“Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?”
This was Steve Job’s question to John Sculley, Pepsi Co. President, when Jobs was trying to entice him to come run Apple.
Sculley said the question landed like “a punch to the gut” (Forbes Magazine, November 2016.)
Have you spent your professional life selling “sugar water?”
Do you feel you are doing what God has called you to do?
Are you making the highest and best use of your talents?
Are you making a difference in the world?
How will your career/life be remembered?
Are you a conservative and concerned—perhaps even frightened—for the future of America?
Are you earning the money you’re capable of?
If these questions cause you to think about your past, present, and future, I may have an opportunity that could change your life and perhaps America.
In the summer of 1961, I went to New York City to become Executive Secretary of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF). Not liking to ask people for money personally, I began a lifelong study of marketing/direct mail/fundraising. I still spend 2+ hours a day studying business/marketing.
Since 1961, I have mailed 4.6 billion postal letters and raised 7.5 billion dollars for conservative/right-of-center organizations and candidates from 86 million individual donations.
In December 1964, I left YAF and in January the following month, I started the world’s first direct marketing political/ideological agency.
In the 1960s, the Left had a virtual monopoly on the news and information received by America.
But all of that changed when my company (then The Viguerie Company and now American Target Advertising) began to use postal mail to go around the liberal media’s monopoly right into people’s home with news and information.
Throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and most of the 1980s, my company led the direct marketing for conservatives, and for over 25 years conservatives dominated grassroots marketing. However, today the Left is far ahead of conservatives.
In the late 1980s, talk radio (read: Rush) arrived, followed by cable TV (Fox News) and then the Internet.
Without direct mail/direct marketing, there would be no conservative movement worthy of the name and probably no President Ronald Reagan, no Gingrich congressional revolution in 1994, no Tea Party Movement 2009-2010, no President Trump, no 50/50 America.
Today of all the money donated to nonprofits from the new and alternative media (postal, email/digital, TV, and phones) over 90% comes from postal direct mail. That will change but not for many years.
The workhorse of fundraising (charitable, health and welfare, ideological, political, etc.) is still postal mail, and it’s going to continue to be true in 2022 and 2024 and far beyond.
Since I started my company in January of 1965, we’ve been on the front lines in the battle between the Left and the Right. However, because of the weak position today of the conservative cause and the Republican Party, I and our executive team have decided to significantly increase the size and effectiveness of our company.
We are moving ATA to the front lines in the Cold Civil War now raging in America between socialism/Marxism and liberty/freedom.
Our 73 world-class ATA team members mailed 139,000,000 postal letters in 2020 for 17 clients.
In 2021, we are on track to mail over 160,000,000 postal letters and by 2024 (the year of the next Presidential election) we will mail over 220,000,000 postal letters for 30+ clients who will be fully engaged in the Cold Civil War.
Our clients include nationally known colleges, Catholic and Evangelical organizations, senior citizen organizations, public interest law firms, national security organizations, human rights organizations, veterans’ organizations, political committees, etc. So, regardless of your interests, we probably have a client that fits your dream job.
However, in order to help lead the conservative movement nationally, take on a dozen new high-powered clients, and mail 220,000,000+ postal letters, we will need to significantly grow our leadership team.
We are eagerly seeking top-level candidates for the position of COO, Account Executives, Copywriters (postal, email, digital), Production Managers, list/modeling experts, Data Analysts, digital/email marketing specialists, political writers, etc.
At age 87, I work about 12-13 hours a day, 5 ½ days a week, and serve as Chairman of ATA.
Kathleen Patten, who started at ATA in 1985, after graduating from William and Mary and later earning a master’s degree in Public Administration focused on Nonprofit Management, serves as our President and CEO.
Mark Fitzgibbons, a nationally regarded attorney and fundraising law expert is President of Corporate Affairs at ATA since 1993.
In 2007, Dorothy Miller became President and CEO of AMLC—our 11-team member list company. Since 1965, we’ve had the largest list of conservative/Republican donors commercially (many millions).
If you’ve sold all the “sugar water” you care to and you feel that perhaps all your marketing experience, learning, and knowledge has been in preparation for the opportunity to join the war to preserve the blessings of liberty that America has been blessed with—then let’s talk. Write me at American Target Advertising (9625 Surveyor Court, Suite 400, Manassas, VA 20110) or email resume@americantarget.com.
We’re located in Manassas, VA, about 50 minutes West of Washington, DC, and working remotely may be an option.
