ABSTRACT
Political marketing is most commonly associated with efforts to win an election – after all, once the hard bit of getting into government is completed, the politician then has power and access to state resources opposition campaigners never have. However, marketing in government presents its own series of challenges. In opposition, many promises are made, but once a candidate is voted in and the political consumer has ‘bought’ the product, it then needs to be delivered in power: see Practitioner perspective 8.1. Delivery is not easy in politics. It involves not just delivering policy goals through legislation and system changes but maintaining the overall brand and product communicated before the election. Even where they succeed, political consumers rarely give them credit for it – they either see weaknesses or gaps, or, where they accept something has been delivered, they then want more. Government presents new challenges, especially to staying in touch or market-oriented. Additionally, politicians have to think about re-election, and re-marketing a product from an existing position is more difficult. This chapter will therefore examine a number of issues involved with marketing in government, including the limitations, but also the potential.
