Nicky Dodd, Regional Development Officer for South Central, tells us about how important it is to make your volunteers feel important and valued.
“Nothing gets through like a letter,” or so Royal Mail would have us believe.
In the case of elections, it is certainly true. But to amplify this even more in your campaign, nothing gets though like a blue letter.
What are blue letters?
Traditionally, blue letters are A5 size handwritten letters, either from the candidate or from someone endorsing them. They are written onto plain white paper in black ink, and then usually RISO printed using a blue ink drum onto blue (or cream) paper.
The original white paper should have a basic, typed header at the top (author’s name and address) and the imprint typed on the back page at the bottom.
They are usually delivered in the last week of the campaign, just before your eve of polls or good mornings, as a gentler and more personal way to communicate with electors.
Who should we write to?
You can choose your own pool of who you wish to write to, but at the very least you should be contacting your definite and probable Lib Dems (also known as Ds & Ps).
Ensure you prioritise writing your postal voter envelopes, to make sure these are ready to deliver before postal vote polling day. The handwritten letters to postal voters tend to be on cream paper and in cream envelopes to distinguish them from the blue letters which will go out later in the campaign.
It’s a good idea to have two or three versions of letters, to target your Ds & Ps, one to the group you are trying to squeeze (supporters of the third parties in your area), and potentially one to your switch voters (soft supporters of your main opposition).
Your data officer will need to produce the list of names and addresses from Connect for you.
What about the envelopes?
The envelopes for these blue and cream letters is the crucial bit. The envelopes should be C6 size, either blue or cream (depending on your letter colour) and should be handwritten. Yes, you read that right, the envelopes are handwritten! A handwritten envelope is much more likely to be picked up off the door mat and opened.
How do we get them written?!
Now is the time to put the rallying call out to your clerical volunteers and ask them to get their blue pens at the ready. The envelopes should always be written in blue ink.
What about getting them stuffed?
Blue envelopes are unlikely to work in any stuffing machine; once your clerical volunteers have written the envelopes you will need to call on them again to get them stuffed, and put into walk order.
Do blue letters work?
Quite simply, yes! Blue letters are one of my favourite pieces of literature. They beauty of them is they are so different from anything else we produce. Everyone loves receiving interesting looking post.
A candidate can talk about what they have achieved and will achieve if elected, and an endorser can talk about why the candidate is great for the area.
Now is the time to get started with blue and cream letters. There is enough time before the election to get a decent number of envelopes written, especially if you have keen volunteers. So head to WH Smith for those blue pens, and get writing!
For instructions on how to write blue letters, guidelines for your handwriting and instructions for envelope writing, please visit the Campaign Resources section of the ALDC website.
Blue and cream envelopes can be purchased from Election Workshop here.