Another election year is upon us and the pressure is on to deliver results. Political mail is expected to be at an all-time high, with more candidates seeking support and more vote-by-mail ballots in circulation than ever.
Political Mail Best Practices
The political world is no stranger to direct mail. For years, direct mail has been a cost-effective tool to reach voters through geographical targeting, and in recent years it has been even more useful due to the ability to target messages based on voter history, demographic and psychographic data . Savy campaign managers recognize that their direct mail efforts do not exist in a vacuum, messaging needs to be tied to on-line and other campaign efforts. With just a few best practices, candidates can use measurable results from direct mail to align with their online and offline efforts, creating more fundraising revenue and to increate reach and sway with more undecided voters.
- Target your lists – the more robust your voter profiles, the more power you have to craft tailored messages to your recipients.
- Use direct mail to prove your credibility – and prove your opponent’s lack of it. Print pieces win over TV and digital media in this capacity.
- Personalization – direct mail offers ease in customization and ability to send different messaging to different voters in the same mailing, including not only text but images as well.
- Multi-channel marketing integration – remember direct mail does not exist in a vacuum. Use it to work with your online efforts and use tools like QR codes and PURLs (personalized web pages) to further engage audiences and drive response.
- Data. Data. Data. – with detailed reporting available, campaigns have more information than ever to further refine strategies and measure effectiveness.
Above all, creating powerful messages that are important to your voters is what counts. Voter files can clue you in on powerful tidbits of information about how, when, and why people vote the way they do –helping boost effectiveness while keeping costs low.
Tips for a Successful Political Mail Campaign
- Leverage United Postal System programs and products such as – Informed Visibility Mail Tracking, Informed Delivery, Share Mail, Reply Mail Tracking.
- Use impactful visuals – the more vivid and engaging the image, the more effective it is.
- Make it easy to read – most people ‘scan’ their mail, so make the information easy to digest
- KISS – Keep it simple. More is less.
- Use stats, qualifiers, and quotes for added credibility
- Timing is everything – send mailings to coordinate with speaking events, early voting dates, etc. Track these mailings to ensure they are delivered to constituents in advance of these events.
- Make sure your data is accurate – make your direct mail campaign investment worthwhile.
Political Mail & Tracking – a Match Made in Heaven
Once you’ve crafted the perfect political mail campaign, it’s time to sit back and let the campaign work for you. How? Leave that to SnailWorks. With our political mail tracking services, you’ll have all the information at your fingertips to determine the next steps in your campaign strategy.
From the moment your direct mail piece leaves the printer, you’ll know exactly where each and every piece of mail is throughout the Postal system. By tapping into the USPS Informed Visibility program, SnailWorks provides detailed reporting that can help you manage timing, coordination, and communication between your team and the voter. This can be especially helpful in the mailing of voter registration applications, absentee ballot requests and other important election mail.
In the 2020 election, SnailWorks tracked more than 500 million pieces of political mail in more than 3,800 mailings for more than 1,250 campaigns.
More Than Just Mail Tracking – Powerful information
With the detailed reporting from SnailWorks, you can better allocate resources for a more successful campaign. Staff will know when and where to deploy volunteers for better voter engagement, while reporting by congressional district, state office district, precinct or party affiliation can provide insight to better targeting.
To make your political mail pieces even more powerful, SnailWorks can setup and manage Informed Delivery Advertising Programs through the USP . Informed Delivery incorporates a digital component with your direct mail. Voters who are enrolled in the program can preview their mail along with an additional digital advertisement and/or landing page link. This provides an additional touchpoint and creates even higher engagement with your voters.
As the direct mail tracking experts, SnailWorks has the cutting-edge technology to provide clients with not only the most valuable tracking information but the easy to access and understand reporting that gives you the advantage over your opponent. Your project support team is with you every step of the way and will guide you in making your political mail work harder for you. Contact us today for our political mail expertise.