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Trees: Getting the Message Out Instantly!
Sometimes it seems like we spend all day just pushing buttons, from cooking in the microwave to using automatic appliances, exercise machines, phones, BlackBerries, computers, and television. Even cars now start with a remote! Why? It is easier, and we are always looking for ways to do the same things more efficiently. But the pro-life movement is built on relationships. It isn’t slick ads that sell our message—it is our people. We are ambassadors for the unborn, and by going about our lives and weaving in pro-life education whenever possible, Americans relate to us and our message. Thus we can not and will not forsake the traditional methods for educating and motivating pro-lifers to action. These include phone trees, chapter meetings, and educational booths at churches and fairs. But it also true that there is also a new generation of pro-lifers who have come of age with the Internet. They turn to it for almost everything. We have to speak their language as well. Their preferred way of receiving information? E-mail. The beauty of an “e-mail tree” is its speed and simplicity. It helps you accomplish an age-old task—having a network of people ready and able to respond at a moment’s notice to important pro-life legislative alerts—with cutting-edge technology. When a vote on legislation is imminent, chapters need to be able to activate “citizen lobbyists” who can and do play a critical role in passing pro-life or blocking pro-abortion legislation. By developing an up-to-date e-mail list now, you will be a position to forward hundreds of people critical information with the click of a button. Tips for an effective e-mail tree: 1. Start building your list now. Don’t wait until there is an urgent situation to start pulling together the e-mail addresses currently stored in a dozen different physical and digital locations. 2. Register for NRLC’s “Hot List” online at www.nrlc.org and inquire with your state affiliate about getting on its alert list, too. National Right to Life and our affiliates pride ourselves on the accuracy of our information and our close working relationships with pro-life legislators. When you receive an Action Alert, you can forward it along to your list with complete confidence. 3. Do not overuse your list. If you send your e-mail list jokes, political cartoons, or forwards, you will lose your audience. Many people will simply stop reading your e-mails if they sense it might not be a good use of their time. This means they never give you the opportunity to involve them in actual activity, like calling a congressman or attending an event. 4. Be sure the e-mail addresses are entered in the “BCC” field to prevent people from replying to everyone and cluttering inboxes. 5. Be precise but pithy in your subject line. The subject line needs to catch the recipient’s attention and entice them to read the message. It is important to convey the urgency without overstating it. 6. For legislative alerts, it is best to simply forward the NRLC alert to your list, since it will contain the appropriate information with links to tools on the NRLC website that will help your list member send appropriate messages as easily as possible. You might add your own brief encouragement at the top (such as “please take just five minutes….,”etc.). Also, include a request that recipients in turn forward the alert to their own e-mail lists, when appropriate. 7. After sending the e-mail, update your e-mail list as “bounce backs” appear in your inbox. If you know the person connected with the returned e-mail, you can contact them or their acquaintances to ascertain their new e-mail address. It may also be an entry error, so compare any returned e-mail addresses with the original. 8. After the vote takes place, redeploy the e-mail list to let people know the outcome of the legislation and how your representative voted. This follow-through is extremely important, whether or not the recipient did anything about the original action alert. 9. Start your phone tree. You can even start the conversation with, “Did you see the e-mail I sent regarding … .” People respond more affirmatively to telephone requests than they do e-mail ones, and calling reinforces the importance of the action alert. The beauty of the e-mail list is that once developed, maintenance is easy and you can reach every pro-life contact you have in an instant. Don’t rely on it to the exclusion of traditional methods of reaching out. But if you incorporate it into your efforts, it will ensure a well-rounded routine when alerts arise. |