Answers to
Frequently Asked Questions
What type of calendar should I choose?
What information should my advertising message contain?
Can my logo be used?
Is my advertising layout kept on file for future re-orders?
Can I see a proof before my order is printed?
How soon will I get my order?
Why should I order calendars early in the year?
What is the difference between personalized vs.
imprinted calendars?
Can I combine styles to get increased quantity pricing?
Can I order fewer calendars than the minimum shown on this web
site?
Can I fax my imprint instructions and logo?
What is considered reproducible artwork?
Can my advertising message contain multiple colors?
What if my advertising message gets printed incorrectly?
Can I order a certain quantity of calendars but change the
advertising message on a portion of the calendars?
Can calendars be mailed directly to my customers from the
factory?
Why is calendar advertising so effective?
Can I order non-imprinted calendars?
Is stock clipart available to visually "dress-up" my
advertising message?
Is a printed catalog available for the calendars shown?
Obviously the type of calendar you
choose for advertising depends on many factors. Of primary importance,
however, is to consider who you anticipate will be using the calendar. The
goal for most calendar advertisers is getting the recipient of the calendar to display it
in their office or the home. Calendars that don't get used serve very little
purpose to the advertiser.
Keep in mind that a calendar displayed
by the user makes a strong statement about that person. A nature-oriented
calendar usually means the user has a deep interest in the outdoors. Likewise,
a car calendar may typically broadcast that this person is an auto aficionado.
As a calendar advertiser, you want to strike the fancy of as many calendar
recipients as you can possibly muster. This may require purchasing several
different styles of calendars with your advertising imprint.
If you're still unsure which one style
of calendar best fits your needs then consider using the perennial favorite.
Year in and year out the number one selling calendars are the scenics showing images of
various landscape scenes or destinations. These calendars seem to appeal to
the broadest cross-section of people and are always a safe bet for the advertiser who must
stick with one calendar style or who is unsure of which style to use.
Of course, the other decision that needs
to be made is which type of calendar. Do you give wall calendars?
Desk calendars? Pocket calendars? Or something else?
Here again it depends largely on personal taste. Wall calendars are the most
popular, but perhaps giving something unique would better serve your calendar recipient's
needs. A rule of thumb is to purchase the best calendars your budget will
allow. Calendars can have either a high or a low perceived value.
Customers who receive a calendar with gift value are more apt to put it into use.
Choosing what information to put on your
calendar's advertising message can be simple...or it can be a challenge.
Here's a few pointers on what generally makes the most attractive advertising
layout. First, don't use too many lines of promotional copy. Each
calendar style has a maximum allowable imprinting space and the more lines of copy you use
the smaller the type on each line must be. We recommend no more than four
lines of copy (with five the absolute maximum).
Only include information that is
absolutely important. We believe the best ads have one mainline of copy that
is big and bold, thus really standing out. After all, the calendar is a
billboard for your business or organization. Don't you want people standing 10
feet away from the calendar to still be able to read it?
If your business or organizational
purpose isn't obvious by your name, be sure to tell the viewer who you are or what you do.
Often this can be best accomplished by displaying a short slogan.
You may also want to tell the viewer of your ad message what action you want
them to do. Should they call you the next time they need roof repairs?
Maybe you are the one who has widest selection of bike parts in town.
Give people a reason to remember they saw your business name on a calendar
hanging in Joe's office.
If you're still having a hard time
imagining how your ad might look allow us to offer some suggestions. When you
get to our on-line order form you will see a section that asks you for an advertising
message layout preference. By
clicking here you
can preview that section to get a better idea of how your ad can be attractively laid out.
Finally, if all else fails and you still
are at a loss for ideas on how to organize your advertising message, just tell us the
basic information and we'll handle the rest. Our production department lays
out hundreds of customer ads daily so we can use our best judgement and expertise.
We then suggest proofing services so you can see how the finished product
will look and approve it prior to production.
