In planning any calendar printing mission, the most obvious fact to concentrate to is that every calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, if your calendar just isn’t in the long run consumer’s palms before January 1, 2014, they could already have found an alternative. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be within the person’s fingers near the beginning of college if it’ll be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can give you an excellent timeline for your complete project.
How are you getting your calendars into the tip user’s hands? Are you giving them away? If so, then it ought to be relatively straight-forward to determine the distribution logistics and decide by what date you will need to have calendars in hand. Or maybe you are mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you simply must be sure you permit sufficient time for inserting into envelopes, including a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or consider having the printer or a neighborhood mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it can probably be cheaper and easier for you. Simply ensure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot additional time they’ll want and factor it in.
If, on the other hand, you propose 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 a lot time you need for gross sales depends upon your gross sales strategy. Are you selling at a local pageant or other event? If so, then that gives you a deadline, but understand that you’ll be higher off for those who can sell at a number of occasions, in case attendance or gross sales at one occasion are usually not what you anticipate. Or perhaps you are having volunteers promote calendars to friends and family or door-to-door. If so, it is best to enable at least two weeks, and preferably as much as 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their very own different schedules, and some will want reminders and encouragement.
If you print a calendar that you plan to promote, it’s best to remember to develop and implement a strong marketing plan. Advertising and marketing does not have to add to the general period of the calendar undertaking – you’ll be able to and will begin advertising and marketing throughout the planning and manufacturing levels of the undertaking. Nonetheless, for those who wait to start advertising and marketing until you have the calendars in hand, then you will want to permit at least just a few further weeks, maybe extra, in your advertising message to achieve the meant audience and motivate them to buy.
The production part of a calendar printing venture begins when you hand off all the images, text, logos, advertising, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work so that you can approve and then puts it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Make sure you talk to your printer early on to fins out how long this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it’s normally about three weeks (typically sooner in case you have a specific deadline). If you anticipate last-minute changes or additions, or if you may be proofing by committee, then you should in all probability allow a bit additional time – perhaps a month in total – for production.
