Sell at least three ads per issue, or earn at least $80 per issue and your name will run in the staff box. Not only will this give you hard evidence in a job or college interview that you’re good at selling, but you’ll also have access to the journalism room’s resources when you need them-Photoshop, Indesign, Mac computers galore. And you’re invited to a free dinner every other Wednesday.
Harbinger accreditation screams on any resume. It’s one of the most prominent high school papers in America Basically, it’s real-life application. If marketing and representing is your thing, you’ll find a welcome home here.
Two years ago placed 1st, twice, in National Best of Show Last year placed 2nd in Best of Show Pacemaker winner (like the Heisman) for nearly five years running. Placed third in State last year for ad design.
On the Ad Advice sheet, we stress that the rep should design the ad, just because we can usually make it look better than the business card the local business gives us. If you don’t have any Indesign or Photoshop experience, but want to design, we can teach you. If you have not interest in that division of ads, the regular staff will take care of that.
If you’re not that into selling ads, but enjoy making neat graphic designs in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign, we’ll still take you into our fold. By designing at least six ads or three full page ad sets, we’ll include you in the staff box You also have access to the resources of Room 521, including the design suite of CS3 and those Wednesday dinners.
We will keep our deadlines flexible and will accept ads up to the Wednesday following the deadline on the contract…but no later. We only accept payment in Cash or Check Our pricing is determined by $5 per sq. column inch in case your customer orders a custom-sized ad Put the white copy of the Ad Contract - along with any payment, notes and designs, in our stacked drawer bin - located in room 521, approximately at the door between the rooms. More Ad Contracts can be found above these drawers, and potential business can be found on the wall right next to the door.
Calculate discounts by doing each total separately, then adding them, then taking the total discount from the total amount For example: The customer orders a $30 print ad for the full year – (30x16) – (.3x480)=$336 They also order a 3x1 online ad for a full year$120 Their total is $456, but they qualify for the print/ online discount (10%) so their final cost is $410.4
Our staff is inexperienced with selling, so we use this as a reference. It’s got a lot of good tips in the REMEMBER box in the top right, especially for when you’re persuading business to buy. And follow those arrows everywhere on sheet Upsell means to try and encourage buyers to go for the big deals. In other words, “Upsell=Supersize Me.” If you sell for the customer, and you don’t stress the need for the Harbinger to have money, they’ll be more likely to buy because they think you’re helping them. But don’t bring this sheet in with you.
Go into the business in person. If you can’t, call them. If all else fails, use e-mail as a last resort. Follow-up with businesses that never called you back. We lose a lot of revenue forgetting this bullet.
  It is a challenge meeting with local businesses and convincing them that the Harbinger is a legitimate media outlet.   But it’s not impossible. We have a list of potential buyers around the room, and most people are happy to buy ad space in the paper if you go in to their shop, look professional, and give them an excessive amount of respect.
Hello, My name is ________ and I'm on the staff of the Harbinger, the student newspaper at Shawnee Mission East High School. I'm contacting you to offer you advertising space for _________ (business) in upcoming issues of the paper which is freely distributed to 2,000 students in and around Prairie Village, Kansas. If you have advertised with us before this year, we've made a few changes to the contract that I would like to bring your attention to. Our Online site is rapidly growing, and we offer a 10% discount off your total purchase if you run print and Online ads simultaneously. We're also offering a quarter discount (4 print ads run consecutively or non-consecutively) of 5%. I've attached our ad contract. Our publication dates and prices are listed for both Online and print advertisements. The sizes are listed in column inches by inches, and to convert column inches to inches, multiply the column inch number by two. For example, a 3 x 4 ad would be 6 inches wide by 4 inches tall. If you would like to run an ad with dimensions that are not listed on the contract, please contact me and I will reply with an estimate as soon as possible. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our information is listed at the bottom of the contract. Thank you, ______________ (NAME)
This year we’d like to reach out to a broader customer audience. So we’re running ads that aren’t just from businesses. Sell to your friends. Run a happy birthday greeting. Post a classified. The sky’s the limit, as long as its not profane. My mom knew two guys in college who sent phony love letters to each other via newspaper ads.
Before you leave Give the business your contact information paper. Give the customer the yellow copy of the contract, return the white one to our box.
When you come back Bring a completed invoice and the latest Harbinger Collect payment
Tim Shedor, Co-Editor: (913) 375-6015 Phoebe Unterman, Co-Editor: (913) 787-5191 Morgan Christian, Ads Manager: (913) 231-6981 You can text or call any of us if you’re interested in joining the staff or if you have questions.