Why the Bat Works
Howard Dean's fundraising was tromendously successful because of his internet fundraising strategy. This led to a great deal of media attention for his campaign and his final peak in late 2003. What allowed Dean to raise so much over the internet? In my belief it was how the website motivated its supporters to keep giving even at the lowest contribution levels. He had graphic of a baseball bat on his website showing how close he was to reaching a fundraising goal and how much time was left before the deadline. By setting out a specific goal for his supporters and creating an artificial or real time limit (such as a filing deadline) for when it must be reached, donors were able to feel like they were participating in the process by watching their dollars along with many others gradually move up the red shading to fill the baseball bat. This is what got Dean noticed in June 2003, days after he officially announced his candidacy. The June 30th filing deadline was coming up, and within the last few days, Dean managed to get $7million in his campaign account. This sent the media into a frenzy and we all know what happened over the next 8 months.
2 Comments:
This post prompted me to go into my digital attic and show you this item from my collection of baseball memorabilia.
What amazes me, looking back, is that even during Dean's freefall, he still was able to raise batloads of cash.
So many of the candidates used a symbol to represent their fundraising campaigns -- Clark used a train, I believe; I guess Gephardt had a turtle. What was it about the bat that made it the most successful? Was it because it was the first of its kind? Was it due to the candidate's underdog/outsider mentality?
In other news, the "bat is back." Take a peek.
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