Red Alert Webcast review Mike Cox 2010
Filed under: Campaign Technology, Red Alert Dossier, Red Alert Hour Webcast
This weeks randomly selected website for review was MikeCox2010.com.
We analyze this site with a 25 point system consisting of the following which each have a possible 5 points:
- Overall Appearance
- Quantity and Quality of Content
- User Interface – Navigation
- Use and Availability of New Media
- Conversion Through Use of Forms, Email, Data
Mike has some great stuff going on with his site and you’ll even see that I caught a live webcast being broadcast on his site. Nice touch.
Please take a look at this webcast and see what you can take away for your site.
**These are the ORS team’s opinions on this website. We want to stress that every website goes through endless iterations and were are merely pointing out what we see and would like to change. Everyone has different preferences.**
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (238.5MB)
Callfire Call Bank and Auto Dial for Your Campaign
Filed under: Campaign Technology, Podcast, Red Alert Dossier
Today on the Red Alert Podcast I spent some time with Jacob Weiss from CallFire. CallFire gives campaigns the ability to streamline their outbound call bank activity OR get very affordable auto-dialing (we probably still call them RoboCalls). After a great interview I am very impressed with this offering.
Here’s the basic premise: You the candidate want to run your campaign and keep costs low. You’d like to arrange for a “Call Bank” or in simple terms, “You’d like to allow volunteers or paid people make outbound calls to lists of numbers on your behalf.” You might consider having your friends, family, and volunteers do this for you on their own time. This is possible…but it’s pretty inefficient especially if you’d like GOOD data on who was reached, the consistency of the messages left, capturing what WAS said about the candidate or the likelihood of voting for him/her, etc.
CallFire lets you have an army of people login to a central “mother ship” in the cloud…anywhere…anytime via their computer.
- The volunteer or staffer dials into the mother-ship on a cell phone, land line, or VOIP (skype or whatever they have available).
- The caller is fed calls through a queue and can hit the “leave a message” button on their console (that saves a ton of time without actually having to leave the message each time.)
- If the call recipient answers the caller can capture notes and ask a series of questions according to a script or work flow and those answers are captured.
- The caller then pushes “End Call” and the next auto-dialed phone call can be accepted.
It’s really quite slick. So here’s the deal…listen to our Podcast and get the big picture. Then, definitely watch this CallFire video demonstration. This video will give you the lay of the land. Very impressive. Oh and pricing…is fantastic! The system will absolutely spike your efficiency for as little as $2/hour. How about sending an auto-dial message out to ONE THOUSAND NUMBERS for as low as $35! (details on their site)
And…as always…in my quest for deals to run your campaign more efficiently and inexpensively…we’ve gotten a sweet deal from CallFire. If you’re looking to do a robocall or “voice broadcast” as they say in the business, just mention that you’re a non-profit that heard about CallFire in Operation Red State’s podcast and receive a 16% discount off your Voice Broadcast campaign.
More value. More efficiency. That’s how to run a campaign online. Please join us. If you enjoy our free information…consider getting MORE delivered to your inbox and sign up and our latest course FREE on developing a Hyper Local Twitter following. To victory!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:14 — 16.7MB)
Mobile Campaign Technology
Filed under: Campaign Technology, Red Alert Dossier
Authored by John Burnley, IT Specialist and ORS Contributor
I love my HTC Android phone. Not only does it combine the basic features of most phone hardware offerings, but it also has a variety of applications that I can use while I’m away from home, instead of waiting until I return to use my desktop computer. My life has become a lot easier, especially in keeping connected with friends, family, business and information.
America as a nation has become more mobile! Over the last few years, we have seen the commercial offerings of intelligent devices like the iPhone, Blackberry and the ‘Droid’ introduced into the consumer market. With each offering, the platforms become more sophisticated and capable of running applications previously reserved to the ball and chain of the desktop computing environment. Over the holidays, I did some of my shopping as well as magazine renewals while on vacation in Florida with my Android phone. We are now seeing more industries making attempts to add mobility to their marketing strategies. However, there are features and capabilities that may also benefit grassroots political campaigns.
Mobility adds yet another technological platform for candidates to spread their message, organize volunteers and solicit funding. John Edwards used text messaging in 2007 to solicit funds from supporters. With the video playback and internet browsing capability of most smart phones, mobile platforms can be used in conjunction with other social media offerings to connect with supporters, volunteers and donors. Barack Obama’s campaign video on YouTube that told volunteers how to use tools on the campaigns website is easily viewed from my mobile phone. Scott Brown’s video he used in raising over 1 million dollars in one day using a money bomb strategy to solicit donations is also easily viewed. Imagine combining SMS text messaging, Email and video into a strategy for fundraising targeting an existing following from Facebook or Twitter, who voluntarily opted to receive such solicitations. As Scott Brown’s successful fundraising effort showed, a large group of small donations can add a significant amount to a campaign’s war chest.
The use of mobile phone technology in political campaigns is, in my opinion, only getting started. However, we are starting to see applications specifically targeting political markets. There is even an iPhone application for former President Ronald Reagan speeches and information.
Verafirma is a small Silicon Valley technology company that specializes in electronic signatures. Their Democracy Project immediately caught my attention with their iPhone petition signing application. At times, signature gathering may be difficult, cumbersome or expensive. Instead of mobilizing volunteers to go door-to-door or paying $2 – $10 per signature, why not mobile-ize the process, tapping an existing audience from social media sources or even online internal campaign communities? Of course, the candidate or campaign representative would need to confirm that electronic signatures would be accepted.
Not all applications may be available or compatible for the various smart phone devices yet, but that problem should be reduced over time as mobile campaigning becomes a more mainstream strategy with developers and vendors expanding their development and support offerings. However, do not be surprised by the level of importance that mobile technology plays in the upcoming national mid-term and local elections.
Red Alert Podcast
We encourage you to subscribe to the ORS Red Alert podcast in iTunes or of course you can stick with email/RSS feed at your convenience. We’re bringing new guests and technologies galore so you can learn how to run a campaign online.
We have great new interviews scheduled that will unleash new technologies that will save you money and leave your competition wondering, “How’d they do that?”
Voter Demographics – Reaching the Unreachable College Voter
Filed under: Podcast, Red Alert Dossier, local politics
Today’s Red Alert podcast is an interview with Mark Hoger, a conservative 20 year old who attends Iowa State University. We spent a few moments talking about what it takes to engage the 18-25 year old crowd. I know most politicians simply write this group off as Democrats lost to the liberal education system. But tell me that even one vote doesn’t matter today and I’ll show you a candidate who lost. Take a listen as Mark and I chat about what it means to be a conservative college student and how politicians should engage the under 35 crowd.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:07 — 22.1MB)
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