Democratic Direct Mail in Down Ballot Races—Don't Count It Out!
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. If you are running in primary think about incorporating a targeted communications medium like Democratic direct mail or online advertising, here is why:
Voting has changed! Early and absentee voting will account for more that 50 percent of the vote in many primary contests. Even with an enormous budget, you will not be up on TV long enough to communicate with most absentee and early voters. You need to have a program outside of TV to communicate with them before they receive and cast their ballot. Democratic direct mail is one of the best options to specifically target likely absentee and early voters, as well as your identified voters that you absolutely need to turnout for absentee and early vote in order to win on Primary Day.
Absentee mail is not just chase anymore. It is not an adequate strategy in most places to chase absentee ballots—you need to be proactive and have a strategy to get to Democratic primary voters before they get their ballot and cast it. Democratic direct mail is a good strategy to reach mail in ballot voters simply because they are getting and sending their ballot through the mail and a great Democratic direct mail targets.
Don't get me wrong, you should be on TV—but run a real, integrated campaign that includes TV, Democratic direct mail, field, phones and online. Technology allows us to do many of these things in very scalable ways so that even tight budgets can be efficient with their choices.
Ask us questions about Democratic direct mail for absentee and early vote in Democratic primaries or tell us about your early vote and absentee program in the comments below.