In planning any calendar printing project, the obvious truth to pay attention to is that every calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, if your calendar will not be ultimately user’s fingers earlier than January 1, 2014, they might already have discovered an alternative. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be within the user’s palms near the start of faculty if it will be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can provide you timeline for the entire challenge.
How are you getting your calendars into the top person’s palms? 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 will need to have calendars in hand. Or maybe you’re mailing them out to your clients or members; in that case you simply must ensure you allow sufficient time for inserting into envelopes, including a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or consider having the printer or a local mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it would probably be cheaper and simpler for you. Simply be sure to find out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they may want and issue it in.
If, alternatively, you propose to print a calendar and promote it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making enterprise, then distribution is a bit more difficult. How much time you want for gross sales is dependent upon your gross sales strategy. Are you promoting at an area competition or different occasion? If so, then that offers you a deadline, but remember that you’ll be better off for those who can promote at multiple events, in case attendance or sales at one occasion are usually not what you expect. Or maybe you’re having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. In that case, you should permit at least two weeks, and preferably as much as 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their very own different schedules, and a few will want reminders and encouragement.
Should you print a calendar that you simply plan to promote, it is best to you’ll want to develop and implement a solid marketing plan. Advertising and marketing doesn’t have so as to add to the overall duration of the calendar venture – you may and should start advertising and marketing in the course of the planning and manufacturing stages of the venture. However, in case you wait to start advertising till you’ve gotten the calendars in hand, then you’ll need to allow no less than just a few additional weeks, possibly more, on your marketing message to reach the intended viewers and encourage them to purchase.
The manufacturing part of a calendar printing undertaking begins if you hand off the entire images, text, logos, advertising, and so on. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work for you to approve after which puts it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Make sure 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 (typically sooner you probably have a specific deadline). In case you anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you can be proofing by committee, then you should in all probability enable a bit further time – maybe a month in complete – for manufacturing.
