Marketing Strategy for Election Campaign Essay

MAKING YOUR MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS MORE POWERFUL 1. Position the product in the customer’s mind – how you want your customer to think and feel about your product. 2. Find a creative big idea – which will persuade people or convince them to try your product. 3. Having an emotional appeal 4.

The message must sell itself – a. Image strategy – good image of the brand b. Information strategy – giving information about the facts. Giving information about the facts must sell. What information can you communicate that will appeal to the customers.

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. Motivational strategy – motivation builds a feeling that inspires the customer to make the purchase. Telling past success stories motivates people to act d. Pulling power – ability to pull crowds to attend rallies or events e. Stopping power – advertisement must demand participation from audience like they must call a friend and talk about it or go and attend the seminar f. Force an emotional response – people must feel passionate g.

Stimulate curiosity – customers must want to know more. INTRODUCTIONWe were assigned a job by a leading PARTY OF UK to design an election campaign strategy aimed at communicating to 18-23 years olds. We have now completed the job and we would like to give a presentation on our strategy.

The strategy aims to build a desire and motivation among the young voters to vote for the party. While designing the election campaign strategy, we have implemented all the marketing concepts because as proved by Harrop (1990) political marketing has similarities with service marketing; a view which is also shared by Scammell (1995).On the basis of their theory, we categorize our voters as the consumers and our product as the Labour party and we emphasize that our strategy will positively acquire the desired results in the elections. The topics that are integrated in this assignment are:- 1. Customer Relationship Management Integrated Marketing concept a. To know interests of customer and communicate with them.

b. How customer makes purchasing decisions c. Consumer perception and customer complaints 1. Study of consumer behavior. Customer decision making – six defined stages i. Problem recognition i.

Information search iii. Evaluation of alternatives iv. Purchase v. Post purchase evaluation vi. Divestment 2. Communication in business – understanding communication a) Study of communication (Hargie 1992): Dimensions of communication i. Dimension 1 – a process that is open to measurement, analysis, evaluation and improvement.

ii. Dimension 2 – how messages are produced, how they are processed or delivered and what effects they have on those who receive them. iii. Dimension 3 – Importance of signs and symbols is highlighted. For eg use logos. a.Intrapersonal communication – what goes on inside the mind of the person- study of how individual processes, stores and produces messages.

i. Perception(Perceptual filter), cognition, emotion, beliefs, attitudes, self image, self awareness b. Interpersonal communication i. Inevitable, purposeful, transactional, multi-dimensional, irreversible c. Network/organizational d.

Macrosocietal 3. The SIGNPOST Concept 4. The power of brands 5. Positioning of the brand in the minds of the consumer. 6. E-Marketing THE MARKETING STRATEGY Research suggests that customers go through a five-stage decision-making process in any purchase.This five-stage model implies that customers must pass through all stages in every purchase. Therefore, this model is important in making marketing decisions.

As defined by Blackwell and Engel (shown in fig. 1. 1), the first step in the process of any purchase is the “need recognition and problem awareness”. The need recognition may be functional or it may be emotional or psychological. For eg. if a person buys a burger because he is hungry, then his need is functional.

But if he buys the burger because he is influenced by the advertisement of the burger, the need becomes emotional or psychological.Because the emotional or psychological needs can be aroused through external stimulation like advertisements, we have designed the election campaign using an effective marketing strategy and advertising strategy with different forms of promotional mix. Figure 1.

1[pic] [pic]Figure 1. 2 The advertising strategy consists of promotional mix which has six major elements. (Principles and Practice of marketing by David Jobber) In making the marketing communications for election campaign more powerful, all the below mentioned forms of communication will be used (as shown in fig. 2. ) [pic]Fig. 2 PROMOTIONAL MIX – SIX ELEMENTS . Advertising: Any non-personal paid form of communication using any form of mass media like television, newspapers, magazines, billboard posters, radio, cinema etc. Advertising is intended to persuade, to inform, use rational and/or emotional appeals; in particular the use of fear appeals to transmit messages.

i. We are going to use TV, Radio, billboard posters to create awareness among the voters because it can reach a wide audience quickly. The advertisement will be especially on channels that are viewed by youngsters. ii. [HERE THE SERVICES OF A GOOD ADVERTISING AGENCY IS REQUIRED] 2.Personal selling: Personal selling refers to oral communication with potential buyers with the intention of making a sale. The personal selling may focus initially on developing a relationship with the potential buyer, but will always ultimately end with an attempt to “close the sale”. i.

This can be achieved by holding face-to-face discussions with the voters in their college or university premises about their needs or demands. Such discussions will be interactive and questions will answered and objectives overcome. ii. Complex arguments can be developed and solutions can be found to their demands or problems. ii.

Personal – relationships can be developed and confidence developed among the voters. iv. Keep a toll free line so that they can call up and discuss any issues they might face. v. Direct mailing – develop a database of voters and send them the updates about the party regularly.

vi. Open a free-to-join club for youngsters where they can engage in an activity of their choice. 3. Direct Marketing: Direct marketing creates a direct relationship between a customer and the business on an individual basis.

i. This will involve direct selling methods like direct response advertising, telemarketing, robocalling, etc. . Sales promotion: Whereas advertising is traditionally associated with long term brand building and can reach a wide audience, particularly with the growth in global media, sales promotion is more often considered a short-term approach to generating sales.

Promotional tools include introductory offers, competitions and point of sale promotions. These approaches can be readily associated with commercial sector organizations, for example, Boots (a UK retail chemist chain) uses in-store posters to promote the benefits of stopping smoking. 5.

