this list is really good....great work Bruce....

Maybe he'd be better at doing radio ad spots.

And don't blast people by phone. I hate it when I get those stupid politico vote for me calls, even by the guy I plan to vote for.

One of our reps uses his email list to email us 2 times a month to keep us informed on the issues and stuff before congress. Also he collects our phone numbers and does a monthly town hall meeting where he calls us. I don't always recognize the number, but he always leaves an automated voice mail message. So I can call the number back and put in the pin number and I'm on the town hall meeting.

Town hall meetings by phone are pretty cool. I actually like them a lot.

If he has expertise, maybe he, or a writer, could write a few columns for the paper. My mortgage broker did that, but he was too good at it and had to drop the columns. The guy's a fantastic mortgage broker and writer.


I would say those are burning issues. Taxes? Around here that's a pretty passionate topic. Big government? We don't like that either. And in this economy, looking like you don't care and keep on letting government get bigger can get you voted out of office.

If your guy goes for the little guy, he'll get their vote. If he comes off like he really cares, has done his homework and can say at least what steps he'll take to fulfill promises will look good.

The farmland being sucked up for endless subdivisions? The man with the plan will come out ahead on this one. You need some development, but it needs to be planned and have a plan for sustainability further down the road. You don't want what happened in Arizona and have endless subdivision ghost towns when the economy got many people and stupidity got the rest. Housing not lived in gets ruined and goes downhill real quick.

You need some of the housing to attract businesses with new jobs. But you also need the farms to provide the food and drink. You need some land protected. What about parks?

To stay alive the town needs new business and an education center, if it's a fair sized town. Colleges relocating or opening downtown satellite branches in the town's education center will bring the college kids. If the colleges are geared toward providing a good and educated workforce will attract the businesses. New people means new business. 50,000 seems to be the magic population number here in attracting new business and shopping.

Those are very important issues. You tug at the heartstrings on taxes, growth, maintaining scenic land and new growth/ new business... with a solid plan in place... you or your guy, will be onto something.

Get at their 'sweet spots.' Go for emotionally charged topics and be on the side of the voting majority. And show them what's in it for them if they vote for him, why he's different and better than all the other guys out there like him, and the benefits they'll get when he wins.

I wouldn't sling dirt at the other guy either. Make subtle hints maybe. But let the voting audience draw their own conclusions while thinking about what they're going to get when your guy wins.

Oh BTW, I have a Political Science degree. People want change, but change that will actually do some good. So portray your guy that way.

Sorry for the length of this post, but this is one area I'm passionate about... getting good people in to politics who will make a difference.

I hope this helps.

Thanx for the good suggestions trease. I'll mention your fish fry idea.

Election day isn't until the end of October, and right now people are trying to squeeze every last drop out of summer.

The annual community fair is this Labour Day weekend. He'll be there all three days, walking around, speaking w people. I'd prefer he have a booth. Even if he doesn't his presence will help, because the incumbent usually operates in stealth mode. 

There aren't any burning issues, other than the usual -- taxes go up because residential/business development ratio is one-sided, town hall staffing increases, farmland becomes subdivisions, and new business gets turned down for unknown reasons. The area has potential, yet no action occurs.   

His campaign manager is strictly behind the scenes, and doesn't want anyone to know who is running the campaign.

And from recent experience, in case any other board members get into this field...

The candidate -- a successful businessman -- is having difficulty demonstrating his passion for the community on video. After numerous attempts, he now has greater respect for the acting profession.     

How about some town hall meetings where he can meet and greet with the locals? are there any burning issues or concerns he can address? Some of our local politicians will frequent our fish fries near election time. Some will hold a meet the candidate session held somewhere like a fire hall where they also serve free food and drinks. The candidate will schmooze and someone other than the candidate will ask for donations. Some of them will have music by local talent.

A copywriter would need to get the word out about such events. Write some press releases. It's funny you mention Facebook and Twitter. Several of our candidates used Facebook in the last local election. Could this guy's campaign manager represent him on Facebook?

I became a no.1 fan of this guy

Thanks for the sharing.

Folks, thanks for the responses. I sort of forgot about this thread since I posted it. 

What everyone is saying sounds reasonable. I don't want to get hung up on semantics, which perhaps I was.

I have avoided sales letters partly because they seemed to be outside my comfort zone from a personal background perspective - I am not a salesperson by training, only incidentally to support my career as a consultant so far. Frankly, I've been afraid - of failure - to try direct response.

But In the past several days I have had a sort of epiphany on this subject.

I now believe that sales letters and direct response writing are the "crucible" where great copywriting skills are forged. It's the highest visibility copy. All of the skills that I normally employ in explaining benefits, putting myself in the head of the customer, and driving toward a decision, are must-haves in sales letters.

So I should probably do some direct response writing simply to get better at the craft of copywriting. I should not avoid it. It's a gaping hole in my skill set.

Toward that, I've decided that my first self appointed task toward this is to write a sales letter to drive prospects to my services for copywriting for software vendors.

Writing for my own business is excruciating. If I can do it successfully for my own practice, then I can do it for anyone.

I am a member of lots of affiliate programmes I'm just wondering which ones you would recommend if any to your clients at a seminar? I am also writing a book on Internet Marketing and would like to know which affiliate programmes are good for my clients that are just getting started I tend to use ones that are a bit complex for a newbie!

Municipal elections in Ontario are only six weeks away.
Yesterday a candidate hired me to persuade residents to vote for him.
This is going to be so much fun...

Candidates in his rural/small town area usually rely on door-knocking, flyers, tiny display ads, and hoping the inexperienced, underpaid reporters of the local 12-page, twice-weekly newspapers manage to type a few true facts in the all-candidate bios.  

Many of the farmers currently serving on this town council don't even have answering machines.  

I'm delivering advertorials (it's my specialty, and he's witnessed the results for businesses). And I'll be scripting 2-minute vids for a new YouTube channel. Yes, we'll use a lapel mic, and we'll have his colors done professionally.  

The first vid will ask individual residents to voice their concerns to a new gmail account, so he can hear from those he doesn't know, and what their concerns are.

His campaign manager has already ruled out Twitter and facebook as more than the candidate or the community can handle technologically.

Have you any other ideas to suggest?

Thanx

I've used the
million dollar bill
http://millionbill.com/

on the dollar bill sales letter with great results

I've never sent them in masses, though.

Only on a small scale, some here and there to get business owners to call me about an offer I was making.

I've also did this for someone who was looking for a job, and got them calls for interviews.

All you are doing is putting fifty cents into the pocket of an employee, then getting the letter trashed in order to hide the evidence. Not that gate keepers don't regularly trash letters without the grabber anyway.

About the only saving grace would be if the vending machine doesn't accept fifty cent pieces.

I've already addressed how B2B is different with one lady getting her grabbers, cookies in that case, eaten and no letter getting through.

There are ways to do grabbers for business. Money and food ain't it.