Teddy Goff is a client manager at Blue State Digital – coming over after spending the 2008 election working for Obama for America. During the primaries, Teddy served as a member of Obama’s email team and in the general election, he oversaw the email and blog programs and online organizing in more than 25 battleground states. A graduate of Yale, Teddy also worked on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Project and helped create and launch the new WhiteHouse.gov.

Teddy Goff is a client manager at Blue State Digital – coming over after spending the 2008 election working for Obama for America. During the primaries, Teddy served as a member of Obama’s email team and in the general election, he oversaw the email and blog programs and online organizing in more than 25 battleground states. A graduate of Yale, Teddy also worked on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Project and helped create and launch the new WhiteHouse.gov.

1. You came to Blue State Digital from the Obama campaign, what made you come to Blue State?

A lot of things brought me here: the chance to keep doing the kind of work I'd been fortunate to be able to do on the campaign; Blue State's amazing roster of clients; my respect and affection for Joe (Rospars); and the other Obama-ites who'd already chosen to work here. And the beautiful office right near Union Square didn't hurt.

2. What lessons did you learn from the Obama campaign that you have been able to apply to your clients?

Almost everything I know about this business I learned from the Obama campaign, so that's tough to answer. To mention a few, though:

It takes resources and time to make a program work, on the Internet as anywhere else. Too many people think that in the age of social networks, movements just materialize wherever there's a good cause or good content. But even on the Obama campaign, we had a massive staff working all day every day to build an email list, keep them engaged, and get them to take action. It's possible to replicate that sort of success, if almost always on a much smaller scale, but organizations need to make wise choices about where and in what amount to deploy resources, and set expectations that are commensurate with how much they've been willing to spend (not just in money but in staff time, political capital, etc.).

Speaking of misperceptions of the Obama web program, I find that people give too much credit to the strategy and not enough to the tactics. There were a lot of brilliant strategists on our team, and they added a huge amount of value to the campaign, but I was always astonished at the incremental gains we made just by focusing obsessively on the small things: the size and color of a donate button, the specific dollar amount asked for in an email, the tone and length of a call script. It's an important lesson for Blue State's clients: set a direction and clear goals, of course, but then get down to the nitty-gritty and make sure no opportunities are going to waste because of poor execution.

The last thing I'll mention is one that, probably, every Blue State client has heard us talk about: the importance of building, and honoring, relationships with your supporters. People stop reading emails when they feel as if they're being mistreated -- not thanked for their contributions, not asked for their input, not provided with compelling content to keep them engaged. $25 donors for the most part don't expect a personalized note from the director of whatever organization they've just given to, and they certainly aren't looking for glossy pamphlets or flashy Web apps -- they just want to be acknowledged, and assured that the organization is putting care into the work it's doing and the community it's building. What this process actually looks like -- what specific steps are taken to develop valuable relationships -- differs for every client, but the core premise is at the heart of every program we run.

3. You coordinated the online communications for 25 different battleground states during the 2008 election. What advice can you give to online campaign managers?

Try to find a campaign with fewer battleground states.

4. During the primaries you helped run Obama’s online fundraising apparatus. While not all campaigns will have the success that OFA did, what are some of the common mistakes made by other campaigns when raising money online?

You have to give people a reason to donate. That means, as I've said, building a relationship with them (which itself means giving them things to do other than donate, making them feel invested in the health of the organization, seeking their feedback and actually responding to it, etc.), but it also means simply telling a story. On the Obama campaign, we never just said, "Donate." We said, "Look at the terrible things our opponents are saying! Donate now and show them that there's a cost to practicing that sort of politics," or "If you donate now, you'll be matched with another grassroots supporter, unlocking their pledged gift and doubling the impact of yours," or even just, "Donate now and you'll get a t-shirt." And then we said it six times (slightly differently each time, of course) in the course of two weeks. Not enough organizations give supporters a real reason to donate; they're used to giving incentives to high-dollar donors (access, gifts, a building with their name on it), but they're still figuring out the appropriate way to incentivize giving at a lower level.

5. You worked with Blue State when you were working on the Obama campaign, what experiences were you able to take from your interactions from that side before you came over to actually work for BSD?

On the campaign, I often found myself acting as the liaison between technology folks and other departments. I was reminded daily that most people don't spend a lot of time thinking about tools or social networks or web design; they have their own jobs and their own priorities, and they're often well-meaning but not terribly tech-savvy. That means people in this business need to be unendingly flexible, be extremely clear about what's possible and what isn't, and take the lead in figuring out -- and then articulating -- how all these new technologies fit into old organizations. Having worked on the client side, I've also learned that "no" is literally never a sufficient response, and that sometimes great plans needs to be scrapped.

6. You recently wrote about online fundraising and the tools for doing so in response to a NY Times article. Can you expand on that?

The NY Times ran an article suggesting that online donors tend not to give again; the money line was, "The findings suggest that while the Internet can be a valuable fund-raising tool for charities, particularly in soliciting gifts after disasters like Hurricane Katrina, it is not a replacement for direct mail or other forms of fund-raising." I agree that there's no reason for charitable organizations to abandon direct mail and other traditional revenue sources, but it doesn't follow that online fundraising is unsustainable or unreliable. On the contrary, the findings of the study cited in the article actually validate, in my view, the kind of program that is BSD's specialty.

If a charity sends a really successful flight of direct mail and then follows it up with one that performs badly, which of these strikes you as the reasonable conclusion: "These crazy mailbox-having people can't be counted on; let's go back to pneumatic tubes," or "Something may have been wrong with that second piece of mail (not to mention the messages we're putting out between fundraising appeals)"?

The problem that charities are running into isn't, clearly, that people hesitate to give online; it's that effort and innovation are required to keep them engaged in the long term. That's why the focus of an online communications program needs to be not just on bells and whistles (which, to be clear, aren't always a bad thing), but on building relationships based on two-directional communication, authenticity, and clear benefits to the constituent. It also means that execution is a huge factor -- that the nitty-gritty of email copy, design, timing, message sequencing, etc., can mean the difference between success and failure in an environment where there's a willingness to give, but also an expectation that the ask be effective.

7. What was your first political job?

For eight freezing, dispiriting days leading up to the 2004 election, I went door-to-door for Tony Knowles's U.S. Senate campaign in Anchorage, Alaska.

8. Who is your favorite public figure?

Obviously, the President.

9. Well, I should have known the answer to that question. How about other than Obama?

David Plouffe.

10. What do you like to do when you’re not creating successful strategies for Blue State Digital clients?

I have an embarrassingly generic set of interests: friends, books, politics, food, exploring the city... I need to get a hobby. Leave a comment if you have any suggestions.

11. To be or not to be?

That's the question?

12. We've asked other interviewees why the office they work in is the best? You've been able to visit several of BSD's offices, why is NYC better than the rest?

I'll think about this question the next time I'm on the subway after midnight on a weeknight and get back to you...