Pop quiz! What promotional product is viewed an average of 3650 times a year? Here’s a clue: It’s made of paper (usually), can hang on a wall or sit on a desk, accommodates 365 boxes, can tell you precisely when to expect a new moon, acts as a silent task manager, and presents 12 pages of marketing real estate. If you guessed a calendar, you’re correct! The numerous YouTube videos and workshops dedicated to all things planners and calendars paint a clear picture that all generations are taking a step back in time to the old fashioned calendar-and here’s why!

Organization

Where do we even begin with all the benefits of being organized? Having a sense of control of your life begins with organization. And a sense of control reduces anxiety and stress, sets a better example for our children, and projects a better image to our clients, colleagues, and friends. An organized schedule allows us more time to spend on what’s important to us. Keeping a calendar of past, present, and future events allows us to keep track of important dates yet to come, as well as a record to reflect on when planning annual events in the future.

Organization also plays a key role in communication, which is why many busy families still have their calendars hanging on a wall with all their sports activities, doctor appointments, and school functions.

Visualization

Seeing is believing, right? Adding events to a desk calendar is the perfect visual for time management. If you see three events already written on a day, you’re more likely to recommend scheduling that fourth event on a different day. Visually seeing your events also helps you to prioritize. It’s a gigantic to-do list! Sometimes, just seeing something on a piece of paper, makes us realize its value or lack thereof-not to mention the satisfaction that comes with crossing something off.

A research study published by the Association for Psychological Science concluded that handwriting assists with comprehension and retention, so the physical act of marking something on paper—as opposed to typing it into a digital device— improves the odds that it will be remembered. And the repetition of actually seeing that marking every day, every week, for the entire month-leaves an even longer-lasting impression.

Maximization

Maximize your opportunities by keeping an up to date calendar of events, birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. There are so many observances these days that are opportunities in the making for both business and pleasure. If you were to take the time to mark your calendar with the special days and weeks and months at the beginning of the year, you would never forget one, and your customers wouldn’t miss one either. Being proactive can help maximize your customers’ businesses while growing your own.

Having an entire year available at a glance allows you to flip forward to upcoming events; turning placeholders into opportunities.

(Un)Digitalization

There’s an ever-increasing supply of solutions for time management in the digital world, including electronic calendars and apps that manage to-do lists, take notes, and organize daily tasks. While these tools are useful, many people still turn to old fashioned paper products. U.S. datebook sales increased by over $50 million between 2014 and 2016, according to The NPD Group, Inc., an American market research company. The appeal of paper calendars and planners continues to surprise those who had predicted the demise of this product category.

People who prefer a traditional planner have their reasons, including the tactile feel of a physical page, the ability to keep everything in one place, and adherence to business etiquette since checking a calendar on a phone in a meeting may be perceived as rude, but opening a planner is perfectly acceptable.

(Marketing) Optimization

Signs are pointing to the continued popularity of traditional time management devices. Paper calendars are still alive and thriving in the home and at work. Promotional calendars and pocket planners keep your information in front of your customers daily, reminding them who you are and how to reach you. Many overlook this timeless promotional product, opting instead for the latest technology or trends that are here one day and gone the next, but no other promotional product gets prime real estate like a wall calendar.  On average, a calendar is used 2.8 times a day in the home and 10 times a day in the workplace. In a typical work environment, that’s over 3650 glances a year!

Calendars also offer an enormous opportunity in the form of repeat business. There is over an 80 percent chance of a reorder, and the average order is renewed for eight years. Calendars are the only annuity in the promotional product industry, and the average cost per impression is less than one cent.

We’re ALL struggling to keep it together these days, and there seems to be no sign of slowing down. What’s the solution? Perhaps the answer doesn’t lie in syncing our schedules on the latest app, but in taking a step back and making a date with our calendar; a real, tangible, paper calendar. And there’s no better time to start thinking about ordering calendars than now. If we want to put pencils to them by January, we’ll need to personalize them before the snow flies.
Portions of this blog post are courtesy of PPAI Media.   Visit our entire “It’s A Date” collection today!