Fireside21

Last week we pushed up a refactored version of eManager’s audience tools. Refactored is fancy computer speak for taking stock of everything you have learned and then overhauling the code to work better.

That’s right – the code that powers your targeted audiences is brand new!

Why did we do this?

Well, Fireside Email is more popular than ever: we have sent over 20 million emails on behalf of our clients. This is actually the second time we have refactored the audience mechanisms. Each time was a result of learning from the systems we had in production to make things work faster.

I guess you could call it preventative maintenance. As a result, you should notice several pages in eManager loading more quickly and large email audiences will deliver more efficiently.

We also built this new code with several future enhancements in mind. Stayed tuned for some exciting new features!

I was waiting for a meeting yesterday and witnessed first hand the number of calls they were receiving with constituents voicing their opinions on the stimulus vote (even after the vote had occurred!).  Different offices have different policies for how to handle these calls, but I was surprised that this office’s policy did not include asking for the constituent’s email address and permission to send them updates.

What a missed opportunity!

Offices spend a lot of money to acquire email addresses and a lot of time to build up trust with those constituent to eventually get a formal opt-in.  Here was a missed opportunity to capture hundreds and maybe thousands of new email subscribers in just a couple of days and for free!

Many of our clients utilize Fireside Web and Email’s survey tools to help out when key votes are coming to the floor.  These surveys quickly aggregate opinions that can be reported to the Congressman.  Here’s how:

1. Have an internal discussion of how you want to phrase the survey.  Just ask a yes or no question?  Potentially ask the constituent a series of questions like, “which of the following components or amendments do you support?”
2. Publish the survey on your web site, feature it on your homepage and send out an email alert to your constituents asking for their feedback.
3. Additionally, send the link around to your staff list with a script and instructions to collect the information over the phone.
4. When the calls start to hit, your staff can take constituents’ information over the phone and enter it into the web site survey.

Here is a sample script:

Thank you for calling with your concerns on this issue.  First, do you support or oppose the bill?  Okay, please let me know if you support any of the following provisions…

Thanks again for your feedback.  Would you like to receive a response from the Congressman on this issue?

[Collect name, email and address]

Would you like to receive email alerts on this and other important topics from the Congressman?

[Collect email, check the subscribe box]

This tactic is going to yield your office a lot of new opt-ins and it also greatly simplifies the data entry for staffers.  I know that sometime when there are a lot of calls, some constituents’ opinions don’t get recorded at all.

Be sure your office doesn’t miss out on this opportunity in the future!

First of all, I wanted to thank all of our clients for another great year on Capitol Hill.  We continue to be the leading provider of Web and email solutions for Congressional offices.  Despite losing a number of long-time clients who retired or did not acheive re-election, we will end the year with more clients than we started.

IN THE NEWS

Perhaps the biggest news of the year was our departure from the Adfero Group.  I know we will continue to have strong ties to all of our former colleagues at Adfero, but we’re excited about the focused mission of Fireside21.

Along with the launch of Fireside21, we re-branded all of our Web-based software tools:

• Fireside Web™ continues to be the gold standard for Congressional Web site design and content management.  Recent surges in traffic only served as a reminder of the benefits of Fireside Web™. Also, as we have promised, we’ve continued to add new features and functionality to this industry-leading platform.

• Fireside Email™ has also received attention from our development team to establish this email newsletter system as second to none.  We’re excited to be helping our clients communicate more effectively with our integrated approach.

• Fireside CRM™ gained preliminary approval from the CAO and will be entering into the Beta phase early in 2009.  Advances in software technologies have been slow to reach the Hill and we are excited about this new service and the potential it offers to all of Capitol Hill.

We were also proud to show off our creative skills in helping the office of Rep. Mike Roger’s announce and promote his Energy Independence Plan.

A welcome announcement came from the House Committee on Adminstration to finally relax the rules related to third party/Web 2.0 services.  Many offices had been ingoring the rules anyways and we expect services like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to gain wider adoption as tools to communicate with constituents.

THE FUTURE

There’s no time to rest in 2009.  As when the new Congress kicks-off, we anticipate launching many Web sites for new members of the House.

We also anticipate launching user interface enhancement that will guarantee that all our software services continue to offer the best balance between ease of use and advanced functionality among Congressional vendors.

