In planning any calendar printing project, the obvious reality 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 in the end user’s palms earlier than January 1, 2014, they could already have found an alternative. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be in the consumer’s palms near the start of school if it is going to be helpful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can give you a good timeline for the entire challenge.
How are you getting your calendars into the top person’s palms? Are you giving them away? If that’s the case, then it needs to be relatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and decide by what date you will need to have calendars in hand. Or perhaps you might be mailing them out to your clients or members; in that case you just must ensure you allow enough time for inserting into envelopes, adding a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or consider having the printer or an area mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it’ll in all probability be cheaper and simpler for you. Simply ensure you find out from the printer or mailhouse how much extra time they are going to want and issue it in.
If, however, you plan to print a calendar and sell it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making venture, then distribution is a bit more complicated. How a lot time you want for sales relies on your gross sales strategy. Are you promoting at an area festival or different occasion? In that case, then that offers you a deadline, however take into account that you will be better off for those who can promote at a number of occasions, in case attendance or gross sales at one occasion will not be what you count on. Or maybe you are having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If so, you need to allow a minimum of two weeks, and ideally up to 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their own different schedules, and some will want reminders and encouragement.
For those who print a calendar that you plan to promote, you must make sure you develop and implement a solid advertising plan. Advertising and marketing doesn’t have to add to the overall period of the calendar mission – you’ll be able to and should begin advertising throughout the planning and production levels of the undertaking. Nonetheless, for those who wait to begin advertising and marketing till you’ve the calendars in hand, then you will need to allow not less than a number of further weeks, maybe extra, in your advertising message to succeed in the meant viewers and inspire them to purchase.
The manufacturing part of a calendar printing undertaking starts if you hand off the entire images, text, logos, promoting, etc. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar paintings for you to approve and then places it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Be sure to talk to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it’s normally about three weeks (generally sooner if in case you have a specific deadline). In case you anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you may be proofing by committee, then it is best to most likely enable somewhat additional time – maybe a month in complete – for manufacturing.
