International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)

ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-7, Issue-6S5, April 2019

Successful Political Marketing: A Punjab

Voter’s Point of View
Krishan Gopal, Rajesh Verma, Ajay Chandel

Abstract :This paper aims to study the influence of

different factors on successful political marketing. A conceptual Political policies are expected to strengthen the democracy
model of different factors affecting successful political of country; they should adopt a system where citizens of a
marketing developed after extensive literature review[76]. Based country take part in true spirit in all discussions of
on Literature the researchers empirically tested the impact of
important issues like economic development, job creation,
independent variables (Market orientation, Market Research,
Market Segmentation and Targeting, Party/Candidate security of the country etc. (Osuagwu, 2008)[56][77].
Positioning and Building and Managing Strong and Favourable
Image) on dependent variable (Successful Political Marketing) II. PROBLEM STATEMENT
on a sample of 350 voters from Punjab. Finding indicates that
market orientation, market research and building and managing Today Politics all over the world is heavily influenced by
strong and favourable Image has positive influence on the the marketing and same sophisticated marketing tools
political marketing success whereas market segmentation and applied by companies to market their offerings is being
targeting and party/candidate positioning do not have any used by political organizations to market their ideologies
influence on political marketing success. The findings have and policies.
important implications for both political parties and candidates
which they may be considered while planning their political As the attention in political marketing and its influence on
campaigns[37][73][82][126]. making efficient and effective political product is
increasing, the authors strive to study the factors having an
Index terms:Political Marketing, Segmentation and
Targeting, Positioning, Image, Market orientation[69][132]. influence on successful political marketing. This can be
attained by answering to the main research question:
I. INTRODUCTION
Q1: What are the main components of successful political
The application of marketing tools in politics has been not marketing?
given much attention in politics and marketing literature
(Mauser, 1983; O’Shaughnessy, 2003). In reality III. OBJECTIVES
application of marketing techniques has become more
In this entire study, author aims at probing the meaning of
frequent and common in developed western countries like
political marketing and what are the factors affecting the
USA, Canada and Europe during last 30 Years (Lees
success of political marketing. To achieve this aim
Marshment, 2001) and now other countries of the world are
following two are the main objectives of this study:
not an exception to this[51]. In India majority of the
political parties are now using different tools and techniques 1) Undertake a comprehensive literature review to lay
of marketing to attract the voters. The recent Lok Sabha the theoretical base for research and to link the
elections in 2014 have witnessed a tremendous use of field of political and commercial marketing.
marketing tools in political campaigns[67][75][122].
Political parties used integrated marketing communication 2) Study the factors affecting the successful political
tools i.e. use of social networking sites, advertisements in marketing.
all forms of media, promotion through merchandise, public
relations, use of latest technology to deliver 3D speeches IV. REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND
etc., traditionally used in commercial marketing, to reach THEORATICAL FRAMEWORK
and attract all sorts of voters[1][116].
A. Political marketing and consumer marketing
The existence of political marketing had co-existed with the
theories of marketing primarily developed for commercial According to Keller and Kotler (2009) Marketing is
purposes. Political marketing to large extent is the “organizational function and a set of process for creating,
application of marketing theories by political parties, local communicating and delivering value to customers and for
councils and other groups in the society to achieve their managing customer relationships in a way that benefit the
objectives. It also includes conducting of marketing organization and its stakeholders[39][40][121]”.
research to identify the problems and needs of the citizens,
change their policies to solve those problems and meet the Marketing discipline is
requirements and spread their offerings successfully. affected by many other
disciplines and to reciprocate
helps in the development of
Revised Manuscript Received on December 22, 2018.
Krishan Gopal, Rajesh Verma, Ajay Chandel
other bodies of knowledge
within the management area.
In the context of nonprofit
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 Successful Political Marketing: A Punjab Voter’s Point of View

