Rand Paul Digital: Apps/MicroSites for Next-Gen Grassroots

[orenbus]

Hey all, first I want to give a huge thanks to those of you that backed the project and those that helped to spread the word. Although we were not able to reach the goal and get a green light for the project at this time, a lot was gained from going through this process and we are looking to working with you in a future relaunch of this project on Kickstarter. With that said we are about to cancel the current project on KS so it can be rebooted in the future.

Once the page on Kickstarter in canceled we won't be able to edit the main portion so we've made some modifications including adding a heads up for supporters that may not be aware of this effort currently, and run across the KS page down the road. Have also added a few quotes/testimonials to the KS page from fellow grassroots activists that in the past weeks who have been publicly supportive of the project.

Have added a message to go to RandPaulDigital.com for new info. on the road ahead, we're currently working on something for the site that will be released next week, for now there is a countdown clock.

I'll make another post here either later tonight or tomorrow to make some replies and also go into more detail on a path forward to relaunch the project.

Thanks everyone for your continued support.

 

[Crashland]

Thank you orenbus for continuing despite the setback. What sorts of improvements do you have in mind for the relaunch?

 

[The Rebel Poet]

Have you considered breaking it up into multiple separate projects? If you divide up moneybomb promotion, early state outreach, graphs and data, and FreeMeTv, you can: 1) keep it from being all or none and maybe get traction on one project even if others fail, 2) do them at different times allowing people to see some tangible results lending momentum from one project to the next, and 3) spread the cost thinner so it's not so scary a number. I'll bet people would be more likely to give $15 twice than $20 once.

 

[orenbus]

Okay so having gone through this process we've come to a number of realizations, which some of you have already mentioned above, here are the main points;

1. The pledge goal was set too high, although ideally we would want to work on all the project parts during the same time frame, we're looking at how we may
want to break up the project based on priority, backer support, or come up with another approach to adjust the pledge goal.

2. No matter how much effort is put out by a handful of us, we need more help in different areas. Personally I was trying to wear way too many hats, expending time in areas instead of focusing in others, all the while working a job and maintaining family responsibilities. To give the project a fair shot at succeeding the workload for promoting the kickstarter needs to be distributed to avoid pitfalls. A lot of the work I was doing needed to be done, there was also trial and error, and discovery through the staggered approach producing videos, prototypes and assets with an aggressive deadline with hope of getting to work on the projects sooner and no doubt there were things that were missed. To help correct this, after a couple of email blasts went out I've received messages from fellow supporters wanting to volunteer with the project in specific roles. These are listed below to help spread the activities, let us know if you are interested in helping.

3. Before the Kickstarter project can be relaunched a network of early identified backers and clear avenues for promotion beyond Forums and Facebook need to be established. This way on day one at minimum 30% of the goal is guaranteed to be reached in the first hours and a larger audience of fellow supporters can find out about the project, assuring that the project will be fully funded by the new deadline. To help resolve this the RandPaulDigital.com page will have a pledge form for those intending to donate to the kickstarter project on relaunch, we will have a goal set for the number of backers needing to be signed up before we relaunch the project. We'll be working to reach out to media and liberty sites for promotion prior to any relaunch to best promote the effort. One idea may also be to relaunch during a major event Rand is involved in, perhaps the debates or something earlier.

There are other things we are looking at but the above are the high level areas that will be focused as a prerequisite to relaunch.

Here are some of the roles we are looking to fill:

Marketing Manager - help with reaching out to media and pro liberty news sites
Blogs/Forums Liaison - person to interact with liberty blogs and special group forums where pro Rand Paul groups reside
Email-Blast Copy Writer - help with writing copy for emails that will be mass distributed to supporters
Social Media Writer/Promoter - reporting latest developments on Twitter, Facebook and potentially Instagram
Social Media Designer - funny meme images, promo images
Video Script Writer - write verbatim dialog that can be used when putting videos together about the project and updates
Video Editor - promo videos for the project

If you choose to volunteer for any of the above, full acknowledgements for your contributions will be listed on the main site. Do not be worried about being "officially" part of the team if you are interested in volunteering, but may not be able to guarantee a fixed amount of time. This is a grassroots effort so I appreciate any time you can donate to the activities listed above to help relieve pressure on the rest of us, and would be grateful for your help. PM me if you are interested or reply here.

The immediate plan right now and what we are currently working on is setting up a site that will address and/or help to identify the key pieces of information in the major items listed above. We are working around the clock to have something up this coming week.

 

[orenbus]

IMO, the problem is the marketing, not the content. The project itself looks impressive. It feels to me like the well is untapped, not dried up. Was this project being disseminated to liberty groups on college campuses?

I spoke with a few members of college liberty groups, but nothing on the scale that could have been done. I think you are absolutely right, the well is untapped, but to do so properly requires a coordinated effort.

 

[orenbus]

It seems to me that you set the deadline really short.

Typically Kickstarter recommends projects not go much longer than 30 days because most of the pledges come in the first 72 hours or towards the deadline, there is usually a lull in the middle where not much is going on, they also suggest that having longer project deadlines reduces the chance for success. Although I've read conflicting arguments about the inverted bell curve and some projects going 45 days. Having a shorter deadline creates a sense of urgency for both the organizers and backers, but in this case yea it may have been too short, especially considering the amount of work that needed to be done and the staggered approach and discovery of the process details.

 

[orenbus]

By the way was going through an old hard drive and found these forgotten gems from 2007. Figured some of you may get a kick out of them.

