Ron Paul HQ Launches Mail Iowa Program!

[llamabread]

Signed up for 25. Now to get stamps...

 

[Brian4Liberty]

I do think it would be justifiable that if someone handles more than say ... 100 letters, that the official campaign chips in postage for those people. It does add up. 500 letters would be around $250 in first class postage and paper. (That's why letting direct mailers handle it is cheaper, they can use bulk mail rates.)

Problems being, that I've seen threads before about how the official campaign and the grassroots can't get too intertwined. And I suppose re-imbursements could be abused, if there isn't a local chair for Ron Paul to verify the mailings.

Letter mailing is expensive. I think the request is for people to volunteer their time and postage. People should probably factor postage in when deciding on the number of letters to write.

IMHO, this plan offers the following benefits:

- Personal letters have way more impact than bulk mailings.
- Proves real grassroots support and dedication (will the MSM notice?).
- Eliminates the campaign acting as middle-man for money. (I believe this is the "Ron Paul philosophy" in action!)
- Eliminates the possibility of abuse.
- Saves the campaign a lot of money.

 

[empirenine]

As a suggestion. If you guys want to do more but are concerned with handwriting the whole letter, what I am doing is addressing them by hand. Whenever I see anything by hand I ALWAYS open it. Once you get someone to open the letter, they WILL read it no matter what it's about or whether or not it is handwritten. My writing is not the greatest, so after writing about 25 letters, you probably couldn't even read them anymore.

If you can't handwrite 100 letters due to time consider this as an option.
Get your letter ready. Print it out on very nice stock. Not just white printer paper.
Sign each and every letter at the bottom. Maybe even write a small message on the bottom like "hope to see you at the Ames straw poll" in hand.
Their name and address on the outside should be handwritten. Professional marketers know this technique works like a charm.

That way you can get more addresses without having to spend 40 hours hand writing the whole letter and getting carpal tunnel while doing it.

I'll be doing something similar to this.

• Handwrite the envelope
• Handwrite recipient's name on folded letter (so they open the envelope and see their name handwritten INSIDE too)
• Write a personalized line within the letter

My handwriting isn't great either, which is a good reason NOT to handwrite all of the letters.

 

[wbbgjr]

I'm going to start out with 25. How many Republican voters are there in Iowa? If it's a million then we should definitely think about typing most of the message (and writing a couple of lines) and scratch the idea of writing it all by hand.

 

[Birdlady]

Something else I wanted to add here. My husband knows A LOT about marketing so I am just passing on information. He does this stuff for a living.

He said do not use Bulk mail (the pre-printed postage machine). That makes it look like an ad, bill or some type of solicitation. Use a regular stamp! It makes the letter look legitimate and gets them to open it up. We need people to open the letters up. Even if you saved a few bucks, if you knew that 50% of your letters got tossed because of the bulk mail it would not be worth the savings.

That's all for now. Good luck!

 

[Birdlady]

This is a nice friendly bump so others can see this and get involved.

 

[UCFGavin]

Something else I wanted to add here. My husband knows A LOT about marketing so I am just passing on information. He does this stuff for a living.

He said do not use Bulk mail (the pre-printed postage machine). That makes it look like an ad, bill or some type of solicitation. Use a regular stamp! It makes the letter look legitimate and gets them to open it up. We need people to open the letters up. Even if you saved a few bucks, if you knew that 50% of your letters got tossed because of the bulk mail it would not be worth the savings.

That's all for now. Good luck!

its true. i also liked what the guy said earlier about writing the address out and putting in a line or two of your own handwriting and such.

 

[llamabread]

This is a good idea for all of us who aren't involved in the call Iowa operation. I think percentage wise, more people are likely to get interested in Ron Paul from a handwritten letter than a phone call.

 

[MozoVote]

If we talk about the straw poll, can we also give information about Adopt-an-Iowan so that people know they can effectively vote for free? Or does that become another FEC bugaboo?

 

[V4Vendetta]

wow this is cool, I never heard of this, I going to request 50

 

[Sematary]

Signed up for 25. Now to get stamps...

I got 50

 

[Rocky Mtn Liberty Lover]

If you the address you are sending to appears to be very rural, here is some literature on where RP stands on agriculture. Having the reader see that Ron Paul considers the agriculture industry "the backbone of America" should have positive influence with Iowans.

http://www.house.gov/paul/press/press98/pr033198.htm

 

[ronpaulitician]

Q: If my handwritten letter doesn't look all that appealing to the eye (I use basic print when I write), but is clear enough to be easily read, do I
a) handwrite all the letters
b) electronically print copies, and handwrite name/address, and a couple of lines within the letter

 

[mtmedlin]

Electronically print. I think putting the most professional face on a presidential election is rather important.

 

[bobmurph]

Where did the mailing list that the campaign is using come from? Are these names & addresses totally random? Or compiled in a way such that we can be slightly informed as to their politcal leanings?

A would draft a very different letter to people who may have never voted than I would to people who are conservative (random mailing list vs. republican mailing list)

 

[LibertyEagle]

If our handwriting is good, it seems like they are much more likely to read these, if they are handwritten. At least we should have some handwriting on the letters and for sure the envelope. Otherwise, the chances of them opening them up is greatly reduced.

If headquarters wanted to mail out form letters and generate computer mailing labels, they could have done it themselves. Weren't we asked to get involved to make these more personal? From one concerned voter to another?

 

[wbbgjr]

I'm going to send out a professional looking Ron Paul leaflet and also a short handwritten note from me. This way it looks professional fit for a President and also is personal so that they will take notice.

 

[wbbgjr]

I'm going to send out a professional looking Ron Paul leaflet and also a short handwritten note from me. This way it looks professional fit for a President and also is personal so that they will take notice.

Just a reminder for all your forum readers. Get off the boards and take actions!. starting with me first. Now to write these letters. signing off.

 

[Dave]

Where did the mailing list that the campaign is using come from? Are these names & addresses totally random? Or compiled in a way such that we can be slightly informed as to their politcal leanings?

A would draft a very different letter to people who may have never voted than I would to people who are conservative (random mailing list vs. republican mailing list)

I presume they're starting with GOP, then independents, then democrats but I'm not sure. If so, I would imaging they're still in the GOP.

Iowa registrations break down to approximately 600k GOP, 600k democrat, and 800k independent.

You have a good question. Send it to mailiowa@ronpaul2008 and I bet you'll get an answer.

 

[cajuncocoa]

I suggest we hand-write them to add that personal touch (and not let them feel like it's a mass-mailing, which they will probably disregard).

Hand-written is definitely preferred.