On most calendar styles we can
incorporate your logo design into the advertising message at no additional cost.
To do so, here's what we need:
- Clean, camera-ready art (preferably a logo slick shown high
contrast black on glossy white paper).
- Letterheads, brochures, and sometimes business cards may be used
as acceptable alternatives.
- If your logo contains multi-colors we prefer to have the logo
color-broke. That means each color is separated and provided to us as distinct
color fragments (on different sheets). Logos that contain multi-colors and are
supplied to us without color-breaking will incur artist time to be quoted to a customer as
an additional expense to the order.
Remember, we can only reproduce your
logo to the same quality as you provide it to us. Logos that require art time
whether it be for clean-up or color separating work will be billed to the customer.
Typically if the art time is quite minor we will do it at our expense.
On the other hand, if the customer will incur an artist charge of more than
$25 we will contact the customer for approval prior to proceeding. The best
rule of thumb is to supply us with the sharpest, most complete artwork you can possibly
supply. Not only does this save money, but it will also save your order
production time at our factory.
A few final thoughts about logos.
We do not accept logos printed on stationary or business cards that has
raised lettering (if you can rub your fingers over the printing and feel it we would
rather not use this for scanning). Furthermore, we do not accept logos
transmitted to us by fax as this does not maintain a logo's sharp definition.
Instead, we prefer to have any logos desired to be mailed to our business making reference
to an earlier order that was placed (or accompanying your original order).
Yes, in most cases your order will be
kept on file for future years. Therefore it is perfectly acceptable to us for
you to simply refer to your ad imprint instructions as "same as last year" and
we'll know exactly what you mean. Please be aware that in some circumstances
if you fail to order during one calendar year, thus skipping a year, we may require you to
re-submit your desired order instructions. If you place an order with us and
we cannot find an earlier order to reference, we will contact you.
We consider proofing to be one of the
most important services we provide. For obvious reasons if a calendar order is
printed incorrectly it not only dissatisfies a customer, but it's also a tremendous waste
of valuable natural resources. Therefore, on all new orders we strongly
suggest that you consider choosing the optional proofing service to ensure order accuracy.
Keep in mind, however, that the process
of proofing adds additional time to an order's production schedule. Typically
as soon as the order is entered and the proof is generated we fax it to the
customer. Once the proof is faxed to the customer the entire order is
essentially "on hold" pending approval or corrections by the customer.
It becomes essential that the customer understands that delaying proof
approval will lengthen the production time necessary for the order to be completed and
shipped. We therefore encourage customers not to delay action upon the proof
any longer than absolutely necessary.
For customers who do not have a fax we
mail a copy of the proof through the postal system. At times, especially when
proofing complicated multi-color ad layouts, it also becomes necessary to mail the proof
to the customer so that proper color-breaks can be approved.
Generally speaking most calendar orders
are shipped within six to eight weeks from the time they are received at our office.
In some cases, we can turn certain wall calendar orders around in less than
two weeks. Production time varies depending upon how busy the factory is at
the time of ordering.
If you are ordering calendars for a
certain event or for a scheduled mailing to customers please advise us of your delivery
needs at the time of ordering. If the factory feels it cannot meet your
production needs it will advise you before further processing the order. It
should be expressly noted, however, that the mere acceptance of an order in and of itself
does not guarantee delivery by a promised date. Even though we strive hard to
meet all customer expectations for delivery we simply do not compromise quality through
rushing our production process.
Placing your calendar order early in the
year does several things. First, it ensures that the calendar style you want
will be available. The vast majority of calendar styles we offer are sold in
limited production quantity. If stock becomes depleted on a particular style
and it's early in the season we generally print additional quantities. On the
other hand, if it is later in the sales season (such as October, November or December),
the decision is sometimes made not to go back on the presses to print additional
calendars. Ordering early simply gives you the widest selection of calendars
from which to choose.
