Nonprofit & Public Sector / Government, Political & Public Services
Political campaign marketing for voter registration and turnout
Political campaign marketing from MBI is three voter-outreach campaigns produced by one team: a nonpartisan voter-registration or GOTV postcard and direct-mail campaign, a Facebook voter-turnout campaign, and an SMS voter-registration, vote-by-mail, polling-place or GOTV reminder campaign.
Not sure where to start? Talk with our teamVoter outreach
What kind of voter outreach does MBI run for a campaign?
The short answer
Three campaigns carry this work: a nonpartisan voter-registration or GOTV postcard and direct-mail campaign, a Facebook voter-turnout campaign, and an SMS voter-registration, vote-by-mail, polling-place or GOTV reminder campaign. MBI plans, produces and delivers all three from one team, so the postcard, the ad and the message are one job rather than three suppliers.
MBI is one company that plans, produces, and delivers campaigns from a single team in DeLand, Florida, and data, print, and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
Postcard · Direct Mail
SMS
Direct mail
What does political campaign direct mail put in a voter's mailbox?
The short answer
A postcard program for registration and turnout, which is what political and nonpartisan civic groups run; mail also carries candidate fundraising and voter outreach. USPS says Political Mail may be sent from a political candidate, a federal, state or local campaign committee, or a political party, and asks that the address lists be complete and correct.
Who may send it. USPS states that Political Mail may be sent from a political candidate, federal, state or local campaign committee, or political party, and that Official Election Mail is any item mailed to and from authorized election officials that enables citizens to vote. It also tells mailers to make sure address lists are complete and correct before a political mailing is sent.
USPS asks mailers to complete its online reporting form at least 2 days before they plan to drop off a political mailing so the receiving Post Office facility is notified in advance, and to drop the political mailing off at a Business Mail Entry Unit.
usps.com, Political Mail
direct mail marketing services direct mail mailing lists postcard mailing services
Postcard · Direct Mail
Who may send it
The GOTV postcard
What does a GOTV postcard campaign have to print on the card?
The short answer
A disclaimer, clearly readable, in reasonable colour contrast, in a printed box set apart from the other contents: the FEC requires one on every public communication a political committee makes; state and local campaigns follow state law. At commercial card prices, each GOTV postcard must be no more than 6 inches high, 9 inches long and 0.016 inch thick.
The FEC states that if the candidate or campaign authorizes and finances a covered communication, including any solicitation, the notice must state that the communication was paid for by the authorized committee; and that where a communication is not authorized by a candidate or a candidate's committee the disclaimer notice must contain the full name of the individual, group, political committee, corporation or labor organization that paid for it along with any abbreviated name it uses, must provide the payor's permanent street address, telephone number or website address, and must further state that the communication was not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
FEC, advertising and disclaimers
The card, to the rule
- 1the disclaimer, in a printed box set apart from the contents
- 2address list, complete and correct
- 3at card prices, not more than 9 inches long, 6 inches high or 0.016 inch thick
Postcard · Direct Mail
What are political Facebook ads aimed at?
The short answer
A Facebook campaign aimed at voter turnout: one of the three campaigns named for this work, the other two being the registration and GOTV postcard program and the SMS reminder program. Meta says advertisers can run ads about social issues, elections or politics provided the advertiser complies with all applicable laws and the authorization process required by Meta.
Meta's advertising standards state that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, that ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices, and that advertisers can run ads about social issues, elections or politics, provided the advertiser complies with all applicable laws and the authorization process required by Meta.
Meta advertising standards
One of three
Meta ad · Facebook
Meta carousel · Facebook
Reel · Instagram
Know before you go
Landing page · Web
Texts
Which messages does political text messaging send a voter?
The short answer
Voter registration, voting logistics and turnout reminders, and campaigns run combinations of texting and mail. CTIA says messages should be sent only after the consumer has opted-in, that senders should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold or shared, and that senders should ensure consumers have the ability to opt out of receiving messages at any time.
Mail and texts, one job. Research and civic campaign reports document SMS for voter registration, voting logistics, and turnout reminders, including combinations of SMS and mail.
CTIA's Messaging Principles and Best Practices state that message senders should ensure that consumers have the ability to opt-out of receiving messages at any time, should support multiple mechanisms of opt-out including phone call, email or text, and should acknowledge and honor all consumer opt-out requests by sending one final opt-out confirmation message per campaign; and that message senders should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold, or shared to send messages and should create and vet their own opt-in lists.
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, May 2023
The moments a text lands on
SMS
SMS
Printing
What does a campaign committee have printed for voter outreach?
The short answer
Postcards and voter-outreach direct mail are the two printed formats here. Commercial and variable-data printing is in house at MBI, and data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989, so one team answers for the whole campaign rather than a committee coordinating three vendors.
Printing at MBI is commercial and variable-data printing produced in house.
Guide
One-sheet
Questions
Questions a campaign asks before it mails
Searched for political marketing, political campaign advertising or marketing for political campaigns? Same work, same answers.
Does a campaign postcard have to say who paid for it?
Yes, where it is a mass mailing. The FEC requires a disclaimer on any public communication made by a political committee, and counts a mass mailing - more than 500 substantially similar mailings within 30 days - as one. On printed material the notice sits inside a printed box set apart from the contents, clearly readable, in reasonable colour contrast.
How does a voter get on a campaign's text list?
By opting in first. CTIA says messages should be sent only after the consumer has opted-in, and lists entering a telephone number through a website and signing up at an on-site location among the ways a consumer might show consent. It also says senders should not use opt-in lists that have been rented, sold or shared.
What happens to addresses that have moved before a campaign mails?
They are updated before the voter drop. USPS requires each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices, or USPS Marketing Mail prices, to be updated within 95 days before the mailing date with a USPS-approved method such as NCOALink or Address Change Service; mail bearing an alternative address format is excepted.
How does a campaign get a price for its voter mail?
Voter mail has no list price. Producing a GOTV postcard and mailing it are the two costs, and seven decisions move those two numbers, among them quantity, format and finished size, paper and weight, data and personalization, and postage, mail class, and sortation. /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost walks a committee through all seven.
Who is allowed to send Political Mail?
USPS says Political Mail may be sent from a political candidate, federal, state or local campaign committee, or political party. Official Election Mail is a separate thing: any item mailed to and from authorized election officials that enables citizens to vote, which is the election office's mail rather than a campaign's.
What does Meta ask of an advertiser running ads about elections?
Meta's advertising standards say advertisers can run ads about social issues, elections or politics, provided the advertiser complies with all applicable laws and the authorization process required by Meta. The same standards say advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
Does the same campaign send both the postcard and the text message?
It can. Campaigns run combinations of texting and mail: the texts carry voter registration, voting logistics and turnout reminders, and the postcard program carries registration and turnout. MBI produces both, so the piece in the mailbox and the message on the phone come off one job.
Get started
Start a voter outreach campaign.
Say which of the three campaigns it is, and the date the mail and the messages have to land. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.