Publicity:– Publicity is the communication of a product, brand or business by placing information about it in the media without paying for the time or media space directly. Similar to advertising, publicity is a non-personal form of communication, but here there is no direct payment and no identifiable sponsor. Consequently publicity may also be negative or adverse, since the organisation, group or individual may not be able to control it. For social marketers, publicity, negative and positive, often arises in the media as a result of scientific reports dealing with issues such as childhood obesity or environmental pollution. Media advocacy’, which is a term derived from public health, refers to situations where the media are encouraged to cover particular issues and consequently communicate these to the public and/or specific target markets. • Highly credible as message comes from a third party • Higher readership than advertisements 6. Internet Promotion: E-marketing :– Fill (2002) describes the internet as ‘a distribution channel and communications medium that enables consumers and organizations to communicate in radically different ways’.

Improvements in technology have dramatically changed the nature of communications and the ways of reaching target markets.This is particularly true of younger consumers which many social marketing programmes seek to target. Advantages of e-marketing: • Global reach at relatively low cost • Number of site visits can be measured • Dialogues between consumers and suppliers and companies can be established • Prices and catalogues can be changed • Direct sales possible • Convenient for searching and buying products • Avoids the necessity for negotiating with sales people How e-marketing can be used for election campaign i.

Creating own website with good web pages and user friendly programmes. Hire a professional designer for this. ii.Buying visibility on search engines. iii.

Placing banner ads on sites frequently used by the youngsters. iv. Share interesting and updated information such that the voters can gain useful knowledge of the party by visiting it. v.

Sending out emails only to those who registered on the site and make them do the marketing for you by referring friends or through viral messaging. vi. Pay attention to the no. of visitors and if they are registering on the website vii. Social marketing – Sales promotion refers to the provision of incentives to customers or to the distribution channel to stimulate demand for a productUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING Viral marketing: A use of Social networks to increase brand awareness. Viral marketing will be accomplished by 1. Using technologies such as forums, blogs, wikis and personal profiles to streamline and enhance the quality of communication with voters. Viral marketing uses web-based technologies to encourage social ties between people based on their interests, skills and shared projects.

2. A viral marketing also known as a “word of mouth marketing”, is not any new form of marketing but it is very similar marketing tactics used to reach out to masses during the ancient times. 3.Internet viral marketing has been in existence since past days but it was the resource which was kept untouched but now after the launch of big social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter many marketers understood the importance of online viral marketing and started to give due importance to it. In fact many big companies has their own page in Facebook where they keep on updating regular news about the company and invite the potential customers to participate in the discussion.

Twitter too plays a great role in connecting a company with their present customers and by the way catching the attention of new segment of people.These forms of marketing strategy can be accomplished by video clips, interactive flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. 4. Social Networks are attractive because consumers are connecting with other consumers and the trust tends to be higher. Secondly, there’s a tremendous amount of buzz from the media for this newest form of marketing. |HOW SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS: | |Social media is all about communicating at a personal level. | |First get your message to the first few people.

THESE PEOPLE WILL PLAY THE ROLE OF INITIATORS] | | | |How do you then inspire them to pass your message along to their friends? | | | |Build connections with a core group of people online. This cadre will act as the starting point for your message relay. | |First step is to build a core group of online relationships, and to ensure your message is going out beyond this core group, other| |people you have not even met will come knocking on your social media door.

|Through blogs or social media, the information exchange is based not upon what you think the other person wants to know. The | |information you give out is tailored to an individual’s request. | | | |You can still steer the conversation towards points you wish to make, but you have to do so within the context of the | |conversation. | |Start the Conversation: Conversation starters are usually audio or visual pieces of information that provoke conversation. For | |example, podcasts or audio presentations are conversation starters.

the podcasts and the audio presentations will act the | |influencer] | | | |If you are gentle, tactful, and contribute to what is being said people will respond to you. The more you say that’s relevant, the| |more people will know who you are. | | | |Create conversation starters like audio or video podcasts, sharing your observations, opinions, or just telling a good story.

|Then, when the comments come in underneath your broadcast, you can join the conversation. | |Engaging in online conversation lets you know what’s on your voters’ minds. | |It’s so much better for your potential voters to discover you online at a time and place of their convenience. When they read or | |listen to what you have to say online, they are doing so because they want to, not because you forced it upon them. Once your | |voters have sought you out online, and they feel like they have gotten to know who you are, you can use that to your advantage. |Social media, on the other hand, is very time and cost effective. | GETTING TRUST OF YOUR VOTERS :- Once they know you through conversation, the next step is that they must like you.

1) Showing EMPATHY: a. Listen well. b. Recap what is being said c.

Speak a common language – tell a story he can relate to d. Don’t act as though you are perfect e. Online Communication makes all above possible. The nature of online communication allows you to think before speaking, a significant advantage for those who struggle with being empathetic.Whatever resonates with people in face to face contact will resonate with them online. The wonderful part of online communication is, you can touch people with multiple styles and methods of communication. If you have a story to tell, you can tell it online with: • Photographs and illustrations • Video and audio clips • The written word Multiple styles and methods also means you can send your message out in several different formats, so individuals can pick and choose the format that most strongly speaks to them.

In online social media, you really can be all things to all people.Even better, the digital bits and bytes it takes to tell your story online are extremely inexpensive. 2) BE GENUINE When you portray yourself as an open, honest, empathetic and sincere individual online, you are building a likable brand. 3) YOUR MISSION: If you are running for office because you would like to affect change that helps people, all you need to do is convey your sense of purpose online.

If you bring your passion to writing and speaking online, the people who read and listen to your material will sense your passion. 4) BRINGING VALUE TO PEOPLE: a.If you write and speak about issues that people care about, and you do it in a spare and efficient manner, people will be drawn to you. Provide value, and people will come. Social media is a two-way street. You can ask and listen as much as you can speak and tell.

