Of Interest

by Idea File Staff
Posted in: Marketing, Winter 1996

Outside input

When Evan Fetter, editor-in-chief of the University of Tampa’s Moraccan, got started on the 1995 book, he wanted to do some restructuring. But rather than use his power as editor to take over the decision-making process, he decided to give others a say in the matter.

“The book was good, but we had a lot of complaints,” he said of past editions of the Moraccan.

So Fetter put together a survey to find out what students liked and did not like, what they wanted to see covered and what they wanted taken out of the book.

“People were very responsive,” said Fetter. “They put a lot of thought into it. And the main complaint was that people didn’t like seeing the same faces pictured over and over.”

The revamped Moraccan now has a student life section that has doubled, and expanded sports coverage. The Greek section was cut, and senior bios were taken out completely and instead were sold as ads.

The changes have generated more enthusiasm about the book, according to Fetter. “We had allotted space in the book for 30 organizations to be featured,” he said. “We now have 43 organizations that would like to be in the book.”

And all it took was an editor who first and foremost wanted to please the readers. “All students have to pay for the yearbook, so I wanted to put in as many of their changes as possible,” he said.

what a Sweet Deal

Fran Ayars, the yearbook adviser at Oregon High School in Oregon, Ill., has found a way to generate interest in the yearbook by sponsoring a “Sweeten the Deal” promotion for potential buyers.

“Our biggest sales are at registration, two weeks before school starts,” Ayars said. “This gives us a reason to get our organization in the forefront through September.”

Those students who order a yearbook during the promotion get a bag of hard candy, as a thank-you for their early order. In the bag is a certificate that they can sign and give to a friend, which gets the recipient a dollar off the price of the book. When the student who passed the certificate along picks up their yearbook at distribution, they get a dollar bill along with it.

“It helps drum up sales,” said Ayars. “It’s a fun thing to do and it’s special for the students.”

In the three years the Oregon yearbook staff has been sweetening the deal for yearbook buyers, the number of students participating in the promotion has grown every year. “In September, when the yearbook is hot,” said Ayars, “this is enough of an incentive to get the students interested enough to buy.”

Idea File staff authors are part of Walsworth’s Marketing Department team who have individually or collaboratively written articles for Idea File magazine or the Idea File area of walsworthyearbooks.com.

Idea has written 438 article(s) for the Idea File.

Walsworth Yearbooks

Of Interest

Outside input

what a Sweet Deal

Article by Idea File Staff

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