After a very quick set up and install I dove right into the Options – Extensions area to see how long it would take me to crash the shiny new browser.  I’m still trying!

I have to admit that the Social Media extensions are excellent and I can immediately seen a giant leap in speed and proper rendering.  Productivity just moved up many notches.  Now keep in mind that the browser wars are real and if you use any Microsoft portal products, you’ll not be throwing IE away anytime soon — some things will never change.

In a depressed economy fundraising becomes more difficult as discretionary income for individuals is more limited. While campaign costs rise for communication items such as mail, postage, media production, etc. the correlation to increased donor giving doesn’t always coincide.

Likewise, campaigns at state & local levels are subject to whatever policies may be coming out of Washington whether they have any bearing on those individual offices or not.

Although campaigns have no action steps to change the national economic or policy initiatives they can control the environment in which the campaign approaches its daily activities.

Jay and I have had a longstanding agreement that when political consulting reverts from fun to work then it’s probably time to move onto something different.

We incorporate that mindset into our planning for client events that while still meeting campaign goals can also be enjoyable. For example, if a fundraising event is needed for the campaign why not do it outdoors at a skeet shooting range versus a hotel meeting room. Granted it’s a little more difficult for the candidate to speak with 25 shotguns blazing, however you can reach the same goals that particular task is designed.

Ultimately the campaign also will function better when the candidate and staff are in a good, positive mood.

For the record, Rosebay Development Partners political consulting is much better when the University of Alabama’s football team is doing well on the field. Although success was still achieved, some of the most lackluster consulting from our team came in 2000 when Mike Dubose posted a 3-8 record after starting the season at No. 3 in the polls.

In short, campaigns have the ability to change their internal environment which ultimately leads to success externally. If it is a chore then it’s probably time to find another line of work.

As long as Nick Saban is coaching at the University of Alabama I would highly recommend RDP for your political campaign needs – we’re both in the business of winning!

And Neal says Huh????  Then tells me, “The nerds will be lining up to read this one! Can’t WAIT to read it myself”  Yet I continue forward.

Klout Score is a clever marketing term that describes the concept we first learned about after reading The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell.  If you haven’t read it, the premise of the book is a discussion on what makes things go “viral” or hit a tipping point toward success. The key element is a Connector. That person or thing that connects lots of persons or things together (including other connectors) that allow something to explode in a viral pattern.

Klout Score is a measure of the ability of a person to influence others.  The more people a person can influence the higher their Klout Score.  A high Klout Score means the person is by definition a connector.  Told you it was clever!  Point is, social networking organizations such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and now Google are working very hard to capitalize on discovering who these people are and who they are connected too.  We put these concepts to work in Mississippi and the result was remarkable.

In our recent Press Release Neal used a phrase he claims to have coined called “Micro-targeting” that describes the process of identifying our voters with high Klout Scores. Before things go astray and you send Neal hate mail, I’ve already reminded him that Al Gore claims to be “The Father of the Internet.”

Today,Killian Schaffer posted a very nerdy article for Mashable, titled The Future of Social Customer Relationship Management.  It is a good read that discusses both concepts and gives some good insights to where things are headed.

First up is a nice article from Social Media Explorer titled The Google + Wakeup Call: What it Means for Marketers.   There are several good points to consider about your social media strategy and some good predictions about how Google’s entrance into the market will begin to change the landscape.

The second article is written more for gear heads,  such as myself, however it underlines the absolute need for a politician or business leader to understand how people are actually interacting with their perspective online presence. How to Track Tweets, Facebook Likes and More with Google Analytics, by Tim Ware of the Social Media Examiner takes a good technical look at how you track those online interactions.  Oh yea, the Gorilla is working on taking the lead in this world as well.

We really don’t want you to get tested like the previously mentioned luggage, so for goodness sakes pick up the phone and call an expert today!  Did we mention that our highly trained experts are standing by to take your call right now at 877-462-2063.

Two components contribute toward rising campaign costs. First, services provided by vendors naturally rise due to economic factors. Postage rates, printing & production costs, telecommunication and electronic media don’t remain static just for election purposes. For example, a campaign that cost $10,000 in 2010 will by economic virtue cost $12,000 in 2012. Many campaigns make the mistake of basing their budgets on past campaigns versus current projected costs.

Secondly, at state and local levels most candidates think the “campaign” begins after the fourth of July in an election year. Because of inactivity in fundraising, communications & team building overall costs rise due the need to flood the market versus remain consistent. Campaigns aren’t like water faucets – you don’t just turn on and off whenever convenient.