Ask your online contacts what they need and then give it to them. If you don’t know how to solve their problems, find a person or resource who can solve their problems. Do that and you will be creating real value for people; and, you will be liked and appreciated for your efforts. Come In and Stay for Awhile on the website –Like a dry cleaning service that wants to maintain its customer base, you have to make good on your promise of service by being consistent, being honest, and being transparent Social media as a high quality, well-polished lens that many people look through. When you make a statement or promise online, your words immediately come into focus under that lens. 5) ACT As a person running for public office, there are four actions you are most interested in.

When called upon, you would like those people you have met online to either: 1. Donate money to your campaign. 2.Volunteer to help you win election. 3. Spread the word about your candidacy. 4. And the big one: Vote for you.

Your online friends will spread the word about you. Your online friends will become your advocates and spokespeople about your expertise and readiness to serve. Spreading the word will happen automatically. Along this same line, people will willingly offer to volunteer their help if they believe in you. WHAT THE SOCIAL MEDIA CAN DO FOR YOU – Communicating to 18-23 yr olds through internet and blogs a. Social media will move the voters to act on your behalf b.They will actively seek you out c.

Voters will request more information (they ask for information, you don’t provide what you feel like) from you d. Ask you if there is anything they can do for you. e. Your online message can be delivered for nearly free. It may be passed person to person across social media channels until the message reaches thousands of people. f. If your message doesn’t have the influence you were hoping for, you can send a new one for almost zero cost.

g. Online friends. If some friends find the message interesting, they pass it along to their unique friends.Those unique friends pass the message to their friends, and so on, until your message spreads across the social media sphere like a virus. If the message is universally compelling it can spread around the world within a couple of days. h.

Some of the viewers may stumble across the video, but most gravitate towards it because they wanted to see what everyone else was watching. That is the implied endorsement. In social media, when your message is referred from person to person online, it carries an endorsement.

i. YouTube, which is essentially a search engine for video content, shows how many people have viewed a particular video. . Social media is a conference call with unlimited connections. This means, one person has the ability to reach out and contact hundreds or thousands of people at time. The video that has already picked up 1,000 views develops a bit of momentum. At 10,000 views, the momentum increases.

At 100,000 views the momentum is ever greater. As a general rule, the larger the number of views, the greater the rate of increase in viewership. People follow a crowd. i. Meets a business objective: First and foremost, any marketing campaign or activity should match with a business objective, regardless of the tools being used. i.

Supports Community Goals: in our case the community is the age group of 18-23 iii. Encourage Member Interaction: The most successful social networking campaigns and efforts involve the audience. iv. Quickly scale: Social networks are designed for information to quickly move from member to member, so campaigns that lean on these capabilities perform the best. These attributes known as Velocity, Viralness, and Spread are key. v. Utilize Media: In some campaigns, the best way to get members to return is to offer them media.

Depending on demographics and community needs, this could be audio, videos, or demos i. Foster self-expression or communication: Members in social networks like to communicate with each other, or self-express. As a result, campaigns should satisfy these needs with the appropriate tools vii.

Offer a satisfying User Experience: This encompasses the overall experience of the campaign, the content and navigation items should be where expected, the language familiar to the audience, and overall look and feel of the site appeasing. viii. Provide longer term utility: Successful campaigns have a longer term value, rather than a short term ‘disposable campaign”.These campaigns add value by being a useful application to the members, rather than just quick dose of entertainment. ix.

Enhance Value as Community participants: As more people contribute or interact with the campaign, the value is increased. This can be in the form of content that is created by the community, contests, voting, or games. x. Integration with other marketing activities: Successful marketing campaigns aren’t a single channel, in fact they utilize multiple channels and mediums to enhance the overall activity.The same thing applies to marketing campaigns on social networks, those that are promoted from other locations such as (corporate websites, email newsletter, blogs, podcasts) outside for the social network have a great chance for success. xi. Maintain agility during the campaign: Social networks are living, breathing organisms made up of real people connecting with each other.

Marketing campaigns also should share these attributes and show be flexible to change in-flight, yield to legitimate requests or complaints of the community.Those campaigns that reflect the same dynamic behavior as human interaction have a higher chance to be interacted –and accepted –by the community. (Submitted by Graham) xii. Using mobile phones – sending text messages II]INFORMATION SEARCH With the above modes of communication, the consumer will become aware of the “need” The study of consumer behavior has proved that once the consumer feels the need recognition, the next stage of “information search” will begin. This will involve identification of alternatives which may be internal or external.The internal identification may come from personal experience and with marketing communications. External search involves personal sources like recommendation from friends or family.

• External – o Personal sources: family, friends, neighbors, etc. o Public sources: newspapers, radio, television, consumer organizations, magazines and trade literature • Internal – o Commercial sources: advertising; salespeople; retailers; dealers; packaging; point-of-sale displays o Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the productThe objective of the information search is to build awareness set that is an array of brands that may provide solution to the problem. The various forms of advertisements may not only stimulate search for unbiased information but will also stimulate external search about rival brands. Information search is facilitated by the growth of internet usage like yahoo, google, etc. Consumers are increasingly using internet to gather information. **************** Customer information needs:- Some potential customers need to be provided with detailed, complex information to help them evaluate a purchase (e.

. buyers of equipment for nuclear power stations, or health service managers investing in the latest medical technology). In this situation, personal selling is almost always required – often using selling teams rather than just one individual. The usefulness and influence of these sources of information will vary by product and by customer. Research suggests that customers value and respect personal sources more than commercial sources (the influence of “word of mouth”).

The challenge for the marketing team is to identify which information sources are most influential in their target markets.III]EVALUATION STAGE: Having collected the information, the consumer clarifies and evaluates the alternatives. After the information stage follows the evaluation stage where the customer must choose between the alternative brands, products and services.

