In planning any calendar printing challenge, the most obvious truth to concentrate 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 shouldn’t be in the end consumer’s hands earlier than January 1, 2014, they might have already got discovered an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be in the user’s arms close to the start of faculty if it is going to be helpful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can provide you timeline for your entire undertaking.
How are you getting your calendars into the end consumer’s arms? Are you giving them away? If that’s the case, then it ought to be relatively straight-forward to determine the distribution logistics and determine by what date you will have to have calendars in hand. Or possibly you are mailing them out to your clients or members; in that case you simply need to be sure to enable sufficient time for inserting into envelopes, including a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or take into account having the printer or a local mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it’s going to in all probability be cheaper and simpler for you. Simply ensure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how much further time they will need and factor it in.
If, alternatively, you intend to print a calendar and promote it, both as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making enterprise, then distribution is a little more difficult. How much time you want for gross sales will depend on your sales technique. Are you selling at a neighborhood pageant or other occasion? In that case, then that provides you a deadline, however remember the fact that you’ll be better off if you happen to can promote at a number of occasions, in case attendance or sales at one event are usually not what you count on. Or perhaps you might be having volunteers promote calendars to friends and family or door-to-door. In that case, it is best to allow at least two weeks, and preferably up to four weeks, since volunteers all have their very own completely different schedules, and some will want reminders and encouragement.
In case you print a calendar that you simply plan to promote, you should be sure to develop and implement a strong marketing plan. Marketing does not have so as to add to the overall duration of the calendar mission – you can and may start advertising and marketing throughout the planning and manufacturing stages of the project. Nonetheless, in case you wait to begin marketing until you may have the calendars in hand, then you will have to permit at least a few additional weeks, maybe more, to your marketing message to achieve the meant audience and inspire them to buy.
The production section of a calendar printing venture begins whenever you hand off all the photos, text, logos, promoting, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work so that you can approve and then places it on the press and delivers to you the completed product. Be sure 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 (sometimes sooner when you’ve got a specific deadline). In case you anticipate last-minute modifications or additions, or if you will be proofing by committee, then it is best to in all probability allow a bit additional time – possibly a month in complete – for production.
