Dec 26

Written by: Peter Bolgann
Monday, December 26, 2011 12:28 PM 

How many promotional calendars did you receive last year? How many do you expect to receive this year? It seems that every pharmacy, estate agent, car dealer and butcher in town is competing for space on your wall or desk.

How many of the calendars you receive do you actually use, and how many of them end up in the bin? Last year I received 16 calendars in my postbox alone, and they were all from different estate agents competing in my area. All these calendars ended up in the bin. My neighbours probably all felt the same way, so it must have cost the estate agents quite a penny for nothing.

The truth is that a promotional calendar can be a really effective marketing tool, but it can also be a complete waste of time and money. If you make use of calendars to promote your business, make sure that yours is the one that will get used by utilising the following information:

The calendar that ends up in the bin

You may think that the glossy picture of the dolphins on your calendar looks really good, and it might give you quite a kick to see your company details printed at the top. But does it add any value to your customer? Sure, it gives them a view of the year ahead, but so does your competitor’s calendar. If there is nothing else of value on the calendar it will end up in the bin.

The calendar that gets used

Look at the calendar you have on your wall or on your desk and I bet it meets one of the following 3 criteria:

• It is a multipage, glossy and very beautiful calendar.
• It has some useful information on it that you refer to quite regularly.
• It has some personal relevance to you.

The problem with the first point is that this is a very expensive and costly exercise and is out of reach of most small businesses.

The good news is that you can win the war for calendar territory by using a standard (and fairly inexpensive) calendar type, like a desk-based tent calendar or a single page calendar poster. But it requires that you put some thought into the content. What inside information do you have that could be of benefit to your client and that would make him want to refer to it regularly? Spend a bit of time analysing your target market and establish what industry information you have that they would find useful.

Let me give you some examples:

Hairdresser: put a helpful guide on how to choose a hair-dye that suits your face.

Butcher: put a picture of a cow, sheep or pig and show where the various cuts come from. Or maybe put a step by step guide to making your own biltong.

Estate agent: put a simple calculation formula that shows how to work out the repayment on a bond, whenever the interest rate goes up or down.

Hardware shop: standard conversion tables, like feet to meters, inches to cm and so on.

The cost of your calendar has not increased, but the value has suddenly gone up and you have a much better chance of winning the war for calendar territory.

Another calendar trick to make use of is to personalise the calendar. Print a personalised message to the recipient onto the calendar, or pick a photo that has personal relevance to him/her. This shows the recipient that you actually care about them, rather than just issuing the same old mass produced calendar that everybody else does. This is good for the relationship you are trying to build with your clients. Yes, it is a bit more work than you might be used to, but the rewards are much higher.

Ask your calendar supplier how to make use of the tips I have shared with you in this article. After all he is the expert and should show some interest in his relationship with you.

Copyright ©2011 Peter Bolgann