Are you among the professionals whose preferred yearly give-aways are Fridge Magnetic Calendars? That’s a clever choice, as your business card is likely to be seen by your prospects every single day of the coming year.
There's more to it. Tear-off calendars speak loads about your business, your expertise, and how much consideration you have for your clients.
So which style of calendars should you pick?
As a printer, I’ve been in the calendar business for more than 20 years. I’ve seen that it’s natural for real estate professionals to choose Home Decorations, and travel agents to choose Canada’s Sceneries. Following the same logic, those in the food industry would choose the Recipes Theme.
But what about your clients' expectations and interests? What would they be keener to stick on their refrigerator for a whole year without getting bored?
Of course, striking, beautiful pictures, with useful content; but what calendar theme works best?
Let me share one of the experiments we did last year at Chromograf Printing.
A dry cleaning company wasn’t sure which of these small magnetic calendar themes to order. It was a small walk-in business, so the plan was to give away the calendars directly to walk-in customers.
We decided to display the calendars on a tray and let customers pick the one they like. That year, we had six different themes. The owner ordered 100 calendars of each to start with.
Interestingly, when customers were given the choice of which calendar to choose, the result was very clear, as shown in the graph below:
After two weeks, the owner was out of Recipes magnet calendars. So he ordered 400 more of them. After four more weeks, he was out of the Recipes style once again and ordered 600 more. The runner-up was the Funny Quotes calendar style.
This experiment shows that a give-away marketing push is not about you; it’s about them. So how well do you know your clientele?
Why not grab the phone, call a dozen of your clients and ask them: “Hey, I am planning to send out calendars this year. Of course you are at the top of my list. I'm trying to choose a style that most people would like. Which one do you like best out of these three styles?”
To summarize, here are five aspects to consider when choosing a style of magnetic fridge calendars for business cards.
1. Show that you’re an expert. If you’re new in the business, you’re likely to want to convey the message that you know your business. Home Decorations may be a good idea for you.
2. Rekindle the excitement. For well established real estate brokers and other professionals, you might seek to rekindle your customers’ excitement about your business.
3. Focus on their interests. What’s the best present to give someone we hardly know? Coffee-table books and recipe books have proven to do the job. Yearly give-away magnetic calendars fall into that category. Think of what your clients would appreciate most. Savoury cooking ideas or Dreams of their next travel destination?
4. Demographics of your clientele. If most of your clients happen to be immigrants, I'm sure they'd appreciate Canada Sceneries most. Or if you have a lot of elderly people on your contact list, Seasons Greeting, which features large-print calendar dates and lots of room to takes notes, may be the best choice.
5. Add a personal touch. As a professional, you know that building rapport is key. Adding a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Neighbourhood Realtor, or Seasons Greetings note with your signature can go a long way towards personalizing your gift.
I hope these tips helps you make a decision. If you’re still undecided… try combining different styles, add a greetings note, and collect feed-back. Next year, you’ll know better!
Would you like to get free samples of our calendars ?
We'll gladly send you the samples of your choice for free. Simply specify which calendar style you would like from our collection.
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