P.S. I’ve developed a marketing concept called Viguerie’s Four Horsemen of Marketing®, and a discussion of it is available in a 40-page booklet. I’d be glad to mail you a free copy and also send you free copies of several books I have written, America’s Right Turn and How Conservatives Can Outlive Liberals. These books will give you a more complete idea about myself and ATA.
P.P.S. I first sent this memo primarily to a select group of marketing professionals in the commercial and non-ideological marketing arena. However, I decide to post it here because perhaps you know a conservative who may have been waiting their entire life for this opportunity—why not do them and America a huge favor and send them a copy of my letter?
Here’s what America’s conservative leaders say about how Richard Viguerie’s target marketing methods helped build today’s modern conservative movement.
NEWT GINGRICH – Former House Speaker
“He is one of the genuine pioneers of modern American politics. He went out and figured out some very complicated things and then applied them to a cause he believed in—a cause that I am proud to have worked with him on. The fact is, he really invented the use of direct mail by Republicans and conservatives.”
BARRY GOLDWATER, JR. – Former Congressman
“He is the catalyst that allowed conservatism to reach the pinnacles that it has over these past many years. He was on the ground floor with YAF, with Reagan, with Goldwater. He was there with his envelopes and his stamps, and a fast tongue, and sent out thousands and thousands of letters to people to raise the money that allowed conservatism to be such a powerful force in today’s politics.”
MORTON BLACKWELL – President, Leadership Institute
“The truth is I couldn’t have gotten my Institute off the ground without what I learned from him. Even if he had not decided to go public, his prowess would have made him a public figure. Without any doubt, Richard Viguerie is the Funding Father of the conservative movement. When he fights in the public policy process, his weight is always felt.”
DR. LEE EDWARDS – Heritage Foundation
“He is a man of integrity with a sharp mind, and he is able to get to the heart of an issue very quickly and easily. Richard has been making a profound difference—not only in fundraising, but in American politics—for decades. He’s been able to help the causes he supports to gain notoriety and influence.”
CHUCK MUTH – President, Citizen Outreach
“When interviewing potential campaign managers or general consultants, the first question you should ask is, ‘What do you know about Richard Viguerie?’ If they’ve never heard of him, you can end the interview right then and there.”
HON. KEN CUCCINELLI – Former Attorney General of Virginia
“Richard Viguerie is simply the best! He and his talented staff enabled us to set fundraising records that helped carry us to victory in November.”
DAVID KEENE – Former President, National Rifle Association
“He has left his print on every aspect of the conservative movement, from its infancy to today.”
ROGER STONE – New York Times Bestselling Author, Political Consultant
“Richard Viguerie is probably the greatest political copywriter in American history. If you understand copywriting, you understand political communication. He really is the godfather of the conservative movement.”
RICHARD ARMSTRONG – Author, The Next Hurrah: The Communications Revolution in American Politics
“…we talk a lot about changing your life with copywriting. But Richard Viguerie did more than just change his life: He changed the world. When Barry Goldwater lost the presidential election to Lyndon Johnson in 1964, most political experts thought the conservative movement in America was dead and buried. But Richard Viguerie went to the Board of Elections and copied (by hand!) the names and addresses of thousands of Goldwater donors. He used that mailing list not only to create one of the most successful direct-mail fundraising agencies in history, but also to build a new conservative movement in America that ultimately resulted in the election of Ronald Reagan and changed the face of American politics forever. Richard Viguerie is one of the most brilliant copywriters who ever lived, a truly iconic figure in the history of direct marketing, and a living testament to the power of copywriting to make a difference in the world.”
Here’s what other groups, including media, say about Richard Viguerie’s effectiveness.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL CONSULTANTS
“Viguerie motivated millions of Americans to participate in politics for the first time, greatly expanding the base of active citizenship. He is our era’s equivalent of Tom Paine, using a direct mail letter rather than a pamphlet to deliver his call to arms. George magazine credited this as one of the defining political movements of the 20th century.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE
“Richard Viguerie, the direct mail impresario…may have understood the value of a name before anyone else in contemporary politics.”
ALEXANDER COCKBURN – The Nation
He is “one of the creators of the modern conservative movement.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
He is “the conservatives’ ‘Voice of America’.”
THE BALTIMORE SUN
He is “the architect of the New Right.”
DIRECT MAGAZINE
“The father of political DM [direct marketing].”
If you want to stop selling sugar water and change the world email us here: resume@americantarget.com
direct marketing
political fundraising
political advocacy
conservative movement
conservative media
political marketing
political copywriting
Republican Party
Ronald Reagan
Barry Goldwater
2022 Elections
2024 Elections
limited government