Political
Campaigning: seven qualities of effective direct mail
by: Maurice L Bonamigo, August 2005
1) The visuals
carry the message.
The most effective television ads are the ones with the best images. The
same is true for effective direct mail. The more political a piece of
mail looks, the less likely someone is to read it. As soon as someone
realizes they are reading a political mail piece, the less likely they
are to believe the message. The mailer has to be visually compelling to
stand out in the mailbox and interesting enough so that the people won't
immediately discard it. The images must reinforce the message. This is
true and positive pieces where you want to carefully choose your photographs
to make sure your candidate projects the appropriate image. It is also
true for negative pieces where the image must match the message, or you
will be sending a mixed message.
2) Readers get the point without reading every word.
Strong visuals must be matched by precise headlines so that these "scanned
readers" can get the point quickly. Ask yourself whether someone can get
the point without reading any of the body copy.
3) The message is so obvious, the reader does not have to stop
and think.
Headlines, visuals and the text should be precise so that the readers
can process the message while they read it, rather than making them stop
and think about what they just read in order to process the information.
This is especially true for comparison pieces. The most effective ones
make a point-by-point comparison that the readers can digest easily so
that they don't have to spend time thinking about the differences between
the candidates.
Three points to remember: focus people's attention on pocketbook
issues, remind voters that the candidate has a positive plan to improve
their lives, and show that there is a direct contrast between how middle-class
families would fare under the two candidates.
4) Design principles are used to control the flow of information.
Use solid design principles to draw the reader's eye first to the headline,
then to the text rather than having their eye wander around the page.
It is also effective to leave the back page of a folded mailer blank.
This technique forces the reader to read the cover first, before opening
it up.
5) The message must be relevant to people's lives.
The
key to reaching cynical, disaffected swing voters is to make sure they
see how the issue affects them in their daily life.
6) Footnotes bolster credibility.
People are skeptical of political messages. The only way to breakthrough
that skepticism is to communicate a message that people are likely to
believe. Credibility is especially important in negative and comparative
mailings. Validation from a third party can make a big difference. Of
the most important ways to maintain the credibility of a charge against
your opponent is to back up your claim with footnotes. One of the most
effective tools is to put a separate box in a negative or comparison piece
that directs voters to check the facts themselves. This footnote box should
contain all the relevant source information and, where possible, direct
that into a weight site where they can check for themselves. Even if voters
don't actually read what is in the box, it's mere presence that might
make them more likely to believe the information piece.
7) The timing of the mailing is dictated by the need to control
the debate.
The timing of mailings can be as important as the content. In some campaigns,
you want to hold the best negative attack until the final week when there
is no time for the opponent to respond and after you have built up your
own candidate's credibility. In other circumstances, you may want to take
the opposite approach and launch a tough attack early so that the opponent
is forced to use resources to respond.