Some designs my buddy sketched out, the RP one that showed up on someone cake we don't know and on lots of sign photos posted on the net:

Dave having fun with photoshop:

Ron Paul Nation was a edgy site we made at the time got traffic from different corners and people we didn't know started to promote it:

This one surprised the hell out of me, I show up for the philly rally and see this on a back of this girl's sports car:

 

[orenbus]

And FreeMe.TV:

FreeMeTV Embedable player prototype:

Revolution at MIT?

Some oldies but goodies:

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

Have you considered breaking it up into multiple separate projects? If you divide up moneybomb promotion, early state outreach, graphs and data, and FreeMeTv, you can: 1) keep it from being all or none and maybe get traction on one project even if others fail, 2) do them at different times allowing people to see some tangible results lending momentum from one project to the next, and 3) spread the cost thinner so it's not so scary a number. I'll bet people would be more likely to give $15 twice than $20 once.

I agree it needs to be broken down. I personally like FreeMe.tv and RonPaulNation

How about setting the goal low and letting people vote similar to instant runoff voting.

So in selections, say a share of FreeMe.tv is $5 and if I want to donate $100 to that, I enter quantity 20.

Here are some of the roles we are looking to fill:

Marketing Manager - help with reaching out to media and pro liberty news sites

OK if press releases.

Blogs/Forums Liaison - person to interact with liberty blogs and special group forums where pro Rand Paul groups reside

We have fallout left on yahoo, Meetup, Myspace and Facebook.
If you send 5 people the same or a very similar message on Facebook or post to 5 state groups you get an automatic suspension for 10 days for the first offense. You might just get banned and your account yanked. The others have similar anti-spam measures.

Email-Blast Copy Writer - help with writing copy for emails that will be mass distributed to supporters

You have e-mail lists? No one else seems to except the official campaign an they can't cooperate with the grassroots.

Social Media Writer/Promoter - reporting latest developments on Twitter, Facebook and potentially Instagram

OK, but note above. twitter needs a following and retweeters. Facebook issues above not sure about Instagram. There are others.

Social Media Designer - funny meme images, promo images

RonPaulGraphics on Yahoo

Video Script Writer - write verbatim dialog that can be used when putting videos together about the project and updates
Video Editor - promo videos for the project

RonPaulVideo on Yahoo never really took off, but try contacting people that posted there or contacting people that did RP vids on YouTube.

-t

 

[orenbus]

So a NJ State Cop just liked the Rand Paul Digital page on Facebook. Should I be concerned?

 

[timosman]

So a NJ State Cop just liked the Rand Paul Digital page on Facebook. Should I be concerned?

Freedom is popular.

 

[r3volution 3.0]

So a NJ State Cop just liked the Rand Paul Digital page on Facebook. Should I be concerned?

Probably...

Anyway, looking forward to future developments. Keep up the good work Jack.

 

[Barrex]

So a NJ State Cop just liked the Rand Paul Digital page on Facebook. Should I be concerned?

Who are you? First time we communicate.

 

[orenbus]

If you have bitcoin, currently looking to raise $150 right now to pay for the Mailchimp email service we use. Once the RandPaulDigital.com pledge page is up we can send out an announcement email to over 20,000 supporters on a mailing list we've maintained over past election cycles from creation of grassroots projects. We'll also use this service through the course of the pledge drive.

Here is the bitcoin address:
Edit: bitcoin address removed as this has been fully funded, thanks DonovanJames and Crashland.

This is a limited donation and will only go to the initial email promo service to help get the word out to fellow supporters about the project. Once the project is fully funded through Kickstarter the person(s) that helped with this initial effort will receive a special early adopter reward and recognition. We are looking for very small donations on this one so if you can send 5-10 dollars that's great! This is important as it will help get the ball rolling and help spread the word about RandPaulDigital.com through these important initial emails.

Thanks.

 

[Bradleyb86]

If you have bitcoin, currently looking to raise $150 right now to pay for the Mailchimp email service we use. Once the RandPaulDigital.com pledge page is up we can send out an announcement email to over 20,000 supporters on a mailing list we've maintained over past election cycles from creation of grassroots projects. We'll also use this service through the course of the pledge drive.

This is a limited donation and will only go to the initial email promo service to help get the word out to fellow supporters about the project. Once the project is fully funded through Kickstarter the person(s) that helped with this initial effort will receive a special early adopter reward and recognition. We are looking for very small donations on this one so if you can send 5-10 dollars that's great! This is important as it will help get the ball rolling and help spread the word about RandPaulDigital.com through these important initial emails.

Thanks.

How close are you to the $150 now? I would like to help out.

 

[orenbus]

How close are you to the $150 now? I would like to help out.

So far $30 in. Once it gets to $150 I'll edit the post, could you also remove the bitcoin address from your post? Don't want people sending in more than the $150 that is needed right now.

 

[DonovanJames]

So far $30 in. Once it gets to $150 I'll edit the post, could you also remove the bitcoin address from your post? Don't want people sending in more than the $150 that is needed right now.

I'll double that, .132 BTC on the way

 

[orenbus]

I'll double that, .132 BTC on the way

Thanks Donovan so much for donating. Your commitment to helping this project is greatly appreciated. +Rep

 

[r3volution 3.0]

For the MailChimp fundraiser (good choice of mail service BTW), we can only donate bitcoins?

...I dun have no stinkin bitcoins...

But I can donate a few Bernanke bucks if there's an option to do so.

 

[Crashland]

I got the rest of it 0.39670296 BTC