14 ways to rescue your calendar promotions from mediocrity
Low-tech. Boring. Unsexy. Woefully utilitarian. As promotional items, calendars might seem about as interesting as a 6th-grade play on the metric system (about two hours too long and as exciting as repeatedly listening to a small, affectless human dully counting to 30). Repeated countings to 30 aside, thankfully the boring reputation of calendars is more myth than fact.
Like any other promotional item, it's not what the item is, but what you're able to do with it creatively. Calendars may lack the innate trendiness of high-fashion tees or the intoxicating, brain-snaring pull of the latest tech gadget, but that doesn't mean they're at all a weaker product (in fact quite the opposite is true). There are any number of clever angles and creative hooks to weave into a calendar promotion. While by no means a complete list, below are 14 tips to help you make the most of calendars.
1. You Don't Have to Start with January or December.
"One surprising trend is starting calendars with a month other than January," said Amberlea Barnes, CEO for Drummond Printing Inc., Stuttgart, Ark. "We recently completed an order for a horseback riding camp," she said. "Their season starts in May, so they chose a May 2011-April 2012 wall calendar and listed their locations and events on each date block. We were able to create a truly custom calendar that is useful and commemorates the year for participants."
"One surprising trend is starting calendars with a month other than January," said Amberlea Barnes, CEO for Drummond Printing Inc., Stuttgart, Ark. "We recently completed an order for a horseback riding camp," she said. "Their season starts in May, so they chose a May 2011-April 2012 wall calendar and listed their locations and events on each date block. We were able to create a truly custom calendar that is useful and commemorates the year for participants."
2. Use as a Greeting Card.
"Instead of sending the customer a greeting card that has eight seconds of exposure, send the customer a calendar," said Phil Martin, MAS, national sales manager for Warwick Publishing Company, St. Charles, Ill.
"Instead of sending the customer a greeting card that has eight seconds of exposure, send the customer a calendar," said Phil Martin, MAS, national sales manager for Warwick Publishing Company, St. Charles, Ill.
3. Get Sponsorships.
"One great promotional idea for helping generate calendar sales is to include sponsorship and ad pages to allow the organization to raise money to pay for or offset the cost of the planner by selling ads," said Tim O'Boyle, general manager for JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars, Charlotte, N.C.
"One great promotional idea for helping generate calendar sales is to include sponsorship and ad pages to allow the organization to raise money to pay for or offset the cost of the planner by selling ads," said Tim O'Boyle, general manager for JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars, Charlotte, N.C.
4. Consider Regional Iconography for Artwork.
Ted Paul, publisher for Beautiful America Publishing Company, Woodburn, Ore., stated that Beautiful America has had great success with wall calendars decorated with famous local outdoor scenes. Based out of the West Coast, he cited the company using specific locations like Columbia Gorge and the Oregon coast. "There is a connection to what people buy," he said. "People like to have stuff from their own state."
Ted Paul, publisher for Beautiful America Publishing Company, Woodburn, Ore., stated that Beautiful America has had great success with wall calendars decorated with famous local outdoor scenes. Based out of the West Coast, he cited the company using specific locations like Columbia Gorge and the Oregon coast. "There is a connection to what people buy," he said. "People like to have stuff from their own state."
5. Add Value.
"Any time you can add value to the calendar, you give the recipient more of a reason to hang on to it," explained Martin. He gave the example of adding coupons to each month of a calendar. "Now you've given them a reason to hang on to it for an entire year," he said.
"Any time you can add value to the calendar, you give the recipient more of a reason to hang on to it," explained Martin. He gave the example of adding coupons to each month of a calendar. "Now you've given them a reason to hang on to it for an entire year," he said.
6. Use Higher Quality Calendars to Outlast the Competition's.
Paul explained that more expensive and better decorated calendars were likely to be kept on merit of beauty, which will ensure that end-users continue using your client's calendar and not any of the many others they could pick up over the course of a year.
Paul explained that more expensive and better decorated calendars were likely to be kept on merit of beauty, which will ensure that end-users continue using your client's calendar and not any of the many others they could pick up over the course of a year.
7. Work Creatively with the Concept of Time.
"One of our most successful calendar programs was a pictorial planner for a national nonprofit organization World Vision," said O'Boyle. "World Vision helps provide wells and clean drinking water in third-world countries. This planner documented the progress with pictures on every month, included a letter from the president thanking donors and continuing their ongoing messages and plea for support," he explained. "The feedback we have gotten is that donors have grown to rely on this planner and it has been proven to be extremely effective to help retain members, donors and raise funds."
