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Helpful Tips for Printing Calendars

As the end of the year approaches, we receive more inquiries on how to print a calendar. Calendars are a popular marketing tool, so many companies will print a calendar for the holiday season, for some good reason.

Branded calendars are a great marketing tool and are often printed and delivered to customers by a business as end-of-the-year thank you gifts, and it works because;

  • Everybody uses calendars
  • The sooner someone gets something for free, the sooner they will use it.
  • Create a great brand awareness tool as you keep your brand in front of your customer all the time.

While you may think about going the DIY route, having your product professionally manufactured will result in a high-quality end result that will make your business proud and actually cheaper per piece. Keep these tips in mind:

1.) The design should be uniform and in line with your brand.

You want the calendar to serve as more than just a tool for keeping track of dates, but also something that showcases your business and brand in the best possible light.

Choose typography, images, color and design that visually communicate and connect with your business. For example, if your company is a top-tier interior designer, you are not going to go for bold colors and cartoon images and fat childish typography. You would choose muted and elegant colors, clean and elegant fonts, and high-resolution images that show some of your work.

2.) A template layout might work

Finding a template online that is exactly what you are looking for, or at least very useful for the design you envisioned, is a breeze. Using a template also eliminates printing problems such as misalignment and bleed and cut lines. Even if you give the final design work to a professional, playing around with a few templates will get your creative uses going.

3.) Images: size matters

Due to their size, this is especially important for poster calendars, but it also applies to other calendar formats. Poor quality images often appear blurry or pixelated when printed. Professional printing services can create photo quality prints, but you may not be able to take full advantage of them when using poor quality images. When possible, try to use only high-quality uncompressed image file formats or vector images as recommended by your printing service.

Often times calendars like wall mounted calendars will require large images and it is crucial to use high resolution images to avoid ending up with pixelated, blurry and just plain ‘gross’ images. Using good quality uncompressed image file formats or vector images will suffice. Regardless of whether your calendars are large or small, the image quality will convey the subliminal message that your company is a quality company too.

Also, keep in mind that most monitors use an RGB color model, while most printers use CMYK. This is automatically accounted for when you print. However, if your monitor is not calibrated correctly, the colors you see on the screen may not match those that are eventually printed. Another reason to let the professionals do what they do best.

4.) What will be the use?

Consider where potential audiences are in the sales funnel. Are they in the middle of the funnel and are you just trying to get attention? Don’t spend money on expensive high-gloss wall calendars, instead consider card calendars with even magnetic options.

In contrast, poster calendars and wall calendars would be handy for a more targeted layout at the bottom of the funnel. At this point, you’re pretty sure your customer is closer to a sale, or has already made a purchase and may be about to buy again.

On the other hand, if you know that your customers are at the exit end of the buying funnel, that they have bought before and you want to maintain their loyalty, then the key is to be vigilant. Consider high-gloss, premium-quality calendars in large proportions that the customer wouldn’t mind hanging in their office because of the visual appeal.

Make sure to ask yourself all of the questions above before committing to the printing process. I hope these tips were helpful and that your calendar printing project goes off with great success!

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