In planning any calendar printing project, the obvious truth to concentrate to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, if your calendar is just not ultimately user’s hands before January 1, 2014, they may already have found another. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be in the consumer’s arms close to the start of school if it is going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline may give you timeline for your entire undertaking.
How are you getting your calendars into the top person’s palms? Are you giving them away? If that’s the case, then it should be relatively straight-forward to determine the distribution logistics and determine by what date you will need to have calendars in hand. Or perhaps you might be mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you simply need to be sure you permit enough time for inserting into envelopes, adding a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or take into account having the printer or a neighborhood mailhouse deal with mailing the calendars – it is going to probably be cheaper and easier for you. Just be sure to find out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they’ll want and issue it in.
If, on the other hand, you plan to print a calendar and sell it, both as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making enterprise, then distribution is a little more complicated. How a lot time you want for gross sales will depend on your gross sales strategy. Are you selling at a local competition or different occasion? If that’s the case, then that provides you a deadline, however understand that you will be better off if you happen to can promote at multiple occasions, in case attendance or sales at one occasion are usually not what you expect. Or maybe you’re having volunteers sell calendars to friends and family or door-to-door. In that case, you should permit at least two weeks, and preferably up to 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their own completely different schedules, and a few will need reminders and encouragement.
In case you print a calendar that you just plan to sell, you need to make sure you develop and implement a solid advertising plan. Advertising and marketing does not have so as to add to the general period of the calendar undertaking – you’ll be able to and will start advertising through the planning and manufacturing stages of the venture. Nonetheless, in the event you wait to start advertising till you have got the calendars in hand, then you will have to permit no less than a number of additional weeks, perhaps extra, to your advertising message to achieve the meant audience and inspire them to purchase.
The production section of a calendar printing venture begins when you hand off all of the images, text, logos, promoting, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work so that you can approve after which puts it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Ensure you talk to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it’s usually about three weeks (typically sooner if you have a selected deadline). In the event you anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you will be proofing by committee, then it is best to probably enable a bit additional time – maybe a month in complete – for manufacturing.