"One of our most successful calendar programs was a pictorial planner for a national nonprofit organization World Vision," said O'Boyle. "World Vision helps provide wells and clean drinking water in third-world countries. This planner documented the progress with pictures on every month, included a letter from the president thanking donors and continuing their ongoing messages and plea for support," he explained. "The feedback we have gotten is that donors have grown to rely on this planner and it has been proven to be extremely effective to help retain members, donors and raise funds."
"A calendar really is a business card, but it's a business card that sits on desk not in the drawer," said Martin.
9. Make Use of Multiple Imprint Spaces.
From empty date blocks to the inside covers to the margins for each month, there is a lot of space on a calendar that can be decorated. Paul related an anecdote where a realtor client decorated a drop tag to get users to flip open a calendar and view the inside back-cover ad. On the drop tag, there was a man pointing upwards, gesturing for users to flip to the back of the cover and see the realtor's full ad.
From empty date blocks to the inside covers to the margins for each month, there is a lot of space on a calendar that can be decorated. Paul related an anecdote where a realtor client decorated a drop tag to get users to flip open a calendar and view the inside back-cover ad. On the drop tag, there was a man pointing upwards, gesturing for users to flip to the back of the cover and see the realtor's full ad.
10. Use QR Codes.
Short for "quick response," QR codes are essentially special bar codes that are read and interpreted by the cameras on most internet-enabled smartphones. "QR codes can send them to a video, to a phone number I think, it can to websites, etc.," said Martin. "So there's a lot of uses for the QR codes."
Short for "quick response," QR codes are essentially special bar codes that are read and interpreted by the cameras on most internet-enabled smartphones. "QR codes can send them to a video, to a phone number I think, it can to websites, etc.," said Martin. "So there's a lot of uses for the QR codes."
11. Use as a Yearly Incentive to Pull End-users Into a Purchasing Space.
Paul related an anecdote where a car-dealership client set up a yearly calendar gift promotion for its customers, designed to get them to visit the store. The dealership would mail out a flyer, alerting customers of the arrival of the year's current batch of calendars. The calendars were stacked in the showroom, so the customers would have to come in and see all the new cars for that year in order to pick up the calendars. Quoting the dealership owner, Paul said, "'It used to be that I would see my clients maybe once every 4 to 6 years when they had to by a new car. But now I see them every year.'"
Paul related an anecdote where a car-dealership client set up a yearly calendar gift promotion for its customers, designed to get them to visit the store. The dealership would mail out a flyer, alerting customers of the arrival of the year's current batch of calendars. The calendars were stacked in the showroom, so the customers would have to come in and see all the new cars for that year in order to pick up the calendars. Quoting the dealership owner, Paul said, "'It used to be that I would see my clients maybe once every 4 to 6 years when they had to by a new car. But now I see them every year.'"
12. Calendars Don't Always Have to go to Customers.
Martin gave an example of an auto manufacturer using calendars as inter-office motivational tools, rather than a direct advertisement to customers. The calendars were given out to employees carrying the company's mission statement in order to provide them a year-long reminder.
Martin gave an example of an auto manufacturer using calendars as inter-office motivational tools, rather than a direct advertisement to customers. The calendars were given out to employees carrying the company's mission statement in order to provide them a year-long reminder.
13. Order Early.
Not exactly a creative tip, ordering early can give you a competitive edge all the same. Both Martin and Barnes stated that many calendar manufacturers offer earlier-order discounts starting around July. Some suppliers will not even charge up-front, allowing you to reserve an order up front and not have to pay until the order is shipped months later.
Not exactly a creative tip, ordering early can give you a competitive edge all the same. Both Martin and Barnes stated that many calendar manufacturers offer earlier-order discounts starting around July. Some suppliers will not even charge up-front, allowing you to reserve an order up front and not have to pay until the order is shipped months later.
14. Present Useful Information.
Paul gave an example of golf-themed calendars that Beautiful America prints, filling the dated portion of the wall calendar with information relevant to playing a specific hole at a real course. "What I do is, we do a ghost image behind the grids on monthly portion of the calendar," he said. "We do a schematic of all the hole, where the traps are, where the water is. It shows where to hit your first ball, where the second one goes, and so forth," he explained. "Then in the upper right-hand corner of the grids page, we have a four-or-five line caption, all about that golf course and that hole. How best to play it, etc." The par information and yardage is also included.
Paul gave an example of golf-themed calendars that Beautiful America prints, filling the dated portion of the wall calendar with information relevant to playing a specific hole at a real course. "What I do is, we do a ghost image behind the grids on monthly portion of the calendar," he said. "We do a schematic of all the hole, where the traps are, where the water is. It shows where to hit your first ball, where the second one goes, and so forth," he explained. "Then in the upper right-hand corner of the grids page, we have a four-or-five line caption, all about that golf course and that hole. How best to play it, etc." The par information and yardage is also included.
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