In planning any calendar printing challenge, the obvious reality to pay attention to is that every calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, in case your calendar will not be in the end person’s fingers earlier than January 1, 2014, they might already have discovered another. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be in the person’s fingers close to the beginning of school if it is going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can provide you an excellent timeline for your complete challenge.
How are you getting your calendars into the top person’s hands? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it should be relatively straight-forward to determine the distribution logistics and determine by what date you’ll need to have calendars in hand. Or maybe you might be mailing them out to your clients or members; in that case you simply need to be sure you permit enough time for inserting into envelopes, including a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or take into account having the printer or an area mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it is going to most likely be cheaper and simpler for you. Just be sure you find out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot additional time they’ll need and factor it in.
If, however, you intend to print a calendar and promote it, both as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making enterprise, then distribution is a bit more difficult. How much time you want for gross sales depends upon your sales strategy. Are you selling at a neighborhood competition or other occasion? In that case, then that offers you a deadline, but needless to say you will be higher off should you can sell at a number of occasions, in case attendance or gross sales at one event usually are not what you anticipate. Or maybe you are having volunteers promote calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, it is best to permit at least two weeks, and ideally as much as 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their own completely different schedules, and a few will want reminders and encouragement.
If you happen to print a calendar that you simply plan to sell, you must remember to develop and implement a stable advertising plan. Advertising does not have to add to the overall period of the calendar challenge – you can and should begin advertising and marketing during the planning and manufacturing phases of the project. Nevertheless, when you wait to start out marketing till you could have the calendars in hand, then you will need to allow at least a few extra weeks, maybe more, for your advertising message to achieve the supposed audience and motivate them to purchase.
The manufacturing phase of a calendar printing project starts when you hand off all the pictures, text, logos, advertising, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar artwork so that you can 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 lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is usually about three weeks (generally sooner if you have a selected deadline). Should you anticipate last-minute modifications or additions, or if you will be proofing by committee, then it is best to most likely enable a bit further time – maybe a month in complete – for manufacturing.
