual Users or Groups and assign specific access privileges.
BOOK SETTINGS
• View and edit Overall Book Settings, such as:
• View and edit Cover Settings, such as:
– Page Count
– Book Quantity
– Dimensions
– Binding Type
– Autograph Pages
– Current Events
– Custom or Stock
– Inside Cover Printing
– Personalized Covers
– Custom Endsheets
DESIGN SETTINGS
• Portrait Settings
– Font Style and Size for portrait names
– Flow Type – Teacher or Grade
– Name Order – First Name, Last Name or Last Name, First Name
• Index Settings
– Number of Columns
– Divider Style
– Font Style and Size
BOOK STATUS
• Get a quick glance of project status
– Overall Page Status
– Cover and Individual Page Status
– Main Book Specs
– Overall Book Due Date with Countdown
IMAGE STATUS
• Track helpful information about your photo usage:
– Candids, Backgrounds and Clip Art
– Used/UnUsed in the book
– Tagged/UnTagged with data
-Portraits
– Complete/Missing Data
– Flowed/UnFlowed onto a page
-Community Images
– Received/Used in the book Admin Dashboard
MESSAGES
• Check chats and sticky notes to stay informed.
TEAM
• Easily monitor individual progress
JANUARY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Report and photograph activities and events as they happen
• Meet deadlines and check materials according to the production schedule
• Double-check the progress of the index and make sure that material is accurate; polish and refine the index concept
FEBRUARY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Report and photograph activities and events as they happen
• Meet deadlines according to your yearbook planning schedule
• Have a deadline party
MARCH – SPRING DELIVERY
• Make sure you are on schedule to meet your submission deadline for the yearbook plant—on time yearbook submission assures your book arriving on the date you requested
• Begin compiling yearbook sales lists, and planning a distribution/signing event
• Photograph Spring activities—include all you can in this year’s book; archive the rest for next year’s book, or consider producing a supplement that you can produce this summer, and distribute to students when they return in the fall. (another great fund-raising idea—sell the supplement to raise extra money)
• Start recruiting new prospects for next year’s staff—It will be great help when you return next year
APRIL – SPRING DELIVERY
• Update advertising billing for current volume
• Finalize yearbook sales lists and distribution/signing plans
• Design student-oriented advertising for prospects
• Prepare a reader survey to get immediate student reaction to the book, and use as a tool for preplanning next year’s book
MAY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Distribute books at celebration/signing event; keep notes on any logistical problems
• Conduct and compile results of reader survey
• Complete a staff self-analysis of the yearbook
• Complete final billing of advertisers
• Finalize portrait photography plans for next year
• Conduct an end-of-the-year award banquet for the staff
JUNE – SPRING DELIVERY
• Brainstorm coverage ideas with your staff for the new year
• Make specification decisions pertaining to copies, pages, etc.
• Attend a summer workshop (or two!) to develop theme and section plans, learn new techniques and polish existing skills
• Report and photograph summer activities unique to your students for next year’s book.
• Finalize yearbook sales lists and distribution plans (FALL DELIVERY ONLY).
• Complete final deadline, including last-minute coverage for spring sports, graduation, index
JULY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Launch advertising campaign and develop advertising section
• Follow up on portrait photography plans to make sure you get what you need
• Keep taking summer pictures
• Develop a set of working specifications to use for guided preplanning
TAKE A BREATH BEFORE STARTING OVER AGAIN…next time, it will be easier!
Survival Tip:
Stay in touch with your yearbook provider. He/she will help you in any way
possible.
The best way to plan for the year is by reviewing what needs to be done globally as an adviser and yearbook staff. On the next few pages, you will find a generalized list of activities involving both production and business aspects of the yearbook. Be aware that there are two delivery periods for a yearbook—either May or September. This schedule focuses on a SPRING delivery yearbook.
August – SPRING DELIVERY
• Launch advertising campaign, complete predesign of ads and develop ad section.
• Finalize specifications, cost for the book, agree on how payment for the yearbook will be made, and make sure you have completed the Yearbook Sign-up Form with your yearbook representative.
• Open Yearbook Kit upon arrival and read instruction book included. Mark the DEADLINE DATE FOR SUBMITTING YOUR YEARBOOK to the yearbook plant on your calendar.
