Michael Crooks

Republican Campaign Solicitations: Make it Personal.



Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2008

by
Crooks Advertising Alliance

I recently told a Republican County Commissioner that I'd never been asked to join the local county Republican party. He said he'd take care of it.

Soon, I received an envelope from said county party. Inside was a "Dear Friend" letter. At that point I realized, 3 months earlier, I'd received the same "Dear Friend" letter and threw it away.  I did the same to this "Dear Friend" letter.

The impact and the effectiveness of the most recent mailing would have much greater had the person who sent it jotted a short note such as;

"Michael, Jerry told me you were interested in joining. Glad to have you among our ranks. Look forward to your membership. Sincerely, Frank."

It's amazing how much time a Republican campaign or a business will dedicate to non-personal, ineffective marketing tasks. It may seem like a huge accomplishment to send  out 300 solicitation letters in a day. But if they are impersonal to the point that few respond … what is gained?  Better to spend 15 minutes preparing a personal plea - once, than to spend 10 minutes multiple times sending out pleas to which no one responds.

First of all, friends don't send friends "Dear Friend" letters. A "Dear Friend" letter is only slightly better than, "Dear (Your Name Here)". Do you get all warm and fuzzy about a Dear Friend letter?

Second of all, A "Dear Friend" letter isn't being personally asked. There's nothing personal about it and many people like me, aren't thrilled to spend their money to be treated like a number.

Each Republican county party needs to assess if their "outreach programs" are truly impersonal and uncaring ... then change them.

Whether you represent a Republican county party or a campaign,  write down all the reasons (manpower, money, office space,  database etc...) why you can't do a better job of  personal marketing. Write down why you can't send out effective mailings that include personalized membership pleas.

At that point, you will have a nice list of what you must overcome, fix or change in order to be more effective marketers of your Republican party.

Sure, personalized Republican marketing outreach efforts cost a little more in time, and  sometimes money, in the short run. But in the long run, the dividend payout is HUGE.

Michael Merrick Crooks is a 23 year advertising veteran with 17 year's experience in Republican political marketing. Crooks runs http://www.GopLogo.com, the Republican campaign support services arm of Crooks Advertising Alliance. He publishes the free GopLogo Campaign Marketing Newsletter available at http://www.CopLogo.com.


Michael Merrick Crooks, is founder of Crooks Advertising Alliance a creative strike-force specializing in creative problem-solving. An internationally recognized author and speaker, Crooks writes a monthly marketing column for Brilliant Results magazine and authored the ebook, "ReThinking Trade Show Giveaways." Read Chapter 1 for free at http://www.PromoReThink.com.

Sign up for Crooks' newsletter, "CrooksView Creative Digest" at http://www.CrooksAdvertising.com

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