In planning any calendar printing challenge, the obvious fact to concentrate to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For the standard 2014 calendar, if your calendar is not in the end user’s palms earlier than January 1, 2014, they may already have found an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar must be within the consumer’s hands close to the start of faculty if it will be helpful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can provide you a good timeline for the whole undertaking.
How are you getting your calendars into the tip user’s arms? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it should be comparatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and decide by what date you will need to have calendars in hand. Or possibly you might be mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you just have to make sure you permit enough time for inserting into envelopes, including a canopy letter, addressing and mailing. Or think about having the printer or an area mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it will in all probability be cheaper and easier for you. Just make sure you discover out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they’ll need and issue it in.
If, however, you propose to print a calendar and sell it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making enterprise, then distribution is a little more difficult. How much time you need for sales is determined by your gross sales strategy. Are you selling at an area festival or other occasion? If so, then that offers you a deadline, but remember the fact that you may be better off in the event you can promote at a number of events, in case attendance or sales at one occasion aren’t what you count on. Or possibly you might be having volunteers sell calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. In that case, it’s best to permit at the very least two weeks, and ideally as much as four weeks, since volunteers all have their own totally different schedules, and some will need reminders and encouragement.
In case you print a calendar that you simply plan to sell, it’s best to make sure you develop and implement a strong advertising and marketing plan. Advertising and marketing does not have so as to add to the general duration of the calendar undertaking – you may and should begin advertising during the planning and manufacturing phases of the project. However, should you wait to start out advertising and marketing till you have the calendars in hand, then you’ll need to permit a minimum of a few additional weeks, possibly extra, in your marketing message to reach the intended audience and inspire them to purchase.
The manufacturing section of a calendar printing mission starts once you hand off all of the photos, text, logos, advertising, etc. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work so that you can approve and then puts it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Be sure to talk to your printer early on to fins out how long this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it is usually about three weeks (sometimes sooner in case you have a particular deadline). If you happen to anticipate last-minute changes or additions, or if you’ll be proofing by committee, then it’s best to most likely enable a bit further time – perhaps a month in total – for production.
