Top Three Photoshop Tips for Yearbookers

We get so many requests for Photoshop tips that pertain to yearbooks that I thought I’d start collecting them all here on the blog.  Here’s the top three most popular requests with step-by-step instructions.  Enjoy!

 

 

Entourage Yearbooks – Status After The Storm

Thank you for the many kind words and well wishes you have sent our way as we experienced Hurricane Sandy earlier this week.  We wanted to update you all on our status and check in to make sure that you are all doing okay as well.  Entourage Yearbooks is located in Princeton, NJ, which was an area thoroughly affected by Sandy.  We have heard updates from all of our employees and we are relieved to report that everyone is safe after the storm.

The Entourage Yearbooks office is located in an area that has lost power – it’s expected to return no earlier than Monday of next week.  By today, several of our employees felt ready to return to work, and that it was safe to return to work, so we have set up a temporary office space in a nearby hotel that has power and internet services (although somewhat limited.)

We will be covering sales and tech support as usual during the daylight hours, but will be closing around 4 pm EST so that everyone can travel safely before dark.  We will be open during these same hours, 9 am to 4 pm, for the rest of the week.  We’ll send out another update as soon as we have more news to report.

For this week and next – if you are emailing your account manager, please cc yearbooks@entourageyearbooks.com so that another member of our staff can assist you right away.

If you have a sales question, please cc sales@entourageyearbooks.com

Everyone at Entourage Yearbooks would like to extend our best wishes to anyone also affected by this storm.  We understand a lot of you are probably also still working on re-grouping after Sandy, but we’d love to hear from you as well.  We sincerely hope that all of your families and friends are doing okay, and that your homes, schools, and communities haven’t suffered much damage.

As always, you, our customers are on our minds, now more than ever.   We appreciate your understanding, and your support as we continue to try to support you.

Best wishes to all.

Here’s a picture of the fallen tree, and downed power lines in front of Entourage.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

 

 

In honor of Breast Cancer awareness Month, Entourage Yearbooks is giving away a FREE 24 paged colored photo book to people and teams that have participated in any events for breast cancer. You can receive a free book for every member who participated.

Also, if you would like to send a book to a sponsor, a friend or a family member etc. you can purchase a copy of your book for a discounted price! To enter into our contest just simply like our Facebook Page and fill out the form. Make sure to do it fast the limited amount of spots are filling up! 

FREE Computer Give Away!

Simply LIKE our Entourage Yearbooks Facebook Page and you will be entered to win a FREE Acer Laptop! Like us TODAY, you could be our next winner!

Marketing Tips For Your Yearbook!

October is the perfect time to start marketing and selling your yearbooks, if you haven’t already. Here are some tips we think are a good way to boost your sales!

• Promote during school events and spirit week
• Offer a sneak peak: have pages displayed at school events
• Promote during holidays: great gift idea
• Sell during school games
• Place flyers on lunch trays, cars, lockers, desks, etc.
• Keep sending out reminders
• E-mail parents to remind them about the yearbooks
• Make buying books competitive: give out prizes
• Get social: create a Facebook Page, Twitter Account or an Instagram
• Monthly payment plans
• Send out personal postcards tell student they’ll be in the yearbook:
  • “Hey Tracy, did you know you’re on page 43?”
• Make it a battle between grades: winner gets a pizza party

Entourage Yearbooks Awarded Outstanding Web Site Award

Entourage Yearbooks has been awarded the Outstanding Web Site Award from Web Marketing Association’s WebAwards for our collaborative yearbook tools and online design software!  Less than 10% of nominated sites received this honor.

We are thrilled and excited for this achievement!  Our website is created by a wonderful in-house team that spends every day listening to customer feedback and creating an easy-to-use, innovative website.   Please check it out!

Click here to read the press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/9/prweb9922939.htm

Check out the video on our award winning yearbook software!

Click here to learn more about our software: http://www.entourageyearbooks.com/YearbookSoftware.asp

Kindle Fire Contest Winner!

Congratulations to MacKinzy Chaney from AR! 

MacKinzy won the Kindle Fire HD contest last month! 

Stay tuned for the NEW Yearbook Industry Report created from all of the survey entries – coming soon.

Check out http://www.entourageyearbooks.com next month for another chance to win a great prize!

 

 

Five Tips for getting the best start on your NEW yearbook:

Hi All!

Everyone is back to school and starting to think about this year’s yearbook project.  I put together a quick list of ideas for getting a fresh start on the new book…

1. Forget last year’s yearbook: When starting a new book, take some time to be innovative.  Think about what makes this school year new and different.  Come up with a theme and a plan that is relevant to this year and not what you have done in the past.

 2. Now take a look at what you did last year: After you know what you want to do differently, think back to what worked well and what didn’t work well.  See if you can re-use any part of your book like the organization or some templates with a few tweaks.

3. TAKE PICTURES:  Don’t forget to take pictures at beginning of the year events!  It’s really hard to go back in time and take them if you forget.

4. Organize your staff:  Get people in place and set up expectations for hours, rolls, and responsibilities early on in the process.  This is important for a staff of students or adult volunteers.

5. Market your yearbook:  I know it seems early, but the earlier you create buzz about the book, the higher book sales will be in the end.  Creating excitement about the book is the best way to grow the yearbook tradition at your school!

Tip: Stay tuned this month for more tips on starting a new book including details on picking a theme and marketing your book!

 

Win a Kindle Fire

Tags

collaboration tools, gadgets

Just wanted to spend a moment to let you know about a cool contest we have going on right now.  We are giving away a FREE Kindle Fire next month.  To enter, all you have to do is fill out a quick yearbook survey.  Winners will be announced in September.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER!

We’ll be using the survey data to compile a new yearbook industry guide that will be available to everyone!  I’m really excited about this project, and hope you’ll take a minute to fill out the survey.

The Kindle Contest is a part of the launch of our NEW Collaboration Tools this month.  Stay tuned to learn more about Entourage Collaborate!

5 Reasons You Should Consider A Change This Year…

This post goes out to especially to visitors who haven’t experienced working with Entourage Yearbooks yet…

I compiled this list of reasons to consider a change in yearbook provider this year for our monthly newsletter and I’d like to share it here too.  I’m  a strong  believer in shopping around for almost everything.  My family goes to one grocery store for good cheap produce, one for name brand products, and a third for high end specialty products, with the occasional farmer’s market thrown into the mix (we take food pretty seriously).  My point is that I have shopped around and know that I’m going to get exactly what I want from each of these providers.   I’m sure everyone has something in their lives that they do this with.  Why not shop around your yearbook decision this year too?  – Kelly

Shopping is fun! Why not shop around your yearbook decision?

1. Big Changes are Coming – Yearbook companies are moving fast to incorporate new technologies into their program.  Getting on board now with technology based company will keep you up to date for years to come.

2. Companies Change- Even if you did a lot of research a few years ago, quite a lot could have changed since then.  A company that didn’t have services that you wanted may now offer them.  It’s worth checking out. 

3.  It’s good to stay informed- Even if you LOVE your yearbook company, shopping around is a good idea.  You may find out that your company is behind in technology or over priced.  Doing your research will give you a better negotiating point.

4. Budget is an Issue – Schools are having to cut their yearbook budget back more and more each year.  Some yearbook providers have been responding to that by creating price friendly yearbook programs with many of the perks of more expensive programs.

 5. It’s All About You – In the process of learning about what other yearbook companies can offer you, you will learn more about what you really need in your yearbook program, and get some great ideas for your yearbook.

Want to get started checking out a new company?  Click here to request information from Entourage Yearbooks.