Teenagers talk a lot, so let’s train them to use their gift of gab to sell business ads. If your staff sells business ads, you face the challenge of giving your students the confidence and poise they need to approach the owners and managers of your local business community.
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Your yearbook program needs revenue. That precious money can come from a variety of places. Sales of the book, obviously, are the most important, and creative fundraisers can supplement the budget, but ad sales are a vital piece of the pie that you might not be maximizing.
Fill your coffers by letting parents honor their seniors with adoring text and baby photos of them in Superman Underoos or silly hair bows.
Two yearbook advisers in different parts of the country came to that conclusion about the same time – Olga Martinez-Pagnussat at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Miami, Fla., and Jai Tanner at Franklin High School in El Paso, Texas. Previously, parents and students had great influence in how their personal ads would look in the book. At Our Lady of Lourdes, an all-girls school, the seniors would create their own collages, with photos that were scanned, grainy and too small.
It is true – the best way to fund your yearbook is to sell ads and yearbooks. However, organizing such sales is time-consuming, and you must compete with other groups in your school, and sometimes other schools, for those dollars. If your yearbook program is self-sustaining like mine is – the district gives us no money – the task of funding a great yearbook every year seems daunting.
The sales plan I devised and have used for years is successful for many reasons.
The only person who should be surprised by a senior ad is the senior who is seeing it for the first time.
1. Review last year’s expenses to know where money was spent. Expenses include more than the cost of the book. Determine whether there are less expensive ways of acquiring supplies. Are you spending money on motivational items, such as prizes and pizza? These items are important, but examine whether you can do as much or more with less.
Who says photos have to stay in boxes?
The Minnewaukan yearbook staff at Baraboo H.S., Baraboo, Wis., came up with a fun, clever way to present senior baby pictures.
