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, if your calendar is just not in the end consumer’s fingers before January 1, 2014, they might have already got discovered an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be within the person’s hands close to the beginning of faculty if it is going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can give you an excellent timeline for the whole challenge.
How are you getting your calendars into the tip consumer’s arms? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it should be relatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and decide by what date you have to to have calendars in hand. Or maybe you are mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you just have to make sure you allow sufficient time for inserting into envelopes, including a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or consider having the printer or a local mailhouse deal with mailing the calendars – it should most likely be cheaper and easier for you. Just be sure to discover out from the printer or mailhouse how much extra time they are going to want and factor it in.
If, then again, 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 complicated. How much time you want for gross sales is determined by your gross sales technique. Are you selling at an area competition or other occasion? In that case, then that gives you a deadline, but take into account that you may be higher off in the event you can sell at multiple events, in case attendance or gross sales at one event should not what you expect. Or possibly you might be having volunteers promote calendars to friends and family or door-to-door. In that case, you should allow at the very least two weeks, and ideally up to four weeks, since volunteers all have their own different schedules, and a few will need reminders and encouragement.
If you happen to print a calendar that you simply plan to promote, you should be sure to develop and implement a solid advertising and marketing plan. Advertising does not have to add to the overall duration of the calendar mission – you may and may start advertising and marketing throughout the planning and manufacturing levels of the undertaking. However, should you wait to begin advertising till you could have the calendars in hand, then you will want to permit a minimum of a few further weeks, perhaps extra, on your advertising and marketing message to succeed in the meant audience and inspire them to buy.
The manufacturing phase of a calendar printing undertaking starts if you hand off all of the images, textual content, logos, advertising, and so on. 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 completed product. Be sure you discuss 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 if you have a particular deadline). In the event you anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you may be proofing by committee, then you must in all probability allow a little bit additional time – possibly a month in total – for manufacturing.