• Meet with portrait photographer to understand photo shoot and retake dates.
• Polish and refine theme and section plans for your yearbook.
• Plan a ladder and coverage ideas.
• Initiate back-to-school reporting and photography.
• Take inventory on all software & hardware for the year.
• Design layouts for each section to help photographers and allow for total coverage.
SEPTEMBER – SPRING DELIVERY
• Finalize staff organization & responsibilities
• Set up & maintain complete sports files, & survey clubs to find out their activities
• Assign coverage for all deadlines
• Finalize the ladder
• Report & photograph activities & events as they happen
• Finalize theme use throughout the book
• Close advertising campaign sales & begin production work on the section
• Follow through on portraits
• Plan book sales campaign
• Complete any billing and layout designs for any advertisers
• Review interviewing techniques
NOTE: If you have received FALL DELIVERY Yearbooks, distribute the books.
OCTOBER – SPRING DELIVERY
• Report & photograph activities and events as they happen
• Meet deadlines according to the production schedule
• Finalize the academics and student life spreads
• Finalize portrait photography with retakes completed this month
• Complete theme including cover, endsheets, opening, closing, & dividers
• Make sure each staffer knows the indexing process
• Plan a book sales campaign
NOVEMBER – SPRING DELIVERY
• Report and photograph activities and events as they happen
• Meet deadlines and check materials according to the production schedule
• Complete fall sports coverage and the people section
• Keep up with winter sports
• Plan a book sales campaign
• Finalize plans for the club section and continue work on the student life section
• Have a deadline & Thanksgiving celebration!
DECEMBER – SPRING DELIVERY
• Report and photograph activities and events as they happen
• Meet deadlines and check materials according to the production schedule
• Focus on the club section, remaining sports spreads and final student life coverage
• Plan a book sales campaign and tie it in with the holidays; collect any outstanding balances due on the yearbook
• Plan a book sales campaign and tie it in with the holidays; yearbooks make great holiday gifts. Contact parents with opportunity to purchase a yearbook as a gift for their student
• Keep up with winter sports
• Have a deadline and Holiday party!
The first element to understand before making any decisions related to ad sizes, guidelines and rates is that you must sell your yearbook page for at least two to three times your cost for the page. While this may sound basic, many staffs fail to follow this advice. You can figure out your average cost per page by taking your total overall quote provided by your publisher (per copy rate x # of copies) and dividing that by the number of pages you have in your yearbook. Although this is not a true representation of your cost, since your figure will not take into account your cover, endsheets, proofs, etc., it will provide you a starting point of what your cost is for an average page in your yearbook. Take that figure and multiply it by three to get your overall selling price for a full-page ad in your yearbook. Then consider some of the methods listed below for generating additional revenue for your yearbook.
1/8 • 1/4 • 1/2 • Full Page Layout
If each 1/8 page box is $25= $200/pg
If each 1/8 page box is $30= $240/pg
If each 1/8 page box is $35= $280/pg
If each 1/8 page box is $40= $320/pg
If each 1/8 page box is $45= $360/pg
If each 1/8 page box is $50= $400/pg
This method of advertising sales is ideal for selling business ads. Most schools like this method since there is a definite breakdown in advertisement sizes to an eighth of a page, a quarter of a page, a half page and a full page. All you need to do is collect a clean business card and 90% of the time you have their artwork ready for submission. Consider setting up two different price scales: one for businesses and one for recognition ads for families. Make the business rate higher than that for families; consider lowering prices 20%–30% for parents and students.
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Offer Three Levels of Sponsorship
Gold – 15 sponsors x $200 = $3000
• free yearbook • special recognition
Silver – 15 sponsors x $150 = $2250
• ½ price yearbook • special recognition
Bronze – 15 sponsors x $100 = $1500
• special recognition
Consider the Patron & Booster Layout method of advertising if you want to raise money without using too many pages in the yearbook. In this method, you sell levels of Sponsorship that include progressively more benefits as a sponsor moves from a Bronze to Silver to a Gold level of sponsorship. Incentive ideas include such things as a free listing of their level of sponsorship in the yearbook, or a school banner in the gym as well as free admission to basketball home games; special discounts to school functions; reduced priced copies of the yearbook, etc. Make sure there is a difference in benefits between the three levels of sponsorship, and that you only have a limited number of sponsorships available for each level, so they are attractive to the purchaser. By using the figures at left, you can raise over $6,000 and use 1–2 pages in your yearbook!
