In planning any calendar printing undertaking, the obvious reality to pay attention to is that each calendar is a time-sensitive product with a built-in distribution deadline. For a standard 2014 calendar, in case your calendar isn’t ultimately user’s hands before January 1, 2014, they might already have found an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be in the consumer’s palms near the start of school if it’ll be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline can give you a very good timeline for the complete challenge.
How are you getting your calendars into the top consumer’s arms? Are you giving them away? If that’s the case, then it ought to be comparatively straight-forward to figure out the distribution logistics and determine by what date you’ll need to have calendars in hand. Or perhaps you are mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you simply must make sure you enable enough time for inserting into envelopes, adding a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or take into account having the printer or an area mailhouse deal with mailing the calendars – it will most likely be cheaper and easier for you. Just be sure you find out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they may need and factor it in.
If, then again, you intend 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 a lot time you need for sales depends upon your sales technique. Are you selling at an area competition or other event? In that case, then that gives you a deadline, but keep in mind that you may be better off in the event you can promote at multiple occasions, in case attendance or gross sales at one event aren’t what you anticipate. Or possibly you might be having volunteers promote calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. In that case, it is best to enable a minimum of two weeks, and preferably up to 4 weeks, since volunteers all have their own completely different schedules, and a few will need reminders and encouragement.
When you print a calendar that you just plan to sell, it is best to you should definitely develop and implement a solid advertising and marketing plan. Marketing does not have so as to add to the overall period of the calendar project – you can and may begin advertising and marketing throughout the planning and production stages of the mission. However, in the event you wait to start marketing until you have got the calendars in hand, then you will need to allow at the least a few additional weeks, maybe more, in your advertising and marketing message to achieve the meant viewers and motivate them to purchase.
The production part of a calendar printing project starts while you hand off all of the photos, textual content, logos, promoting, and many others. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar artwork for you to approve and then places it on the press and delivers to you the finished product. Be sure you discuss to your printer early on to fins out how lengthy this takes. In our case at Yearbox, it’s usually about three weeks (typically 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 it is best to in all probability allow a little bit extra time – maybe a month in complete – for production.
