Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Biz lesson from politics: A good product can be killed by poor marketing. (And, great marketing can only cover a bad product for so long. One also shouldn’t mistake luck for brilliance.)

Email can be a great tool, and I’m encouraged that political candidates are even trying to use web sites, blogs and emails to better communicate. Now, if they could learn to effectively use them. Hurts their credibility and their messages when they send the wrong things to the wrong people.

I recently emailed Senator Obama with a question and concern. The response didn’t even come close to addressing this until the very end of a “one-size-fits-all” response. First, the “Correspondence Team” was in full sales mode, which is irksome, to say the least.

Here’s the automated response from Obama:

Dear Mary,

Thank you for contacting Obama for America. The volume of messages we are receiving has exceeded all expectations. While it is difficult to respond to thousands of messages a week as efficiently as we would like, the level of interest and nature of the comments reflected in these communications are very gratifying. Your thoughts on our campaign and America’s future are greatly appreciated.

Individual citizens like you are the foundation of this campaign. In his February 10 announcement in front of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois, Barack spoke of working together to reclaim the meaning of citizenship, restore our sense of common purpose and rally the power of millions of voices to effectuate long overdue change. We hope you will visit our website, www.BarackObama.com, to view that speech in its entirety.

We’ve built a set of easy-to-use web tools that empower you to get further involved right now. At My.BarackObama.com you can:
-Build your own profile and connect with supporters near you
-Find or create your own local or national group
-Create your own personal fundraising page and track your progress
-Find events near you or plan your own
-Chronicle your campaign experience on your own blog

You can also view Barack’s thoughts on some of the major issues we face at the website Issues page, Speeches page, and in the Answer Center. And we will add more information and exciting features on BarackObama.com in the weeks and months ahead.

If you’re not sure you want to get involved, and are writing to express a concern or disagreement, we appreciate that as well. The open discussion we want to facilitate cannot take place without hearing from people expressing a wide range of views.

Thank you again for writing.
Sincerely,
Obama for America Correspondence Team

Here’s what Obama’s Team should do (aside from learning that “correspondence” ain’t the same as “communications.”):

1. Have buttons with “I want to get involved” “I have a question” and “I have a complaint” as the first gating factor in email.
2. Then, if they really must, give me a short list of potential subjects. This will enable them to better tailor the automated response.
3. The questions and complaints should (yes, I know it’s a lot of work) be read by a person and then answered. Who knows? They might: a. get some good ideas; b. convince people they really care about them; c. get more votes.
And
4. DO NOT send an automatic follow-up “Welcome” email to everyone who writes. I subsequently received one that starts: “Thanks for joining our movement for change. You’re now part of a grassroots network that’s growing across the country. Together, we’re building the momentum Barack needs to win the Democratic nomination and become the next president of the United States.”

Well, no I’m not part of your network. I originally wrote because I’m decidedly not happy with Senator Obama on a particular issue. And, I’m certainly not any happier now. He may, in fact, be the best choice, but you certainly can’t tell it from this very poor emarketing.

Update: I received another email from “Obama For America Correspondence Team. ” It at least mentions my concern before going on to a pre-packaged statement. But, do I really need to tell you it was from “no-reply@barackobama.com.” And, now I’m getting emails from his wife. *Sigh*