Our Euroelection campaign
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Once again the i newspaper has been shown to be a useful publication in which to place our inserts and, currently, our election manifestos. 185k went out with last Wednesday’s South edition (15 May) and has so far brought well in excess of 100 requests for the 3 free Standard offer. Around 75% of respondents also asked for an information pack.
That’s interesting to hear Dave. Perhaps it might be worth capitalising on the “repetition effect” by placing inserts in this newspaper on a monthly basis perhaps for a six month trial period and in different parts of the country
What is the total for responses so far? What would be the total cost for 6 lots of inserts?
This sounds like relatively good value for money spent
“What is the total for responses so far? What would be the total cost for 6 lots of inserts?”
Haven’t got the figures in front of me, Robin, but must be hovering around 500. Remember though that we’ve now placed a number of inserts in different regions covered by the i newspaper.
112 responses were processed yesterday, the vast majority relating to the manifesto insert (the number of enquiries having accumulated over several days) with something like 25 received in yesterday’s post alone. That daily figure will soon drop off dramatically.
Because we were inserting our manifesto this time the region chosen was the South edition (obviously) which also included the South West (Cornwall/Devon) which we didn’t want but we were unable to pick and choose. Total cost for 185k at £18 per 1k came to a tad under £4k (inc.VAT) plus the cost of printing the manifesto.
So, “do the math”, as they say across the pond. We could probably negotiate a discount for six lots of inserts.
Hi Dave
So you are saying that for 185k inserts at £18 per 1000 – which comes to £3300 – we have had about 500 responses so far. That comes to £6.66 per response
That is actually quite good. 6 lots of inserts would come to £19800 and generate 3000 responses on that basis. If you did each lot in quick succession – perhaps once per week – you are likely to increase the response rate, because of the repetition effect, to maybe 3500
You could also vary the inserts with each focussing on a particular theme to broaden the appeal – that too might push up the overall response to , say, 4000
The picture question is – has the Party got the funds to engage in a one off experiment of this kind? £20k is a lot of money but then so also is 3-4000 responses a lot of responses! Furthermore , this could have potentially enormous side effects in terms of boosting morale and changing gear as far as Party activity is concerned. Quite likely every branch would benefit in terms of the increased numbers of publicity contacts within its locality. It might also induce one or two ex members to re-join if they saw things were beginning to happen in a serious way
If 6 lots of inserts is considered too expensive how about 3 or 4? Could this be formulated as serious proposition for the EC to consider? Obviously it will require a lot of preparatory work beforehand (including negotiating a discount rate for 6 lots of inserts). If several different kinds of inserts are contemplated careful thought needs to go into selecting a theme and composing the relevant text.
I am quite heartened by this response and propose to relay the details to the comrades in America and Canada as they embark on their own publicity campaigns….
“So you are saying that for 185k inserts at £18 per 1000 – which comes to £3300 – we have had about 500 responses so far. That comes to £6.66 per response”
I’ve obviously not expressed myself very well. The 500 (or so) responses we’ve had is the total for ALL the insert campaigns we’ve conducted in the i newspaper in various regions which, from memory, is 4, including this one. The total number of responses for the latest insert (i.e. the green election manifesto) is currently about 125. So, not quite as good as you first thought.
Maybe hold off until we know the cost of a new member from this campaign.
See how many from the enquiries/3 free issues progress to actual membership
I’m no expert but wouldn’t the professionals differentiate between money spent on brand recognition and expenditure that resulted in increased sales.
500 rise in the regular online readership of the Standard would be judged very modest.
But 500 new members….well that is very different…But realistically a tenth of that, 50 members, concentrated in the SE would be the start of the reversal of our fortunes that would snow-ball. 5 members in one branch isn’t to be sneezed at either
The strategy can be applied to the regions, centred on where we already have a core membership to reap the benefit but more importantly contribute positively to retaining new members.
We have to be offering something that encourages long-lasting membership, not the usual revolving door of the Left … political activities where we engage in political action because that is why people join a political party to say the very obvious…to make a personal individual contribution to something they think is worthwhile. They seek a vehicle for their own ideas and ideals, an outlet for their views.
Education is one thing…being able to express that increased knowledge is quite another.
I think this is one reason why very often radicals drift into reformism…they practice their theory…We also must find ways to make our theory concrete and provide a measure of success and accomplishment.
In a little way, that is by giving an identity … when a member says he is in the Party and the response is one that …”Oh, the Socialist Party, i’ve heard of them” then a useful conversation begins… and not as present, simply a blank stare as if we have just revealed our membership to an esoteric cult that nobody knows anything about.
Just a few of my thoughts…
Would a good start to converting 3 month subscribers to members perhaps be to offer a semi membership function? It could be offered once the 3 months is up as a follow up, or even at the start? Could term it like SPGB advocate or something like that? Some people may not want to/or feel able to answer the questions straight away, but with enough issues of the standard and engagement with members they may wish to.
Those willing to do it could be prescribed a buddy member to talk about the party and socialism in general. Perhaps with a view to full time membership. Can’t just rely people to be read into joining, I personally had a 3 month standard trial a few years ago before joining and the process defo could have been accelerated.
Could reinforce us both a party and educator
Just a few thoughts
As an after thought, anyone who witnessed the Scottish 2014 referendum could not miss the involvement of so many normally non-pollical particiapants in the campaign.
