Most households need calendars, but most people don't want to buy a calendar. This is a great void for your marketing calendar to fill ? people don't want to spend the money on calendars and you can get a bulk discounted rate on printing several calendars and handing them out with a purchase. Or you can do some calendar sharing with other local businesses. Here are your two most popular choices when it comes to advertising in calendars.



Advertise in other people's calendars

You aren't limited to buying and printing your own calendars ? many organizations print calendars and will sell advertising space to you. This is a popular option with local high schools and college groups like marching bands and cheerleading squads, but professional organizations print calendars and sell calendar ads just as often as high schools. You don't have to go with local organizations either; if you find a calendar that is printed by a group that is connected to your industry or somehow related to your product, ask about advertising with them.

For instance, if you sell bicycle parts or bicycle accessories, you could advertise in the Ohio Bicycle Federation's annual calendar. This calendar is sold to over 20,000 bicycle enthusiasts in Ohio and surrounding states. If you contact a national biking association, you could probably reach more people.

Advertise in your own calendar

You could turn the tables and decide to print a calendar yourself and ask other local businesses if they would like to advertise in your calendar. By taking other advertisers, yes, you'll lose some of the sweet advertising spots, but you can accept whatever size ads you'd like and you can make your ad the largest on a given page. If you do this, your calendar printing costs can be significantly lowered or even no cost to you from the revenue you bring in from other advertisers.

If you use a desk calendar with a cardboard section at the bottom holding up the actual calendar, you can have only your ad on this cardboard section, which is always displayed, and put other business ads on inside pages of the actual calendar. You could also make your ad front and center and have other ads flank yours on the sides of the cardboard holder.

Calendar costs

Calendar costs vary, of course, by size and if you are using your own photos or images or calendars that are already made and are just ready to have your logo printed on them. I would recommend the latter just because it's easier and less time consuming. There is usually a minimum number of calendars you must order and the more calendars you order, the less you'll have to pay for each one because bulk discounts apply.

Here are some sample calendar costs, not including the printing:

Desk calendar (7.5? x 6.5?): 100 minimum - $1.76 each

Pocket calendars (8? x 8?): 100 minimum - $2.70 each

Regular sized calendars (11? x 10?): 100 minimum - $2.85 each

As you can see, for a few hundred dollars, your calendar costs will be covered. The printing of your ad(s) will generally add another $2.00 to $8.00 to each calendar, depending on whether you choose color printing, black-and-white ads and if you run an ad on each calendar page. Your calendar printing opportunities are nearly endless with a calendar for every budget range.