In planning any calendar printing mission, the most obvious truth to concentrate 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 is just not in the long run consumer’s hands before January 1, 2014, they could already have found an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be within the person’s fingers near the beginning of faculty if it is going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can provide you an excellent timeline for all the project.
How are you getting your calendars into the end user’s fingers? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it should be relatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and determine by what date you’ll need to have calendars in hand. Or possibly you might be mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you simply must be sure to allow 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 should most likely be cheaper and easier for you. Simply ensure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they will 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 little more complicated. How much time you need for sales depends upon your gross sales technique. Are you promoting at a neighborhood festival or different event? In that case, then that provides you a deadline, but take into account that you’ll be better off should you can promote at a number of events, in case attendance or sales at one event are not what you count on. Or perhaps you might be having volunteers promote calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If that’s the case, you need to allow a minimum of two weeks, and ideally up to four weeks, since volunteers all have their very own different schedules, and a few will want reminders and encouragement.
If you happen to print a calendar that you plan to promote, you must be sure you develop and implement a strong advertising and marketing plan. Marketing does not have to add to the overall length of the calendar project – you’ll be able to and will start marketing during the planning and manufacturing stages of the venture. However, if you happen to wait to start out advertising until you’ve gotten the calendars in hand, then you will have to permit no less than a few extra weeks, perhaps extra, in your advertising and marketing message to reach the meant viewers and inspire them to buy.
The production phase of a calendar printing venture begins if you hand off all the pictures, text, logos, promoting, and so on. 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. Be sure you discuss to your printer early on to fins out how long this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it’s often about three weeks (typically sooner if in case you have a particular deadline). If you anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you will be proofing by committee, then you must probably enable a bit of additional time – maybe a month in complete – for manufacturing.
