Democratic Direct Mail

Get Your Political Direct Mail out the Door and into Mailboxes

Getting your political direct mail out the door and into voters’ mailboxes can be a confusing process if it’s new to you (and frankly, even if it’s not so new to you). There are a lot of factors to wrap your brain around, such as the printer and the mail house to work with, the type of permit you can use to mail pieces, and the approval timeline you’ll have to meet to ensure your mail is arriving when it needs to.

Win Your Primary with Direct Mail!

Direct mail can be your campaign saving grace. Running for office can be overwhelming. There is a steep learning curve with very little room for error and a lot to consider. Always remember that once you formulate a strong, clear message for your campaign, the most important part of a primary campaign is getting that message out to voters. What better way to do this than via direct mail?  

Why mail?

Tips for Using Parody in Your IE Direct Mail

When it comes to making memorable direct mail for your independent expenditure campaign, the use of parody can be your best friend. Parodying (or even just dropping casual references to) a TV show, movie, book, or song to show that a candidate isn’t fit for office can make for a great IE contrast piece. The question is, how far can you go without putting your political campaign at risk of violating copyright laws?

Using the Best Practices to Make Sure Your Political Direct Mail Is Accurate

Printing errors and typos can turn your direct mail message into a crisis overnight. Whether it is a mailing of a holiday card or official ballots in an election, it is imperative to implement the best protocols and practices to ensure that your direct mail job gets into mailboxes without a hitch. There are many high profile printing errors and typos every election that probably could have been prevented with better planning and proofing. 

Political Campaign Photography Shoots Are Worth the Money

Good political campaign photography is a must.

Good political campaign photography is the cornerstone of a quality communications program. We’ve all seen bad political advertising. It’s a kind of bad that transcends the traditional meaning of the word. But it doesn’t have to be all European stock photos misused in Kentucky or stock photos of supposed endorsers (good grief, do NOT do this!). We can do better.

When it comes to political direct mail...size matters

With regards to mailing for direct mail, we have discussed the weight of paper and the two general measures used, U.S. Basis Weight and GSM. So onto thickness and size. Both of these are characteristics of printing papers that can affect mailing costs and mail-ability.

How to Get the Most out of Your Political Printing

Political printing services run the full spectrum. Whether you are printing direct mail, billboards, yard signs or any other type of campaign material, this post is for you. When it comes to quality and service, some political printers are fantastic, while others seem like you might find hamsters running the presses. Here are some tips for separating the worst from the best political printing services.

Political Printing: What To Look For In A Proof

So you send your final political direct mail file off to the printer and breathe a sigh of relief. Not so fast! Political printing is a much longer process than that. After you send off your final political direct mail file, the printer will send you back something called a print proof that you need to approve. A print proof is an exact mock up of what your piece will look like when it prints so its important you take the time to look it over carefully. If you don't like how your piece looks on the printer proofs, you won't like how it turns out when it's printed. Below are a few items to be sure to look for in your printer proof:

Political Mailers Hint: It's Not as Cut and Dry as You Think

Running for office requires quite a bit of planning. We’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, it’s important to have a campaign budget with realistic fundraising goals. But how do you know what portion of your budget should go to political mailers? Unfortunately, there’s no magic number. That being said, there is an industry standard, best practice suggestion of allocating a minimum of 70% of your budget to direct voter contact. (That means everything else, from pens and office space to yard signs, should be no more than 30% of your budget.)

Political Printing: The Do's and Don’ts

Regardless of how you cut it, writing and producing quality political direct mail and doing political printing is no easy task. There are a lot of things that go into quality political printing and it takes quite a bit of time and practice to be able to do it well. With that said, below is a quick list of dos and don’ts to producing quality political printing.

DO'S