The Yearbook World of Scott Geesey
from Jostens Yearbooks of central/northern Pennsylvania
ARCHIVE - FEBRUARY 26, 2017
ANOTHER HECTIC MARCH: What Should Be Done During This Busy Month of the Year??
Hello! Welcome to March this week! I checked our weather at this time last year - and we actually had some temperatures in the 60's at this point last year. I was surprised even though I remember last year's mild winter. I also remember a snow day in APRIL last year so let's not get too comfortable yet.
OK, absolute last call - PHOTO CONTEST DEADLINE - it's this WEDNESDAY the 1st, HURRY! If you've been putting this off PLEASE enter RIGHT AWAY. I've seen some terrific images in my travels recently - have they been entered? Note my link in the left column here - register and enter TODAY!
March is one of the busiest months of the yearbook year, but a very busy month for other reasons. Early March means state playoff time for winter high school sports. Basketball and wrestling always top the list with a ton of games and matches scheduled. It also means those dreaded state tests in the coming weeks. But it also means a whole LOT of important yearbook work...
Why is March such a busy month? Because there is so much to do for EVERY staff...
In my schedule the two busiest months of the year are probably September and March. September is pretty obvious because it's the start of the new school year as everyone officially gets their new yearbook rolling.
But March is just as busy because for most spring yearbooks it's the END of their main yearbook effort, while fall yearbooks are really getting their efforts going this month with initial page submissions. And with book sales now virtually a full year effort, sales efforts during March and the spring can be crucial for a staff's success.
Let's run down some key items as we enter March...
SALES, SALES, SALES: Let's work hard in March and into the spring on your book sales efforts. Many schools out there could use a nice boost. Selling every single book is the goal.
For spring schools, remember that your book sale should be never ending, right up to the day of distribution and beyond. For most JDS schools your late sale is going on now through at least mid May, which means Jostens is still helping your collections for sales through mail, phone and online sales.
And consider my Countdown strategy - it's a neat idea that gets people moving. Announce to everyone that only ?? books remain till they're gone, with information on how to get one. A week or two later do an update that now only ?? books remain. As you get the effort rolling watch some folks really swing into action and watch those remaining books disappear.
For fall schools you're still in the middle of your main sale through early May. If you haven't already, now is the time to push HARD on your sales efforts, with constant announcements in school, handouts to students who haven't yet bought your book, and whatever efforts you can grab to get the word out..
SPRING YEARBOOKS, FINAL ON TIME: For spring schools who are behind schedule right now, the idea is to catch up in the next week or two and preferably finish days or a week AHEAD of schedule. Yes, that might be a tall task but our great Jostens tools have made creating and working pages easier than ever.
FALL SCHOOLS, LET'S GET CRANKING: For most fall yearbook schools your initial page submission deadline is NOW. There's nothing like a good start to make sure you have a successful yearbook year so work hard to make sure you nail that first deadline.
AND THE REST OF THE PLAN IS...: I've told some fall yearbook staffs the same thing in my recent travels... who wants to work on the yearbook over summer vacation? I have very few hands go up when I ask that question, and I NEVER have an adviser raise their hand.
Here's the plan - the only pages still left to do on the last day of the school year should be graduation, perhaps a final week event, and any spring sports team still playing in a state tournament. THAT'S IT! Everything else should be finished, proofed and submitted by that time. And the page layouts for those last pages should be completed in advance so all that needs to be done is for images to be placed and captions or copy to be written.
The final part of the plan is to figure out now who will be handling those final handful of pages so your adviser doesn't get caught doing all of the work. For high schools the wise move here is to get some underclassmen to complete those final pages; seniors are essentially out the door in MAY, right? Maybe not physically but certainly mentally...
STILL PUSH YOUR AD SALES: And I'm especially thinking personal ads here for fall yearbooks. Don't give up on these just because it's March. Now is the time to really push hard for remaining ads from senior parents or any parents, relatives, friends or anyone. This is when your procrastinators will finally jump into action, but they won't if you don't remind them! Make another round of announcements or messages home about personal ads and set a firm deadline - add "last chance to honor your student this year" somewhere in the message and watch the personal ads roll in.
ARE YOU USING COVERAGE REPORT?: How can you know who exactly to market your remaining yearbooks to, or who needs more coverage in the book while someone else has enough? By image tagging and using the awesome Jostens Coverage Report tool you can do just that and EASILY, yet few staffs take the time to actively use it. Remember the 3X rule, try to picture as many people as possible at least three times. Jostens has research information that staffs who work hard to feature at least 80% of students in their book at least three times nearly DOUBLE their book sale. Yes, you read that correctly, nearly DOUBLE.
The good news is that for online or software, Coverage Report is retroactive, meaning you could start NOW to track students and get compiled information quickly. If you haven''t already, let's get started TODAY on Coverage Report and get that valuable information right away. It's easy to do, let me know if you need assistance.
PICTURES? WHAT PICTURES?: We're in the spring now but please keep taking those valuable pictures around school! Some basketball teams are still playing in the state tournament this week, is someone there snapping fresh images? There are certainly still interesting things going on in classes or on field trips or the like, let's not get lazy now and stop taking pictures.
And of course there's your ReplayIt.com website and smartphone app. Keep taking pictures right to the end of the school year, especially the big events like Prom and Graduation and the like, then upload to your Yearbook Avenue website so that your ReplayIt users can check them out - but especially so that your yearbook buyers will be able to enjoy them for years to come via your ReplayIt Time Capsule. Remember that as a Jostens school your yearbook buyers get TWO things things now, your great book and your digital Time Capsule.
ENTER THE PAGE DESIGN CONTESTS: It's coming, Contest Time! On Yearbook Avenue watch for announcements in the coming days about this year's page design contests for both InDesign software users and YearTech Online users. Then search for your best page spreads this year and enter them. I'd love to see your work in next year's Jostens Look Book of the best yearbook work in America.
HIGH SCHOOL STAFFS, AVOID SENIORITIS: The dreaded malady is already affecting high school yearbook staffs everywhere. Advisers, now may be the time to start really leaning on your underclassmen staffers to finish the job. I've found that begging or pleading or threatening with seniors about to graduate is usually fruitless. Time to turn the page because most seniors probably have...
March is a CRUCIAL month for your yearbook success - let's make it a GREAT one!!