Marketing in Politics
This year, elections will take place in several countries around the world, and these elections will have a significant impact on the direction of those countries in the coming years. This raises the question of what will happen with the elections and, specifically, what happens with their marketing. We will focus on the marketing of Mexican politicians because that is what we know best.
To understand political marketing, let’s first clarify that in the political case, it’s called advertising since advertising focuses on ideals and marketing on business. Having said this, we would also like to clarify some important points about political marketing.
Some characteristics of political marketing:
- It has a defined and limited market, as it already works with adults.
- It has a specific predefined period and an assigned budget.
- It is adaptable and studies the impact of actions.
- It combines traditional and digital marketing.
- Having a solid personal brand is essential for achieving good results.
Political marketing sometimes takes place with practices that are not very ethical. If you are working in political advertising, it’s important to know the guidelines set by the authorities so you don’t get into trouble, in addition to considering the ethical and moral implications of these practices.
Unethical practices in political marketing:
Fake news
Social media and search engines are full of fake news, and this is not always accidental; some politicians promote the creation of campaigns with fake news. It’s important to distinguish between fake news and biased news; fake news provides false information, and biased news only loads the information with real data where it suits. Although this strategy, if well done, can achieve great success, it is not ethical and can get you into trouble.
Bots for positioning
The use of bots to position important topics is not new and surely will not disappear; bots position topics or news you want to put in the dialogue quickly and consistently. This tool has been used for years with great results, but like the previous one, it is unethical and will get you into trouble.
Gifts or vote buying
This practice happens less than it used to, but it still happens. In these practices, political marketers give away or deliver food, gifts, or some kind of incentive to vote for the desired politician.
Political marketing makes use of management, research, and communication to profile the “ideal product” for the “consumer – voter”, taking advantage of both traditional and digital marketing. Political campaigns require innovation, a multidisciplinary team, and detailed planning of messages to ensure effectiveness and emotionally connect with the audience. In this context, social media plays a crucial role, not only for spreading political projects but also for facing the challenges of fake news.
With this in mind, we bring you some political marketing campaigns from 2024 in Mexico.
Political campaigns in Mexico:
Mariana Rodríguez – Fosfo fosfo
Mariana is betting on becoming the mayor of Monterrey, with this in mind, she does what she knows best: being a great public figure who perfectly understands how social media works and using something that would have sunk anyone, which was her fosfo fosfo video, is now part of her campaign just as it was for her husband’s campaign.
Maynez Maynez president
Maynez is one of the candidates who appears not to participate significantly in the presidential competition, but with this in mind and knowing that nobody knows him, they have made a great political campaign so that his name is remembered and heard everywhere, to such an extent that my students sing it in classes, even if they do not vote for him, they are positioning him in an extraordinary way.
Xóchitl Gálvez
Xóchitl Gálvez’s campaign is betting on her story, what she is, what she has been, and a lot of work with technology. In her campaign, she is being very upfront against the current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Claudia Sheinbaum
Candidate Claudia Sheinbaum is focused on leveraging the current presidency and pushing what Morena has done in this six-year term and how she represents the continuity of the current presidency with clarity and presidential support.
These are the beginnings of political campaigns, and from this, we get to see how they create fun campaigns and others not so much, but in the end, it’s political advertising, which works extraordinarily today thanks to social media.
What do you think, which are the best campaigns of these elections?
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