In planning any calendar printing project, the most obvious fact to concentrate to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, in case your calendar just isn’t in the end person’s hands before January 1, 2014, they may already have discovered an alternative. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be within the user’s palms near the beginning of school if it’s going to be helpful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline may give you timeline for all the mission.
How are you getting your calendars into the end user’s arms? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it must be comparatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and determine by what date you’ll need to have calendars in hand. Or perhaps you might be mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you simply have to make sure you allow enough time for inserting into envelopes, adding a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or contemplate having the printer or an area mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it’ll probably be cheaper and easier for you. Simply be sure to find out from the printer or mailhouse how much additional time they are going to need and issue it in.
If, alternatively, you propose to print a calendar and promote it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making venture, then distribution is a bit more difficult. How a lot time you need for gross sales will depend on your gross sales technique. Are you selling at an area festival or different occasion? In that case, then that offers you a deadline, however needless to say you may be better off for those who can sell at a number of occasions, in case attendance or sales at one occasion are usually not what you count on. Or perhaps you are having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, it is best to permit a minimum of two weeks, and preferably as much as 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their very own different schedules, and some will need reminders and encouragement.
Should you print a calendar that you simply plan to sell, you need to be sure you develop and implement a strong advertising plan. Advertising does not have to add to the general period of the calendar mission – you can and will begin marketing during the planning and production phases of the challenge. Nonetheless, in case you wait to start advertising until you have the calendars in hand, then you have to to allow no less than a number of further weeks, maybe extra, to your marketing message to achieve the meant audience and encourage them to purchase.
The manufacturing part of a calendar printing challenge starts while you hand off all the photographs, text, logos, advertising, etc. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar paintings for you to approve and then places it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Be sure you talk to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is usually about three weeks (typically sooner when you’ve got a particular deadline). Should you anticipate last-minute modifications or additions, or if you’ll be proofing by committee, then it is best to probably permit slightly further time – possibly a month in total – for manufacturing.
