Did you know that the first wall calendar with a company advertisement was issued as early as 1885 and is still preserved in the Boston Museum? This simple yet cleverly effective marketing tool has not lost its relevance even in the digital age. Every time a client turns to the next date, they unconsciously glance at the brand’s logo as well. Is it not one of the simplest ways to become a daily partner to your clients?
However, ordering calendars often seems like an expensive and time-consuming process. Good news – with the right approach, you can save the budget while standing out among competitors. The five tips mentioned below will help you utilize the potential of calendars without losing quality.
Desk triangles, wall posters, or miniature pocket calendars – options abound. The first step is to understand where the calendar will be used: on the office wall, on a client’s desk, or at the edge of a café counter. Compare formats based on functionality and printing costs. Smaller sizes mean less paper consumption and lower delivery costs, while larger areas allow more visual elements without overcrowding.
If the choice is for a wall version, consider a model with a month-to-month view and a transparent date window. This solution proves effective as information is visible from a distance, while production costs remain moderate. A broader range of options is offered by calendar production at our printing house, where experts can recommend the optimal material and post-processing methods.
Clients increasingly expect individual attention, but that doesn’t mean an astronomical budget. Modern digital printing technologies allow the inclusion of names, unique discount codes, or even customized images for each recipient, only on the sheets where it is necessary. Thus, ordering calendars becomes flexible: smaller runs are no longer a barrier to creative ideas as preparation costs have significantly decreased. Imagine a situation where Company A prints calendars for its partners with a personalized message: “Thank you, Andris, for the joint achievement of 120,000 € turnover!” Such a message, highlighted with color or embossing, creates emotions hard to resist and increases the perceived value of the gift by 30%, as evidenced by Packaging Innovations report.
To not lose the advantages of scale, choose a hybrid scenario: the base design is printed in large runs by offset printing, while personalized elements are added digitally only to necessary pages. It is like building Lego – together it looks expensive, but the parts cost surprisingly little.
Regular coated paper is still a safe choice, but often a thickness of 170 g/m² is sufficient, instead of 250 g/m², for the calendar to stand upright while simultaneously reducing the overall weight by almost a third. This might seem insignificant until it comes time to pay for international shipping per copy. Moreover, matte lamination on the cover adds a “wow” effect, but the cost increase is symbolic, especially if it is applied only on the first few pages. A simple trick: choose standard A3 or A4 format to use the full width of the paper sheet and reduce waste. As a result, resources and time are conserved in the production stage. A curious fact: by adopting such optimization, one Latvian construction company saved 18 kg of paper per thousand calendars – that’s as much as the average two-year-old weighs!
Overproduction is a silent budget destroyer. To avoid overpaying for calendars forgotten on warehouse shelves, start with a precise mapping of your audience: clients, partners, internal staff. Increase the number by only 10% to cover unforeseen needs, and agree with the printing house on the option to repeat a small print run if demand turns out to be higher. Often this is cheaper than storing hundreds of extra copies.
Another trick – combine several print projects into one order. If the company simultaneously needs brochures or flyers, combine them with calendar sheets on one offset plate. Lower setup costs and shorter production time mean that ordering calendars automatically becomes more wallet-friendly.
A perfect calendar won’t shine if it reaches the client’s hands crumpled. Choose neat but lightweight packaging tubes or envelopes with a cardboard backing. They protect the design and simultaneously serve as additional advertising space where a slogan or contact information can be prominently displayed.
Plan the shipment well in advance: send international shipments in October, local ones at the end of November. A fresh, just-unpacked calendar on the holiday table evokes much greater excitement than a copy received in late January. Moreover, including a personalized greeting card increases the likelihood that the calendar will remain in a visible spot rather than in a drawer.
Five steps – correct format, smart personalization, material optimization, precise run, and thoughtful distribution – transform the calendar into one of the most cost-effective brand ambassadors. Are you ready to take the first step and test how much return can be achieved with strategically planned calendar ordering? The decision made today will remain in front of your client’s eyes for a whole year!
