Award Grad Photography Contracts Based on Service - Tips From The Office of Matt & Mary Sloan

Agreeing to allow your school photographer to photograph your grads, before experiencing their quality and service in the fall may leave your school vulnerable to poor service and only benefit the photo company. Although typical school photography contracts include both fall and spring photos consider agreeing only to undergrad photography initially, then based on service, award the graduate sittings. Most photographers will underserve the fall pics since there is a thin profit margin and fewer parents are buying photos. Most families have access to a good quality digital camera so many parents opt out.

Since senior portraits have an incredible profit margin (an 8x10 inch photo that may sell for as much as $40.00 has a cost of about eighty-five cents for most photographers) signing separate agreements for spring and fall photos is a great strategy from the perspective of the school. If during fall photos the studio sends too few photographers or doesn't respond quickly to parent calls or missing photo packages your school has the option to change companies.

Over the past sixteen years working with school Yearbooks we've worked with many photographers. Smart negotiating may be the difference between poor service from the photographer and a successful photo campaign in your school.

Best of luck this spring and feel free to call our office for more tips on working with your school photographer. #yearbooksuccess

The Office of Matt & Mary Sloan

Yearbookplanet Inc, Sloan Premium Solutions

Representing Herff Jones

Profit, Participation and Distribution - The golden rules of school fundraising

Spring is around the corner and schools everywhere are beginning to think about fundraisers. In speaking with schools the number one concern is managing the fundraising event. Consider these three tips when planning your next fundraiser.

Participation - Ultimately the fundraiser will need to appeal to the entire school. Will every household want to purchase a box of chocolate bars? What about note cards or greeting cards? Will the rising cost of postage and popularity of email and texting impact how many parents will purchase? Be careful of appealing to a subset of the population. A quality fundraiser needs to have mass appeal.

Profit Potential - Like the movie character Gordon Gekko in Wall Street once said "Greed is good". Working with your sales professional will help you plan the launch and potential profit. After all, raising the most funds is what a fundraiser is all about. Get the word out using the school's telephone messaging system or consider text alerts to parents via websites like www.grouptexting.com or Google Apps.

Distribution - Minimizing the amount of time parents or administrators need to get the products to the parents is key. Choose a product that you can distribute over a number of days. Products that require refrigeration or special storage may not be the best choice.

Participation, profit and distribution. Key factors to your success.

Want to learn more about profitable fundraising? Contact us at www.sloanpremiumsolutions.com

Regards,

Matt Sloan
President and Founding Partner Sloan Premium Solutions
Yearbookplanet Inc.
Representing Herff Jones
905.605.1069
e sales@sloanpremiumsolutions.com

Why Yearbook? 3.5 Tips To Overcoming Your Challenges

Often about this time of year advisers and their staffs ask the question "why yearbook?". The deadlines, cover creation difficulties and technology challenges often seem to get in the way of the steady progress needed for the production of the school yearbook. You're not alone. Yearbook staffs tend to live in their own little bubble often believing that their problems are unique. They are not. It's quite normal to feel a little overwhelmed by mid October. Perhaps that theme idea just doesn't seem to work beyond the cover, or maybe the budget is really tight this year. Here are 3.5 tips to getting out of your own way and getting it done.

1. Communication is the key

Sometimes talking it out really does work! If you feel like that cover you wanted just isn't coming out the way you like we can get a Herff Jones cover artist involved to help put those finishing touches on the cover. After all a Yearbook IS a book judged by the cover.

2. Celebrate the little victories

Over the past few years I've noticed yearbook staffs not celebrating their mini victories. Did you finish flowing and editing the mug shots? What about the endsheets and cover? Then celebrate! Order a pizza, get a dozen doughnuts or treat the staff to popcorn. Make little achievements a BIG deal and watch the staff attitude improve dramatically.

3. Create a promo video

Brampton Centennial in Brampton, Ontario is an incredible staff with great spirit. Check out this link. It's loads of fun! http://youtu.be/DAgSqkzQXj8

Yearbook editors are the rock stars of your school!

3.5 Remember last year?

Ask last year's editors if they have any smartphone video of the unboxing of the yearbooks. Watch it and you will be reminded "why yearbook".

Life is good, Yearbooks are amazing and you are appreciated.

The Office of Matt & Mary Sloan
Yearbookplanet Incorporated
Representing Herff Jones Yearbooks

The Students Don't Want The Yearbook Anymore! Really? 3.5 Ways To Fix School Spirit... Now!

The heartbeat of every school is the Yearbook. The Yearbook records every positive event that happened last year and will happen this year. It's the go-to resource for new and alumni students and it's the best public relations tool you have at your disposal. If sales are down and fewer yearbooks are in the hands of your students you could have a school spirit issue. How do you fix a spirit problem? Here are 3.5 ways.

1. Get to a Yearbook workshop! We host Canada's largest one day workshop each fall. This year it takes place on Thursday October 1st. Networking with other schools that also want to create their best book ever is the key to better sales. More sales = better school spirit and pride. Visit www.bigeventworkshop.com to get registered.

2. Meet with your Yearbook representative. We just announced a partnership with DECA. We will help your DECA club build a sales campaign they can be proud of and get international recognition.

