In planning any calendar printing project, the most obvious truth to concentrate to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For the standard 2014 calendar, in case your calendar is not in the end person’s palms earlier than January 1, 2014, they may have already got discovered an alternative. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be in the consumer’s arms near the start of faculty if it’s going to be helpful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline may give you a good timeline for your complete undertaking.
How are you getting your calendars into the end user’s fingers? Are you giving them away? If so, then it ought to be relatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and decide by what date you have to to have calendars in hand. Or perhaps you might be mailing them out to your customers or members; in that case you just must ensure you permit enough time for inserting into envelopes, including a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or contemplate having the printer or a local mailhouse deal with mailing the calendars – it’s going to in all probability be cheaper and simpler for you. Just make sure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how much additional time they are going to want and issue it in.
If, on the other hand, you propose to print a calendar and sell it, both as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making enterprise, then distribution is a bit more sophisticated. How a lot time you need for sales depends on your gross sales technique. Are you promoting at a local competition or different event? If so, then that provides you a deadline, but remember the fact that you may be better off should you can promote at a number of events, in case attendance or sales at one event should not what you count on. Or maybe you’re having volunteers promote calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. In that case, it is best to allow at least two weeks, and ideally up to 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their very own different schedules, and a few will need reminders and encouragement.
Should you print a calendar that you plan to sell, you must make sure you develop and implement a strong marketing plan. Advertising doesn’t have to add to the general period of the calendar project – you’ll be able to and will begin advertising during the planning and manufacturing phases of the challenge. Nonetheless, should you wait to begin advertising until you’ve gotten the calendars in hand, then you will have to permit no less than a number of additional weeks, maybe extra, for your advertising message to achieve the supposed audience and motivate them to purchase.
The manufacturing part of a calendar printing mission starts whenever you hand off all the pictures, text, logos, advertising, and many others. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar artwork for you to approve after which places it on the press and delivers to you the completed product. Be sure to discuss to your printer early on to fins out how long this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is usually about three weeks (typically sooner if in case you have a specific deadline). If you anticipate last-minute changes or additions, or if you’ll be proofing by committee, then you should in all probability enable a little bit further time – possibly a month in whole – for manufacturing.