How does the customer use the information that he has obtained? Various considerations form the part of consumer’s judgment such as product attributes, importance, weights, brand image, utility function for each attribute, attitude etc. An important determinant of the extent of evaluation is whether the customer feels “involved” in the product.By involvement, we mean the degree of perceived relevance and personal importance that accompanies the choice. Where a purchase is “highly involving”, the customer is likely to carry out extensive evaluation. • High-involvement purchases include those involving high expenditure or personal risk – for example buying a house, a car or making investments. • Low-involvement purchases (e.

g. buying a soft drink, choosing some breakfast cereals in the supermarket) have very simple evaluation processes. After evaluation of various alternatives, he makes the decision to buy.

To understand how the consumer makes a purchase decision after the evaluation process, it is important to study CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR and the influence of motivation and attitude on the buying behavior. The kind of information that the marketing team needs to provide customers in different buying situations. ? Just as in the case of high-involvement decisions, the party needs to provide a good deal of information about the positive consequences of voting for the party. ? The sales force may need to stress the important attributes of the product, the advantages compared with the competition; etc. Voter’s choice may depend on Education of the candidate ? Leader of the party – honesty , attitude against freedom and educational level ? Ideology of the party CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Andraesen (1995) states that for the social marketer ‘consumer behaviour is the bottom line. Key elements of consumer behaviour include: • Analysis of the factors which influence behaviour. • The role of motivation and attitudes.

• Consumer behaviour models. The factors influencing consumer behaviour: A large number of factors influence our behaviour. Kotler and Armstrong (2008) classify these as: • Psychological (motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes) Personal (age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality and self concept) • Social (reference groups, family, roles and status) • Cultural (culture, subculture, social class system). Below you will see Figure 3, which adapts the above factors to a health behaviour context, providing a model which also explicitly emphasises, together with cultural factors, other features such as the economic environment as an element of the wider social context. Many studies of both commercial and social marketing emphasize the influence of family, friends and others on our decisions.

Peer group pressure is an important influence and may be negative or positive. Figure 1 illustrates an approach known as social-cognitive theory which is based on the proposition that our behaviour is determined by both personal and environmental factors. [pic]Fig. 3 Two important factors which drive behaviour are motivation and attitudes. 1.

The importance of understanding motivation MacFadyen et al. (1998) emphasize the role of goals, aspirations and symbolic needs. Theories of motivation explain why we engage in a particular behaviour in order to achieve our goals and satisfy our needs.There are many theories of motivation. Motivation theories seek to explain why we do the things we do either by examining how a behaviour satisfies our ‘needs’ or the processes we go through as we decide how to achieve our goals. One of the best known of motivation theories is that of Maslow’s (1943) theory of human motivation or hierarchy of needs. The five original needs comprised those listed below and are illustrated in the typical hierarchical approach in Figure 2a.

Physiological needs: (at the base) These are the basic needs of the organism such as food, water, and home and a peaceful life. ** JOB OF THE ADVTG AGENCY IS TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT THE PARTY CAN PROVIDE SUCH AS JOB OPPORTUNITIES WHICH WILL TAKE CARE OF BASIC NEEDS *** Safety needs: Here Maslow is talking about the need for a generally ordered existence in a stable environment which is relatively free of threats to the safety of a person’s existence. Social needs: These are the need for affectionate relations with other individuals and the need for one to have a recognized place as a group member – the need to be accepted by one’s peers. • The social networking or viral marketing can play a leading role in satisfying this need of the voter.Esteem needs: The need for a stable, firmly based self-evaluation. The need for self-respect, self-esteem and the esteem of others and the need for self-expression.

Self-actualization needs: The need for self-fulfillment. The need to achieve one’s full capacity for doing. [pic]~ 2. The importance of understanding attitudes One of the most important phenomena for a social marketer to understand is that of ‘attitudes’.

Having said this, this is not a straightforward issue as there is much disagreement about the nature of attitudes, how they are formed, and how they determine our behaviour.Attitude theory research is a key focus for consumer behaviour theorists and derives from the field of psychology. There are many definitions of attitude, for example, ‘the predisposition of the individual to evaluate some symbol or object or aspect of his world in a favourable manner’ (Katz, 1970). Three main elements on which theorists focus are: • Cognitive component (beliefs/knowledge): we believe or already know something. • Affective component (feelings – emotion). • Cognitive component (behavioural).

The most important issue for us at the moment is to be aware of the three components and how they combine to determine behaviour. Most of the research in this area is based on Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1985) theory of reasoned action described in the model below. The extended Fishbein model, based on the theory of reasoned action, includes the following components to explain behaviour.

1. Attitude to the behaviour comprising: a. The strength of the expectancy or beliefs that the act will be followed by aconsequence. b. The value of that consequence to the individual.

2. Subjective norms (i. e. he socio-cultural norms of other persons, groups or society) and the individuals’ desire/motivation to conform to these norms. Consequently, peer group and other pressures may reduce or enhance our attitudes towards a particular activity.

Ajzen (1985) later included: 3. Perceived control (i. e. situational or internal obstacles to performing the behaviour).

This addition has resulted in a new model – ‘the theory of planned behaviour’. Consequently, the power of addiction may impact on our attitudes and prevent us from trying to stop smoking. Attitude models often record behavioural intentions.One of the purposes of research is to assess how people will behave in the future, for example in response to new stimuli such as additional resources – help lines, clinics, etc. There is also a role played by the participants in the buying process There are the following different roles that persons can play in a buying decision: Initiator: The initiator is a person who first suggests or think of the idea of buying the particular product. For example, publisher of a book initiates the professor to ask the students of his class to purchase the book.