marketing, social marketing and while designing political

campaigns by the various political
political marketing application of the theories of consumer parties and individuals. The
marketing is a recent occurrence (Henneberg, 2004). process includes planning,
management and execution of
Less Marshment and Robert (2005) explained that political campaigns by the candidates or
marketing is important area in academic study and in political parties, governments or
politics all over the world[12][29]. Voters are now treated various other organizations that
as consumers by the political parties, political systems are wants to influence citizen’s
now referred as markets, and policies are now considered as opinion, promote their own
a product to satisfy the consumers. There is growing philosophies, win political battles
pressure from different groups within the society on and pass legislations to meet the
achievable promises and need to perform in aspirations of voters or certain
government[11]. All these things are really important for groups in the society.
success in politics market which is very dynamic and Lees- Political marketing is adapting
unpredictable[85]. The current different insights into the Marshment, commercial marketing tools and
voter attitude and behavior have been quoted by the (2001) techniques by political
researcher’s areas such as sociology and economics, organizations for the achievement
occupational sociology and political geography (Dunleavy, of their objectives.
1990)[88]. American Marketing designed to influence
Marketing the behavior of target audiences to
The definition of politics in oxford dictionary is “The
Association vote for a particular person, party
science dealing with the form, organization, and the
(2007) or proposition.
administration of the state or part of one” (Rees and
Osuagwu Political marketing can be defined
Gardner, 2005)
(2008) as application of tools and
Different authors have given different definitions of techniques of traditional marketing
political marketing which are summarized in the table in political issues by persons,
below: groups, organizations or even
nations.
Butler and The basic purpose of Political Menon (2009) The American marketing
Collins (1994) marketing is to influence voters association embrace the term of
during the elections. It is political marketing by including
differentiated from the traditional the word “idea” while redefining
marketing in the sense that in marketing in 1985; giving that:
political marketing hopes, dreams “Marketing is the process of
and ideology are sold whereas in planning and executing the
traditional marketing the sale is of conception, pricing, promotion and
products and services. But political distribution of ideas, goods and
marketing apply same tools such as services to create exchanges that
advertisement, public relations and satisfies individuals and
publicity as used in traditional organizational objectives.”
marketing.
Kavanagh Political marketing is application
(1995) of tools and techniques to get the From the above definitions several common points can be
understanding voter opinion and chalked out. First of all majority of the authors agrees that
behavior before and during the political marketing is linked with political campaigns. It
election campaign to develop the includes identifying the needs of voters which can be served
contents and to measure the effect with the help of political product. Secondly the main aim of
of campaign. political marketing is to influence people to behave/vote in
O’Cass (1996) Political marketing is building and a certain way. This means that elections must be without
maintaining mutually beneficial any fear and biasness so to make political marketing
relationship between the voters and meaningful. Thirdly there is agreement between researchers
political party through panning, that political marketing applies tools and techniques
implementation and control of developed for commercial purposes into political arena.
political and voter’s programs. That is way majority of the political parties now talked
Wring (1996) Political marketing is using of about voters segmentation based on different criteria.
marketing research to design and Fourth political marketing is broader than the political
promote the offerings which advertisement. Political
satisfies the voters and helps in marketing includes many
achieving the organizational activities
objectives.
Newman Political marketing is usage of
(1999) tools and techniques of marketing
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 International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-7, Issue-6S5, April 2019

such as identification of needs of voters, segmentation of Promotion is one of the most crucial parts of political
voters, planning and execution of different marketing marketing campaign. The promotion mix broadly can be
programs etc. Political advertisement could be one of the divided into two major parts. One is paid promotion which
most expensive and important among all those activities but includes all types of advertisement be it broadcast, print,
it is not the only one. In nutshell it can be concluded that poster, or the flourishing digital marketing. The other type
political marketing is use of marketing tools and techniques is free promotion commonly known as publicity that
by any political setting. political parties get but do not purchase (O’Shaughnessy,
2002).
Further, from marketing point of view a politician or a Usual to commercial market and growingly an important
political party is a service provider and voter/citizen must element of political process, public relation, is an important
be viewed as a customer in political market place. A tool applied to get positive attention of media for the
politician is different from the other service providers organization.
because he operates in a complex environment that includes Party symbols, slogan, colours give an added elements to
both controllable and uncontrollable factors[102]. Secondly the entire communication mix.
he/she plays the role of both campaigner as well as the E. Placement
service provider and thirdly the type and level of The core of distribution or placement is chain of retailers or
communication used in politics are different from the one distributors in case of commercial market. In politics the
used in commercial organizations. identical form is party workers at grass root level. The
political parties can arrange their membership at local or
B. Political marketing mix regional basis. The members of these parties provide
volunteer labour and crucial inputs during the time of
From the literature mentioned previously the political elections[27][31]. In addition this machinery also
marketing can be defined as: coordinates with national level network to liaison local
happenings and visits by leaders of the party. In India, it is
The candidate or political party application environment
very important to keep in mind that family is very important
analysis and opinion research to develop and promote a
that plays a very influential role in the voting process
product /offering which will assist to achieve objectives and
(Farrell and Wortmann, 1987).
satisfy voter’s in return for their support.