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Advertisement Strips
16–20 strips on a page.
Strip consists of business name, contact information and possibly a business logo.
If each strip is $15 = $240-$300/pg
If each strip is $20 = $320-$400/pg
If each strip is $25 = $400-$500/pg
if each strip is $30 = $480-$600/pg
if each strip is $35 = $560-$700/pg
This method offers another alternative for raising more revenue without using too many pages in the yearbook. Strip advertising is very similar to traditional advertising with one exception: there is no definite size breakdown of spaces like half page or quarter page. Instead, all strips run the same size for one set investment. Since the ad strip is very wide but not too tall, the best info to include is a business name, address, phone number, and a graphic if necessary. This uniform approach works well in most books—some schools even combine these strips with traditional ads.
Survival Tip:
Consider publishing your ad rates at a high price and then offer all buyers a special discount or coupon of savings with an expiration date.
Survival Tip:
Your goal to the public should be to sell as many small ads as possible along with a yearbook. The goal should be increased coverage. Buyers who want a full page ad will tell you, but many students and parents may not have the funds for a full page. If you take a business card size ad and a yearbook and package it together, you may create an attractive package for a parent for under $100.
If you wish to raise additional revenue for your yearbook, you may wish to consider offering advertisement space to businesses and recognition space to clubs and families. It is amazing the amount of revenue you can raise from one page in your yearbook. Many schools offer space to families, club sponsors, businesses, homeroom teachers, students, etc.
Developing an advertising program for your yearbook can be easy if you have a plan. The one key to remember about developing an advertisement program is that you must sell your yearbook page for at least two or three times your cost for the page. I know this may sound basic, but many staffs fail to follow this advice.
The first step in developing an advertising program is to identify your audience. You have seven distinct buyers: Local businesses, school vendors, families, students, club sponsors, teachers, and coaches. How you pursue each audience may be different. Here are some ideas to consider:
Local Businesses: These businesses are local businesses near the school or in the district. These businesses usually include insurance companies, banks or financial institutions, restaurants, real estate agents, mechanic shops, car dealers, and fast food establishments.
School Vendors: These businesses are on the school vendor list and do some sort of business with the school/district. Your purchasing office should have a list of contacts and their addresses.
Families: These buyers want to recognize their children for their accomplishments throughout their school years. Many photos will probably accompany their ad, as well as words of praise.
Students: These buyers want to recognize their friendships on campus. Many photos will probably accompany their ad, as well as words of celebration.
Club Sponsors: These buyers want to recognize their club officers or overall organization. Some photos will probably accompany the ad, as well as words of appreciation.
Teachers: These buyers want to recognize a fellow colleague’s retirement or accomplishments. Some photos will probably accompany the, ad as well as words of congratulations.
Coaches: These buyers want to recognize their teams or team captains for their accomplishments. Some photos will probably accompany the ad, as well as words of encouragement.
As you can see, you have quite a few audiences of buyers. As you develop a plan of communication, make sure to clearly state your offer to each buyer, and include a rate card for the cost of an advertisement and a yearbook. Consider developing a rate card/brochure for all prices, as well as three to five basic layout designs for all ads. This will help your buyers make a better decision. Also consider offering discount coupons with expiration dates to all buyers during your sales campaign. This may be the driving force to help some people purchase ad space. Remember, everyone loves a sale.
Survival Tip:
When you develop an ad program, you need to create a sales kit for all your staffers. This sales kit should include the following:
• Cover Letter
• Rate Card
• Deadline Chart
• Business Cards
• Yearbook Specs
• Last Year’s Book
• Sample Ads of All Types
• Sketch Pad
• Ad Guidelines
• Digital Guidelines
• Sales Brochure
• Agreement Form
Keep all these materials in a folder or soft-sided briefcase for use by staffers and have it refilled daily after use.
YearbookLife offers some yearbook marketing tools that can help you with your yearbook sales. Contact us for more information.