Here publisher is the initiator, the first person to initiate the buying process. social media) Influencer: Influencer is a person who explicitly or implicitly has some influence on the final buying decision of others. Students are influenced by the advice of the professor while taking a decision to purchase a book. Here professor is the influencer. (peer group) Decider: The decider is a person who ultimately determines any part or whole of the buying decision, i.

e. , whether to buy, what to buy, how to buy, when to buy or where to buy. Children are the deciders for buying the toys, house lady for kitchen provisions, and head of the family for durable or luxury items.

voters themselves) Buyer: The buyer is the person who actually purchases. Buyer may be the decider or he may be some other person. Children (deciders) are the deciders for purchasing the toys, but purchases are made by the parents. (voters themselves) User: User is the person who actually uses or consumes the services or products. (voters themselves) [pic] How communications work The paper by Kotler and Zaltman (1971) emphasises the crucial fact that for both commercial and social marketers, it is the combination of the ‘marketing mix’ elements (i. e. roduct, price, place and promotion) which will effect behavioural change.

So what can we expect from communication and what objectives can be set for advertising and other elements of the promotional mix? In order to answer these questions we have to have some understanding of how promotion, and specifically advertising, works. • One approach is to focus on the stages which consumers move through as their attitudes towards the product develops. These are based on the attitude model which was discussed in Section 3. 4, i. e. the cognitive–affective– cognitive model. See Figure 7.

Hierarchy of effects models ** Producers need to understand the needs and motivation of their target audience before they can talk to them in a meaningful way. Advertising decisions can’t be taken in isolation. Marketers need to take into consideration the complete communication package. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS Integrated marketing communications is the concept that companies coordinate their marketing communication tools to deliver a clear, consistent, credible, and competitive message about the organization and its products. The objective is to position the products and organizations clearly and distinctively in the market place.Successful positioning of the product is associated with products creating desirable effect in the minds of the consumers. Integrated marketing communications facilitates the process by which this is achieved by sending out consistent messages through all of the components of the promotional mix so that they reinforce one another. STRONG AND WEAK THEORY OF HOW ADVERTISING WORKS The AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) model was originally designed to illustrate the stages which a salesperson should take the customer through and has subsequently been adopted as an explanation of how advertising works.

A person passes through stages of awareness, interest, desire and action before making a purchase. Advertising must be strong enough to take the person thru these stages and be capable of persuading people who had not previously bought a brand to buy it and convert non-buyers into buyers. The DAGMAR model (defining advertising goals for measured advertising results) provides communications tasks which are specific and measurable using a four-stage approach, i. e. awareness, comprehension, conviction and action.Similarly, the hierarchy of effects model (awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction and purchase) is based on the idea that advertising will guide potential consumers through a number of stages which are essential if purchase (or other required behaviour) is to result.

There are many criticisms of these sequential models: • Behaviour can precede the other elements of attitude for some decisions. • A favourable attitude and positive intention does not necessarily result in purchase. • The length of time which consumers take to move through the stages is unclear. • How are these stages to be measured, e. g. ow would you measure conviction? • Similar to the general criticism of the marketing mix approach is the focus on the consumer as a passive recipient of messages rather than one who will actively engaged in information search and is also likely to reject messages which are inconsistent with current attitudes.

Later approaches to communication theory have added other sources of information which impact on the target market. In particular the role of opinion leaders and word-of-mouth communication from peer groups and others are important determinants of whether consumers will act on the basis of formal communications from marketers.Although there are many issues in explaining how advertising and other forms of communication works and many other factors (e. g. the role of memory, the level of involvement with the product) have been included in subsequent models and examined in research studies – the sequential or stage approach can contribute to our understanding of the role of marketing communications. As with most theories and frameworks we have to ensure that the approach is relevant to the specific purpose and problem we are looking at and that we are aware of the limitations.

*********************Factors that determine the type of promotional tools used Each of the above components of the promotional mix has strengths and weaknesses. There are several factors that should be taken into account in deciding which, and how much of each tool to use in a promotional marketing campaign: (1) Resource availability and the cost of each promotional tool :- Advertising (particularly on television and in the national newspapers can be very expensive). The overall resource budget for the promotional campaign will often determine which tools the business can afford to use. 2) Market size and concentration:- If a market size is small and the number of potential buyers is small, then personal selling may be the most cost-effective promotional tool. A good example of this would be businesses selling software systems designed for supermarket retailers.

On the other hand, where markets are geographically disperse or, where there are substantial numbers of potential customers, advertising is usually the most effective. (3) Customer information needsSome potential customers need to be provided with detailed, complex information to help them evaluate a purchase (e. g. buyers of equipment for nuclear power stations, or health service managers investing in the latest medical technology). In this situation, personal selling is almost always required – often using selling teams rather than just one individual. By contrast, few consumers need much information about products such as baked beans or bread. Promotional tools such as brand advertising and sales promotion are much more effective in this case.Therefore we are going to use the concepts of strong brand building, positioning strategy and differential advantage to position the party in the minds of the voters.

STRENGTHENING ELECTION CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATION WITH BRANDING AND POSITIONING Branding is the process by which companies distinguish their product offerings from the competition. By developing a distinctive name, packaging and design and logos, a brand is created. (Doyle 1989) The role of brands and branding Keller (2003) distinguishes between a ‘small-B brand’ as defined by the American Marketing Association:Name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition and the industry/practitioner definition of ‘a big-B brand’. For the latter it is the amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, etc. which creates the brand. Brand provides to companies – 1.

Basis for differentiation. (creates differential advantage) 2. They also enable organizations to charge a price premium (allows premium pricing) 3. Act as a barrier to market entry for potential competitors. (defends against competition) . Helps create loyalty. 5.

