Democratic Direct Mail: Your Campaign Mail Questions Answered
Democratic direct mail: What does a mail firm do? Admit it, this is a question that a lot of people have wanted to ask but were too embarrassed: Well, never fear, After doing award winning campaign mail for over ten years The Campaign Workshop is here with the answer. Below is a very general, and in no way exhaustive, overview of the duties of a good Democratic direct mail firm.
Help Formulating Your Messaging Strategy
Your Democratic direct mail firm is an integral part of your campaign’s communication team. They are available to provide you with advice on the best ways to message your campaign, interpret polling data and formulate your message in order to create the a comprehensive theme for your direct mail.
Provide General Consulting
In addition to helping to formulate your message, your direct mail firm is experienced in the realm of campaign strategy. All mediums (direct mail, field, digital, etc.) inevitably affect one another. Thus, your Democratic direct mail firm should be an important voice in your campaign team and have input on things beyond the scope of direct mail. They will likely be on weekly campaign calls with the campaign in order to provide guidance on overall strategy, field, fundraising and a variety of other items that may fall outside the general direct mail wheelhouse.
Copy Writing
Your mail firm is experienced at taking complex, convoluted background briefs and memos and turning them into punchy headlines, subheads and body copy. Generally, the campaign will have conversations with their direct mail firm about the overall look and feel of a piece, then your Democratic mail firm will choose images and write the copy on a mock-up version of the piece. They are also cognizant of the amount of text that is needed in order to make sure the viewer actually pays attention to the piece rather than loading each piece full of campaign bullet points.
Design
In addition to copywriting, your Democratic direct mail firm has talented designers on staff who are able to make eye-catching mail that is both creative and engaging. They will find or oversee photo shoots in which they may produce the eye-catching photography that is necessary for every great piece of mail. They will also use their expertise to help use color schemes and formats that are appealing to the eye and make the viewer take notice.
Targeting and Data
Your Democratic direct mail firm has hands-on experience with data platforms, like VAN, and most likely has long-standing relationships with data vendors. They will be able to both suggest the most effective targets for your mailings as well as physically pull the data for you and send it off to the mail house.
Production Oversight
While it may seem straightforward, managing the physical production of direct mail is one of the most challenging elements that goes into direct mail. Between different paper sizes, weights, colors, mail panel sizes, postal permits, mail tracking methods and managing drop dates, this process can become very complex very quickly. Your Democratic direct mail firm has vast experience managing direct mail production and will manage and oversee this entire process for you.
Organization
Campaigns and organizations can tend to have a lot of different things going on at the same time. In addition to producing your direct mail, your Democratic direct mail firm is there to provide you with an organizing voice. They will set up calls, write agendas and keep you on track in terms of approval deadlines and any other items necessary in order to keep the trains running on time.
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