In planning any calendar printing challenge, the most 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 is not in the long run user’s hands earlier than January 1, 2014, they could have already got found an alternate. For a non-standard calendar that deadline could also be sooner (eg., a school-year calendar needs to be within the person’s palms close to the start of faculty if it’ll be useful to them). Working backwards from this absolute deadline may give you timeline for your entire project.
How are you getting your calendars into the end person’s palms? Are you giving them away? In that case, then it needs to be comparatively straight-forward to determine the distribution logistics and decide by what date you have to to have calendars in hand. Or perhaps you’re mailing them out to your prospects or members; in that case you just must be sure you permit enough time for inserting into envelopes, including a cover letter, addressing and mailing. Or contemplate having the printer or a local mailhouse handle mailing the calendars – it will most likely be cheaper and easier for you. Just be sure to find out from the printer or mailhouse how a lot further time they will want and factor it in.
If, however, you plan to print a calendar and promote it, either as a nonprofit fundraiser or as a profit-making venture, then distribution is a bit more difficult. How much time you need for sales will depend on your sales strategy. Are you selling at a neighborhood pageant or different event? If that’s the case, then that offers you a deadline, however needless to say you’ll be better off if you happen to can promote at a number of events, in case attendance or gross sales at one occasion are usually not what you count on. Or perhaps you’re having volunteers promote calendars to family and friends or door-to-door. If that’s the case, you must permit no less than two weeks, and preferably up to four weeks, since volunteers all have their very own totally different schedules, and some will need reminders and encouragement.
In case you print a calendar that you plan to sell, it is best to make sure to develop and implement a stable marketing plan. Advertising and marketing does not have so as to add to the overall duration of the calendar project – you may and will begin advertising and marketing through the planning and manufacturing phases of the mission. Nonetheless, should you wait to begin advertising and marketing until you may have the calendars in hand, then you will have to permit at the very least a number of further weeks, perhaps more, on your advertising and marketing message to reach the meant audience and motivate them to purchase.
The production section of a calendar printing venture starts when you hand off all the photos, text, logos, advertising, and so forth. to the printer, and the printer turns it into calendar art work so that you can approve and then 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’s usually about three weeks (generally sooner if you have a selected deadline). For those who anticipate last-minute adjustments or additions, or if you can be proofing by committee, then it’s best to in all probability allow a bit further time – maybe a month in whole – for manufacturing.