Helps targeting and positioning. 6. Increases power over retailer. 7. Some of the best known and earliest brands exist in those markets in which social marketers seek to intervene and change behaviour, for example, registration of some cigarette brand names: Dunhill, 1907; Camel, 1913; Marlboro, 1924; and Philip Morris, 1933. In the fast food sector McDonalds was established in 1937 and Burger King in 1954. By contrast some of the brand names associated with social objectives are more recent, for example, Friends of the Earth in 1969 and Greenpeace in 1971. **** How consumers are affected by brands.

The following figure illustrates how we, as consumers, have various levels of relationships with brands. 1. At the base level we are interested in the product benefits. These are something which we think about and can be learned from advertising. Communicates features and benefits of the product. 2.

Easier product identification. Advertising can lead us to assign a personality to the brand. McDonalds is a good example. 3.

Finally, the consumer develops emotional bonds with the product/brand.Belch and Belch (2001) describe how McCann-Erikson (one of the world’s largest advertising agencies) has adopted this approach, believing that the creation of emotional bonds through advertising is essential to a positive psychological movement towards the product/brand and will reduce the potential for switching behaviour. Such emotional bonding with McDonalds could be achieved through the association with children’s parties and happy family gatherings in which McDonalds staff and products play a part.

[pic] Developing an advertising strategyTarget market definition allows the target audience to be identified in broad terms and recognition of the product’s differential advantage points to the features and benefits of the product that should be stressed in advertising. Positioning product in the consumer’s mind – advertising in the form of visuals has a major role in positioning the brand in the minds of people. There are 7 ways of doing this.

o Product characteristics and customer benefits – common positioning strategy. o Price o Product use – associate product with use o Product user – associate product with the user or user type Product class – o Symbols – like the arches of McDonalds. o Competition – positioning against a well-entrenched competitor.

• Correct misconceptions • Remind and reinforce – once the correct positioning is achieved, the objective of the advertisement is to remind and reinforce its image to maintain favorable association with consumers. (existing voters) • Provide support for sales force Step 4 A – message decisions Before the message is decided, clear understanding of the advertising platform should be acquired. Advt platform is the foundation on which advertising messages are built.It is the basic selling proposition used in advertisements. The platform should – 1.

Be important to the target audience. 2. Communicate competitive advantages That is why understanding of the motives and choice criteria of the target audience is essential for effective advertising. The message must sell itself – 5.

Image strategy – good image of the brand for eg. The LOGO 6. Information strategy – giving information about the facts. Giving information about the facts must sell. What information can you communicate that will appeal to the customers. 7.

Motivational strategy – motivation builds a feeling that inspires the customer to make the purchase. Telling past success stories motivates people to act 8. Pulling power – ability to pull crowds to attend rallies or events 9. Stopping power – advertisement must demand participation from audience like they must call a friend and talk about it or go and attend the seminar 10.

Force an emotional response – people must feel passionate 11. Stimulate curiosity – customers must want to know more. 12. Surprise the customers – startling headline POSITIONING OF THE PRODUCT:The objective is to create and maintain a distinctive place in the market for a company and its products.

• This involves giving the customer something better than the competition is offering by creating a differential advantage (David Jobber, ch 19). • It involves using the marketing mix to create something special for the customer. Product differentiation may result from added features that gives customers benefits that rivals can’t match. Promotional differentiation may stem from unique valued images created by advertising or superior service provided by sales people.

Distribution differentiation may arise through making the buy situation more convenient for customers. o Position the product in the customer’s mind the way you want your customer to think and feel about your product. o While moving through the process of creating a positioning statement, you’ll have to capture your brainstorming results, such as in your marketing strategy mind map. Then, refine and test those creative approaches until you settle on your company’s positioning statement. o Your positioning statement is critical to making all of the other parts of the marketing communications strategy work well. Find a creative big idea – which will persuade people or convince them to try your product.

From information on guardian. co. uk, Monday 27 July 2009, what voters want is :- ? Advertisement display of common sense, integrity and honesty. Advertisement that have, apparently, been so sadly lacking in recent years. (source: what voters want 25/2/10) ? voters want MPs with integrity and a political system that respects local people Designing positioning strategy – successful positioning is associated with product possessing favorable connotation in the minds of the consumers.Positioning relies on 4 factors (ref. Ries and Trout) Ries and Trout suggested that marketers are involved in a battle for the minds of target customers.

1. Clarity, …. With definite positioning statement, emphasize distinctive benefit (………… Emphasize on what the party will do for the age group eg employment, higher education……….. ) 2. Consistency ……………….

What has been consistent with the party over the years 3. Credibility …………..

The differential advantage which means how we wish to compete, must be made credible in the minds of the voters. Position against a competitor (conservative party) . Competitiveness … must have a competitive edge. Party must offer something of value to the voter that the competitor is failing to supply. Affiliate with something that customer values.

STRENGHTENING MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE POSITIONING STRATEGY 1. POSITIONING: Product in your customer’s minds – positioning strategy is about how you want the customer to think or feel about your product. a. Describe positioning with attributes of the product b. Describe product with comparisons to competitor’s product. c. Or describe with metaphorical comparison. .

Craft a motivating message or a basic appeal that gets the positioning across the customers. a. Take the basic statement of how you want the customers to think of your product and convert it into a message that may actually convince them. 3. Use the stopping power with persuasion – find a creative big idea to send across the message that will persuade the customers to stop and think about the product and give it a try. 4. Develop, edit and simplify your creative idea until it is transparently clear. a.

