But of course you knew that. In fact, if you're like me, you've probably been asked hundreds of times why you don't raise a billion dollars online like candidate Obama did a few years ago. Thank goodness for the whole 'texting for natural disasters' thing - it gives folks something new to ask about!
I'm all for doing what it takes to succeed, and with November's election just around the corner it's an important time for political fundraising. . .
BUT IS 29 EMAILS IN SEPTEMBER REALLY NECESSARY!?!?!?
Like so many others, I signed up early for both the Obama and Clinton campaign social media onslaughts. I won't get into any political reasons for this, but at a professional level I wanted to learn more about how they were using social media, email and any other technologies to deliver their message and generate support.
And I've regretted it ever since.
29 emails in one month is just the tip of the iceberg. September was the first time I counted, and I bet there were other months with the same or even more. I get emails all the time, and it seems I'm really popular with the biggest names in the business!
- Nancy Pelosi seems to really like me, I get a bunch of stuff from her.
- Jon Vogel, Executive Director of the DCCC must spend hours a day writing email!
- James Carville - a personal favorite, I just wish he'd come to dinner with me instead of sending email. I'd be entertained for hours.
- Even Bill Clinton and Al Gore wrote to say hi!!!!
What can I tell you from reading the emails? Basically, every republican is evil, they're out to get you, and if we don't buy more advertising or whatever else is needed they'll take over congress and ultimately life will be awful.
To be fair, I bet if I were receiving republican emails they say exactly the same thing about the democrats.
People ask what the "right" number of letters/calls/emails is every month or year, and I always say there isn't a magic number. It depends on many factors, and every nonprofit is different. Personally, I don't think 29 is the number. It feels like WAY too many to me.
Then again, I am not my donor.
And I'm not theirs either!
There are some pretty smart people working for these organizations and it must be working on some level. But for me, I finally felt overwhelmed and unsubscribed. I bet I'm not alone.
1 comment:
I too recently unsubscribed from these emails. I was getting texts and emails almost DAILY from the President, Speaker of the House, everyone! One thing that I wonder is, if you (or I) would have donated at the beginning of the month, how they woul have treated you different in their communication pieces. I also wonder if they are tracking open and click through rates. I am guessing they are atrocious. Of course they are going to raise a lot of money..but what is their response rate? It can't be good. They raise money because they are bombarding a LOT of people. Not the best model for relationship building.
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