If you’re one of the many school that use yearbook sales as a way to raise money for your student body, you know how important it is to SELL MORE BOOKS. The only way to sell more books than you did last year is to advertise and market this year’s book! Depending on your publishing company, you have around two or three months at the beginning of each school year to sell books…make them count! Create a sales and marketing plan with a new event each week that is out of the ordinary…something that will make people WANT a yearbook!
Some of our favorite marketing tactics:
Creating a PRESENCE as the yearbook staff makes people curious about the yearbook. Design matching t-shirts to be worn on a certain day each week or when “on assignment” for the entire yearbook staff.
Set up a sales table at every school function parents will be at. Parents are the ones writing the check…you should market to them and make sure they know the books are for sale!
Set up a Yearbook Facebook page so people can ask questions and get their answers. Use this as a place to run contests (who WOULDN’T try to win a free yearbook?) and show sneak peeks of what’s going to be in the yearbook!
Offer a payment plan! Many families use “no money for that right now” as a reason for not purchasing a yearbook. What if it could be broken into half down and two payments before delivery?
Create a form to be printed on brightly colored paper that announces to a student, “you’re in the yearbook on page ____ !” to hang on locker doors. When a student knows they’re in the yearbook, they’re much more likely to want one!
Posters in the hallways and cafeteria only go so far. What about hanging posters in the bathroom stalls? Why not put a sign by the clock in each classroom? (yes, students look at the clock…a LOT!) Make sure you switch out all posters with different designs and/or colors. Once signage has been seen in the same spot for a long time, it just becomes part of the landscape…surprise their eyes! Keep it fresh and keep it clever!
Everyone has to walk into school…why not do some advertising on the sidewalk? Use sidewalk chalk to reiterate dates, prices and where kids can order their books!
When you know the parking lot is going to be PACKED (the big game, a concert, orientation night) place flyers on windshields.
Create a yearbook “commercial”. Every school has a creative group of kids that would enjoy a creative project that will be seen school-wide. If your school doesn’t have a “news channel” or website to play the commercial on, post it to a video hosting site (i.e. youtube) and send out the link so everyone knows where it is!
QR codes are an easy way to play to the “media” side of marketing. You can create a QR code for anything you have on the internet. Add QR codes to posters and flyers to get people to your yearbook facebook page, ordering page, or even the school web page that contains information about yearbook ordering.
Keeping people on their toes when advertising your yearbook is going to keep them interested and enthusiastic about their purchase. Now, get out there and start selling some yearbooks!
Happy Yearbooking!
The Idea Garden Team
Leatherette covers are often a more “traditional” look, but by using graphics that have a more modern edge, your cover can still be as unique as your student body!
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