To tell the story you may choose TV, you-tube, etc.To summarize positioning strategy, first you must decide – o What type of customers you target. o What you do for that customer o How you do it o Why you do it better than customers o Fill out following – ? Our product offers following benefits – ? To the following customers – describe target segment ? Our product is better than competitors in following way ? We can prove we are the best because of (evidence from past), describe your commitment to quality in the past PLANNING RULES AND TIPS for POSITIONING OF PARTY DEFINE Your current position ………………….. IDEFINE What results you achieved in the previous election ……………. II DEFINE The numbers – including sales projects and costs …………… III DEFINE Your learning plans Write executive summary ? Efficiency oriented – new plan will introduce specific improvements ? Effectiveness oriented – plan identifies major opportunity or problem and adopts new strategy to respond to it. CLARIFYING OBJECTIVES – what objectives you want your plan to achieve? PREPARING A SITUATION ANALYSIS – examines context, looking at trends, customer preferences, competitor strengths and weaknesses, or anything else that may impact sales. Seeing trends more clearly than others do – what you want from your situation analysis: o Information parity – knowing as much as competitors know o Information advantage in specific areas – insight into the market that your competitors don’t have.

o Using structured approach to competitive analysis – ? Collecting information about competitors ? Gathering customer opinion about competitors and grouping them under least appealing things about competitor. o Building competitor analysis table ? Describe how market perceives it ? How are the leaders of the competitor Who owns it ? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the competitor ? Compare yourself to the competitor’s rating Once you have settled on a strong positioning statement, it is communicated through different channels of advertising programs. Benefits of a sound marketing communication strategy The process of creating a marketing communication strategy has gotten more complex as more marketing activities move to the Internet.

This has made it even more important to understand customer segments and how to communicate with those potential customers.When you have a marketing communication strategy based on a sound strategic marketing view of your market your marketing communication program will be more effective — and customers will have a better, more consistent brand experience. Post-purchase evaluation – Cognitive Dissonance The final stage is the post-purchase evaluation of the decision. It is common for customers to experience concerns after making a purchase decision. This arises from a concept that is known as “cognitive dissonance”.

