[Lnc-business] My throughts on Paladin Strategies

[Arvin Vohra]

Hi All-

As you may remember, I strongly opposed hiring political consultants in the
last meeting. In my experience, consultants are often used by one faction
in an organization to force its will on another. In this case, I figured a
political consulting firm with D and R experience would basically tell us
that theft-funded special favors and fearmongering works. I figured they
would focus on making out message more like the meaningless drivel put out
by the ruling parties.

Paladin struck me differently. They were willing to focus on carefully
tailored and tested marketing. They would look at specific ad strategies to
see how to turn the 4 million Libertarian voters, and the tens of millions
of nonvoters, into donors, volunteers, etc. They wouldn't make the message
more toned up or toned down, just reach individuals with what worked. It
had the possibility of steady, reliable growth for a reasonable price.

In my time on the LNC, I've reviewed several grandiose proposals from
political consultants. Most seemed to believe that getting people to join,
donate, volunteer was a matter of color schemes and functionally
nonexistent messaging. Paladin was frankly different.

For some, the fact that they didn't have a website seemed highly
significant. It's a common joke among website designers, marketing
consultants, etc., that they get to their own websites last. I don't think
it's a significant consideration at all.

The fact that Trent Somes, who has already demonstrated great insight with
his social media work, LYC leadership, media presence, and organization
also agreed further convinced me. The fact that David Demarest, whose
uncompromising principles I have come to respect and rely on, also agreed
further convinced me. The fact that Larry Sharpe, from whom I've learned
many useful things about political communication and business
communication, who himself is a successful consultant, also agreed even
further convinced me.

My own experience talking with Paladin directly showed extremely high
competence, organization, and responsiveness. It was much higher than any
of the other outside consultants we've worked with so far, with the
possible exception of Will Taylor, who designed our excellent new logo.

Our discussion with Paladin came after an exhausting and emotional social
media discussion, and I'm not sure that people were in the right frame of
mind for proper consideration. I strongly urge you to speak with Paladin
directly, ask questions, see what they can do. They aren't a group that
seems like it's going to force any particular agenda, but rather work on
outreach with high percentage yield.

In Liberty,

Arvin Vohra
Vice Chair
LNC

-- 
Arvin Vohra

www.VoteVohra.com
VoteVohra at gmail.com
(301) 320-3634
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