Five Ps of yearbook marketing

Product No factor plays a greater role in the sale of a yearbook than the quality of the product. The better the book, the more it appeals to the target market, the more the book sells itself. A high-quality yearbook needs to meet these criteria. Coverage should be inclusive. Coverage should be meaningful to students and staff. Coverage should be accurate. Design should be vibrant. Copy should be compelling.

Promotion Successful companies boost product sales by increasing brand awareness. The more the market is familiar with a product, the more likely buyers will purchase it. Think of the logos you see as you go about your life. Because of the promotion, you readily associate a brand with a product. Golden arches tell you what? What company makes a shirt with the “swoosh” on it? If you see an advertisement with a red and white bull’s-eye on it, what store will you shop to find the products?

Promotion You can use the same principles to boost yearbook sales. If people see the yearbook promoted everywhere, they will be more likely to remember to buy one. The challenge is to find creative ways to keep students thinking of the yearbook. Consider the following. Every public reference to yearbook helps sell the book. Consider posters and fliers in the halls, cafeteria, gym, restrooms, ceilings, clocks. Publicize the success of yearbook. Staff and book awards increase the perception of the book’s value.

Promotion The challenge is to find creative ways to keep students thinking of the yearbook. Consider the following. T-shirts are a great way to keep the book in front of the student body. Turn the staff into walking billboards. Run promotional contests. Offer merchants free advertising in the book in exchange for prizes. Notify parents of sale dates. Often it is the parents who pay for the book. They realize its value increases as the years pass. Sometimes book sales can increase because students are interested in related products. For instance, namestamping and senior/friendship ads are not only a source of revenue, they can increase book sales, too.

Placement Being in the right place at the right time is the name of the game. Selling at open house nights on campus makes the sale convenient for the people with the larger checkbooks – parents. The parents who attend a Parents Night at school are typically the parents who care enough about the whole school scene to buy books.

Placement For students, lunchtime sales maximize student opportunities to buy. All students have that block of time, so staffs should sell at the most conspicuous spot available on the route to the lunch room. Identify the high traffic areas before and after school and make sure your sales table cannot help but be noticed.

Placement Timing is just as important. The days before any event that totally consumes students' attentions (events such as homecoming or Thanksgiving) are bad times to conduct a sales campaign. Also, days when other major obligations are due make bad days to sell. For example, the day the student pays $200 for a class ring will not be a good day to also ask for him to buy a yearbook.

People The book compiles memories of this year in students' lives. Seeing themselves and their friends' pictures and names in the book gives the experience of the year significance. The book is about people. The more people you include, the more people will want the book.

People Work to make your staff diverse. If your staff includes a cross-section of students in the school, it will be easier to provide coverage that is inclusive of more people in your school.

Price What you choose to charge for the yearbook should not be based solely on what it cost to produce. Mostly, it should reflect what the market will endure – what the students and parents perceive as its value. Yearbooks freeze images that otherwise will evaporate from memory. Remembering this should drive your pricing, for only the people who buy the books will have them to cherish through the years.

Price The responsibility to convey the perception of value to the school community falls on the yearbook staff. This perception is not developed during sales campaigns. Instead, it is built throughout the year as the staff promotes the book’s and staff’s accomplishments. Once you have established the price, do not hesitate to create a sense of urgency by increasing the price as the year progresses. Books purchased at distribution should carry the highest price tag.