The second thing ordering early provides
you is convenience. For most people the fall season is one of the busiest
times of the year (back to school, approaching holiday seasons, etc.). Why not
get the task of ordering calendars out of the way so it's one less thing to worry about as
the year's end approaches.
Finally, our production is at its peak
during the weeks surrounding Thanksgiving. As an incentive to customers for
ordering early we offer, on most items, the option of delaying shipping.
Therefore you can order calendars, say in March, and designate to have them shipped at any
time you desire, such as November 15th (or earlier or later). This allows the
factory to produce the calendars during non-peak production times and allows us to store
the finished calendars securely in our warehouse awaiting scheduled shipping.
The term "personalized," as
used in this web site and in the promotional products industry, means to put a person's
name on the calendar. Personalized calendars usually appear in two different
ways. On planners and some desk calendars it can simply be the person's name.
This creates a special form of pride in the calendar because the ownership is
so clearly designated. Typically on wall calendars, on the other hand, we use
some form of expression such as "Calendar created especially for John Doe."
The customer must provide a typewritten list (or on disk) of all the
personalized names to be printed on the calendars.
Personalization is a nice touch for
those advertisers who want to do something special for their calendar recipients.
Although it's a bit more costly than standard imprinting alone, most
customers are flattered to see their name printed on a calendar. It shows that
the decision to distribute a calendar to them was well thought out in advance...and people
appreciate that. Perhaps the only downside to personalizing is the planning
necessary to develop the list of names. As a calendar advertiser you certainly
don't want to forget anyone from being included on your personalized list.
Still, once developed, most customers simply use the same list year after year with just a
few minor modifications by adding or deleting names.
The term "imprinting" simply
refers to a company's advertising message. Imprinting would be the part of the
calendar that shows the company (or organization) name, address, phone numbers, etc.
Please keep in mind that a calendar can be imprinted, personalized or include
both. It is also important to recognize that only certain products can be
personalized while nearly all products shown on this web site can be imprinted.
Finally, most products shown on these web pages include the cost of
imprinting built into the price (see product description), however, personalization is at
an additional expense.
For further information about the cost
of personalization, please e-mail or call
1-800-458-8334.
On a few similarly priced styles we will
sometimes allow a customer to combine styles for better pricing, however, this request is
handled only upon making an advanced request. Please e-mail or call 1-800-458-8334 with the style
numbers and quantities of each you would like us to consider for better pricing.
In most cases we must strictly adhere to
the minimum quantities offered on this web site for imprinted calendar stock.
On the other hand, if you are looking for blank or non-imprinted calendar products we will
sometimes allow a smaller sale (but never less than 1/2 of the lowest imprinted quantity
posted on this web site). Orders for less than minimum levels may be subject
to special price adjustments. Contact us by e-mail or call 1-800-458-8334 for further pricing
and availability information.
You may fax your imprinting instructions
for how you would like your advertising message to appear provided that it is text-only.
We do not allow the submission of a logo or similar artwork
via facsimile. The fax number for ordering or further information is: (507)
789-5846.
Any artwork that is submitted consisting
of sharp, high-contrast, color-separated black-and-white art which requires no artist
touch-up is considered reproducible artwork. This may be in the form of logo
slicks or electronically supplied on computer disk. If supplied on disk, the
preferred file formats include QuarkXpress®, Adobe Illustrator®, Adobe Photoshop™
and Postscript®. A hard copy of the artwork must also be supplied with the
anything submitted electronically.
Artwork that is not considered
reproducible is subject to clean-up and additional charges. If charges are
expected to exceed $25 the customer will be notified in advance. Artwork will
be returned to the customer, if requested. In some cases it may also be
necessary to get a signed logo release to ensure that no infringements on intellectual
property rights are being made by processing the order.
Generally speaking we do not consider
the following items to be reproducible artwork: Yellow Page ads, faxed art,
T-shirts, photocopies, magnets, plastic or paper bags, raised lettering on business cards
or stationary.
