Maximizing Yearbook Sales
By: Matt Bristow-Smith

A misconception often exists among yearbook advisers that creating great yearbooks is the key to selling them. The better the yearbook, the better the sales, right? Not always so. Every yearbook program needs a well-developed and articulated sales strategy that, in Steven Covey's words, "begin(s) with the end in mind." Here's how one school in North Carolina maximized their yearbook sales.

Start Summer Ads Early
Over the summer, our staffers pound the streets to generate as much ad revenue as possible. We begin in mid-June, and our goal is to be the first high school in our area to approach each potential ad sponsor. We generate our list of contacts using the local Chamber of Commerce membership roster, but we also approach national chains with local franchises and work their corporate ladder until we find the right person to say "yes." In addition, we brainstorm connections that our staffers have with the local business community, so we know which staffers are most likely to close the deal with each business sponsor.

Set Goals and Deadlines
We set a yearbook sales goal and announce that goal to everyone who will listen: students, parents, faculty, even our business sponsors. This sales goal gives us all something to work for, but it also communicates to students that yearbook quantities are limited. Sales posters are hung all around school: "Only 200 Yearbooks Available; Get Yours Now!" As sales accumulate, we announce how many books have been sold: "165 sold, only 35 left!" This promotional campaign creates a mild panic as students clamor to get in on a good deal. In addition, we set a final deadline in early February for all yearbook orders.

Start Sales with a Bang
We kick off our annual yearbook sale at our fall open house with an "Early Bird" sale. This sale is a one-day event where a limited number of yearbooks can be purchased at a steep discount. To receive the Early Bird price, payment must be made in full at the time of purchase (no deposits). We generate interest by utilizing our message system to call all parents to announce our yearbook sales start date. We customize each message to the particular perspective of each class of students, especially the rising freshman and senior classes.

Scaffold Pricing
Yearbook prices go up the next day after the Early Bird sale. We scaffold pricing in increments of $5 as yearbook sales accumulate. Students learn quickly that the longer they wait to buy their yearbook, the more it is going to cost. Scaffolded pricing creates a sense of urgency, which generates sales. After the Early Bird sale, we accept a
$20 deposit for yearbooks and ask that remaining balances be paid off before Christmas break.

Hone Your Message
Our yearbook staffers wear staff T-shirts every Friday that say "You're In It…" on the front and "Do You Have It?" on the back. We print these bold, attractive shirts in school colors, and our staffers are often approached by students who ask about the shirts. This gives us a chance to promote yearbook face-to-face with other students and to create excitement. We also encourage our yearbook staffers to ask their friends, "Hey, have you bought your yearbook yet?" In our announcements, our message is simple and consistent: you want what we have to offer, so don't miss out!

Work the Freshman and Senior Classes
We target the freshman and senior classes for special yearbook promotions. Parents of rising high schoolers want their kids to participate fully in all aspects of school life, so they often feel a unique obligation to purchase yearbooks for their freshman students. Once freshmen purchase their first yearbook, they are more likely to purchase one every year. Likewise, seniors feel a special regard for their final year in high school, so we distribute yearbook order forms to senior homerooms that include a list of which seniors have bought a yearbook. This strategy really generates buzz among the senior class about their final high school yearbook.

Homecoming
More than any other event, Spirit Week and Homecoming present great opportunities for yearbook staffers to be highly visible as they take hundreds of pictures of the parade, football game, and student body. The following week, we sell pictures from Homecoming Week during lunch for $1 each, which creates great opportunities for our staffers to promote the yearbook to other students. We also make several promotional yearbook spreads about Homecoming and post them around the school. These spreads get kids really psyched to buy a yearbook.

Tease Your Audience
When our staffers complete our first submission, we make color copies and post them in the lunchroom and hallways. When kids see themselves in an actual yearbook spread, they often make a beeline to order one. We also begin to cross-reference our lists of which students have ordered a yearbook with which students are pictured in our spreads.

Cover All Your Bases
We try to maintain redundant systems of communication. The phone messages to people's homes are followed by daily intercom messages. We post signs in the hallways and mail yearbook flyers home. Homeroom teachers distribute order forms, and we visit classrooms to deliver personalized notes to students. We do not want any student to miss the opportunity to buy a yearbook, but we also want that opportunity to be time-sensitive and urgent. When students sense that more demand than supply exists for yearbooks, sales go up.

Deliver on Your Promises
If you run a great promotional campaign but produce a lousy yearbook, your student body will feel not only disappointed but betrayed. By contrast, an awesome yearbook validates that all of your promotional messages were not just propaganda. Next year, students will be banging down your door to buy their yearbooks.

Get the Right People on the Bus
Yearbook is a club at our school, not a class, so we look for staffers who are willing to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep yearbook all year long. We decline yearbook applicants who are over-extended by involvement in too many sports, clubs, and other priorities. Instead, we want kids who are juiced up about yearbook and can focus their entire energy on only our project. Their high-octane energy generates interest in yearbook from the overall student body, and that leads to increased sales. More than any other aspect of our sales strategy, a great yearbook staff makes yearbook a vibrant part of high school life, and owning a yearbook becomes a tradition.

Matt Bristow-Smith is the North Carolina North Central Region Teacher of the Year for 2008-2009 and a National Board Certified teacher. He teaches English and co-advises the yearbook program at Tarboro High School in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. This article is courtesy of Lifetouch, www.lifetouch.com.