You can also run your list against FEC contributions data and state voter files to determine, for example, which business owners are making sizeable political contributions. . . . You might even run the list against cluster-based geodemographic targeting data. Using these techniques, a grassroots PR firm can generate a list of likely supporters overnight for its client's cause. The essence of this new way is to marry 1990s communication and information technology with 1960s grassroots organizing techniques. After a brief conversation to determine whether the constituent agrees with the pitch, the telemarketer offers to connect him or her immediately with the targeted official.
Lobbyists can even silently monitor the conversation, if they stay on the three-way call.
In addition to phone calls, telemarketers may also offer to send letters, telegrams or faxes using the activist's name. The sheer quantity of mail generated through grassroots campaigns is staggering. A single member of Congress receives 92,000 pieces of mail per year. In some cases, astroturf campaigns can backfire. Increasingly, PR firms are turning to more personalized, intensive methods of orchestrating political activism for their corporate clients.