It’s another Saturday, so for those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic Campaign. Each week, we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns, and once a month we look into “Horrible mistakes you should avoid” (last Saturday of a month). If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
There are many components to making sure that you make contact with the voters inside your district, and this week, we’re going to focus on another key element in a Democratic campaign: creating an effective mail plan.
Before we start, I want to talk about the importance of Union printing. When candidates first begin to look at building a mail program, one of the things they have to assess is how they will get their mail printed and sent. Every year, I hear candidates want to use non-Union, local friends, in order to print mail at a discount. This discussion occurs for a lot of reasons, but Jessica Jones knows that for a Democratic candidate running in a race as large as state senate, she needs to walk the walk – and that means supporting Unions that she hopes will support her.
Outside of a few photocopies, Jessica knows that a big part of making sure her print and mail plan is successful is putting mail out that includes the “Union Bug.” The Union bug is a quick identifier to many Democratic voters that you support Union work, fair pay, and the rights of workers. In general, using a Union print shop is no more expensive than using your local print company, and sends the right message to your voters.
Creating Your Mail Universe
When Jessica began her race, she was approached with a lot of numbers. In the creation of her mail plan, many of those numbers now come into action building her mail universe. She knows the number of registered voters in her district, likely voters, mid and low-propensity voters, party affiliation, and the number of doors in her district. This helps Jessica build up her mail universe, depending on what her targets are in generating mail.
When Jessica began her campaign, she worked on filling out a campaign budget, and a big portion of her campaign budget was calculating how much it would cost to send a 6 x 11 targeted mail piece to her district. She calculated the cost of printing and the cost of postage using bulk-rate services.
From this, Jessica is able to generate expected mail, per run of mail, and calculate how many times her campaign wants to send mail into her district. Because mail is directly targeted, races like Jessica’s, a state race, is far more likely to use mail than to invest in, say, television, which provides service in numerous areas beyond her district, reaching voters who cannot vote for Jessica.
Jessica assumes, at the beginning of her campaign, a goal of five mail pieces, to raise her name ID and generate issue connection, is her target for the race that she is in. She makes this a key part of her fundraising target for her race. If she cannot fundraise to reach that target, she may have to change her plan, but for now, she will stay focused on trying to raise the resources to meet that goal.
What Makes For Good Mail Design
I want you to think about how you receive mail at your house. If you are like most Americans, you quickly look through it, open up real letters, and quickly toss the remaining content. The general rule of thumb regarding glossy print mail is that the average resident will look at a piece of mail for a couple of seconds and throw your piece of mail into the trash, or to be recycled or read by someone else in their household – who will then throw it away.
Because of this, political mail is changing; you see campaigns send out mail that looks as though it is a bill, in order to encourage you to open and read lengthy text. Other affiliated groups offer memberships or similar buzzwords in hopes of catching more readers.
As a candidate for a state race, though, these strategies do not often work for Jessica, the same way that they would work for an organization or a political party, so Jessica focuses on making sure that her mail is read and understood quickly.
If a reader can pickup a piece of mail, look at both sides, and understand the point being made in short order, the campaign has succeeded.
In order to highlight this, I am going to show a piece of mail that a few of us designed last year in a city council race in Johnson County, Kansas. While the race was for city council, the dividing line was the members of the city council who either favored retaining a city non-discrimination policy, or those who opposed it on religious grounds.
(Example)
At the time, the debate was ongoing, the fight in Indiana was heating up, and a local city race was able to quickly express: let us not be Indiana.
Jessica Jones is also looking for a way to quickly get her point across to voters. So, as a rule of thumb: her mail is image heavy; it can be read easily and quickly; it states a purpose, directly, with little need of verbose explanation, and it avoids “walls of text,” using only a sentence or two that can be quickly consumed, by the reader, to make the connection.
If you receive mail from conservative groups, you can see immediately how they follow this policy. Democratic candidates, though, have a tendency to be very verbose (read anything I write on Daily Kos, YEESH!), but for a piece of mail, you need it short, sweet, and to the point.
Handling Postage And Maximizing Resources
One of the largest expenses for mail is not the design or print; rather, it is mailing the piece itself to thousands of residents. This is where good party planning can help make your mail plan more effective.
Every state party in America has a mail permit that allows them to send non-profit mail pieces out at a bulk rate, a significantly reduced cost that can save you money, if you want to reach your residents. Working with the state party, Jessica may design and develop her mail, send it to the state or county party organization, and pay them for services.
Depending on the guidelines of your party, and how they handle bulk postage – which can be jet printed or laser printed in bulk, at a Union printer, Jessica may pay the party for postage and the printer for the print work, using the party ENDICIA at her union printer, or she may have the party print it.
Now, guidelines of the state, which do vary, can cause her mail to require tags that say, “Paid for by XYZ state party.” Despite Jessica providing funds to the party, the party makes the actual payment. Check with your state or county party as to governance.
While Jessica wants to raise a fair amount of money into her campaign in order to send successful mail, lowering her total cost by reducing postage expense is a great way to make sure she can maximize the amount of money she has raised.
Final Thoughts:
Mail for local and state races is still considered one of the most effective tools available to a campaign. While the effectiveness of mail is less effective than it was ten years ago, unlike mass media, mail is much more directly targeted to only voters within a specific area, an important tool for someone not running a state wide or congressional wide race, but it also allows the candidate a big reach with a lesser expense.
When done right, a good mail program lets donors know the candidate is putting their donations to good use, and they walk the walk in regards to supporting Unions.
A truly great piece of mail, which happens every now and again, does not get tossed in five seconds. Jessica cannot guarantee she generates that one truly “great” piece of mail, but she knows several good pieces of mail can make a big impact.
Next week on Nuts & Bolts: Call Time: Let’s Do This Right.
Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only).
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
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