EXCELLENT MARKETING TOOLS
FOR CORPORATE GIFT-GIVING
Autumn has arrived, and with it preparations for the end of the year. During this final push, a responsible marketing manager also concentrates on one particularly important objective: retaining business relationships. An indispensable tool for this is a practical promotional gift with the value of a thoughtful gesture—the traditional corporate calendar.
In terms of their function, calendar products are already halfway to success: “time is money”, to use a familiar cliché as an argument. Staying up to date and keeping pace with rapidly approaching deadlines can still be managed today with the help of these proven timekeeping tools. On this basis, all that remains is to shape the marketing message, which every corporate calendar product must naturally carry with a prominent appearance. In effect, we simply combine business with pleasure.
They say that good work takes time. Developing our concept, finding suitable images and then having the design prepared all require time.
We should also remember that the end-of-year rush is even more intense at printing companies, so it is not worth leaving calendar orders until the last minute.
Our first task, therefore, is to choose the calendar type best suited to our objective and then create the design. Let us briefly review which advantages can be emphasised most effectively in each calendar format.
Wall calendar—the appeal of wonderful images
A wall calendar containing a beautifully composed series of photographs can become a genuine decoration for an office or home. The selected images can naturally be related to our company's activities—in fact, they should reflect them.
Aesthetic value is the primary consideration; writing space is irrelevant here, as this type of calendar is intended more to support orientation in time. A company logo placed on the images and contact details shown discreetly at the bottom of the pages advertise the business.
We can be certain of one thing: if we succeed in finding or creating the right images, the wall calendar may continue to decorate the wall of an office or workshop long after it has expired. As long as it remains visible, its advertising value remains as well.
Desk calendar—important notes within arm's reach
A desk calendar combines an attractive appearance with the practicality of recording scheduled tasks. Although on a smaller scale, this calendar type can also feature photographs, creating another opportunity: different products or services can be shown on every page, or carefully planned promotions can be scheduled across the year.
A desk calendar can be produced with either a weekly or a monthly layout, allowing us to present the product ranges characteristic of each period within the annual cycle. And let us not forget that this is the calendar type most often used as a motivational calendar: poems, quotations and motivating sentences can secure the commitment not only of our partners but also of our own colleagues.
Multi-month calendar—quick and easy to understand from a distance
Multi-month calendars are genuine planning calendars and play a key role particularly in logistics. They are easy to read from a distance; the current day immediately stands out thanks to the red sliding date marker, and the previous and following months are visible alongside the current month, helping users understand particular time intervals and meet important deadlines.
A photograph or other illustration in the advertising header of the multi-month calendar can promote our company or business, while the body can also carry our contact details, slogan or any chosen short written content.
Desk-pad calendar—almost unlimited space for notes
With this type, users schedule their own tasks. The sheets are primarily intended for notes and contain only a small calendar overview for reference. The large surface of a desk-pad calendar placed on a desk also gives our company room for images, text and contact details, helping it remain in mind at all times.
Whatever the calendar's form or size, one thing is certain: it serves its user throughout the year while advertising our business and enhancing our company's good reputation.
Interesting facts about calendars
Humanity's orientation in space and time has always developed from observing the starry sky. In the rush of everyday life, we may never consider that our calendar system has been aligned with the Earth's principal movements in the Solar System: days correspond to its rotation, years to its orbit, months to the changing phases of the Moon, while the tilt of the Earth's axis causes the seasons to alternate.
The word “calendar” developed in the era of book printing and originally referred to a printed almanac. Old printed calendars contained not only public holidays and saints' feast days, but also changes in the movements of the Sun and Moon, related advice—including guidance on maintaining health—and folk observations connected with the weather. In today's terms, we would call them holistic calendars, viewing relationships in their complete and complex context.
Why do we like calendars? Because in their simplicity and clarity they contain everything in one place. They help us schedule our activities and understand our tasks. And whether we admit it or not, we all enjoy scribbling notes—especially when we have completed a written task and can cross it off our list!
