Marketing techniques used by political parties for elections- by R Prasanth

“He conceptualizes political marketing as a complex process. He considers the introduction of marketing in politics as an outcome of the elaboration of a policy of political communication and a global strategy of design, rationalization and, conveyance of modern political communication.”

This is Philippe J. Maarek, the author of the bestseller, Campaign Communication, and Political Marketing, who has emphasized enough on the use of active political communication to help consumers or target audience understand who you are. Various techniques have been employed by political parties in India over the past 4-5 years with the advent of digital and social media and a more evolving, informed and mature voter audience.

Introduction

Campaigning for political parties involves sophisticated marketing strategies to attract votes from the citizens to win the elections. A lot of experimentation has been done with these strategies, and are evolving and expanding with time. With the world rapidly moving towards a digitally and technologically dominant scenario, social media marketing, political blogs, awareness, PPC and other digital marketing campaigns are the new norms.

The major driving factor behind the image makeover of current Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, during the general elections campaign in 2014 was a comprehensive political marketing masterclass, which also included extensive use of social media and the then fad of clicking selfies.

That may have been a bullseye strategy, well ahead of its time. But, even today traditional campaigns, which involves politicians going from door to door to garner support for votes is still significant, given the fact that it has personal contact. This also includes print ads, TV, Radio and along with that promise for distribution of freebies. Not all segments of the target audience are tech-savvy, so with traditional marketing, it ensures the right balance between the old guard and the new age techniques.

The Approach

Like every marketing strategy, Political Marketing strategy should also see the leader or the political party we are campaigning for as a “product.” Drawing parallels to the classical Marketing Mix (4P’s) can help market and sell the “product” to the right “audience”. The typical SWOT analysis may also be done for the candidate. This is because, not only is the voter audience a matter of concern, but also the prominence of this personality in the overall scheme of things as far as elections are concerned. This is followed by creating an image for the candidate, showing them in good light, in front of the common public and especially the target audience. (For which the footprint of the political party to which the candidate belongs to, plays a pivotal role) After this, it is a continuous process of push-marketing and grassroots efforts.

“Campaigning for political parties involves sophisticated marketing strategies to attract votes from the citizens to win the elections.”

General Elections -2014, India

The team bestowed with the responsibility of steering the political campaign of the BJP or the NDA alliance as a whole in the 2014 General Elections clearly knew that the target customer (in this case voter audience) had a more populist sentimental connect with Narendra Modi as a strong leader, with immense political experience and a person, in whom people could trust to see development coming up in India. Thus, it is imperative to use the right person as the image of the political campaigns, as it may become a make or break situation in a big game scenario like the parliamentary elections.

The US elections too significantly focus on the branding of the party. It is a brand that helps acquire votes and trust. Political campaigning is now integrated into various means such as forums, hangouts and chats, tweets, blogs, unique agendas for promotions, and other social platforms through which problems could be addressed while campaigning simultaneously and user participation would be encouraged. This would help in proving the worth of political parties.

Channelize your marketing strategy to target the opponent

When it comes to Election Campaigning in India, one name which we cannot ignore is the revolutionary Prashant Kishor. He was pivotal in helping Narendra Modi win the general elections in 2014, and also aided Nitish Ku- mar, in the latest Bihar Assembly Elections. His philosophy includes only one agenda “Go Big or Go Home.” His main campaigns of Chai pe Charcha or Har Ghar Dastak were some examples of Big name campaigns. The irony is that he helped target Narendra Modi, by asking him a slew of questions about current burning issues, on twitter which distracted Modi from his own goals and this led to Nitish Kumar taking the helm of affairs in Bihar, proving to be a shocker loss for the BJP.

Political Marketing Campaigns – Must be Long term focussed

Election manifestos form a key component in campaigns, and it is very critical. Thus realistic goals must be set and communicated effectively. Any misquotation or miscommunication may lead to long-lasting bad impressions, if no fulfilment of those goals is attained in the future, in the eventuality of a win for the concerned party. This is the only way political parties can ensure that political marketing campaigns are more about the people of this country and their welfare and not just a mere vote and an election victory.