Running for office, campaign management, and working on campaigns for that matter, are really about making quick, informed decisions and a lot of them. Particularly at the beginning, there are a lot of things to decide on right away in your campaign management process: what office, what party, who to hire, who to target, what medium, who to call for money, how much to ask for, etc. The whole process can get away from you and turn into a paralyzing rumination if you’re not careful.

“Nasty, brutish and short,” doesn’t just sum up Thomas Hobbes’ feelings about the state of nature – it also applies to the often-lonely life of a piece of Democratic direct mail. It’s tough to get noticed and stand out from the other items stuffed in the mailbox, and even if it does get noticed, it’s usually quickly tossed out and forgotten.

We’ve talked a lot about targeting online, but lately micro targeting has gotten even more specific and it can really help boost your online advertising campaign. It’s common knowledge these days that online advertising can get the same type of sophisticated targeting that direct mail can. One way advertisers are using micro targeting online advertising is with geo-fencing.

Political direct mail printing part 3: In previous installments of this series on political direct mail printing we covered finding a political direct mail printer, managing schedules and specifying paper. Today, we’re going to get technical and talk about presses. We couldn’t have political direct mail printing without presses to get the job done, so let’s examine the differences and uses for digital and offset printing.

In part one of this series we talked about the characteristics of a good printer for political direct mail printing and how to find them. This week we’re going to talk about schedules and paper.

Political Campaigns usually don't work alone. It’s highly likely that you are not the only political campaign being waged in your turf at any given time. Things can get especially dicey when you have to share a turf, and also run your political campaigns out of the same party headquarters.

Your organization has developed a strong campaign supporter list. That’s great news! Now let’s make sure we keep your campaign supporters involved with your campaign or cause. Email is undoubtedly one effective method of communicating with your campaign supporters. There are, however, a variety of other ways to engage with your campaign supporter list as well. Here are a few suggestions:

As someone who loves words, let me just say that I know how difficult it is to edit down a painstakingly written tome that’s full of all the knowledge and wisdom you want to share with the world. In political communication every word seems so vital to your message and to other people’s understanding of your issue or campaign. When it comes to communication it is especially important to make your point from the beginning.

I have heard the story many a time; "I am running down ballot in a state-wide primary, so I am only going to do television." Sadly, if you are still using a Television only strategy you may miss many voters you need to reach.

In a nutshell, franked mail is mail sent from congresspersons to their constituents to communicate official business. You might even say that franked mail is the original political mail. The history of the congressional frank dates back before the founding of the United States, to the English House of Commons in the 17th century. The frank was authorized by the American Continental Congress in 1775 and the first franking law was enacted in 1789.