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“It’s really a bargain when you consider how many people are going to be seeing this and it’s never going away.” Cindy Todd, Westlake High School, [TX]
Todd also recommends that staffers visit the businesses in pairs. “You should put an older student and a younger student together so that you have that maturity level and also kids tend not to be so shy when they have someone with them. I think that helps a lot.”
S e l l t h e v a l u e Once you get your foot in the door, you have to provide the business owner or manager with a compelling reason to buy an ad and be able to overcome objections. Here are a few ideas Todd promotes in her workshops: Survey the student body. “You can come up with some sort of a flyer or handout to leave with the business, with some survey results like how often the kids eat out, what they spend their disposable income on, where they hang out on weekends,” Todd said. If 85% of the students say they eat three burgers a week, or that they get breakfast tacos four days a week, or spend $20 a week on coffee, and you’re armed with that kind of knowledge, it could prompt business owners to want students to spend some of that money with them.”
business and their slogan or address and phone number. You’ve got to actually come up with a benefit for that business, for that service.” For extra impact, consider using a photo of students at that business in your spec ad. “If it’s a hamburger joint, have them eating a hamburger at that restaurant and put them in the ad. Then go in and say, ‘This would be a great ad, a great representation and I can promise you that people are going to look at this ad because our students are in the ad,” Todd said. Another plus is that the spec ad may increase the size of the ad purchased. “If you had a ¼-page ad or a ½-page ad they’d be less inclined to hand you a business card and say, ‘Here, just put this in,’” Todd said. Assure business owners their ad will be seen. “Tell them what kind of coverage you’re going to do in the ad section,” Todd explained. “You should be doing secondary coverage in your ad section no matter what kind of coverage you do — maybe you’re doing stories or results of polls, some sort of survey or sidebar coverage — you should have something. Tell them you’re mixing in some senior ads — people love senior ads — that’s always a good way to do it.”
Bring along a spec ad.
Show that yearbook ads are a good buy.
It’s more difficult for a business owner to turn a staffer down if they’ve gone to the effort of putting a spec ad together. “Not only is it worth the time to design a spec ad, it’s also a great practice for the kids,” Todd said. “It teaches them about ad design. That it’s more than just putting in the name of the
“Some businesses operate under the assumption that it costs too much to advertise in the yearbook. The kids actually need to know how much it would cost to do the same size ad in the local newspaper,” Todd said. “They can do that research and that would be a really good fact for them to cite. You could also say the yellow page ads are really expensive, web ads are really expensive compared to what we do.” Support for the school. While business owners know that people don’t reach for the yearbook if they need a plumber or some other service, they also know that if their business supports the publication by advertising in it, the students’ parents are going to know that. “And those parents are a lot more likely to go to businesses that support the schools,” Todd said. “I truly believe that.” A positive, ongoing source of advertisement.
Spec ads are a tangible way to help advertisers envision what their ad in the yearbook might look like.
Students should be able to articulate the longevity of the ad. “This is going to be in 1,000 homes, so many more people are going to see this ad than what you might think. It’s really a bargain when you consider how many people are going to be seeing this and it’s never going away. People never throw their yearbooks away; they throw their newspapers away; they don’t look at the yellow pages, but their yearbooks are going to be there forever.”
spring 2014 |
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