When you first start promoting your yearbook and making students and teachers aware, you will either find that people are falling over themselves to buy one or that the uptake is a little slow. If you find there is a lot of interest in your yearbook then you’re halfway there.
All you need now is the initial commitment from the students – maybe a deposit of some sort which commits them to their yearbook order. Beware that you will come across people who say they want a yearbook, but then decide they don’t. Keep up the memento of interest by showing them the yearbook proof when it comes through.
Allow people to see what the yearbook will include, as this will maintain that buzz of excitement and they will see what they are paying for (similar to buying an item from a shop or seeing an image of something you’re buying online). If you are in the position where you are finding it hard to gather interest for your yearbook, then it’s time to start promoting the idea and speaking about the advantages of having a yearbook.
There are many different ways that schools are promoting their yearbooks, so here are a few ideas to help out:
- Keep your yearbook at the forefront of people’s minds – put a note into the register every morning that mentions the yearbook, this way it will stay fresh in people’s minds.
- Another easy way to promote your yearbook (as mentioned in our previous yearbook marketing post) is to create a social buzz – ask a member of staff or a fellow student to set up a Facebook group where staff and students can keep up with what’s going into the yearbook. Get involved or ask questions. Make others aware of your Facebook group in letters home or send an email to the school’s contacts which includes a link to join.
- Once you have started promoting your yearbook using the above ideas, try creating your own video commercial. You could post it onto both the school website and the Facebook group page you have set up. SPC could help you out with this by providing you with various samples that you could use in the commercial to show the students and teachers what they can expect from their yearbook. If you’re short of time or facilities for producing a video commercial, why not put a power point presentation together to show during your assembly? This presentation could include the pages going into your yearbook as well as other ideas you have, such as award pages – these always create a good vibe for your yearbook. During assembly is also a great opportunity to ask for ideas, feedback and contributions for the yearbook.
- You could hold a ‘Yearbook Promotion Day’. Going back to when I mentioned having a yearbook proof to show everyone, on the ‘Yearbook Promotion Day’ you could have your yearbook proof to show all the students and teachers, and note down their ideas and suggestions for the yearbook. You could also offer a ‘one day only’ special price to encourage people to sign up for their copy on your promotion day.
- Get the competitive people among you involved in a challenge – for every 100 yearbooks sold, a willing teacher could perform a forfeit or bring in a treat for those who have bought a yearbook. Perhaps for every 200 copies sold the school could donate something special to your end of year prom. If your teachers are a little shy about getting involved, arrange a friendly contest just between the yearbook committee members – a prize to the member who sells the most yearbooks.
