The state primary elections are right around the corner, and campaigning will be in full swing this summer, you know what means? A surge in yard signs and other print collateral.  Different states have their primary election at different times, certain states have theirs as early as March, others as late as September. Missouri’s primary is on August 7th.

The goal of the state primary election is to determine the candidates who will run for all the partisan offices for that state in the general election this November. This election includes state representatives, senators, legislatures, governors, and statewide officials.

It’s crucial to keep candidates at the top of voters’ minds. By being diligent with campaign materials, having a strong political presence and message all play a part in your candidate (or you) getting elected. The best way to attract the attention of a potential voter is through:

• Custom printing
• Impactful graphic design
• Bold colors

$6.8 billion was spent on the 2016 presidential election, actually $2.65 million less than the 2012 Obama & Romney race. Larger campaigns, like the Presidential campaign, have the luxury to finance big spending on advertising, events, and other campaign promotions. As for candidates in local elections, like the state primaries, those candidates have tighter campaign budgets and have a greater focus on their campaigns’ ROI.

The good news is, you don’t have to have a large budget and lots of campaign fundraising to have a powerful race. You can have a strong, successful race by promoting your campaign with affordable print marketing materials. Our state primary might seem like a ways away, but for campaign offices — it’s not. They’re starting to get their campaign materials printed, and out the door. Lucky for those campaign managers, St. Louis offers its residents an array of places to print it.

If this is your first time running for office, or second time, it’s smart to stay up-to-date on the best practices for print campaign materials. Electro Image, LLC offers candidates and campaigners a variety of campaign materials to work with. Ranging from yard signs to banners, Direct Mail to stickers. Below I’m going to talk about the strongest campaign materials you’ll want to consider using this campaign season, and their benefits.

Yard signs

The most tried and true political campaign material would be the yard sign. The classic campaign yard sign is a simple yet powerful marketing tool with a variety of benefits.

• Yard signs reinforce and build name recognition.  Plus, if your sign is all around town in people’s yards, it shows how widely endorsed you are.
• They’re an affordable campaign material. The materials used in making yard signs are rather inexpensive, helping you save money while conveying your message to voters.
• An awesome feature to yard signs is how transportable they are. Yard signs are made with Rigid Coroplast, which is waterproof, and their metal legs pull-out letting you take them with you to go canvassing with, to rallies, and other campaign events.

Electro Image creates and prints custom yard signs, a well-designed yard sign goes a long way. When it comes to the design and message of your sign, you’ll want to make sure it is:

• Impactful
• Clear
• Easy to read

Campaign Posters and Banners

Another integral promotional campaign material would be political banners and campaign posters. Campaign posters and banners are a must-have for a few reasons.

1. They are larger and more visible than a yard sign. Banners and posters can be printed in the variety of sizes, giving you more real estate to display information.
2. Campaign posters can be can be displayed in variety of places, like community boards in businesses.
3. Banners and posters are easy to transport. Our Aluminum Retractable Banner Stands are available with 10 mil indoor premium vinyl, and those banners are just as versatile as our “X-style” banner stands. The retractable stands are conveniently packed in a small bag, and set up in a few quick and easy steps.
4. Campaign posters make for great giveaways to volunteers and donors

Our banners are printed on 10 mil Premium Vinyl and 15oz Blockout Vinyl, and they’re available with grommets, hems, and pole pockets depending the size.

Direct Mail

Direct mail is a strong campaign material loaded with benefits and it comes in a variety of forms. For starters, it has a great campaign ROI. Also, each type of direct mail has its advantages, decide what type of direct mail will best suit the success of your campaign. Types of direct mail your campaign can benefit from are:

• Postcards are a solid marketing tool, because it’s a visually pleasing way to introduce you who you are, your campaign, and your brand. Then, you can use the back of the postcard to talk about your political platform.
  • Postcards can also be used as a way to advertise an event, or rally.
  • Cost effective material to print in bulk. As the amount of postcards printed increases the price-per-unit decreases.
  • Postcards less expensive to mail than letters. You save on printing and shipping.

By using EDDM (Every Door Direct Mail) you can hone in on your voters and potential voters more precisely. EDDM has a mapping tool letting you find voters, all you have to do is enter in the starting point, i.e. your campaign headquarters, then select nearby mail routes where you’d like your pieces delivered to. EDDM let’s you take a look at the demographics of the area you’d like to target, and you can set a date of when you’d like your pieces to get sent out. It’s a  fast, easy, and precise way to target your voters.

• Personalized letters and letterheads give you the space to go into detail about your campaign and who you are to your constituents. It’s best to take advantage of this tool early on in your campaigning, think of it as a introduction to your campaign.
• Brochures are a must for your campaign! They are the perfect material for your campaign canvassers to take with them when canvas neighborhoods. Like letters, brochures give constituents the information they need to know about you, your campaign, and your causes. Brochures can be designed to be visually pleasing, easy to interact with, and can be printed in a variety of folds.

Door Hangers

Door hangers are another great material canvassers can take with them this campaign season.

Utilizing door hangers along with postcards and direct mail makes for a promotional trifecta.  Door hangers share a lot of the same benefits that postcards and direct mail have, but there are a few standouts that door hangers have:

• Door hangers are hard to miss! Their bright colors, and appealing graphic design make them hard to ignore.
• They’re more interactive than most postcards, since they hang from door handles homeowners are forced to interact with it by removing it, and reading it.

Similar to postcards, letters, and direct mail, door hangers should be informative and give potential voters the information they need to know before voting. When using door hangers be sure that they have compelling copy on them, especially if the goal is to convert voters.

Magnets

People love freebies, and magnets make for a perfect give-away. Magnets are a vibrant, eye-catching marketing tool.

• The next campaign event you throw, parade you walk in, or town you canvas bring magnets with you to hand out.
• Magnets have two major functions: they promote your campaign and people can use them.
• Magnets serve a purpose, chances are people will not toss them out.
• Don’t crowd your campaign magnet with text, all you want is your logo, name, and social media’s your campaign is utilizing. Think of it as a CTA to your campaign’s website.

Fancy fundraisers and big donors are a plus, and definitely do help out with the success of your campaign, but if you don’t have quality campaign materials, chances are your race won’t last long. If you’re new to the races, or returning keep Electro Image, LLC. top of mind, we can help you at all steps of your campaign, and put you in the lead. First, we’ll get your campaign started off on the right foot with a campaign identity and a logo to match. Our graphic designers will create memorable and identifying brand that will carry out through all aspects of your campaign, and through your campaign’s print and social advertising! With a vibrant logo and impactful advertising you’re bound to have a strong and successful race. Then, when it comes time to print, we will print your collateral at very low unit-per-price.

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