Unless it is the presidency or perhaps gubernatorial, it is virtually impossible to remain in the mainstream media enough to keep candidate branding consistent. Thus, gigantic costs arise due to having to purchase name identification and association versus gradually growing it over a period of time. This type of branding isn’t restricted to just the voting universe but equally to potential campaign donors. Every communication to a donor should not be a solicitation and it doesn’t have to be if the campaign is consistent.

The advent of social media is a remarkable tool, however it alone does not suffice in candidate branding and campaign building. Ultimately you could gain 5,000 friends on Facebook but what happens when you need to communicate to the other 100,000 in a district, county, etc.?

Consistency in all campaign facets is the true key in keeping costs in check. Fundraising becomes easier in small, quality approaches versus broad generic appeals. Adequate cash flow in a campaign allows for comparative shopping for vendor services further reducing costs.

In short, approaching a campaign is like eating a whale. It’s best done one bite at a time. This is our specialty at RDP positioning your campaign for methodical versus mayhem. Go to our website at www.rosebaydp.com and give us a call.

It’s been well noted in various studies that public speaking ranks ahead of dying in most peoples fears. That means a majority of people had rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy! Sounds ludicrous but it is true.

One primary mistake we tend to see with new candidates is the desire to be 100% factual and provide enormous unnecessary detailed information. There is always a pressing need to prove qualifications versus capturing and motivating an audience.  It’s always easier to insert an analogy or practical example of something that people can remember versus a flip chart full of data. You will find that people identify with you more if they can find something in common versus simply information you provide to them.

Our society has progressed or digressed, depending on your view, into a bumper sticker-30 second news clip-140 character Twitter era and thus candidate’s speeches should keep that in mind. You want to deliver something that can be repeated in those mediums that is easily remembered.  The southern language has more analogies waiting to be used than Jimmy Carter had peanuts. Find the right one in the right spot and you’re the lead news story!

As for the stage fright? We’ve heard dozens of different ideas ranging from reading a poem to memorizing verbatim your opening statement. We think those probably work about as well as holding a cup of coffee on a roller coaster. Our only true conclusion is that in time it gets easier especially after the first home run – beloved.

Still on the phone with another call, my eager salesgirl returned to inform me that although the lemonade looked “brown” it really wasn’t and wanted to be certain I was apprised of business location. Looking less than the 150 yards away I informed her that I could see the business although since there are only five accessible homes – one of which being her own – I wasn’t too terribly concerned about waiting in line.

Finally, she arrived yet a third time with an even younger male sales associate. This call was to alert me that the business day was about to end thus my final opportunity for purchase was quickly passing. I inquired how much a glass would cost thumbing through my pockets for change when informed it was $5.00. A bit surprised, I quickly used my political consulting negotiating skills to get the price down to $1.00 which should have sent a signal that an 8-year old is no match for a cagey veteran.

Upon agreement of the contractual price, the associate proceeded to pull out a flower watering pitcher and dispense me a half glass of water. It was a tad brown after all. Rather than inquire about the anticipated lemonade I stood dumbfounded watching my salesgirl deposit my dollar into a cup filled with several other dollars – including a five – as she instructed the associate to gather up the mobile business for departure.

A very cute and quick smile with a thank you and “the sale” was complete. Standing with my half filled cup of slightly murky water (which may have ultimately came from my own outside faucet) I could only come to one conclusion.

I had just become one of first the contributors to the 2032 candidate for the U.S. Senate from North Carolina.

Our friends at @Mashable published an article that really gets to the point about what is at stake with your web site. Take a look at Why Websites Are Slow & Why Speed Really Matters

Talk about first impressions!

• 57% of all users will ABANDON a web page that takes more than 3 seconds to load!
• 80% of those users will NEVER return.
• 50% of those will tell folks your site SUCKS.

Next time some kid with a laptop tells you how cool those moving pictures are, give us a call because we might just be able to save your life.

First the good news:  Release it on Tuesday or Thursday morning for greatest impact.  Thursday is the best of the two because you get a double tap with the Sunday News paper.  A solid order is to post to your site first, send an email link to all your press contacts next, then send an e-blast to your personal contacts and finally post across all your social mediums.  Lots of theories about why these two days produce the most, but the statistics are the statistics.

Now for the bad news:  Release Friday afternoon at 4:59 pm to the AP only, post it to your web site and go have a cold beer at your local pub.  The weekend is the slowest news cycle and it is even slower on a holiday weekend when the holiday is on Monday.  If you have an event on Friday that is good news, hold it until Monday morning for a bigger bang.

Hope this helps!