On many calendar styles you may choose
to have multiple colors as part of your advertising message. Typically the
advertising message is printed in black (or another color as specified on the product web
page), but virtually any color can be imprinted on most calendar styles. It is
very important if you want a color other than the standard imprint color you must specify
this at the time of ordering. Orders received without special color imprinting
instructions will be printed in the standard imprint color, whatever that may be for the
particular style being ordered.
If you have further questions about
multi-color ads we encourage you to contact our office for additional information.
You may contact us by e-mail or by
calling 1-800-458-8334.
We strive very hard to ensure that your
advertising message gets imprinted exactly how you want it. That's why we
generally insist on typewritten instructions or handwritten copy only if clearly
legible. Still, occasionally a customer will receive a calendar order that
isn't quite right.
Our policy is to correct any errors made
at the factory at our expense if that error is attributed to our mistake. If
we receive instructions and they are not clear, the order is placed on hold until the
customer is contacted and the question(s) are answered.
Often times in setting copy for a new
customer we must use our judgement on what looks best for the layout. If you
have very specific wishes for how your advertising copy must appear you must select
proofing services when ordering. Once a proof is approved it will be printed
exactly how you approved or we will reprint it at no additional charge.
In most cases, yes, but please e-mail or call (800-458-8334) the factory for
details on any additional charges that may apply.
Most calendars sold on this web site can
be shipped directly to your customers if a mailing list or labels are supplied.
Please e-mail or call
(800-458-8334) the factory for details on what requirements are necessary including any
additional charges that may apply to this service.
There are many reasons why calendar
advertising has been around for over a century. Perhaps of primary
significance is the fact calendars are so functional in our day-to-day living.
Try running a busy life or business without a calendar and you will quickly
begin to appreciate just how often a calendar is used.
Indeed, many types of advertising
specialties are used by businesses. Few, however, actually get put into use by
the recipient. Calendars seem to be prominently displayed in many homes or
offices mostly because a calendar must be readily seen by the user to be functional.
Coincidentally, when a calendar is in full view so, too, is the advertising
message that the calendar successfully billboards. In effect, when a
promotional calendar is on display in a home or office it is making a statement that the
user has connections to that business or organization.
Calendars also have a unique gift value
that many other forms of advertising just seem to lack. Moreover, when you use
calendar advertising you are able to control the distribution to your customers, prospects
or members. Calendar advertising enables you to invest your advertising
dollars to the exact market you choose without wasted coverage. To reinforce
customer relationships you need to keep your important advertising message in full view of
the customer. In time, you'll discover that many calendar users will purposely
seek your business out at year's end just to receive a replacement calendar.
That's one sign your advertising dollars are working and appreciated.
In most cases you may order any of the
calendars shown on these web pages without an advertising message, however, you
may not re-sell these calendars as a retail item. There are a
few styles, however, where the calendar may not be sold to a customer without an imprint
(for licensing reasons).
Calendars sold without an imprint are
charged at the same rate as shown on the web pages for imprinted calendars.
Non-imprinted calendars are discounted in that they are shipped to the customer at no
additional charge.
Yes, our art department has a large
collection of royalty free clipart that may be used to add an interesting look to your
advertising layout. This clipart ranges from animals to cartoon figures
performing different career tasks. If interested, please e-mail or call (800-458-8334) about this free
service before placing your calendar order. We can then fax several
suggestions to you for consideration.
We do not offer a comprehensive catalog
featuring all calendar styles shown on this web site. Certain styles, however,
may appear in catalog materials that we produce. If you need a catalog to show
a committee, meeting, etc. where accessing the Internet and this web site is not feasible,
please contact us and we'll try to work something out to meet your needs.
Have A Question Still Not Answered? (Click
Here)
Have
Questions About Custom Calendars?
Check Out The Custom Calendar FAQ
|
