Marketing For Elections
Political Direct Mail & Leaflet Drop Campaigns
As political budgets are often tight, it might be tempting to dedicate your money to digital. However, research shows that mail is more persuasive for political outreach than emails. In addition, nearly half of voters find mail had an impact on their voting decision.
Here at Flow Fulfilment, we work closely with individuals/groups in political sectors to get impactful mailings out within budget and on time. Our mail house covers the initial marketing consultation, data, design, print, enclosure and postage/distribution.
How to Get Elected
1. Strategy
We work with you from the outset to understand your key message, which dictates everything about the campaign. For example, who to target and how, how to design and create copy to get that message across effectively, and so on.
2. Demographic Data
You do not want your perfectly designed political campaign to go to waste and never reach the correct recipient. So before you send your political mailer, we ensure the data for a direct mail campaign or the demographic postcode profiling for a door-to-door distribution align with your strategy.
3. Design and Personalisation
With direct mail, if you send your direct political mail and address it to "the homeowner", there is a high chance your mailer will be ignored and never opened. However, research shows that 84% of your prospects will read their mail if it is addressed personally. It would be a no brainer to ignore such stats – especially if your main goal is to gain votes.
As door to door distributions are to specific postcode sectors rather than individual addresses, we create the artwork to be relevant to them without personalising. Artwork is most effective when it encompasses three elements: a bold headline, an eye-catching image and a clear call to action (CTA). Everything our in-house graphic design team produces covers these essential elements.
4. Type of Print
The format, style, finish, size, and shape of your printed items impact how the recipient responds to your mailer. For example, if eco-credentials form a significant part of your manifesto, use uncoated paper with vegetable ink which includes logos to highlight this.
Equally, if being very careful with expenditure is part of your message, use thin paper (such as 130gsm) rather than premium paper (400gsm).
5. Timing and Repetition
Create your drop schedule as you do not want your mailers landing too late or too early. Political mail is meant to tell your voters a story so schedule your mail accordingly as you head into Election Day.
The most critical factor in gaining success from your marketing is repetition.
The reality is most people don't respond nor remember something on the first view. Therefore, they need to keep receiving practical and impactful leaflets from you in the build-up to the election date. This is known as the drip effect marketing principle, and it's paramount to your campaign success.
Effective Communication for your Constituency
Beyond marketing for elections, we provide a whole host of other services for local authorities. These are designed to help you communicate with your constituency simpler, faster and cheaper. Here are the key services:
1. Leaflet Distribution
Leaflet drops are not only for marketing purposes. They are a great way to reach out to everyone in specific locations to keep them aware of what's going on in their area, what you're doing for them, and how they can get involved.
2. Direct Mail
Much like leaflet distribution, direct mail can be used for communication along with marketing. For example, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, local authorities asked us to reach out personally to everyone in their districts to share what lockdown meant for them and to give practical help through that time.
Relying on social media or emails is not enough when information is vital, especially when you consider that so many people don't use emails or social media.
3. Hybrid Mail
Franking has been the industry standard for decades, but now we provide something which takes franking to a whole new level: Hybrid Mail. Hybrid Mail is so much simpler, faster and cheaper than a traditional franking setup. It has the same outcome (personalised mail sent to people).
Still, instead, you can do it from the comfort of your computer at home or in the office. The information is sent to our HQ, where your items are printed, personalised, enclosed and posted all for you.
4. Personal Print Portal
Other than the standard items, which you may well print internally on digital printers, often local authorities report to us the hassle of printing, especially when needing bespoke products.
So within our Group (The Flow Group), we have a company called, The Personal Print Portal (TPPP). TPPP enables us to provide you with a personal print portal, which holds all the products you currently print, along with any others you may require. Then, you can order them in just a couple of clicks.
What's more, you can have departmental access, which means other departments can have users order products too, and you can keep track of everything being ordered.
Next Step's
All the above services are positioned to help local authorities operate more effectively, saving time and money at the same time. So if this sounds like something your local authority could benefit from, please get in touch with us today.
