“We—think—we—can. We—think—we—can.” Attitude can make a seemingly impossible task possible. Want to sell more yearbooks? We know you can!
We’re a lot like the little engine that could – we keep on chugging up the track, knowing we’ll get there but always wondering if we’re doing enough, not doing enough or what we’re missing. We don’t want to find ourselves on June 1, slapping our foreheads, saying we should’ve done this or that.
So we make a conscious effort to pull out the stops. Here’s some of our findings:
1. Desire
It’s not the price of the yearbook that puts students off. They’ll pay over $150 for sneakers and watches because they feel those are valuable and desirable. We have to do the same with the yearbook. We have to make the yearbook something they want. To do that, we get as many students in the book as possible. We have to stick to 160 pages, and with 1,700 students, that can be difficult. We don’t have long feature stories on students nor do we have long paragraphs on our pages which I know goes against many yearbook beliefs. Instead, we have pictures. Lots of them. and lots of color. I know the yearbook policy is no posed pictures, but when we take a picture of girls in their Homecoming mums together in the hall, we’ve created a memory catcher. Years from now, those girls will remember the friends in that photo and that’s a marketing tool we can use right now.
2. Contact mom
We send postcards home: “You’re in the yearbook. Order now!” We write the message in English and Spanish. We make the postcard as bright as possible or we print it on neon paper. If we print it on white paper, it’ll go in the “I’ll get around to that stack” where every piece of paper is white. A neon paper, or one with a bright logo or bright red banner across the top, stands out and isn’t easily overlooked.
3. Shout-Outs
We don’t call senior ads “ads.” We call them “shout-outs.” We found that some of our parents thought ads meant only businesses. So we changed it to shout-out. These have been slow, but they always are. We’re still trying to drum up interest in this area before the book comes out! We advertise on the band, choir and dance team Facebook accounts.
4. Get out there
We go to every choir and band concert and hand out small 3×5 flyers to parents advising them to order a yearbook and a shout-out in the book. They recognize us as the yearbook people. We also have the Smart-Pay address on the backs of our shirts which we wear once a week. I’m still trying to get them in the habit of wearing the YB shirts at games.
5. Yearbook Sales Week
We don’t observe the National Yearbook Week in October. Our parents are still paying off school and getting ready for the holidays. Plus, the staff’s busy getting acquainted with yearbook. Instead, we hold our sales week the first week in February. Christmas is paid off and parents of seniors haven’t realized how expensive graduation is! Every day, we have something planned:
6. Cupcakes
Cupcakes are invaluable when you thank those who helped you – teachers, the registrar, coaches, etc. Plus, I make the staffers write a note to the coaches that helped them with scores, identifying people in pictures, etc. It teaches them gratitude and creates good will.
7. Spring delivery
My yearbook representative was right – your sales will increase with a spring delivery book. Distribution includes free pizza and soda and a DJ. One student told me he’d pay $65 just to get out of his eighth period class. Whatever works!
8. Pay as you go
We are still working on a catchy phrase for this one, but staff members be telling students during our sales week that if you pay five bucks every other week, your yearbook will be paid for by the time they arrive in May. We’ve tried layaway, but they don’t understand the term. So we’re trying this and seeing how it works!
9. Wear blinders
It’s easy to get discouraged when you don’t sell as many yearbooks as another school. There are four high schools in our district and two sell yearbooks and ads by the bus load. It’s easy to get discouraged, but the schools are much wealthier schools than we are. Perhaps that sounds like an excuse, but I’m trying to be realistic. Do the best you can do at your school and then tell yourself next year will be even better!
10. Teamwork
If you want your yearbook team to be the best they can be, then you have to conduct ice breakers and team-building exercises the first three weeks of school (every day!) and at least once a month afterwards. A class that feels like a family won’t let the family down by not doing their share. Since I started a concerted effort to build teamwork, it’s been incredible to watch them pitch in and help classmates at deadline time. They don’t complain – they just help. Every Friday, I put on Pharrell’s “Happy” song and they have to dance out of the classroom. Those passing by are envious of the smiles on the faces of the staffers! Even though some of them act like they feel stupid, they’re all smiling. Great way to help build that teamwork and to make sure yearbook is a class where you learn and are happy.
Excerpt from Elements magazine “How’d You Do That?: Make Marketing Work.”