3.  Increase your price, don't decrease it. Students are savvy these days. A ten dollar year yearbook conveys a message that the book is not worth much, or worth buying for that matter. The price of the school yearbook needs to reflect the quality, hard work and image of difference of your school.

3.5 Your spirit will define the school year, the yearbook and the culture at your school. Lift your spirits, open your eyes to new possibilities and reimagine this school year. Our office is here and waiting for your call. Let's make a difference together.

Life is good, Yearbooks are amazing and you are appreciated.

Matt Sloan

You're worth meeting - why getting an email quote for your 2016 Yearbook is a bad idea

Everyday our local office fields many many emails. Email is a great way to confirm a meeting, verify we have the pages and more. It's not a good way to get to know you. Back in 2000 we would gladly email you a quote for your next yearbook. Number of pages, copies and cover. That's all we needed. Fast forward to 2015. That system doesn't work. Why? There are so many moving pieces when putting together a school Yearbook. Are you implementing Augmented Reality? Are you submitting spring sports that happen in May? So many questions.

Recently I received an email asking for a quote. It's a school I've never visited, but would love to! As I awaited the Adviser's response to confirm a meeting I was told "if I can't get a quote we can't use you". Yikes. I'm sure my competitors sent a quote via email. Let's face it it's cheaper and doesn't use up a lot of their time. Maybe they can even sign up the school and never visit or have any interaction with them :) My philosophy has always been that schools invest a lot of their time in a yearbook and that time is valuable.  Why not hear all your options? We value your time so much that we want to respect that with an in-person meeting. So..let's get together and make a plan for #yearbooksuccess today and make a mutual investment in the Yearbook. It's going to be a great year.

Life is good,yearbooks are amazing, and you are appreciated.

Matt Sloan
Yearbookplanet Inc.
Representing Herff Jones

Yearbook Budget 101 - How to plan next year's budget

Like your school each Yearbook is unique. From the way the Yearbook is put together to the actual number of printed pages and copies getting a handle on your Yearbook budget does not need to be a difficult task. Here are three tips for #yearbooksuccess

First, start to get excited about the book that will be delivering in less than two months. Ask for distribution day materials to help get the school pumped and sell the 2016 book now- before the school year starts. These great "Sign my yearbook" pens are a fun way to get rolling.

Second, dream big! I encourage all customers to spend the end of the year and beginning of the fall dreaming. Ask questions like.. if budget is not a consideration our book would look like.... This is a crucial part of budgeting. Involve your Yearbook sales professional as well. Often we have tips on how to achieve the look you want with a minimum impact on budget. I like to propose three potential books, then when the book sale is final we can decide on which direction to go.

Third, the base pricing of a yearbook revolves around number of pages and copies. The more copies printed the lower the price. For example 500 yearbooks may be less than 300. Keep in mind that the number of copies and pages are just part of the equation. Involving your Yearbook sales professional is key. Far too many schools don't add enough "wiggle room" to the budget for the really important items like deadline parties, end of year editor dinners and of course any unexpected costs. I like to see schools ad $3-5 dollars to the sell price to cover the cost of a broken camera, replacing lost memory cards and have a celebration budget. Each deadline and yearbook staff birthday should also be celebrated.

Finally, remember we are not publishing a Yearbook, we are making history. What we do together this year and next has an incredible impact on school spirit and tells the story of all of the great things happening this year. You and your staff make a difference.

Life is good, Yearbooks are amazing and you are appreciated.

The Office of Matt & Mary Sloan
Yearbookplanet Inc.
Representing Herff Jones
905.605.1069

The REAL Reason Your School Is Suffering From Yearbook Adviser Turnover

It's March and final Yearbook deadlines are near and your staff adviser has just told you they won't be advising next year. Now what!? First, don't panic. Advising on the school yearbook can often be a difficult job and not everyone understands what the staff adviser does. Here are three things you should say and three more things you should immediately do.

1. Thank your staff member for everything they have done this year. Remember when you left the building and noticed a staff member's car still in the lot? That was the yearbook adviser.

2.  Ask your staff member to sit and chat about how you can help make his or her life easier next year. A little relief during on-calls may be just the right thing to do.

3.  Ask your staff member to become involved in recruiting the new staff adviser. If the staff member is serious about moving on at least they will feel involved and perhaps mentor the new adviser.

Now...here are three things you should start doing immediately.

1.  Plan a party.  If your school takes delivery of the yearbooks and makes a boring announcement "Yearbooks are in" and nothing more then you may have hit on a school spirit issue. Talk to your representative about distribution day materials. Banners, prizes, autograph supplements and more. Plan a day and time for a huge distribution day party. If the outgoing adviser sees you care perhaps she will reconsider.

2.  Speak with your yearbook sales professional immediately. I often work behind the scenes with schools to be sure they ramp up distribution day and planning ahead is the best way to ensure success.

3. Visit the yearbook room.  A thank you from the school Principal or VP goes a long way with the students, and again may send just the right message to the staff adviser.


Life is good, yearbooks are amazing and you are appreciated.

Matt Sloan
Yearbookplanet Inc.
Representing Herff Jones