Need Freepers advice

Self | Nov. 7,2002 | Carolina Rebel

[carolina rebel]

Freepers, I need your help. As the Chairman of a local Republican Party, I want to find a way to contact people in my county by e-mail.I've been trying to find a e-mail list online because the cost of a mailing is prohibitive. I want to be able to grow our party to follow up on our victories of Tuesday. I've searched on the internet but to no avail. We have spent most of our funds on the current campaign so we don't have alot to invest. I know you guys can help so let me know. We are in North Carolina.

[carolina rebel]

Let me know guys!

[RandallFlagg]

Just my thoughts: To effectively engage in political causes, email doesn't work. People hate spam; they delete it or auto-filter it without even reading it. My suggestion would be to do the walking and talking. Convince them face-to-face that your (Our) cause is best for America.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

You could go through the voter rolls and do an internet search of their email address.

[error99]

Such a list (or lists) does not exist, and if you did find one it would be highly unreliable.
(my email address has changed 6 times in the last year)

I doubt it would be an effective method of communicating.

Perhaps you could have people sign up on a web page to receive periodic newsletters, but I think you shold just find another way. I do not think email is an effective tool for this.

Just my opinion, but hey, you asked...

[Blue Screen of Death]

Send me spam and I will hammer your ISP, curse your children and vote for a Democrat.

[carolina rebel]

I appreciate your thoughts but I can tell you from years of experience that this will not work, it is a very poor means
or trying to grow a party. Although I too hate spam, I love political interaction, and would welcome such e-mails.

[fooman]

Dick Morris used this strategy to help Huckabee(god bless 'em).

Anyway, there are commercial lists that can be bought.

[RandallFlagg]

I do as well. Hell, I've spent over $300.00 just to get my favorite radio shows to auto-record while I'm at work.
Good luck to ya, patriot!

[marktwain]

Email is a superb tool, and works exceptionally well, but not to an unknown mass market. In order to grow your party by email, you must make sure that the email members of your list want to be there. Ask for email addresses, and tell the people what you are going to do with them. The list of people collected this way will be a superb place to recruit activists and for fund raising.

[Mark Felton]

e-mail is very ineffective for political outreach.

However for general communications and to create an e-mail list you may wish to try a yahoo groups forum http://groups.yahoo.com/

We use this for scouts, our homeschool groups and medical support group.

Do not consider this as a way to reach out and motivate. Think of it as a way for continuing contact and follow up. It's quite simple to maintain. You can post a calendar of events, fund raisers, mtg notices etc..

Everybody on the list can communicate. it is 2-way, interactive.

It will grow larger and larger over time as you encourage more people to join.

Again, it is not a primary campaign tool. But it can be a very useful hub for the activists in your area.

[carolina rebel]

I don't believe asking people to work to make their community a better place and to give back to their communtiy through electing those who believe in a better America is SPAM. Do you. If you do, I'd have to curse you, and hope you live in a Democratic dominated area.

[carolina rebel]

Where?

[goosie]

I have received all of your emails and treasure them. At any meetings, have people sign up like I did. You might try any of the candidates who have a list of on-line donors but that may be considered spam.

I also get emails from the state and national party. If they have your page referenced, make sure that there is a place to sign up for emails.

[notpoliticallycorewrecked]

Create a mini version of FR for your local area. Once you get it online, you can can get the info out by small ads in the local paper in the political section. Beware you can also attract some disruptors like what we get on FR. Once the info is out it will spread by word of mouth. Have your Republic office holders spread word through their ranks. It will be in their best interest to work with you, because in the long run they will benefit greatly from the site.

[carolina rebel]

I have an extensive list now, (over 200 people) and we interact everyday. What I want is to reach other households in my area, to encourage more to join us. Therefore, a commercial e-mail list would allow me to do so.

[HighRoadToChina]

I found that email works for those who want them. For example, I signed up with the Coleman campaign after contributing to them online, and I was kept up to date on what's going on in Minnesota (I am in California). I agree that spam (unsolicited) email is not very effective, and could be anti-productive to our cause. So the best way to build your email list is to ask for email addresses when you can (i.e., when people donate online, register for events, etc.)

[carolina rebel]

The national Party and State party I have asked to share their e-mail list with me but they refuse, as they use it to raise money.
A mailing in our county would cost over 12,000.00 Dollars for our Republicans.
I've asked as you suggest for sign ups, but I'm hoping to get those who are not in the groove as you are, involved. i.e. hatching little freepers.

[carolina rebel]

Thanks and I agree, but it has to be offered first I have 96,000 registered Republicans to try to reach.

[Cicero]

You want volunteers who will give you their e-mail addresses. Spamming is definitely counterproductive

One way to do this is to establish a web site for the county Republican Party, or a Republican Club of some sort, with an easy way on the home page for people to sign up and get onto your list. Be sure to tell them that all information will be kept strictly confidential and KEEP it confidential. Don't sell it or give it to other Republican organizations without permission.

Also, be sure that every mailing you send out has an easy way at the bottom to reply and get off the list. There's nothing more annoying than continued mailings from a listserver when you want to drop out.

There are programs out there to set up such a web page and such listserve system. The best kind of listserve allows members either to reply privately and individually, or reply to all, at their choice and as appropriate. That way you don't get a continued stream of "I subscribe" or "I can attend" e-mails going out to everyone.

If you treat people right, then there should be some word of mouth that will bring in more people. And of course you can ask people to recommend the site to like-minded friends.

[PhiKapMom]

Everytime we held an event or sent out mailings for the Cole campaign for Congress, we had people list their email which was then transferred to a data base for sending them information.

Here in Oklahoma, the OK GOP uses email to keep everyone up to date on what is happening.

This type of email is not spam so ignore anyone that says it is. People are on your list because they want to be and they always have the option of telling you they want off.

If you guys have any money left, you could send out postcards asking them to send you their email address. Maybe even your State Organization might come up with the postage mailing for this if you don't have any. Wouldn't hurt to check!

Good Luck!