Campaign Kickstart

Most small campaigns can get launched from a kitchen table with just a laptop, using novice skills which meet all the basic tasks—track donations in a spreadsheet, send emails to lists of supporters, etc. But try scaling the campaign larger and the complexity grows with it. Even if you’ve implemented automation, you still have to contend with integration. Usually the “solution” is to throw money at the problem and go with a turnkey provider, one who charges per email sent and takes a percentage of donations.

You could create your own payment gateway account, host an SSL encrypted donation form, and pay just .10¢ per donation. You could colocate your own mail server and fix down that overhead cost. The temptation to do it all in-house has the potential for significant savings, but most candidates don’t have the experience or technical background to know what needs to be done. Even those of us with a technical background won’t know just what to do if it’s our first campaign.

My first foray into politics showed me a glimpse of the consultantocracy. That’s why I decided to help candidates become self starters. I want to empower you to to run your own campaign and make your own choices.

This is what I call the pro bono business plan. What separates me from all the other professionals, is I’m giving away all the information I have in order to help you. Unlike the others, I don’t demand that you use my software, or my services. I want you to start as small as you need to, and then scale to suit your needs. If at some point you don’t have the time, knowledge, or staff, you can hire me to set things up for you or create a customized software solution.

And again, unlike the others, my goal is not to trap you into buying my services each month – I want you to be able to manage these services yourself. I’ve listed all the turnkey solutions available, and I think once you weigh the costs you might want to investigate what it takes to do it yourself.

OH, and one thing about websites that I want to add here on my homepage:

Unless you are a band or a graphic artist, NO FLASH INTROS!

You probably know what I’m referring to, a welcome (‘splash’) page with an animation which you must click through to get to the main website. It was a really cool feature back when no one had ever seen it before, but it adds zero impact to your content and message. The flash intro is an obstacle, a waste of time, and frankly, just plain self-congratulatory.

Here’s an example of what I mean. All those rollover actions are like bright and shiny object for the easily entertained, but … they don’t do anything. The links don’t work, and the images don’t convey any meaning. It’s “flashy” all right.

I encourage you to place substance above style.