I love working at a small business and constantly consume publications like Fast Company, Inc, Business Week, etc. Most people outside the beltway don’t know it, but Congressional offices are small businesses too. Each office has it’s own finances, technology infrastructure and HR roles to go along with drafting legislative policy and serving their constituents.

Increasingly, small businesses and Capitol Hill offices are turning to hosted, software as a service tools to improve productivity. All of Fireside21’s services (Fireside CRM™, Fireside Email™, Fireside Web™) are hosted solutions.

As Jeremy Quittner explains in How SaaS Helps Cut Small Business Costs,

Hosted software, or software-as-a-service (SaaS), has been around for about a decade. It’s software delivered via the Web rather than residing on a company’s own servers. Companies pay a monthly fee instead of buying the software outright, and don’t have to worry about software licenses, server maintenance, or IT staff to manage complex programs.

One common concern is data security, but as he says,

That might sound like a security hazard, but your SaaS provider probably has better security than you do.

Alluding to Malcolm Gladwell’s concept in The Technology Tipping Point, Gene Marks writes,

Do you really need to drop a few grand on another server this year? Can’t it wait until next year? Isn’t there some “cloud” to put it on or something?

The benefits of SaaS are clear,

The guys I know who go for SaaS do so because it makes their people more productive. They can get data to and from their people faster, no matter where they are. They don’t have an internal IT infrastructure and find it less expensive to rent the software rather than set it up themselves.

In particular, Customer/Constituent Relationship Management software is particularly well suited to the SaaS model.  So how do you know if CRM software is right for your office?  Well, pretend that Marks is speaking of constituents rather than customers when measuring the ROI of CRM,

By making sure that all quotes are being pursued to their very end. By making sure customers who haven’t heard from you in the past six months are hearing from you. By making sure prospects who may in the future think about buying something you sell are hearing from you frequently enough to make them come to you first. By making sure you don’t look like a dope when customers call because you don’t know who communicated with them last and what problems they may be having. Think of all of all these situations you’ve encountered in the past three years, calculate how much revenue you’ve lost, and then compare that against the cost of a CRM system—and voilà!

On Capitol Hill, Fireside21 is the only vendor to offer a hosted CRM solution that unites traditional correspondence tools with our web and email platforms.  This is the future of Congressional communications and is exactly what Fireside21 is all about.

I’m attending the Congressional Management Foundation’s Navigating the First 90 Days workshop today.  As always, the CMF has a well organized forum to help new members:

• Transition into office
• Make staffing decisions
• Develop your first budget
• Get started with mail and a web site

Fireside21 is ready to help too.  We have Fireside Web sites set up already for every incoming member of the House.  We can launch these new sites in just 72 hours!

Pair this new Web site with our Fireside Email and Fireside CRM services and your office will be off to a great start!

Today, Adfero Group announces the formation of a new company for congressional services. Adfero’s Congressional Team will now be operating as Fireside21.

From the press release:

Today, Adfero Group announced the launch of Fireside21, a new company that was formed from Adfero’s growing Congressional practice. The spin-off marks Fireside21’s evolution and growth as a provider of Web-based software for elected officials including award-winning Web sites and highly efficient methods for delivering emails to targeted constituents.

Here is a little more about us:

What is Fireside21?
Founded by former congressional staffers, Fireside21 creates easy-to-use Web-based tools that help legislators keep in close contact with their constituents. We produce attractive, highly functional Web sites; offer improved methods of delivering emails to the right constituents; and provide a simplified method of managing the overwhelming volume of constituent letters, emails and requests that are sent to elected officials.

Where does the name “Fireside21” come from?
Just as President Franklin D. Roosevelt connected with individual citizens via radio through his “Fireside chats” radio broadcasts, we believe politicians in the 21st century can similarly build close relationships with constituents using the latest technologies and strategies. Hence the name Fireside21.

What happened to Adfero Group?
In a sense, Fireside21 and Adfero Group are sister companies. We are both rooted in providing innovative services that help our clients leverage the Internet to advance their message. Adfero is primarily a public relations firm that integrates sophisticated digital strategies with traditional communications tactics to advance the public affairs or business agendas of corporations, associations, non-profits and government entities.

As Adfero has expanded its capabilities to become a full-service PR firm and offer new software services to Congress, it only made sense to spin off the congressional division to minimize any confusion and to establish a separate brand that reflects our total dedication to the delivery of superior Web-based software services to congressional offices.

I look forward to telling you more about Fireside21 our new services in the near future!