Lessons Learned for Next Money Bomb

[Daamien]

Here are a few things we need to work on for the next Money Bomb.

• The money bomb should occur on a weekday when people are usually in front of their computers
• The money bomb should occur the week after the 1st or 15th of the month when most people are paid their salary
• The money bomb should be promoted earlier and more often
• The money bomb should not occur within the same pay period (15 days) of another money bomb
• The campaign needs to send more emails out regarding the money bomb
• Other liberty candidates need to be lobbied to email their supporters asking to help the money bomb (Ron Paul mentioned it on Facebook, but did not email supporters like he did for Rand)
• The official money bomb page needs a working pledge counter
• The official money bomb page needs embedded donation graphics
• Paid advertisements should link to the campaign's about page and not the donation page
• The campaign website needs to promote ongoing money bombs
• The campaign website needs to withstand high traffic so people can donate during the money bomb
• Phone banking needs to be incorporated as an alternative/additional method of supporting the campaign as part of the money bomb (particularly to target supporters who aren't in a financial or legal position to donate). A counter of calls made per day and in total would be helpful and could even be formatted into graphics

Any additional thoughts?

 

[Metal Militia]

Good job, well thought out list.

I'm not sure if this is entirely relevant, but Peter Schiff and his campaign should humbly and honestly thank everyone for their contributions, rather than responding with arrogance, negativity, and ungratefulness like times past.

Naturally, not many like to support a man who seems to sincerely believe the world owes him everything, no matter how great this man may be.

 

[Michael P]

• The money bomb should occur on a weekday when people are usually in front of their computers

• 
  
  Good list. I think the first on the list is most important. Peter's last two, maybe even three money bombs have been on the weekend and I forgot about them the day of.

 

[Liberty Stud]

This is all nonsense. If Peter was winning in the polls, he would have raised 100x as much money.

 

[LeifEiriksson]

It's a good list, but even if all of those were followed Schiff still may have only doubled or tripled his take and still been under 100k. The fact is people are excited about Rand since his is only two weeks away.

Schiff no doubt has an uphill climb, and until another poll comes out or Schiff has a great convention it's going to be hard to inspire his donors. Since a poll put him at 9% in very early March there has been virtually nothing to let us gauge how well he his doing. If we just get a surprise somehow, like a big endorsement, a new poll, or a strong convention his fundraising will turn around quick. Until then his fundraising will still be pretty weak. There just isn't enough of us yet.

 

[pacelli]

An excellent list and I appreciate the focus on specific and measurable solutions. I went ahead and posted your solutions (and linked your thread) in my thread about moneybomb strategy for 2012. I think all of your solutions can be employed for the 2012 campaign season.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=241786&page=2

 

[sb10]

Additional thought: do not underestimate direct mail.

Yes, there are still many of us who get irritated by phone calls and all things computer and digital.

A piece of mail won't interrupt your dinner, doesn't require an internet connection, and isn't confusing to navigate.

 

[enoch150]

I think more important than when it's held is who knows it's going on.

I got one email from the Connecticut Schiff for Senate meetup about it three days prior. That was it. A lot of people may have forgotten about it by the time it came.

I got one email from the campaign about this the day before. I don't know if it's still an issue, but early on, I know people often weren't even aware the campaign was sending emails because they were all caught by spam filters.

I got one email from this web site about it the day of.

That's it. There are a few groups missing that come to mind.

1. The obvious one(s) - The Ron Paul meetup groups. I'm in three in Connecticut and I don't remember it ever being mentioned in any of them.

2. The Glenn Beck groups. I'm in one. It was never mentioned. There are more Glenn Beck supporters on meetup in Connecticut than Ron Paul supporters and most of them like Schiff.

3. The Independence Caucus. This is a group I'm in that has endorsed Schiff and it's purpose is activism. It was never mentioned.

4. The CT Libertarian Party mailing lists. It was never mentioned.

5. The Connecticut Tea Party mailing lists. I usually get these second hand, but I usually get them all. I don't remember it ever being mentioned. The Tea Party mailing lists are probably bigger than all of the above mailing lists combined, and Schiff is a frequent speaker at their events and the Tea Party leaders have all publicly endorsed Schiff. They should have sent an email out.

Those are just the groups I'm involved in. I'm sure there are many other groups that are partial to Schiff that this could have been promoted in but wasn't. Maybe Rand's campaign is drawing some off. Maybe the timing wasn't the best. But I think the main problem was this was just very poorly promoted. I know I'm partly to blame for that. Sometimes I get up to 100 emails a day and if I see something 3 times, like this, then I don't realize that there may still be hundreds or thousands of people in other groups that aren't getting the message. It's something I'll be more aware of in the future.

 

[Daamien]

Thanks for the feedback guys and for staying constructive. Hopefully we won't make similar mistakes in the future for Schiff and other liberty candidate money bombs. It's always good to reflect on what works and what needs to be improved.

 

[K466]

Great list, we can't make any more mistakes like this again. We need a big money bomb in mid June, perhaps, well after Rand's smashing victory. We need to plan this one better. How did we manage to raise nearly $500 K in August?