For the first time in their lives, people believed their single vote meant something and would have an influence in the outcome, unlike the normal run-of-the-mill elections. They were empowered and became involved, either passively with badges and stickers declaring their allegiance to either yes or no camps, but in the High St, campaigners were busy, with side by side stalls.
A knock-on effect that even when eventually defeated the separatists are still organized and active outside of the SNP party structure with regular protest marches to keep their aspirations alive.
I was not in the UK to see if the EU referendum was similar but I imagine a similar feeling existed of your say being heeded and explains the anger of the Brexiteers being presently side-lined on discovery that they are being ignored.
My point is that when people take personal possession of the political process, they do in fact feel that they own it and don’t give it away as they do in general and local elections…Something we can build upon with our delegatory form of democracy, when we say the people issue instructions to be followed and not politicians to interpret what we want for us
I can’t agree about any form of probationary membership, James.
We do have members AND sympathisers.
From experience in Edinburgh we have had very close relationships with a few non-members who put in a lot of effort and energy into the branch. Offering a official recognition wouldn’t have made any difference.
Back to my earlier point, they had means to express their role of sympathizer by having things they could do to aid and assist the branch materially.
Well, at the very least I think doing a follow up or ascribing those who subscribe a contact can’t be anything but helpful.
Probationary membership is not really what I meant either, I mean more giving these people more than just paper to engage with. Access to a process of some form.
I’ve obviously not expressed myself very well. The 500 (or so) responses we’ve had is the total for ALL the insert campaigns we’ve conducted in the i newspaper in various regions which, from memory, is 4, including this one. The total number of responses for the latest insert (i.e. the green election manifesto) is currently about 125. So, not quite as good as you first thought.
Ah OK Dave but just to get the maths correct – what was the total number of all the inserts that generated these 500 or so responses? Just a rough figure would so we know more or less what we are talking about?
Yes it is not quite as good as I thought but its still quite impressive. Hopefully I detailed breakdown will be made available shortly
Well, at the very least I think doing a follow up or ascribing those who subscribe a contact can’t be anything but helpful.
Probationary membership is not really what I meant either, I mean more giving these people more than just paper to engage with. Access to a process of some form.Yes I endorse what James is suggesting here. We do need something more proactive than just leaving it up to the individual concerned whether he or she she wishes to maintain some form of contact. Perhaps at the end of the trial subscription period an information pack could be sent to reader inviting them to become more involved in various ways A buddy system would certainly help and there are plans to initiate a pilot scheme soon I understand. We can help by identifying the nearest branch for the person to contact. A feedback response sheet would also be useful. In short anything that encourages the person to keep in contact and interested…
“Ah OK Dave but just to get the maths correct – what was the total number of all the inserts that generated these 500 or so responses? Just a rough figure would so we know more or less what we are talking about?”
I’ve already given you “a rough figure”, Robin – 4.
I’ve already given you “a rough figure”, Robin – 4.
No I mean the total number of individual leaflets inserted in these 4 campaigns. Did each campaign involved 185K inserts or did they vary?
James, one thing Edinburgh Br did was to hold a branch business meeting, but also separately host a discussion group on another evening. A non-member took up the role of treasurer for the discussion group, fixing dates for the room hire. Another non-member showed his commitment from several times cycling 15 miles to the venue of the discussion group.
Branch business meetings were also attended by non-members so that they experienced the Party democracy and decision making procedures first-hand. And of course learning that on some things we had a healthy dissenting debate within our Party. They were encouraged to offer their own views but fully understood they could not formally vote. Even though we were few in number, members stuck to procedures so that whether we were three or three hundred the democratic process was very visibly exercised.
The follow-up is indeed getting those interested along to local branches but these have to be welcoming and not bore a stranger with tedious Party business. If a Discussion Group is not practical then a very definite discussion period should be built into a branch meeting. (And perhaps an apres soiree swally)
One thing we are ignoring here is the disappointing response to the 215,000 leaflets distributed by Royal Mail. I don’t think they even reach double figures. It can’t have been the wording as it was the same. The layout would have been a factor as we couldn’t offer the 3 free months subscription (only an info pack about our policy in the election as the regulations don’t allow advertising) as we did in the i paper insert. Another important factor will have been the audience. The Royal Mail one was aimed at everyone in the 6 selected areas whereas the i paper insert was targeted at people who were interested in political ideas.
Free postal distribution to everyone may still be useful in terms of raising our profile but not in getting responses to follow up. Also, many (in fact most) responses to the i paper insert came from outside the election area. This meant that our insert was in effect our national Euroelection manifesto. Which suggests that we could use the i paper for general election and other important statements (I wouldn’t be too keen on a rolling 4-month programme of general inserts). Note also that the i paper gets a better response than from other papers as it only has one insert per issue, i.e not a bundle that people can and do throw straight into the bin or let fall out on to the street.
The other statistic that will be a useful indicator as to how to follow up will be the vote. Not the total but where we did relatively better. Last time our average was 0.23% but was 0.56% in Oxford, 0.52% in Brighton, 0.49% in Hastings and 0.44% in Southampton. For the record, the worst was Surrey Heath at 0.09%, i.e less than 1 per 1,000. I don’t know where it is, not sure we need to.
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