Most successful businesses print and distribute promotional calendars to keep their brands top-of-mind and keep their customers engaged. But with so many designs, styles, and formats to choose from, how do you decide which is best for your business?
As a business owner, you're always looking for ways to promote your brand and keep your customers engaged. One effective way to achieve both goals—whatever your industry, sector, vertical, or niche—is by using printed calendars as marketing tools. Printed calendars not only offer functional value to your customers and potential customers, but they also offer a unique opportunity to showcase your brand's message, express your corporate values, and extend the reach of your marketing messages. In this guide, we'll explore the different printed calendars available for businesses, and provide tips for selecting the right format, style, and design for your needs. We've been successful in the offset printing business for over 25 years and many of our clients have held active accounts with us for over a decade; so you can be confident that we know what we're talking about! But there's no need to take that on trust. Let's dive in.
Why use printed calendars as marketing tools?
But why are we so excited about using printed calendars as marketing tools? We have good reasons, as we've seen the evidence in action. Several of our business clients come back year on year to print their latest calendars with us, so we know they're getting a good return on their investment. Printed calendars offer a range of benefits for businesses. The primary advantages include:
- Increased brand visibility: Calendars are used daily and are often displayed in prominent locations, such as on a wall or desk. This means that your brand message will be seen repeatedly by your customers and potential customers. Depending on the exact situation, a single calendar in the right location might be seen by literally hundreds of thousands of potential leads during a year.
- Cost-effective marketing and positive ROI: Printed calendars are relatively inexpensive to produce, making them a cost-effective way to promote your business compared to almost any other established and proven method.
- Customizable design: Calendars offer ample space for customization, allowing you to showcase your brand message, images, and values and address your target demographic.
- Longevity and outreach: Calendars are typically used for an entire year—and some designs can run over 18 months—meaning that your brand, business name, and marketing messages will be visible for an extended period for a single outlay. There's almost no other form of marketing which gives such exposure for so little investment.
Different printed calendars for businesses
Picking up on the customization possibilities, you can begin by considering the vast range of styles and formats available to you before you even begin to personalize the design. Which you choose—and you may choose to produce more than one kind—will of course, depend on your target demographic, your distribution model, and your budget. So, let's look at several types of printed calendars that our business clients most commonly use. But also remember that you are not constrained to select only from these possibilities. You're free to customize everything from the size and shape to the layout and format. Just remember, before going too avant-garde, that there may be good reasons certain formats have become standard, and that's because they work. So, here are the most popular and proven options:
Wall calendars
As the name suggests, we design wall calendars to be hung on a wall and they are typically larger than most others, apart from poster calendars. They offer ample space for showcasing images, graphics, and text, making them ideal for businesses that want to really display their products or services and catch the eye of potential clients, even in busy or crowded settings. They're also popularly used in communal settings such as offices and workshops where numerous different individuals may use and interact with them daily.
Desk calendars
Desk calendars—again, as the name suggests sit on a desk or tabletop and are typically smaller than wall calendars. They offer a more personal touch, as they are often used in an individual's workspace.
Magnetic calendars
We design magnetic calendars to be attached to a metal surface, such as a refrigerator or filing cabinet. They offer a unique opportunity to keep your brand message visible in a prominent location. They're also often smaller than other formats and so economical to store and distribute.
Pocket calendars
Pocket calendars are small enough to fit in a purse or wallet and are ideal for businesses that want to offer a functional item that customers can carry with them. A great way to use these handy little calendars is to give them out much in the same way as you would a traditional visiting or business card. A pocket calendar makes a stronger and more lasting impression on your business contacts or potential clients, can contain more persuasive material than a card, and is more likely to either be used or passed on than dumped in the trash or forgotten in a jacket pocket.
Standing calendars
Standing calendars are another great choice for certain situations. They are stable structures built around an interior cardboard frame, usually a triangulated cylinder (known in geometry as a triangular prism if closed at the ends). They rest on a work surface and be visible “at-a-glance” as the front page is open and flips back over to the unseen side when as you move forward through the months. More complex in design and so also costlier to produce, store, and ship, they are often printed to be used in-house more than as widespread promotional tools.
Poster calendars
Poster calendars are the biggest format and display an entire year at a single glance. They offer a lot of space for impactful artwork and marketing messages. They're also highly interactive tools which clients place in prominent locations in offices, workshops, and meeting rooms, where they are often referred to collectively by one or more groups—a sales team, for example, or a planning commission—and so they can work hard for your business brand, keeping it visible and top-of-mind.
Choosing the right format for your printed calendar
When selecting the right format for your printed calendar, consider the type of information you want to showcase and the preferences of your target audience. Wall calendars are ideal for businesses that want to showcase large images or graphics, while desk calendars are better suited for showcasing daily or weekly information, such as motivational quotes or fun facts. Magnetic calendars are ideal for businesses that want to keep their brand message visible in a prominent location, while pocket calendars are perfect for businesses that want to offer a functional item that customers can carry with them.
