In planning any calendar printing mission, the most obvious fact to pay attention to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, in case your calendar shouldn’t be ultimately user’s fingers before January 1, 2014, they may have already got discovered another. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be in the person’s arms near the beginning of school if it’s going to be helpful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline may give you a very good timeline for your complete venture.
How are you getting your calendars into the top consumer’s hands? Are you giving them away? If so, then it needs to be relatively straight-forward to determine the distribution logistics and determine by what date you have to to have calendars in hand. Or maybe you might be mailing them out to your clients or members; in that case you simply must be sure you allow sufficient time for inserting into envelopes, adding a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or think about having the printer or a local mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it’ll most likely be cheaper and easier for you. Just make sure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot additional time they will want and factor it in.
If, on the other hand, you intend to print a calendar and sell it, both as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making venture, then distribution is a bit more sophisticated. How a lot time you want for sales is dependent upon your sales strategy. Are you promoting at an area pageant or different event? In that case, then that provides you a deadline, however keep in mind that you’ll be better off should you can promote at a number of occasions, in case attendance or sales at one event are not what you expect. Or maybe you might be having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, you must allow at least two weeks, and preferably up to four weeks, since volunteers all have their very own completely 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 solid marketing plan. Advertising and marketing doesn’t have so as to add to the overall period of the calendar project – you can and may start marketing in the course of the planning and production phases of the project. However, should you wait to begin marketing till you’ve gotten the calendars in hand, then you have to to allow not less than a few additional weeks, perhaps more, for your advertising and marketing message to reach the meant audience and encourage them to buy.
The production phase of a calendar printing venture starts whenever you hand off all of the pictures, text, logos, promoting, and many others. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar paintings for you to approve after which puts it on the press and delivers to you the completed product. Make sure you discuss to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is usually about three weeks (generally sooner you probably have a specific deadline). For those who anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you can be proofing by committee, then you need to in all probability enable a little bit additional time – possibly a month in whole – for manufacturing.