In planning any calendar printing challenge, the most obvious reality to pay attention to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For the standard 2014 calendar, if your calendar isn’t in the end person’s hands before January 1, 2014, they might have already got found an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be within the consumer’s palms close to the start of faculty if it will be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can give you a superb timeline for all the undertaking.
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 determine the distribution logistics and determine by what date you will need to have calendars in hand. Or maybe you might be mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you just must be sure you permit enough time for inserting into envelopes, including a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or consider having the printer or an area mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it can probably be cheaper and simpler for you. Simply make sure you find out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot additional time they may need and factor it in.
If, alternatively, you plan to print a calendar and sell it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making enterprise, then distribution is a little more difficult. How much time you need for gross sales is dependent upon your sales technique. Are you selling at a neighborhood competition or other occasion? If that’s the case, then that offers you a deadline, however take into account that you will be higher off when you can promote at multiple occasions, in case attendance or gross sales at one event are not what you count on. Or possibly you are having volunteers promote calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, it is best to allow at the very least two weeks, and ideally up to 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their own completely different schedules, and a few will want reminders and encouragement.
For those who print a calendar that you plan to sell, you should you should definitely develop and implement a solid advertising and marketing plan. Advertising does not have to add to the general period of the calendar venture – you can and may start marketing in the course of the planning and production levels of the venture. Nevertheless, in case you wait to start out advertising till you may have the calendars in hand, then you’ll need to allow at least a couple of additional weeks, maybe more, in your advertising and marketing message to reach the meant viewers and inspire them to purchase.
The production phase of a calendar printing undertaking starts when you hand off all the photographs, text, logos, promoting, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar artwork so that you can approve and then places it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Be sure you discuss to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it’s usually about three weeks (sometimes sooner in case you have a particular deadline). If you anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you may be proofing by committee, then it’s best to probably permit slightly extra time – perhaps a month in whole – for production.