The core of above definition is model proposed by F. Price

Niffenegger (1989). Created with the help of marketing Pricing can be viewed as how political parties raise funds
model developed by McCarthy (1960), this model throw and attract members. Intention to vote or vote correlates to
light on the role of market research, environmental analysis price in political marketing. To have the large voters base,
and ultimately marketing mix (product, price, place and party needs to match its strategy of communication with
promotion) in the planning and development of political voter’s reaction accessed by using opinion analysis and
campaigns[54][68]. votes.
After the comprehensive and extensive review of literature,
C. Product the authors has extracted the below mentioned factors for
effective political marketing strategy.
The core of marketing mix is product. From the voter’s
viewpoint, product comprises of “party image”, “leader G. Market orientation strategy and political
image” and “policy commitments.” marketing

The perceptions about “party image” are developed on the Market Orientation in political marketing attracts great
basis of record in office, unity of purpose and recent history interest as it provides likely perspective to win elections.
(Harrop and Shaw, 1990). The most important in building Sometimes this strategy also increases concerns among
party image is policies of the party on which party party members and other stakeholders having huge
manifesto is based. During last 3 decades researchers has investments/ attachments to a specific candidate or party.
started placing more focus on rational choice belief of voter These participants have their own perspectives of framing
judgment of the issues and choosing for the political party policies and may be hesitant in changing party policies as
which is in synchronization with specific policy likings per the research (Lees-Marshment, 2009).
(Himmelweit et al., 1985; Harrop, 1986). Nevertheless the Many researchers (Newman, 1999; Lees-Marshment, 2001;
comprehensive scenario is not simple to change from image Ormrod, 2005) conclude that a market orientation helps
of the political party to issues based clarification of voter’s political party/ politician to be in touch with and reactive e
alternative because leader image also plays an important to voter concerns.
part, which constructs the third element in product mix. Ormod (2005) suggested a theoretical framework of market
Active role played by media has assisted mitigating this orientation based on behavior and attitude. As behavior,
tendency; as quoted by Philip Kotler “Voters hardly meet or Ormod considered behavioral construct regarding
Know the political leaders; they only have transmitted generation of information
images” (Kotler, 1982; O’Shaughnessy, 2002). and its distribution, with
reference from Kohli and
D. Promotion Jaworski (1990) research and
believed them with consistent
external communication and

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 Successful Political Marketing: A Punjab Voter’s Point of View

