In planning any calendar printing undertaking, the 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 ultimately user’s hands earlier than January 1, 2014, they could already have discovered an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline may be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be in the user’s fingers near the beginning of school if it is going to be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can provide you a very good timeline for all the project.
How are you getting your calendars into the top person’s hands? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it should 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 prospects or members; in that case you just have to ensure you enable enough time for inserting into envelopes, adding a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or take into account having the printer or an area mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it is going to in all probability be cheaper and easier for you. Just ensure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how much further time they will want and factor it in.
If, on the other hand, you intend to print a calendar and promote it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making venture, then distribution is a little more difficult. How much time you want for sales is determined by your sales strategy. Are you promoting at a neighborhood festival or other occasion? In that case, then that gives you a deadline, however needless to say you will be higher off if you happen to can sell at a number of occasions, in case attendance or sales at one event will not be what you count on. Or perhaps you are having volunteers promote calendars to friends and family or door-to-door. If so, you must allow at the least two weeks, and ideally up to four weeks, since volunteers all have their very own completely different schedules, and a few will need reminders and encouragement.
Should you print a calendar that you just plan to promote, you must you’ll want to develop and implement a solid advertising plan. Advertising does not have to add to the overall length of the calendar venture – you’ll be able to and will begin advertising and marketing throughout the planning and manufacturing phases of the mission. However, if you wait to begin advertising and marketing till you will have the calendars in hand, then you will want to allow no less than just a few further weeks, perhaps extra, to your advertising message to succeed in the meant viewers and inspire them to buy.
The manufacturing phase of a calendar printing project begins if you hand off the entire pictures, text, logos, advertising, and so on. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work so that you can approve after which places it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Ensure you discuss to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is normally about three weeks (sometimes sooner if you have a specific deadline). In case you anticipate last-minute modifications or additions, or if you may be proofing by committee, then it’s best to most likely allow somewhat further time – maybe a month in total – for manufacturing.
