Using a direct mail marketing partner means cheaper postage, increased delivery speed, and enhanced tracking capabilities.
Political primary season is already happening in some areas of the country. That means political campaign managers everywhere are strategizing impactful marketing campaigns for their candidates. The months leading up to the November 8 general elections are packed with candidates communicating via multiple platforms in efforts to win constituents’ attention, and ultimately, their votes. Reaching voters as directly as possible is critical in any political marketing strategy, and direct mail marketing should play a large role for greatest impact.
When considering the planning, printing, design, and postage strategy that goes into these efforts, it makes sense to engage a proven direct mail marketing partner. Making an investment to outsource the production and distribution of your campaign’s direct mail is worth its weight in gold.
What are the benefits of outsourcing political direct mail campaigns?
- Speed
Timing and speed are of the essence when it comes to mail distribution and reaching voters. Carefully-orchestrated marketing efforts for campaigns generally rely on a purposefully-timed succession of mailings. And those mailers are only one part of the overall marketing and communications plan. Delayed mail delivery can jeopardize the success of these plans.
When you choose to outsource the direct mail process to United Mail, we take extra steps to heighten awareness of your project to be certain your mail pieces are processed accurately and efficiently. We call these direct mail campaigns “dated” jobs. When we prepare your political campaign mailers, our team takes specific steps to ensure the expedited delivery of your mail pieces.
First, we bring extra attention internally to your campaign’s job to be certain our production team is focused on the importance of speed and timing. United Mail takes an extra step to “Red Tag” political jobs prior to sending your mail trays to the United States Postal Service (USPS). In postal terminology, a “Red Tag” is actually called a “PS Tag 57”, which is a physical paper tag that’s the color red. This special tag alerts the USPS that a particular tray contains dated political material and needs to be handled in an expedited fashion. Taking it a step further, United Mail places an additional red sign on the trays to be certain it receives as much attention as possible.
Want to learn more? Our sales and marketing team has prepared a video explaining more about preparing your political direct mail campaign for success.
- Postage Discounts
According to Statista.com, the whole of direct mail marketing spending is forecast to amount to $43.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. This is compared to $41.9 billion reported in 2020. Political direct mail is a part of those figures.
Fully-fledged political marketing campaigns can mean a substantial financial investment. Your direct mail marketing efforts are only a portion of that bigger picture. Direct mail is proven to make a positive impact – make sure those dollars count! Outsourcing direct mail processing to a company like United Mail can stretch your budget as far as possible with postage discounts from the USPS.
When a political campaign outsources its mail processing, there is often a cost savings opportunity at hand. This happens through a process called “commingling”. Premium postage discounts happen when mail is commingled with other mailers’ inventory. This process is called “presorting”. The presort process is based on both ZIP Code and volume. This type of mail receives what is called a “bulk” rate. While the USPS offers a bulk discount for mail sorted by a ZIP Code’s first three digits, even deeper discounts are offered for bulk mail sorted by all five digits.
When mail is commingled in this fashion and under careful supervision of a mail processor, the group of mailers as a whole in the presort group all benefit from discounted postage rates. While an individual political campaign (or any organization) can take on presorting activities in-house, it literally pays to engage with a mail processor to handle these details. A processing company like United Mail stays up-to-date on evolving guidelines for presorted bulk mail, as determined by USPS. This can be a detailed process – and when you work with an expert in the field, you know your direct mail will arrive on-time every time.
The United Mail team explains more about the presort process and potential postage discounts here.
- Enhanced tracking availability
At United Mail, we want our clients to feel “hands-on” and in control of their direct mail project, even after it leaves our production facilities. This means each piece of mail in your campaign can be tracked from the mailing facility all the way to the addressee’s mailbox. United Mail is a certified Seamless Acceptance direct mail marketer, which makes this available information possible. Our team has created a customized, online dashboard for clients to use when tracking exact delivery timing for every mailing effort within a campaign. Available for an additional fee, this feature is incredibly helpful for determining when to initiate follow-up calls and pursue additional marketing efforts.
Request a Quote from Us!
When your political campaign is ready to get started on creating an impactful direct mail marketing campaign, reach out to United Mail for a quote here. We are ready to help your team make the process as efficient, effective, and impactful as possible!
