CRM expert Paul Greenberg , author of CRM at the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in Real Internet Time, believes that constituents are customers, and that elected officials, advocacy groups, trade associations, and, yes, even political campaigns should focus a little more on building relationships with their “customers.”

Check out his new essay, CRM Politics: Do, and Lots of Don’t, for Legislators, Administrators & the Rest of the Tribe.

Greenberg writes that too many government and political institutions see interactions with constituents as a hindrance. When people feel that their government is non-responsive, cynicism sets in. And the people begin to distrust the government.

What’s a congressional office, political campaign, or advocacy group to do? Greenberg offers several best practices for building engagement into your constituent communications program. Read them here.

Can state governments become incubators for innovation?

That’s the question Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley posed at the Center for American Progress this week.

The occasion: the release of a new report, Governing by the Numbers: The Promise of Data-Driven Policymaking in the Information Age by Daniel Esty and Reece Rushing.

The big idea is that local and state governments can build an information infrastructure that allows them to collect, analyze, and disseminate data – data that can be used to help government set quantitative, outcome-focused goals, measure performance, and compare results. Advances in information technology make all of this cheap and accessible.

Esty and Rushing pull together examples of how data-driven decision has work in places like Charlotte, North Carolina and Washington State, and in the corporate world. You can access a PDF of the publication here.

We spoke Rushing about implementation a data-driven decision making program and pulled it into a podcast.

Rushing lays out a three-point implementation plan:

1. Build information infrastructure to harness new technology.
2. Focus on results and compare among peers.
3. Develop systems to ensure data drives decision.

Want more details? Listen to the podcast. And check out the publication.

Next week is a busy week for IPDI! We’re hosting two events. The first, Ready-Made Constituent Relationships: A Look at How Technology Empowers and Enables Effective Constituent Relationship Management, will be held on Monday, April 30, 2007 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the U.S. Capitol Building Basement, Room HC-8

Ready-Made Constituent Relationships will look at how technology is changing constituent communications on the Hill and in elected office – and what the offices of elected officials can do to keep up.

Speakers include Kathy Goldschmidt (Congressional Management Foundation), Greg Roney (Housecall IT), and Ken Ward (Adfero Group).

Register for Ready-Made Constituent Relationships at http://www.ipdi.org/CRMevent/register.htm

Before you come, read IPDI’s latest publication, Constituent Relationship Management: The New Little Black Book of Politics.

Another batch of videos from the 2007 Politics Online Conference. The first is our panel, “Total Constituent Impact: eCommunications in Elected Office.” Speakers on the panel included Steve Dwyer - Technology Director, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Jonathan Levy - Legislative Assistant, Congressman Rahm Emanuel, Pepper Pennington - Press Secretary, Congressman Tom Feeney, Stuart Shapiro - President, iConstituent, and Alex Treadway - Director of Digital Media, National Journal Group, Inc. The panelists discuss using integrated, multiplatform communications, such as eTownhall meetings, newsletters, SMS, and email, in elected office.

The next video is Video A La Carte. Online, Mobile and On-Demand: What works and why. This panel features Bill Buck - President & COO, Cherry Tree Mobile, James Kotecki - Political Commentator, Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network, Jason Rosenberg - Strategy Architect, EchoDitto and Adrienne Skinner - VP of Online Strategic Sales, Comcast

Thanks again to Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network for hosting our video!

Check out commentary from our conference bloggers here and here

In what could be a blow to Internet Service Providers and bloggers alike, The Brussels Court of First Instance has ruled that Google cannot use archived headlines, blurbs and photos from published newspapers in excess. Many bloggers and ISPs use the same techniques to provide users and readers with news from numerous sources quickly and easily. While these ISPs and bloggers have claimed “fair use” in the past, this ruling, though from a court outside the United States, could set a worldwide precedent;

“The ruling, if it stands on appeal, could set a precedent for how Web search engines link to copyrighted material in the tumultuous arena of online news, according to the Belgian copyright group that launched the case…

It decided in favor of Copiepresse, a copyright protection group representing 17 mostly French-language newspapers that complained the search engine’s “cached” links offered free access to archived articles that the papers usually sell.

Copiepresse said the ruling was based on EU law and could trigger similar cases against Google in other nations, saying it had been in touch with copyright groups in Norway, Austria and Italy.”

Ironically, this post may be guilty as charged.

This is our third in a series of interviews with industry professionals discussing the state of online politics. We are little more than a month away from our 2007 Politics Online Conference; here we sit down with Cheryl Contee, Vice President of Issue Dynamics Inc., to talk about how Issue Dynamics utilized technology in 2006 and where she sees web 2.0 taking political activism in the years to come.

Special thanks, once again, to Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network for hosting IPDI’s Vlog posts!

As we gear up for the 2007 Politics Online Conference, IPDI brings you the first in a series of interviews with industry professionals discussing the state of online politics. Our first interview is with Matthew Zablud, Vice President at the Adfero Group.

Special thanks to Capitol Hill Broadcasting Network for hosting IPDI’s Vlog posts!

Eric Frenchman, the chief internet strategist for the consulting firm Connell Donatelli, Inc., will take part in a panel on integrating online and offline advertising campaigns during the Politics Online Conference 2007.

Frenchman has worked in the corporate world, managing advertising campaigns for big-name companies such as AT&T, Harrisdirect, and BMO Investorline.

He joins Michael Bassik, vice president of Internet adverstising at MSHC, in the tutorial-style panel discussion “From TV Screen to Inbox: Creating an Integrated Political Marketing Approach.” The disucssion will focus on how to use real-life, traditional advertising assets (direct mail, Web video, e-mail Web sites) and will show how and why it makes sense to add an integrative online component to existing advertising efforts.

Stay tuned for more details about POLC 2007. To find out more about the panel discussions, check out our site at http://polc.ipdi.org.