In planning any calendar printing mission, the most obvious truth to pay attention to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, if your calendar will not be ultimately user’s arms before January 1, 2014, they might already have found an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be in the person’s arms close to the start of school if it’s going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline may give you a great timeline for your complete challenge.
How are you getting your calendars into the tip person’s palms? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it must be comparatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and decide by what date you’ll need to have calendars in hand. Or perhaps you might be mailing them out to your customers or members; in that case you just need to ensure you allow sufficient 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’s going to in all probability be cheaper and simpler for you. Simply be sure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they are going to want and factor it in.
If, alternatively, 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 sophisticated. How much time you need for gross sales depends upon your gross sales technique. Are you promoting at a local competition or other event? In that case, then that gives you a deadline, however remember that you’ll be higher off in the event you can promote at a number of events, in case attendance or sales at one occasion are usually not what you count on. Or perhaps you are having volunteers promote calendars to friends and family or door-to-door. In that case, it is best to enable no less than two weeks, and preferably as much as 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their very own totally different schedules, and a few will need reminders and encouragement.
If you happen to print a calendar that you plan to promote, you should make sure to develop and implement a solid advertising plan. Advertising does not have so as to add to the general duration of the calendar challenge – you may and should start advertising throughout the planning and production stages of the challenge. Nevertheless, in case you wait to begin marketing until you may have the calendars in hand, then you will have to permit no less than just a few extra weeks, possibly more, to your marketing message to reach the meant viewers and motivate them to purchase.
The manufacturing part of a calendar printing mission begins if you hand off all of the photos, text, logos, advertising, and so on. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work for you to approve and then 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 is usually about three weeks (typically sooner if in case you have a specific deadline). In the event you anticipate last-minute changes or additions, or if you can be proofing by committee, then you should most likely permit a little further time – possibly a month in total – for manufacturing.
