Advertising Calendars & Free 2010 & 2011 Calendar Spreadsheets
OUR FEATURED PRODUCT, ANDTWO GREAT FREEBIES:
Advertising Calendar Strips In Choice Of Formats
PICK YOUR FORMAT FROM A VARIETY OF CONVENIENT SIZES
Showcase your creativity in a flexible calendar advertising message.
Define your image with your customers in an ad they will want to keep.
*****************************************
Sometimes You Just Want A Calendar
She said: "Why can't I find a calendar; no frills, no pictures, no nothing, and no strings attached! Just simple, quick, free and flexible. Is that too much to ask?"
Well, yes, until now.
But if you know Excel and can open an email with a small attachment, you can get a whole array of 2010 & 2011 calendars which meet all these criteria. Drat 'n Fire Calendars has them available on it's site at www.advertising-calendar.com. It's a free service,with nothing to buy, as part of advertising their 2010 & 2011 Calendar website.
The Excel file comes immediately via a pop-up dialog box to save or open. There is no charge for the service and no strings attached, though there are a few convenient links on the free calendar spreadsheet.
The file includes 16 spreadsheets, each containing one or more calendars. There is a basic annual calendar, with small numbers, for years 2007 through 2011. The size is based on the font size: 16, 35, 20, 70. The first two print portrait and fill half the page. The size 20 and 70 print landscape and fill the whole page. The font size 20 has small letters and large squares for each day, the font size 70 has numbers that fill the squares. One is just to show the numbers, the other is to write on. Each can be printed showing all the months or with a single month.
The other sheets show 2010 & 2011 in a similar 4 format layout, and in vertical months, horizontal double, and a vertical double. The "doubles" show the months in two rows so they fit in a smaller space. What's it good for? The list of uses is growing. The idea was conceived when a dear girl wanted a simple sheet to plan meals on. Those available all had some kind of complicating factor so a quick spreadsheet and she had her calendar. The rest evolved over several months.
These calendars also work if you need an electronic calendar to print and/or communicate with. The size can fit in your notebook, be it a book mark, half page, or full page. People who work on computers are always needing future dates. The calendar on the wall works for this month, but what if you need a date in a month or 3 months? What if you are working on next year? With the free calendar file you can print a calendar to the specific size you need for the space it fits, and it is simple, quick, free and flexible.
You don't have to order it through office supplies and you don't have to get your boss to sign an order. It usually gets to your mail box in a few seconds after you click the button.
Some people like a small strip calendar a the top or bottom of their computer screen. Others tape a little vertical double to the side of a cabinet or on the wall. One size fits well in a checkbook to keep from running through duplicate copies. They can be kept in a purse or in a suit pocket. Some work great for coasters on a desk, though the plastic laminated ones work better for coasters. We are still inventing other ways to use them. We do know that you can't smoke the plastic kind. Probably shouldn't smoke the others either.
Some interesting links: Try the Red Cat Jazz Cafe.
Customize your own special Personal Dog Calendar
*****************************************
Just Disposable, or Indisposable?
As everyone in the modern world is too well aware, most of the advertising we are bombarded with is a nuisance. Very seldom do we receive anything we classify as usable input. Paper media wastes our time and adds to our recycling piles. We turn off, tune out, or change channels to avoid the constant repetition of electronic persuading. Direct mailers leave envelope return addresses blank in hopes we will not want to chance missing something important; or they send it without envelopes so the message will be reviewed at least once on it's way to the circular file.
The question for advertisers is: "How can we make sure an ad becomes useful or indispensable, rather than a quick candidate for the trash heap?" The question has voluminous and uncertain answers. One good one is to carefully target our victims, or market audience. It reduces the overall exposures and cost, but increases the probability of the desired response. In electronic media we use a TV or radio station with listeners fitting our target profile. For direct mail we buy a list of addresses of individuals with targeted income, age, gender, etc.
Another approach is to include something functional in our package; something which will have value to our market. This increases the chances our product will at least get considered. Soaps, razors and other toiletries have used this type of campaign for test marketing or product introductions. Some marketers have included a crisp $5 bill to "pay in advance" for a desired response. Many organizations use an "advertising specialty" product; a usable item with their name, contact information, and/or message on it to keep their presence in front of the potential customer.
Free calendars are a favorite gift. They can get expensive and there is sometimes competition for wall space or refrigerator space in any given household. However, they are meaningful to many people and do a great job of keeping the seller's message prominent in a given location. Calendar strips have been used, but they are not a developed advertising specialty. They are too inflexible and frequently too small to read. But they are an untapped potential in advertising marketing. The next article will discuss them further.
(hold your breath)
