How I Used AI for Mail Design

Utilize your time wisely and leverage AI to enhance your mail designs

Photo by Emily Bernal on Unsplash

This year my firm APL Consulting did several mail designs for clients. Direct mail remains a crucial tool for voter outreach.

Every election cycle, consultants see a surge in mail design requests in the final months. While good consultants anticipate this workload, the real challenge lies in managing last-minute, often vague client requests. This crunch time can lead to rushed designs and less effective campaigns.

At APL Consulting, we've harnessed AI to transform how mail designs are developed, ensuring efficiency, impact, and a quick turnaround time.

Memo to candidates: Please don’t wait until the last minute to request your mail designs.

What does the client want?

We’ve all been there. The client says they want some boilerplate party talking points, pictures of individuals who have endorsed them, and a personal note and bio points.

The request typically follows that pattern, and you usually don’t have enough information to build and design your mail piece.

The Role of AI in Streamlining Processes:

AI can be a game-changer in this scenario. It aids in automating design processes and giving you ideas based on the information you input. Here’s how to do it.

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Create a Framework for the Client:
   Don’t just ask clients what they want. Provide them with a structured template. Our 'Client Onboarding Form' is a perfect example – it guides clients through a thought process, ensuring you get detailed and precise information. Our client onboarding form can be viewed here.

2. Review and Clarify Content:
   Thoroughly review the content provided by your client. Take notes and ask for clarifications on any ambiguous points. Remember, if it’s unclear to you, it will be unclear to your designer and, ultimately, the voters.

3. Leverage AI for Design and Content Development:
   Use AI tools to generate design ideas and suggest content based on the feedback you received from the client. AI-driven design tools can also help in creating visually appealing layouts that are more likely to engage voters.

4. Analyze and Personalize:
   Personalization is key in making each voter feel directly addressed. Review the content that your AI tool has produced. Analyze and personalize the content so that it resonates with the voters and the district.

Real-World Application: How AI Transformed Our Design Process:

So, how do you utilize AI to help you? Below, I’ll provide a step-by-step guide on how we used AI to assist with our design process.

In one of our recent projects, AI played a pivotal role. We input detailed client information into our AI tool, ChatGPT, and used its output as a base for our design. The AI suggested layouts and content adjustments that significantly enhanced the final design. This process not only saved time but also resulted in a more effective mail piece.

1. Input Information: Use the Information from your onboarding form and input it into your AI tool. For this example, I’m using Chat GPT. Here was the prompt I used:

   

   Note: The prompt doesn’t have to be perfect. Do a brain dump in the chat area - don’t worry about correcting spelling, punctuation, etc.

2. Review Output: Next, review the output from the prompt. Look for any corrections or edits that you want to be made. Here is what my prompt produced:

   

   

As you can see, the above information is what you need to produce a mail design, and it contains most of the information you need to send to your designer.

STOP - don’t send this to your designer just yet.

If you ask it to, ChatGPT will produce a mock-up of how your mail piece should look. See step 3.

3. Ask ChatGPT to Produce a Mock-up: You have most of the information that you need. Now, ask ChatGPT to produce a mock-up of the mail piece with the information it’s given you:

   

   This is the prompt I used.

   After a few seconds ChatGPT will produce a comprehensive guide on how to design your mailpiece. Here’s what it produced for me:

   

   

   Review the content that has been produced. Copy and paste to a Word document and edit it. Or, you can ask ChatGPT to edit the content that it has provided.

4. Send to Designer: Now that you have a clear direction for your mail piece, send this information to your designer. I usually copy and paste this, put it in a Word document, and add additional information that the designer needs: size, type of postage, links to assets, etc.

Here are some of the mail pieces that ChatGPT assisted in creating this election cycle:

Conclusion: Embracing AI in mail design is more than an innovative approach; it's a strategic business decision.

By significantly reducing the time spent on each project, AI enables us at APL Consulting to enhance the quality of our work and expand our client base. The time saved translates directly into increased profitability, as we can allocate our resources to other vital aspects of our business, including client acquisition and service diversification.

Integrating AI into our design process isn't just about keeping up with the demands of the digital age; it's about staying ahead, maximizing efficiency, and capitalizing on new opportunities in the ever-evolving landscape of political campaigns.

For those considering a similar transition, the message is clear: AI isn't just the future; it's the key to unlocking greater potential in your operations.

Your Next Step: Consider AI for your next mail design project. For more information or to see how AI can specifically benefit your campaign, contact APL Consulting.

If you want to see how this was produced from start to finish, click this link: Click Here

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For a deeper discussion on how we can specifically assist your unique challenges, reach out directly at APL@andrewloposser.com. Let's make your political goals a reality.