The customer, having bought a product, may feel that an alternative would have been preferable.In these circumstances that customer will not repurchase immediately, but is likely to switch brands next time. To manage the post-purchase stage, it is the job of the marketing team to persuade the potential customer that the product will satisfy his or her needs. Then after having made a purchase, the customer should be encouraged that he or she has made the right decision. Michael E. Porter’s Competitive Strategy We have also taken into consideration Michael E. Porter’s Competitive Strategy which has transformed the theory, practice, and teaching of election strategy. Porter introduces one of the most powerful competitive ools yet developed: three generic strategies-lowest cost, differentiation, and focus, which bring structure to the task of strategic positioning. [pic] 1. Threats of new Entrants: BNP (British National Party) is considered to be threats for Labour Party…….. “This country is built on the work not just of British people but generations of migrants. They are the key to our success in the future as well as the foundation of our prosperity in the past. “Labour will, with a vigorous door to door campaign, not allow the BNP to peddle their pernicious lies that people have been ‘abandoned by Labour’.It is Labour on the doorstep which will show this to be false and the run-up to elections on May 6th, 2010 will be seized as an important opportunity to do this. ” 2. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Here, Buyers are our 18-23 years who are much not concerned about who comes into power. But since they are our customers they have the bargaining power. In the UK parliament there are lots of political parties competing in the general election 2010. So, consumers (18-23 age group voters) have lots of choice to vote them.In this case customers will asses all the political party’s manifestos. Compare between three main political party’s manifestos Labour is providing more facilities for the 18-23 age group voters. 3. Threats of Substitutes Services: Conservative, LD, BNP are the substitutes for our votes, they can attract our voters at a greater level. These parties are putting some of the major points towards our voters such as; Education, Economic Recovery etc. Conservative as a threat will provide much more for this age group; such as • Provide 10,000 extra university places in 2010; •Introduce an early repayment bonus on student loans which are repaid ahead of schedule; • Work to improve the way that universities are funded so that students get a fair deal, disadvantaged young people don’t miss out and researchers get the funding they need; • Provide people with much better information about the true costs and benefits of going to university and help people choose the course and institution which is right for them; • Create an extra 100,000 apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships each year; • Give small and medium businesses a ? ,000 bonus for every new apprentice they hire, and make it much easier for firms to run apprenticeships; • Provide an extra 100,000 college places over two years so unemployed young people can improve their skills; • Provide 100,000 new ‘work pairings’ over two years so unemployed young people can get meaningful work experience and mentoring from businesspeople; • Offer much better careers advice, including providing expert advice in every secondary school and college and setting up a new careers service for adults. Establish a Community Learning Fund to help adults who want to learn new skills or restart their careers; • Abolish many of the further education quangos which Labour have created, and cut bureaucracy and inspections in colleges so teaching staff can spend less time in the office and more time in the classroom; and • Delay the implementation of the new funding system for universities – the Research Excellence Framework – and work with academics to ensure that there is a robust and acceptable way of measuring the impact of all research. 4.Suppliers: For Labour party, media and the volunteers are the suppliers to our voters. 5. Industrial Competitors: Here Conservative is compared to the rivalry among existing in the general elections as compared to other parties. LD and BNP can’t be avoided from the competitors list. They are neck to neck in this election. SWOT Analysis: SWOT ANALYSIS: factors to consider for the party and its opposition Strengths: Financial resources (membership, donations, state funding). Labour in this election wants to list and bring up the strengths from the last elections.How they have brought up the economic and education sectors for the 18-23years. Weakness: The weakness for the labour party as the some of ministers were engaged in their fund (claims), which was a big weakness for the party image. Opportunities: Threats:  the external threats for the labour party, Conservative, LD BNP want to list in the election as the some of the same points as the strengths mentioned…… BUDGETING Campaign finance refers to the fundraising and spending that political campaigns do in their election campaigns.As campaigns have many expenditures, ranging from the cost of travel for the candidate and others might include the purchasing of air time for TV advertisements, however in some countires, such as Britain TV advertising is free. Candidates often devote substantial time and effort raising money to finance campaigns. Although the political science literature indicates that most contributors give to support candidates with whom they are already in agreement, there is wide public perception that donors expect illegitimate government favors in return. such as specific legislation being enacted or defeated) so some have come to equate campaign finance with political corruption and bribery. These views have led some governments to reform fundraising sources and techniques in the hope of eliminating perceived undue influence being given to monied interests. Another tactic is for the government, rather than private individuals and organizations, to provide funding for campaigns. REVENUEIt is not necessarily the case that if you have more money than the other campaigners you will win, but it’s certainly accurate to say that most losing campaigns lacked the resources to get their message to the voters. The first exercise in putting together a budget is to get a realistic idea of how much money you can raise. You can get a good idea by looking at past campaigns similar in size and duration or by talking to people who have been involved in such campaigns. Below are some of the sources for campaign money.Personal Money—some candidates can afford to put their own money in the race, others can’t. Generally you should loan the campaign your money so you have the possibility of getting some or all of it back. Events and Mail—Events and mail are two of the most expensive ways to raise money but are utilized routinely. Events take time to set up and usually require some kind of invitation as well as catering costs. Oftentimes however, events, particularly with special guests, are the only way to interests potential donors.Mail is probably the most expensive way to raise money. If you use lists acquired for “prospecting” you can expect you return to be less than 5% of the total universe mailed. In kind—Many goods and services are available in-kind, meaning people who can’t or don’t want to give money can provide printing services  catering services, etc. Raising Funds Internally Friends and Family  More likely than not, your friends and family are the ones who most understand your vision and support your objectives.While you will probably not depend on them for the majority of your financial backing, your friends and family are a great resource to build your bank account, and by extension, credibility. Because it takes money to make money, this group operates as an effective springboard to sell yourself to the next group you want to target. Raising Funds From Public There are many types of issues people—labor unions, business groups, religious groups, women’s groups, ethnic groups, environmental coalitions, etc. Start with the groups most aligned with your message—sell to them that their concern is your concern.Then move to the groups partially aligned with your message—remember, no group of people is completely homogenous and politics often makes strange bedfellows. Examine your campaign’s issues. There just might be people you have not considered as potential supporters who share your concern on that one topic. And do not forget one of the most important groups of people to target—the people who hate your opponent. Whether they support your message or not, they very well might support you financially only because you are not him (or her). EXPENDITURESOnce you have determined how much money you can reasonably expect to raise, next make an assessment of how much you will need to spend. In order to determine an amount here are some keys to assessing estimated expenditures. Are you a known quantity—if you are already well-known you have an advantage because name identification is critical in helping drive your message. Candidates not as well known will have to spend more money. How will you contact voters—voters need to hear your message over and over to understand your message. Using a variety of methods to contact voters is important ie.Mail, radio, television, yard signs, 4X8 signs, brochures, etc. Party expenditures—Will others be spending money on your behalf or that will benefit your campaign? (For example: party or other kinds of slate cards) Once you have done this initial assessment and have calculated both revenue and expenditures you can craft a budget that will be a useful guide for the campaign. Oftentimes you will have need to adjust your budget during the course of the campaign but changes should be made only when unanticipated events warrant such a change.Accounts for the year to December 2005, reveal Labour spent almost ? 15. 2m on campaigning, ? 23. 8m on running costs, with other expenses bringing the party’s total expenditure to ? 49. 8m. |[| | |p| | |i| | |c| | |]| | It had an income of ? 35. 3m over the year, including donations totalling ? 13. 9m and membership subscriptions of just under ? 3. m. It spent ? 2. 06m on fundraising activities, raising ? 877,000 from fundraising dinners and other events in addition to the donations. Donations from trade unions increased during 2005, party general secretary Peter Watt and treasurer Jack Dromey said in a statement. They also confirmed that the party received ? 11. 95m in loans, plus ? 2m lent by fashion magnate Richard Caring in March of this year CONCLUSION • Based on the results of the research carried out to determine the Factors Affecting The Decision Of Voters Or Consumers In Political Marketing by M.Emin Akkilic and Mustafa Gunalan, on the demographic features considering the age group, it is found that the most important means of communication is Internet and social networks. • Since the voters in this age group do not have fixed decisions and since they make decisions comparing some basic criteria such as education, honesty and leadership qualities of the party leaders, the strategy is developed taking into consideration the will and needs of the consumer who is the VOTER. • We assert that our Campaign is original because our strategy is based on the principles of marketing, communication process and consumer behavior. The strategy is viable or practical because it takes into consideration the needs of the consumer. • And it is capable of succeeding in the present economic and political climate because we have used economical forms of advertising like social networking, word-of-mouth publicity and e-marketing. References: • “Principles of Marketing” by David Jobber • The power of relationship marketing, Tony Cram 1994 • Political Marketing, by Kotler, P and N. Kotler, 1999 • Butler, P and N. Collins, 1994. Political Marketing ———————– Vidya Shinde Renjish NairDarshan Patel Md. Zillur Rahaman [Greenwich School of Management] 27/4/2010 2010 Marketing Strategy for Election Campaign [The aim of this document is to design a strategy for election campaign that is original, viable and capable of succeeding in the present economic and political climate. ] Competitiveness Credibility Successful positioning Consistency Clarity Identify and understand target audience Marketing strategy Media decisions Message decisions Evaluate advertising effectiveness Execute campaign Set the advertising budget Define advertising objectives