Rose Calendars – Latest news

In a recession, any business will be taking a long hard look at their budgets to maximise the benefits of any expenditure. Royal Mail’s recent announcement of yet another price increase, effective from Monday 6th April 2009, has no doubt led many businesses to re-think their Marketing strategies. Especially in the current economic climate, often any saving is perceived as a good saving. Does it pay, though, to reduce – or, as done by many companies, even stop communicating with your customers?

You should take a moment to determine how much getting the attention of your customers and prospects is worth. More importantly, look at the cost of not making that communication. Many organisations are questioning the way they operate and which companies they do business with at the moment. Actively engaging with these businesses strengthens existing relationships and encourages new ones, especially if your competitors reduce their communications.

Once you have made the decision that now is the right time to gain more exposure for your business, the next question must be which type of advertising is most suitable. Any advertising needs to be targeted, should engage the recipient and get the best exposure possible. So, how about that promotional pen? Inexpensive, yes, but also a mass produced item, which is most likely to end up in a drawer and, above all, doesn’t offer much advertising space.

A promotional calendar, however, is an ideal canvas for your communication: it is functional, attractive and offers plenty of advertising space. A unique advantage of any wall or desk calendar is the long exposure: it gets referred to every working day, for a total period of 12 months. This equates to an advertisement cost of as little as one penny a day. Giving a carefully chosen calendar to your clients and prospects also makes them feel valued and simply proves that you care. It offers a great opportunity for a face-to-face meet, with no postage costs incurred at all. And why not think about other cost effective, yet personal ways of distributing a calendar, for example sending it together with ordered goods or asking your drivers or reps to drop off a copy at every delivery or appointment.

However, if you prefer or need to send out your calendar by mail, it is worth knowing that there are special ranges available, which can be sent as a large letter instead of a packet, thus saving on postage. Under the new pricing scheme, sending a calendar weighing 200g by first class mail will cost only £0.90 using the large letter option, compared to £1.62 when using the packet option. Several of the Rose Calendars are worth mentioning here, especially the postage saver range and desk top calendars, as all calendars in those categories qualify to be sent using a large letter stamp only.

As a guide, the Royal Mail large letter format includes items up to 25mm thick, with maximum dimensions of 353mm by 250mm, as long as the item doesn’t weigh more than 750g. If one of the dimensions is larger, or the weight exceeds 750, the item is classed as a packet.

For more information on the whole Rose calendar range, you can browse through more than 100 titles on this site. Alternatively, contact Rose to get one of their representatives to demonstrate how your business can use calendars as a highly effective form of promotion. There is also a very attractive spring offer available for new customers.