Along with these core considerations, you'll need to look at your budget and your distribution options. Will you be sending these calendars out by mail? Will you be giving them away or selling them? Will clients need to carry them around at an event, trade show, or other event? Once you've got an idea of the format of the calendar, that's best suited to your needs, you'll need to think about the details of the design elements and how you want to incorporate them. So, let's look at calendar design styles.
Styles of printed calendars
The format refers to the basic structural design and the use to which it is likely to be put. There are several styles of printed calendars available for businesses, including photo calendars, art calendars, promotion-specific calendars, business-to-business calendars, and academic calendars. They may differ in several ways. For example, photo and art calendars focus on the visual elements, while B2B calendars may use language and include dates specific to a particular sector or industry, and the academic calendar will follow the dates of the academic rather than the standard calendar year.
- Photo calendars
Photo calendars showcase a different image for each month, making them ideal for businesses that want to showcase their products or services visually. These are very popular with the automotive industry and fashion brands, in which the appearance of prestige products can do a lot of the selling on its own.
- Art calendars
Art calendars showcase a unique piece of art for each month, making them ideal for businesses that want to display their creativity and artistic side or project an image of culture and taste to appeal to a certain market demographic. Artists and galleries can also use them to promote their work or exhibitions.
- Promotion-specific calendars
Promotional calendars offer ample space for showcasing a specific offer, perhaps with special dates such as sales, new store openings, or subscription discounts.
- B2B calendars
Business calendars offer space for showcasing important dates, such as meetings or deadlines, product releases and launches, trade fairs, and demonstrations, for example, making them ideal for businesses that want to keep their employees organized and in touch with you as a business partner, supplier, consultant, or service supplier.
- Academic calendars
Academic calendars showcase important academic dates, such as college semesters, school vacations, and exam periods, making them ideal for educational institutions or businesses that want to target students or education professionals.
Design tips for creating custom printed calendars
With so many calendars out there, it might seem a challenge to make yours stand out and catch attention. But there are many possibilities and your creative team will enjoy coming up with interesting variations on the standard elements. But as a general guideline, when designing your custom printed calendar, keep these fundamental tips in mind:
- Choose a color scheme that aligns with your brand message and values. Don't forget your logo and slogan!
- Use high-quality images and graphics that showcase your products or services effectively. And remember that you needn't show your products directly in your images. To get eyeballs on your calendar, a more subtle approach can often be effective; arousing curiosity or generating questions in the viewers' mind which can only be answered on closer inspection, for example.
- Include your brand logo and contact information prominently.
- Use a font that is easy to read and aligns with your brand's style guide. A common problem we see in otherwise great ideas by non-professional designers is the tendency to get over-excited by the possibilities your design software offers and to create confusion by using too many fonts, colors, sizes, and styles.
- Calendars shouldn't only be dates and events. Enrich yours with valuable and/or entertaining content to enhance the user experience and increase positive engagement. Consider adding fun facts, motivational quotes, cartoons, quizzes, or other engaging content to keep your customers interested.
Printing options for your calendar
When printing your calendar, you'll need to consider a range of important options and make the choices best suited to your needs and budget. For example, you must think about the type or types of paper that you want to use, the binding, any special finishes or effects, and the number of copies you'll need to print in a single run. Glossy finishes can make images pop, while matte varnishing or soft-touch lamination can create a more subtle effect.
Consider the size and paper quality that will best fit your target audience's needs. And don't forget to take your ecological impact into account by considering the option to use recycled paper, FSC-certified materials, and biodegradable soy-based inks. With literally hundreds of different papers in the catalog, we understand it can sometimes seem confusing. But don't worry. If you print your calendars with us, your named consultant will work closely with you to help you navigate the possibilities and find the solutions best suited to your needs.
Ready to create your next promotional business calendar? Let's talk!
As we've seen, printed calendars offer a unique opportunity to showcase your brand message and values, communicate your marketing messages, reach new clients, and keep current customers and business partners engaged, while also providing a functional item that your customers will use daily. By carefully selecting the right format, style, and design for your needs, and working with a high-quality calendar printing service such as QinPrinting, you can create a branded calendar that will increase visibility, brand awareness, engagement, and sales for your business.
Are you ready to create a branded calendar for your business? With over 25 years of success in the offset printing business and a long list of satisfied customers—many of who have held active accounts with us for decades—we'd be delighted to put our knowledge, skills, experience, and state-of-the-art technology at your disposal. Contact us today to learn more about our calendar printing services and how we can help you create a high-quality, effective promotional tool.
