A TERM PAPER ON POLITICAL MARKETING

INTRODUCTION

Political marketing is a marketing designed to influence consumers about political issues, particular candidates for public office, or public issues. Although political marketing uses many of the same techniques that other forms of marketing do, it is actually used to promote a concept or an idea, rather than a specific product or service, and to motivate people to vote for that idea.
The word “Political Marketing” emerge from the key words ‘politics’ and ‘marketing’. Politics simply means an activity which is concerned with governing a society or country. It has to do with the government or public affairs of a community or a state (that is a particular boundary). While, Marketing is a process of planning and executing the conceptions, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services, to create exchange that satisfy the individual and organizational objective. Marketing is often described as “selling of product”, but the fact is that marketing entails more than this. Kotler (2001) offers a definition that presents a comprehensive meaning of marketing as “a process by which individuals and groups, obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products and services of value with others”. The American Marketing Association (1995) also described Marketing as “the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals”. The above definition clearly shows that marketing involves more than selling of products but entails its distribution, pricing and promotion. Kotler (2001) further explained that it is not only goods and services that are marketed but other entities like experiences, events, person, places, properties, organizations,