The numbers are staggering. Since 2007, mail volume in the United States has dropped by 43.1 billion pieces, post office visits are down by 200 million, and retail transactions have decreased at least $2 billion. The figures, worry some in the direct mail industry, could eventually lead the United States Postal Service to reduce delivery to three days a week.
This issue's Shoptalkers: Fred Davis, CEO of Strategic Perception; Eric Hogensen, president of HSG Campaigns; Douglas Herman, partner at The Strategy Group; and Vince Monaco, owner of the Monaco Group.
If you’re a first-time candidate, you’ll soon discover that a lot of people are going to give you their two cents about your campaign. The thing is, many of them have no idea what they’re talking about.
Here are five terrible pieces of advice that you are likely to hear, and the facts that you need to remember.
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This week Dave is recommending How Not to Be a Boy by Robert Webb.
"As a lover of British comedy, I have always appreciated the work of Robert Webb and his comedy partner, David Mitchell, so I read both of their memoirs. And while Mitchell's is also a great read, Webb took his in a much more fascinating direction. From a stream of consciousness he gradually unwraps his earliest memories, many of them painful, and slowly unfolds a story about the difficulties so many boys experience growing up in the patriarchy. He then identifies the ways he has helped reinforce that culture and how he's trying to correct course for his own children. To my surprise, this is one of the best books I've read so far this year."
1. More Text Does Not Make It Better:
It can be tempting to put all your policy positions and all of your accomplishments on a piece of mail, hoping voters will read the whole thing. Most voters don’t. Our rule of thumb: The mailer needs to get an important point across to the voter in the time it takes them to move from the mail box to the trash bin.
2. Cutting Quantity is Not Cost Effective:
Printing is scalable. When your budget is in a pinch, it’s tempting to cut down the number of households receiving a piece. But the difference between printing 5000 pieces instead of 6000 pieces is very small. Look at your entire campaign budget and see if there is nothing else you can cut first.
3. Quality Design is Harder Than You Think:
Sometimes friends or family will offer their help designing your pieces, but very few graphic artists have the knack for political mail. Over the years, we’ve reviewed the portfolios of hundreds of graphic artists, and very few have ever made the cut. Rely on your mail consultant for design work. They have graphic artists they trust to do the job right.
4. Make Sure Your Photographer Knows What “High Resolution” Means:
If you don’t want your face to look blurry on your mailer, you can’t use photos taken on a camera phone. But even when you hire a professional photographer and do a photo shoot, the product they send you is not always print-quality. When you hire them, make it clear that the photos need to be 300 dots per inch and at least 2000 pixels high or wide. Photos with that quality will print clearly on direct mail.
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