by Don Hermann

“The world will end if you don’t send me money in the next five minutes.
I’m only asking for $1.00. That can make the difference in my winning the election.”

That’s pretty laughable, isn’t it? I’m on a Democratic mailing list and am the recipient of dozens of emails every day that look and sound like that.

In a way I’m sympathetic with the sender or person in whose name it’s sent. Money corrupts and unfortunately our system is dependent on the candidate raising money to get elected or stay in office. That’s really another subject. Suffice it to say, it should be a priority to get changed.

Let’s get back to the message or messages. You should know that I’m a retired ad guy. My mind isn’t retired. I still have plenty of gas left in my tank.
Since advertising/communication is my business, I’m sensitive to how people ask for things. It’s a form of selling, isn’t it?

That’s the flaw in the Democratic strategy. Selling. They don’t understand it. To raise money they’re experts at whining, complaining, exaggerating and most important not involving their prospect. Most messages are about the sender. Not the recipient or the donor in this case. It’s not complicated. Find a way to talk directly to your potential donor, provide a benefit specific to them and they’ll come running.

How can someone want to donate money if there’s a respect issue? How can you show respect when the messages are negative? Before I send you money I want to know what are you going to do for me. Tell me a problem. Tell me the solution to the problem. I’m sure there are countless problems I’m interested in that you should have a solution. Tell me how you differ from your competition.

You want to be a leader. My kind of leader doesn’t whine, complain, color the truth.

The truth is most of the money raised is used to raise additional money. Round and round we go.

You want to succeed , establish PRIORITIES. Your marketing has a combination of meaningless direction and fear of Trump. You succeed in both areas. If the Democrats lose either House, it’s 100% the fault of the leaders of the Party and its MarketingTeam. Voting should have been the key issue for over a year. It was buried behind a host of other seemingly important issues but nowhere near the power of Voting. They didn’t recognize how Voting could influence everything else.

Now there’s some recognition of its importance, manifest by a panic. Is the effort too late?

This Cranky Old Man, 88 has been writing articles, making calls, warning many of the so-called gurus and politicians with the same response SILENCE. Or GO AWAY.

Photo 22292750 / Send Money © Goldnelk | Dreamstime.com