Political Marketing: This & That

What is Political Marketing
Political marketing is a very new discipline of marketing that was 'formally' created 10-15 years ago. Basically presidents, prime ministers, mayors (in big cities), and all sorts of other politicians and political parties – even running governments (see Brexit) are using it nowadays.

At a 'low-level' politicians use Market Research in designing new policies or deciding what Bill to support. A bit more advanced is voter profiling which helps create new segments to target or developing an attractive political vision or ways to attract political volunteers (never underestimate free workforce), etc.

Basically, “Political Marketing is the process by which political candidates promote themselves and their platforms to voters through masterly-crafted communications aimed at gaining public support”. It originates on the empirical science of marketing of goods and services.

So, is Political Marketing Mind Control?
Well... as a science, Political Marketing does study how social and psychological mechanisms controlling citizens' behaviour operate. In reality these are the same or similar methodologies that advertisers use to 'force' you buy a product; in this case the product is the political candidate!

By the way, there is a whole basket of golden rules on how to select and implement applied marketing strategies to force the 'consumer' into a choice. In this case the emphasis is on psychological mechanisms of voter behaviour and in creating the right images for politicians or political parties: we are all familiar with political slogans and persuasion advertising messages used in all sorts of political campaigns. The whole idea is to manage to lead the voters' attitudes and preferences on the automatic level, beyond any conscious control from voters. And often we the voters do not realize that our political behaviour and choices are shaped by these sophisticated marketing techniques.

So, is there Political Marketing in Ghana?
While a consumer buying a product or a service always knows its price and can shop around for a better price or a better product or service, for voters there is no price attached to their ability to make a voting decision. Making a voting decision is usually the result of analyzing and predicting the consequences of this decision regarding possible losses and gains in the long-term perspective between elections. Of curse, there is always the corrupt practice of 'buying votes'.

You are most likely familiar or have been in contact with the following:

1. Political Narrative.
This is basically the story behind the candidate or the political proposition. It all starts before even a candidate is nominated and promoted within his/her Party (Internal Political Marketing)

2. Direct Political Marketing.
Lots of money still go to it and its effective in reaching people with minimal media contact. It does not imply that it is a very effective activity. Almost in every road in Accra between an advertisement for a dental product, I also see an advertisement for a politician posted on a tree. (F)Lyers are also an example of it; so are Candidate Pledge Cards or printed Statements..

3. Social Media Marketing.
I will assume that needs no explanation
4. Negative Political Campaigns.
Old news... try to bring down the other candidate instead of promoting yourself.

5. Media Presence.
Basically all TV presence and all PR events in schools, hospitals, Labor Unions, Business Associations etc.

6. 'Community OutReach' activities.

I was stopped on the street to buy discounted phone credit and hear a narrative about the Ghanaian political party who is sponsoring my discount. I know of other similar examples, including food distribution.

7. Sponsors.
The private persons who make donations for the particular candidate and the campaign.

FYI according to an article published in 2010 (Political Marketing Strategies in Africa: Expert Opinions of Recent Political Elections in Ghana), the New Patriotic Party (NPP) lost the 2008 because it did 4 'classic' Political Marketing mistakes.

Does IT play a role in Political Marketing?
Of course it does. You can collect as many data as you like with Political Market Research and other methodologies, but unless you can organize them and build voter profiling models and political market simulations, all these data have minimal value.

Let me give you 2 examples:

• Brexit: The people behind the campaign hired a local UK firm to study and recommend which voter segments they (the pro-Brexit politicians) should focus on. You know the result.
• Trump campaign: He hired the same UK firm back in May (he got 10 consultants from that firm to the US to help him for a 'announced' cost of 1,2 million dollars) and his campaign now is narrowing the gap he previously had with Clinton's popularity. This is Political Marketing in action!!!

By the way, FYI: the firm is Cambridge Analytica and I have zero connection with them nor is this line an endorsement in any way.

Does Political Marketing help Democracy?
This is a very difficult topic to discuss because there are so many different points of view. Political Marketing provides a plethora of new opportunities to connect with potential voters and shape public opinion, including cold calls, email campaigns, direct mail flyers, radio and TV spots, social media outreach, etc. If you have an excellent unknown candidate, Political Marketing will help democracy.

Did manipulating Brexit voters help advance democracy? If yes, how? Voting Market's Segmentation Strategies are real.

In Conclusion: Food for Thought
It is nice for us to think that our voting decisions are based solely on how well the messages & agendas (& promises) of each of the candidates aligns with our own individual set of beliefs, ideals and values.

I hope you understand by now that our election- ballots are cast based on the outcomes of carefully targeted and optimized political marketing campaigns. We all need to be aware that our actions are most likely prompted by the calculated promotional efforts of external entities.

Keep in mind that there are also many tools today available to gather all sorts of data on voters and 'design' effect political campaigns, with the desired end- results.

The importance of political marketing is in how much effective it is at spreading messaging and informing the voters. It thus can help foster or block democracy via its easily consumed – and now with social media easily shared too- political campaign messages and ideas. While this facilitates a better and possibly also a more organic way of raising awareness and generating a call to vote, join a campaign, lobby for a bill, etc., it is of paramount important that we know exercise our critical thinking and question all promises and information offered to us.

I had several friends, neighbours, family, colleagues recommending me to try a product or a service with which they were delighted and they were willing to 'stick and risk their reputation' behind that recommendation... yeap... the classic word- of- mouth. I never had so far someone recommending a politician the same way!!!

Let's not ignore the reality behind any political marketing action and don't let anyone manipulate our will.

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all” - John F. Kennedy.

Thank you,

Spiros

About the Author: Spiros Tsaltas, a Top-Tier Management Consultant and a former University Professor (RSM MBA, CUNY, etc), is a seasoned Technology & Operations Executive. Spiros has hands-on experience on setting up all sorts of Startups both in the US and in Europe. He is an active transformational leader and strategist with extensive experience on Boards of Advisors & Boards of Directors. He is currently assisting a couple of Ghanaian and other West African StartUps and SMEs with the setup of their Boards and Strategy items.

Spiros welcomes any feedback/ comments/ remarks/ suggestions via your email message to [email protected]

© 2016 Spiros Tsaltas