A few weeks ago my Think Tank colleague Gordon blogged about the Proposition 2 ½ over ride which was soundly rejected by his city, Beverly MA. His observations on local politics and the impact of social networking on these heated topics are characteristic of many towns who are facing tough budgetary decisions in economically diverse communities. And my town, an upscale fishing/sailing town north of Boston, is included on that list.
I will admit it right now: I am an SUV driving, latte drinking, work-out mom with 3 kids and at least 3 jobs, only one for which I get an actual pay check. Most of the time managing my off-springs agenda’s is a full time job. Sometimes it’s the PTO, or church school, or the Children’s Hospital fundraisers that fill my day. Other times it’s helping my clients reach the ever-more-valuable Mom-target more effectively. It was the years of training in media arena that prepared me best and most for my most recent 90 day job: Chief Override Mom.
Having never worked on a political campaign, nor really knowing anyone who has made it uncharted water. But much like bringing a new product to market, there was a familiarity to our strategy. We organized ourselves by putting together a troop of talented, business savvy Mommas who brought energy and creativity to this challenge. We had communications specialists, attorneys, web designers, teachers, real estate marketers, ad agency types, you name it. We had representation from all kids of hard working Moms, oh yes and one dad with a great sense of humor! Once our team was drafted we set about answering the following: How were we going to persuade a town full of real old line New Englanders (read: frugal), who are insanely proud of the “lowest” tax rate around, to approve almost $22 million to REPAIR AND UPDATE our middle school facilities? Not even to build a new school?
This was not going to be “my mothers over ride” as we embraced new media. What once was an old fashion effort of neighborhood signs and leaflets in your neighbor’s door evolved into a multi-platform marketing strategy. We laid out a 90 day time plan for our communications and out reach. We built a web site and utilized Constant Contact email newsletters to reach out to our database of supporters. We set up phone networks of parents to use word of mouth to get out the vote. We had traditional direct mail to the 45-60 year old voters who could no longer (or never could) be reached by the back pack brigade. We created emails that were organically viral: you send it to your address book and ask those people to pass along in kind. We added a face to face component and invited the community to events, including tours of the school itself. Taking word of mouth marketing one step further we identified town/thought leaders and brought them literally into the boiler rooms of the school that many of them had attended in their own youth, pointing out of course that nothing had really changed in 50 years… ergo the $22 million.
It was important to keep our eye on the opposition daily, reading of course the angry and bitter words on local town blogs and forums, which of course are attributed to no one. As Gordon pointed out, it is much easier to be rude when you don’t have to sign your name to your rants. We didn’t spend much time or energy trying to change the hearts and minds of the intensely opposed, it would have been futile. We preferred to focus on educating those voters who would be impacted one way or another by this enormous decision.
After 90 days and lots of hard work and some strategic sign holding later, we prevailed. A real grass roots effort with some high tech twists helped us to get out enough voters to pass our over ride by a 2 to 1 margin. What had worked was creating a private media channel to reach our target through many vehicles: a combination of print and on-line distribution of information that helped to educate our community. It was face to face meetings and tours that gave real urgency to our cause. It was virtual tours online that brought the situation to life. It was the friendly email reminders to the overwhelmed to make sure we made their daily “to do list”. It was inviting the senior community to witness the decay of the school facilities. It was reminding the town in local papers about the impact of a healthy school system on their property values. All in all, it was a classic private media channel where we used compelling content to tell our story to a highly targeted audience.
I know this small town effort to fix a single school is no match for what is coming in November. We are still low tech in our efforts compared to Obama and McCain but we sure have come along way from the bake sales and flyers of my youth. I have witnessed organic-mom-networking 2.0. So far I’d say it’s a powerful force of nature and one to be watched with a careful marketer’s eye.
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