OK, I know many of you are wondering, “What’s that crazy Chuck Muth talking about on campaign training and $297.” Fair enough. Here’s a FREE preview of partof where I'm planning to go right around Labor Day.
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An iron-clad rule in marketing, including political marketing, is that the HEADLINE of any written piece is CRITICAL.
If the headline of your press release doesn’t immediately grab the media’s attention, it will be ignored.
If the headline of your fundraising letter doesn’t immediately grab the donor’s attention, it will be discarded.
If the headline of your op/ed doesn’t immediately grab the reader’s attention, he’ll skip over and move on to the next item.
Well, the “Subject” line of your emails is your headline. As such, it better immediately grab your audience by the throat and pull them into reading your message or your reader will hit the “Delete” key and off to the “Recycle Bin” it will go….un-read.
As such, I’ve gotten a bit of a kick reading the kinds of “Subject” lines our friends on the Left have been using for the past several weeks. They are vague, at best, and marketing disasters. They do NOTHING to cause the email recipient to say, “Hey, that’s something I want to read immediately!”
Here let me give you some real-life examples from the Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), which I think may have pioneered the use of useless, meaningless, clueless Subject lines:
· Avalanche · Idiocy · Concocting lies · No brainer · Jeopardy · Awful · Nightmare scenario · Doubled down · Off the table · Dogged · Sail · Catastrophic · Moments · Fire hose · Irresponsible · Strategy maps · Cake · Backwards tattoo · Bluff · Petulance · Nine
Insane. Reading these subject lines tells you absolutely nothing about what the subject is. And here are some additional recent ones from the DSCC’s mini-me, MoveOn.org:
· A dramatic turn · The home stretch · Crisis · Stunning · Tonight! · A dramatic turn · We’re seeing this everywhere · How much more pain?
Again, these tell you NOTHING. They’re terrible. They suck. Fortunately, they’re from our philosophical opponents.
Unfortunately, however, some of our friends on the Right appear to have noticed this tactical change and apparently think it’s really, really clever. As such, they’ve been following the Left’s lead and are now doing the same.
For example, I just received one yesterday from Campaign for Liberty with the following Subject line:
“No”
Huh?
Here’s another one from Herman Cain’s campaign yesterday:
“Leadership”
Huh?
Look, if you’re a Herman Cain supporter and you see that headline with his name in the “From” box, maybe you open it. Then again, maybe not. But if you’re NOT a Herman Cain supporter, how in the world does an email with the Subject line “Leadership” make me want to immediately open the email and find out what the whole thing is about?
Got this one from a tea party organization yesterday:
“The Establishment Lash Out”
Huh?
Here’s another one I received yesterday:
“Part 2”
I’m not even going to TRY to explain that one! But let me ask you the following about it to further drive home this point: Did it come from a conservative or liberal group? Did it come from a Republican or Democrat group? For that matter, did it even come from a political organization at all? What is the issue involved? Where does the group stand on the issue?
But most importantly, why should you care enough to immediately open the “Part 2” email and find out?
Do you see what I mean?
So what’s a good Subject line look like? Well, it’s one that arouses interest about a specific subject the intended audience should be interested in, in addition to conveying a sense of immediacy - often with a call to action - which causes the recipient to open it right away.
For example, here’s the Subject line of an email I received yesterday from Americans for Prosperity:
“Stop Obama's tax-heavy budget ‘fix’ by August 2nd”
If you’re a conservative, which is obviously the intended audience, this immediately captures your attention. It also calls for action NOW. Before August 2nd, not after. See what I mean?
Here’s another good one from our friend Ilario Pantano, who will again be running for Congress in North Carolina next year:
“Stop the Nanny State; Sign the ‘Cut, Cap and Balance’ Pledge”
The American Conservative Union usually has some good Subject lines, including these recent gems:
· Obama Campaign Investigated For Illegal Contributions · Urge your Senator to say "NO" on the McConnell cloture vote! · Help STOP Goodwin Liu - Obama's Worst Judicial Nominee! · Help Save the Light Bulb - Tell Your Congressman to Repeal the Light Bulb Ban!
Some of the best conservative Subject lines come from The Political Insider e-newsletters:
· Breaking News: Obama in Office and Gas Prices more than Double · Gangster Government - Obama and His Union Buddies · For the Republican Woman in your Life! · Stop Union Bosses from Buying another Election · What Obama Can't Do, These SIX Events Could · Gingrich and Pelosi: Same Ad, Same Beliefs? · Taking Back the Senate Starts Right Here, Right Now · Gear Up and Tell the Dems That We've "Seen" Enough · Iran's Plan For Israel - Urgent Warning? · Block Dems Demand of Higher Taxes and Another Stimulus · Obama's campaign is already on the attack! · Act Now: Did filling up your gas tank empty your wallet this weekend? · Obama plans Back-Door Amnesty for Illegal Aliens · News Update: Media Matters Uses Tax-Free Funds to Attack Fox News · Alert: Obama chooses terror organization over American security · Stop George Soros from Controlling another member of Congress
Seriously. Is there any doubt what the emails attached to these Subject lines are about? Can you tell immediately whether or not these are subjects you want to read more about?
The Political Insider doesn’t make you guess what their email is about the way the DSCC and MoveOn do. One might even draw the conclusion that the DSCC’s positions and issues are so offensive to so many people that the only way they can get anyone to open their emails is to fool them with these vague Subject lines!
As for an individual candidate or elected officials, I’ve found that Sen. Tom Coburn does an excellent job in writing compelling Subject lines. Here are some sent out from his office recently:
· 9,000,000,000,000 Ways to Balance the Budget · Coburn, Levin to Hold Hearing on Tax Cheating Stimulus Contractors · Dr. Coburn Releases New Oversight Report Exposing Waste, Mismanagement · Shrimp on a treadmill and Jello wrestling at the South Pole, paid for with your tax dollars · 77,000 federal employees paid more than governors · Dems distorting fundamentals of GOP plan to reshape Medicare · U.S. government giving billions in foreign aid to same nations we are borrowing from · RELEASE - Dr. Coburn Introduces Enumerated Powers Act w/ 24 cosponsors · Lawyer paid $25,000 in stimulus funds for writing two sentences · Two unfinished Navy ships costing $300 million will now be scrapped · $2 million being spent on a 3 mile trail to nowhere in Texas
Again, you don’t have to guess whether or not you want to open these emails and read further. The Subject line tells you all you need to know about whether or not to read further….or delete and move on. Why waste your supporters’ time?
If you are a campaign or head of an organization, do not imitate failure. Do not fall for this latest strategically foolish “fad” of sending out emails with vague, meaningless Subject lines. Tell your readers what you’re gonna tell them…and then tell them what you told them you were gonna tell them.
So let it be written; so let it be done.
Prof. Chuck Muth Doctor of Psephology
P.S. Just for your information, the group behind the “Part 2”headline was a pro-life organization. The name has been withheld to protect the guilty! | 
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