In planning any calendar printing project, the obvious truth to pay attention to is that every 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 long run consumer’s palms earlier than January 1, 2014, they could have already got discovered an alternative. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be in the person’s palms close to the beginning of school if it’s going to be helpful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline may give you timeline for the entire mission.
How are you getting your calendars into the top user’s fingers? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it ought to be relatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and decide by what date you will want to have calendars in hand. Or possibly you might be mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you simply must be sure to permit enough time for inserting into envelopes, adding a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or take into account having the printer or a local mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it will probably be cheaper and easier for you. Simply be sure to discover out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot extra time they may want and factor 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 venture, then distribution is a little more sophisticated. How a lot time you want for sales relies on your gross sales technique. Are you selling at a neighborhood festival or other event? If so, then that gives you a deadline, however remember that you’ll be higher off when you can sell at multiple events, in case attendance or gross sales at one event are not what you anticipate. Or maybe you might be having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, you need to allow at least two weeks, and ideally as much as 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their very own completely different schedules, and some will want reminders and encouragement.
In the event you print a calendar that you plan to sell, you need to remember to develop and implement a solid advertising and marketing plan. Advertising and marketing does not have so as to add to the overall period of the calendar venture – you may and should begin marketing throughout the planning and production stages of the mission. Nevertheless, when you wait to begin marketing till you have got the calendars in hand, then you have to to allow at the very least a couple of additional weeks, perhaps more, on your advertising and marketing message to reach the meant audience and motivate them to buy.
The manufacturing phase of a calendar printing challenge begins when you hand off all the photographs, text, logos, advertising, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar artwork so that you can approve and then puts it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Ensure you speak to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it’s normally about three weeks (generally sooner when you’ve got a specific deadline). If you anticipate last-minute changes or additions, or if you can be proofing by committee, then it’s best to in all probability permit slightly extra time – maybe a month in whole – for manufacturing.
