Printing Shops

Any printer can give you paper—commonly referred to as “stock”—that is lying around the shop. But when it comes to what paper stock is available for your political direct mail, there are as many choices as there are types of drinks at your favorite coffee shop.

Political direct mail is one of the most effective ways to reach voters, but I’ll be the first to admit: all that paper takes a toll on our environment. At The Campaign Workshop, we’re passionate about protecting our natural world—luckily for us, so are a lot of the printers we work with.

When it comes to political direct mail printing paper, there are as many choices as there are types of coffee drinks at your local Starbucks. Each paper type has specific characteristics that influence printability, color, texture, and price. Which option you choose depends on your budget, design, and overall goals. 

The world of political printing is varied, vast and mysterious for many. But it doesn’t have to be a mystery (unless you’re into intrigue, in which case, I’m sure you can keep the mystery alive in whatever manner floats your boat)—this blog will help you navigate the ins and outs of choosing a printer for your political work. From direct mail, to yard signs (buyer beware, they don’t vote!) to walk lit, the world of political printing comes down to a few important (and common-sense) criteria.

Two things off the bat to consider are costs and timing. First, die-cuts add costs, so it's not something to suggest on every campaign. Second is the time factor, die-cuts do add time to the production of the piece, so this needs to be worked into the schedule. If you have the budget and time for producing a die-cut piece, then the issues become production related.

Political direct mail printing part 3: In previous installments of this series on political direct mail printing we covered finding a political direct mail printer, managing schedules and specifying paper. Today, we’re going to get technical and talk about presses. We couldn’t have political direct mail printing without presses to get the job done, so let’s examine the differences and uses for digital and offset printing.

In part one of this series we talked about the characteristics of a good printer for political direct mail printing and how to find them. This week we’re going to talk about schedules and paper.