We as Conservatives are selling (or pitching) a product. Just like everyone else in the ad game, in order to increase buy-in on your product, you have to understand your customer first. Best analogy? How do you get away with charging $5 for 4 nuggets, some fries and a soda? Put a free toy in it. How many times as parents have you bought a Happy Meal simply because Jr. wanted the toy? Likewise, as a Conservative with a product to pitch, we need to tailor our approach to the 'demographic'.
Just to make things interesting, though... we have a Burger King that not only likes to compete for the same demographic, but likes to directly affect our pitch by making claims against our Happy Meals. (and no, I am using the companies as examples, I like both restaurants equally - which is not saying much).
In other words: they pitch their product AND attack the Right at the same time (and I am not saying the Right doesn't do the same thing, but hey...all's fair in love and war). Knowing this, we can make our sale much easier to dismiss by not playing into their hands. They try to marginalize us by calling us names: first it was the "RWE"... which instead of causing us to be discouraged, we embraced as a badge of honor. Then it was "The Mob"....again, instead of letting it hinder us, we instead tongue-in-cheek took it on, too....
But what most Conservatives don't understand or see yet, is that when we do that...when we dismantle their advertising campaign... it forces them into another one - deeper, more emotional, more extreme. Recently we were called "Forces of Evil". No kidding - that one is so easy to dismiss, that it literally shows the cracks in their facade.... Now they have gone to that last bastion of lilberalistic argumentation - the racism card. The irrationality of their claims highlight their struggle to maintain some grip on the customer.
But, if we on the Right, at the same time, also show any kind of weakness, show any kind of lessening of the push, any kind of reaction that plays into something they can use as fodder against us? We then become as marginalized out to the Right as the liberals do to the Left. At that point, we also have lost touch with the demographic, with the customer. Let them call us 'extremists'...and we turn around and show them we are no more extreme than a fan at a football game. Let them call us 'the Mob'...and we show them a peaceful gathering, rather than a violent, riotous group. The Left is left selling a message that doesn't ring true. However, someone calls us a 'Rabid Right-Winger'...and we then go off foaming at the mouth upset at the name calling? Played right into their hands, and the customer buys into the Left's branding of us.
We end up getting so caught up with outdoing each other, we lose sight of the primary purpose we are even out there AS activists: to increase awareness among the independent voter. Always ask yourself how does your response to the Left appear in the eye's of those that choose to be more concerned about The Office than The Oval Office? Are your actions in agreement with the claims made by the left? (or at least does it appear to be in agreement?) Does 100 tweets a day accomplish more or less than 3 or 4? Does blowing up their text mail box leave a good impression? Same with incessant posts on Facebook and MySpace? If we make them use the 'ignore' feature, then have we accomplished anything?
We complain about voter apathy...but annoying the apathetic just makes them all the more apathetic to your point of view. What happens when we are watching TV and the P90X commercial comes on? We change the channel. Why? We don't want to be yelled at for 30 minutes about something we don't care about. Same thing with us. Don't be the Sham-Wow guy of the Right...instead, work on 1 individual at a time. A friend, a neighbor, a co-worker. That one, will then go out and work on 1. Those 2 will talk to 2. Those 4...and you see the pattern. Then find a 2nd person, and start the process growing again... and again...
On that note, also accept, if you choose to go the route of the 'mass shotgun' effect of the twitter blasts, excessive facebook posts and email spam the results of your choice in advertising. People will come and go on your twitter and facebook friend lists. Accept it. And like a paid-advertising program...you may get dismissed or ignored by everyone - why watch the program if you already bought the product? Lastly, don't be surprised if people label you in the process...how many times have you pre-judged the person in the advertisements without even watching the full 30 minutes?
