"No one will vote for you because you gave them a pen, an emery board or a refrigerator magnet."

The idea that someone would vote for you based only on the fact that you gave them something with your Republican campaign logo on it is absolutely retarded. However, promotional products can be used effectively in a Republican Campaign when they:

1) Have a Defined Purpose
2) Are Issue Oriented
3) Solve a Problem

This article will focus on defined purpose. Issue Oriented and Solve A Problem will be covered in parts 2 and 3. It's my hope that this series will help you, "Think it through" so that the promotional product expenditures you do make are well though out and serve to give you a better Return On Investment (ROI). The best way to define "Defined Purpose" is to give you examples.

Information Dispersal:
Lets say you have a great website with all your white papers, your stand on all the issues, a campaign photo gallery, a support/volunteer sign up form and your contact information. Now, how to cost effectively get that web address into the hands of voters?

First of all, it's reasonable to want even Democrats, Independents and undecideds to have that information. So parades, festivals and sporting events are a great place to hand out an inexpensive pen, pencil, emery board or a refrigerator magnet.

These items will remain with the recipient LONG after a lapel sticker that so many campaigns seem to be fond of. Yes, lapel stickers are really, really cheap. But cheap doesn't automatically mean EFFECTIVE. Stickers get tossed rather quickly. On the other hand, a pen, pencil or magnet all have a perceived value that gives them a better chance of making it into the home, be looked at and acted upon, ie; they check out your site.

Thank Proven Supporters & Volunteers:
A volunteer who has donated 40 hours of their time on your Republican campaign and is expecting nothing, will be pleased and excited about a high perceived value-low cost gift such as a mug, bandana or water bottle or campaign hat or visor or lapel pin.

Mind you, you are giving these items to volunteers or proven supporters ie: they gave you a check, put a bumper sticker on their car, a lawn sign in their yard or otherwise have proven you're their candidate.

The degree to which this tactic will succeed when directed to proven supports and volunteers is exactly the same degree this tactic will fail if you go giving this stuff away to every Tom, Dick and Jane you meet.

Continued in part 2

Again, if someone isn't going to vote for you, a mug won't change their mind. Don't waste promotional marketing $$ on people that won't vote or work for you.

Plays a Supportive Role In the Campaign:
For example, safety flashers for going door to door at dusk for your volunteers. And no, handing them out to kids for Trick or Treat is NOT a great idea, because NO ONE will vote for you because you gave their kid a safety flasher. Other products that can play a supportive marketing purpose include lanyards, pens, pencils, water bottles, highlighters, clipboards.

These items are for campaign staff & volunteers. They may give items such as pens and pencils to identified/proven supporters. It's part of the branding of the campaign. And while small tokens of your appreciation, items such as lanyards and water bottles, visors or caps help promote your campaign while making life a bit easier for your staff & volunteers.

Other Items And Their Role
Items such as bumper and lapel stickers are campaign staples. But, only give bumper stickers to those who will put them on their bumper. Lapel stickers are great for rallys & campaign events as they create a cohesiveness among sticker wearers. But, as far as parades go, if there aren't any TV cameras around, save the stickers. You can go through a $200 or more in stickers that will end up on the ground & trash can soon after the parade is over or you are out of sight at a festival.

Candy? Save your money. Besides, most campaigns are really doing little more than advertising the brand name of the candy being thrown. Again, no one is going to vote for you because you threw candy out at a parade. So even imprinted candy is a bad idea ... your name ends up in the trash or all over the street as trash. Nice image.

Balloons are inexpensive - helium isn't. Lugging tanks to a fair/festival site, blowing up & tying balloons is a hassle. Unless you're expecting TV cameras %u2026 think twice about balloons opting instead for waterless tattoos or campaign pencils. Balloons are a nice for meet & greets, rallys & fundraisers %u2026 especially if TV will be present.

Promotional products can play a powerful role in your campaign ... if you think it through. Those who maintain that promotional products are a waste of money are usually the ones who can't develop creative ideas for the effective use of the products.

Part 3 of this series will address ways promotional products can effectively play an issue-oriented role in your campaign

In this section we'll cover issue oriented use of promotional products in Republican Campaign. Again, let's review our basic stand,

NO ONE WILL VOTE FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU GAVE THEM OR THEIR KID SOME CHEAP DO-DAD."

Having said that promotional products have a place in a Republican Campaign when they are used to support and drive home a candidate's stand on an issue.

Linda was a 33 year-old business-owner running for City Council. She was an underdog and was bound to be outspent. She had to work smarter, not harder. She found an issue.

