Short Timers Chain

In planning any calendar printing mission, the obvious reality to concentrate 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 in the long run consumer’s hands earlier than 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 in the user’s palms near the beginning of school if it’s going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can give you a good timeline for the entire venture.

How are you getting your calendars into the top user’s hands? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it must be relatively straight-forward to determine the distribution logistics and determine by what date you will want to have calendars in hand. Or maybe you might be mailing them out to your customers or members; in that case you simply need to make sure you allow sufficient time for inserting into envelopes, adding a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or think about having the printer or a neighborhood mailhouse deal with mailing the calendars – it is going to probably be cheaper and easier for you. Simply ensure you find out from the printer or mailhouse how much additional time they will need and factor it in.

If, then again, you plan to print a calendar and promote it, both as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making venture, then distribution is a bit more difficult. How much time you need for sales depends upon your gross sales technique. Are you promoting at a local festival or other occasion? In that case, then that offers you a deadline, but understand that you may be higher off when you can sell at a number of events, in case attendance or gross sales at one event are not what you count on. Or possibly you might be having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, it’s best to allow at least two weeks, and ideally up to 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their very own completely different schedules, and a few will want reminders and encouragement.

If you print a calendar that you just plan to sell, it is best to be sure to develop and implement a stable advertising and marketing plan. Advertising and marketing doesn’t have so as to add to the general length of the calendar undertaking – you possibly can and will start advertising and marketing through the planning and manufacturing levels of the venture. However, in the event you wait to start out marketing until you have got the calendars in hand, then you will have to allow no less than a few extra weeks, perhaps extra, for your advertising and marketing message to reach the meant viewers and motivate them to buy.

The manufacturing part of a calendar printing mission starts when you hand off all the images, text, logos, promoting, and so on. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar artwork so that you can approve and then puts it on the press and delivers to you the completed product. Be sure you talk to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is normally about three weeks (generally sooner if in case you have a particular deadline). For those who anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you’ll be proofing by committee, then you must in all probability permit somewhat extra time – possibly a month in total – for manufacturing.