Save the Date

According to Anita Jalbert, vice president of sales and marketing for SunGraphix, Auburn, Maine, a planner or calendar is used an average of eight to 10 times a day over the course of a year or more. That opens the door for a lot of promotional opportunities. We spoke to Jalbert; Dan Finn, owner of Finn Graphics Inc., Cincinnati; and Phil Martin, national sales manager of Warwick Publishing Co., St. Charles, Ill. to find out what distributors should keep in mind when selling calendars and planners.

1. Wide Open Spaces

The point of a calendar or planner is to stay organized, but that can be hard if your notes are barely legible due to lack of writing space. “We find the most important feature for a calendar/planner is writing space,” Jalbert said. “The pages should be well formatted, crisp, clean and inviting, without clutter.”

Jalbert also explained planners should have different sections for end-users to keep track of different information. “SunGraphix planners offer two calendar views in each planner—weekly view and monthly view,” she said. “The weekly view is fantastic for recording appointments and to-do lists. The monthly view assists with planning ahead, and recording travel and events for easy viewing.”

2. The Right Font

Picking a large, easy-to-read font size is also essential for designing a great calendar. “Font size is always going to be heavily influenced by the size of the item as designed for the intended space,” Finn said. “Regardless of the size though, font selection is critical to readability, and we work [to] maximize readability on even our smaller items.”

3. Make It Valuable

If a calendar or planner is personalized to the end-user rather than being generic, the end-user is more likely to hold on to it and see your client’s logo. “In most cases, I think anytime you can add value to the calendar in some way you are ahead of the curve,” Martin said. “If you give the recipient of the calendar a reason to hang on to it for the entire year, the advertiser gets more bang for the buck. You know the calendar is in front and in mind.” Personalization also means knowing the clientele. “You don’t want to send a wildlife hunting calendar to the local beauty shop,” he said.