In planning any calendar printing undertaking, the obvious reality 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 person’s palms before January 1, 2014, they could have already got found an alternative. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be in the consumer’s arms close to the beginning of school if it’s going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can give you a very good timeline for the whole venture.
How are you getting your calendars into the end user’s hands? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it needs to be comparatively 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 clients or members; in that case you just need to make sure you allow enough time for inserting into envelopes, adding a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or contemplate having the printer or a local mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it will in all probability be cheaper and easier for you. Just be sure to discover out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they may need and factor it in.
If, then again, you propose to print a calendar and sell it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making venture, then distribution is a little more difficult. How a lot time you need for sales is dependent upon your gross sales technique. Are you promoting at a local competition or other event? In that case, then that gives you a deadline, but take into account that you’ll be better off should you can sell at a number of events, in case attendance or gross sales at one occasion are usually not what you expect. Or possibly you are having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, it’s best to allow a minimum of two weeks, and preferably as much as 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their own different schedules, and a few will want reminders and encouragement.
Should you print a calendar that you just plan to sell, it’s best to be sure you develop and implement a solid advertising plan. Advertising and marketing does not have to add to the overall period of the calendar undertaking – you possibly can and should start advertising throughout the planning and manufacturing stages of the project. Nevertheless, in case you wait to start out advertising till you will have the calendars in hand, then you’ll need to permit at least a few additional weeks, maybe extra, on your advertising message to reach the supposed viewers and inspire them to purchase.
The manufacturing phase of a calendar printing mission begins whenever you hand off all of the pictures, textual content, logos, promoting, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar artwork for you to approve after which puts it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Make sure you discuss to your printer early on to fins out how long this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is usually about three weeks (generally sooner when you have a selected deadline). If you anticipate last-minute modifications or additions, or if you will be proofing by committee, then you must in all probability enable a bit extra time – maybe a month in complete – for manufacturing.