The community had suffered a number of child/car accidents that year. Through personal visits to baseball and soccer fields and playgrounds she learned that parents were concerned for their children's safety. She researched national and local statistics for child car accidents., noting a common thread %u2026 in many cases the children simply weren't seen.

Linda purchased a quantity of imprinted orange safety flashers and carefully prepared a press release highlighting the statistics and her resolve to work closely with law enforcement, code compliance and neighborhood associations to find ways to reduce child/vehicle accidents. She came up with a theme, "Children Should Be Seen, Not Hurt." She then enlisted the help of several area businesses who agreed to help distribute the safety flashers.

Linda launched her plan with a press conference (attended by 50 supporters) two weeks prior to Halloween. Press coverage leading up to Halloween was supported by some well-worded letters to the editor. She garnered earned media, her name ID was boosted but more importantly, she tapped into the emotion of parents in a way that gave her credibility. Timed right, this is a powerful tactic to blind-side an opponent at the last minute.

These types of tactics take planning. For instance, State Rep candidates could now be looking ahead to May 2008. May 2nd, is National Child Safety Day, May 7th Nat'l Fingerprint Your Kid Day and May 25th is Nat'l Missing Children's Day. Any of these events can be an opportunity for a campaign to stand out on an issue and incorporate the right promotional product such as fingerprint kits or flashers. National Night Out is the first Tuesday of August where people sit out on their front porch with the light on as a show of force against the criminal element. With time to find sponsors, a campaign could hand out inexpensive imprinted cardboard binoculars.

Visit www.Brownielocks.com for an extensive list of National Observances to leverage such as such as Single Working Women's Week (July-29) and Bio Terrorism & Disaster Education Month (July). A well-timed issue-oriented push can blind-side an opponent.

While smaller government, less taxes and personal responsibility may be campaign issues, campaigns need to seek out, plan out and leverage what I call "Ingrain" issues ranging from domestic violence and conservation to public safety and senior issues. These are the topical issues that can help you become ingrained within a community. (Ingraining vs Campaigning will be the topic of a future article.)

In summary, promotional products can be used effectively in a Republican campaign when they are issue oriented. Planning is key and for now, time is on your side. If done properly the campaign will "own" an issue, gain earned media and have the campaign name floating around town on a relevant item.

Part 4 of this series will focus on using promotional products to solve a problem. We'll address such problems as legally getting around lawn sign ordinances and solving problems associated with leaving literature door to door when no one is home.

For more information on Republican Campaign Marketing tactics visit www.GopLogo.com and sign up for the GopLogo Campaign Marketing Newsletter.

After my third attempt to de-code the phone number from my voice mail, I gave up. Seems Frank Janson, Johnson, Jorson or something from some company in Mauzoula or Missouri wants me to call him back. His number is 636-6 something, four, 36 or maybe it's 3 zero then 6, 8 then something. Whatever! I'm not calling him back.

Where I come from, the whole point of leaving a phone number is to make it easy for people to call you back. But too often, the campaign person leaving the message is too bored, tired, lazy or in a hurry to put a cohesive, understandable sentence together. Or they try to be cute with the way they say 55 triple 4 oh 2. Is that 50 then 5 or is it 55? And by the way, it's a zero not an "oh".

If effectiveness suffers because of speed, laziness or boredom, then the time you spend leaving the message is wasted, as is the time of the person for whom you left the message. It doesn't matter how important you think you are - if you waste peoples' time it effects, on some level, how they view you and the candidate.

It's silly to tell people to speak clearly & slowly. But an enormous number of campaign people talk way too fast because they think they have so much to accomplish. News flash! Don't talk faster than people can hear. Other's talk way to soft, talk "mush-mouthed" or combine 2 or more of these traits to create a message they themselves couldn't possibly understand. So yes, while it seems silly %u2026 "At the tone, PLEASE, speak clearly and slowly." It should take you between 8 and 10 seconds to say the number so that it is understandable. 16 to 20 seconds to say it twice.

Secret #1 to ensure your number is understandable. While you say your number - write it ... neatly. Say your number NO FASTER than you can write it. Then repeat it. If you have no writing utensil, pretend to write it in the air.

Secret #2: Leave your phone number at the beginning of the message. In the event your target doesn't get your number the first time they hear it, they don't have to listen back through your whole boring message to get it.

Secret#3: Record yourself some day when you're busy returning phone calls, making calls and leaving messages. Or, call yourself and leave a message. Then critique it. Then have a co-worker critique it.

These three little secrets can help increase your verbal legibility, make better use of your target's time and increase your call-back rate. Listen to yourself - you just might learn something.