subject: Ways To Give Your Calendars To New Customers [print this page] The Westwood Tile and Mirror Company was doing a fairly good business in remodeling baths and kitchens. They wanted some sort of a public relations program, so that they might have a bigger presence in the community.
They decided to call on someone they knew who might be in a position to advise them: a salesman at a full service printing company which happened to be located a block from their new location. They called him and they invited him over to see their new location.
He recommended a calendar. They provided a service which was high end, and the end product was supposed to look great. Since they did high quality work, the salesman recommended using a calendar to show off that work and use it as a marketing tool.
For a business, the value of creating their own calendar means that they themselves can emphasize days which are important to their business. It's a way of enhancing all of their other marketing plans. In fact, it allows customers to plan far ahead. They learned that they could mark on the calendar the date when new models will become available. For those that use the dealership for service and maintenance, various promotions of services and special offers can be put right there on the calendar. In fact, anything that they wanted people to know about their dealership - from special financing to special hours - could be put on the calendar. The way it was done best is to make the calendar into a tool that can be used in a very practical way: to show how the business offers a lot to its customers year round.
Another approach is to highlight people you have helped: show people what your organization has actually accomplished. If your organization provides services for low income people, or handicapped people, or people with difficult diseases, the calendar can show how these people are being helped through the efforts of your organization. Is this something that might turn people off? Not really. It depends on how it's done. The goal is to show people in improved settings, not at their worst.
For calendars, this meant choices in the basic design of the calendar itself as well as how it was themed or styled. The traditional twelve page flip and tear calendar was not the only choice anymore. There were calendars which consisted of one long page with all twelve months on them. There were calendars which showed three months at a time, for the bigger picture.