Opinion poll has emerged as a very critical tool of the

contemporary elections. In executing a successful political
member participation constructs. From an attitudinal point campaign is the inclusion of opposite party week points,
of view, he proposed four constructs as internal orientation, obtained trough market intelligence. In fact campaign is the
external orientation, voter orientation and competitor time to research ideas, making promises and then tested
orientation[36]. these in the market place, known as test marketing
Lees-Marshment (2008) argued that market orientation is (Newman, 1999).
all about developing behavior to provide satisfaction to Traditionally opinion research was usually conducted using
voters. Political parties utilize market intelligence to quantitative methods[123]. More recently, political parties
discover voter requirements, and then develop its product have started employing consultants specialized in the
which satisfies voter’s demands. Usually political parties “psychological” system of private polling develop to probe
do not try to change the thinking of people, but provide more deep rooted attitudes and values (Kleinman, 1987;
solutions as per their requirements[127]. Market-oriented Worcester, 1991).As a result research in campaigns are now
parties will always tries to satisfy voter’s needs and wants, focusing on combining quantitative research with
failure in which means unhappy voters and risk of losing qualitative research[34]. Opinion research feedback is a
their support. critical element in the development of an impressive
Study by Marshment explained that a market oriented marketing mix (O’Shaughnessy, 2002; Ormrod, 2005;
political party will do the following four important Marshment, 2005).
activities: With reference to above discussion, the following
1. Utilization of market Intelligence: This is same hypothesis can be framed.
as information in Ormod’s model indicates that H2: Political marketing success positively influenced by
political parties have to invest heavily in conducting efficient marketing research.
identifying the requirements and voters behaviour.
Party can use I. Market segmentation and targeting
Quantitative/Qualitative,Formal/Informal or Segmentation is an important tool of knowing consumers
Primary/Secondary research methods with the help what they want and price customers are willing to pay.
of professionals with political and marketing Segmentation is also best way to access the customers.
expertise conducting required searches[125]. Market segmentation can be done on the basis of socio
2. Modification of behavior: The political party then demographic and psychological profile, social groups with
will modify its behavior by developing its different socio economic and behaviors. Segmentation
“product” based on the findings of its market allows the organizations to develop a marketing plan for
research. This includes the modification in each segment (Benon, 2004).
behavior at all levels of party in addition to slogans Given their almost similar strategic objectives, Strategists in
and posters. Party has to take into account the politics have also used segmentation and targeting
opposition party areas of strengths and weaknesses tools[89]. Research in marketing has highlighted the
to design and differentiate its product. potential advantages to be acquired from segmenting voters
3. Implementation: The political party/ organization according
will then implement the modified offering in the
entire organization/party. The more the
modification in behavior is desired the tougher to, geographic, psychographic or demographic basis
the job is for the leadership to get backing for (Yorke and Meehan, 1986; Smith and Saunders, 1990).
change. The management needs to be aware of In politics, segmentation has been used by almost every
probable issues and then take necessary measures party to choose which segment of voters they can target
to overcome such issues. with the policies and Ideologies (Newman, 1999).
4. Communication of New Behavior: Now party Parties before targeting voters should discreetly recognize
will communicate its modified product design to the segments, its profile and plan the offering at the first
the voters. This will include communication to step (Lees-Marshment and Roberts, 2005). The next step is
begin as soon as possible before the elections. The to take decision on targeting the segment. Available
party will showcase the behavior as per new resources will play a very important role in this decision. .
offering at all times and at all levels. With reference to above discussion, the following
With reference to above discussion, the below hypothesis can be framed.
mentioned hypothesis can be framed: H3: Political marketing success positively influenced by
H1: Political marketing success positively market segmentation and targeting.
influenced by application of market orientation
strategy[128]. J. Party/Candidate positioning
H. Efficient marketing research In political marketing analysis the concept of positioning
Doing marketing research and conducting opinion polls is has a central place. After segmentation and deciding of
quite traditional in politics. There are various types of polls targets, the political
on which political parties rely on. Surveys conducted over party/candidate has to create a
time to understand where the voters stands at various stages position in the market place.
during a campaign (cross-sectional and panel surveys) and Positioning involves many steps
surveys carried out immediately after voters cast their votes that starts with
(exit polls) (Newman, 1999). candidate/political party

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assessing own as well as competitors strengths and A scientifically structured questionnaire based on extensive
weaknesses (Newman, 1999). Positioning is a tool which review of literature and proposed research model was
enables a political developed to find the relationship between dependent and
independent variables. Five point Likert scale was used to
measure each variable. Before the questionnaire was
party/candidate to create and communicate his image to the finalized it was pretested. “Expert” pretest was done with
voters in a best possible way. In order to create a favourable the help of ten academicians having in depth knowledge of
image and increase the support political strategists use the subject area. The questionnaire was modified as per the
ideologies, issues, policies and reasoned arguments and suggestions of experts. After that second pretest comprising
style of presentation to win the voter’s mind. Positioning is 50 respondents similar to the research group was conducted.
related with many things; the internal strengths and To check the reliability the Cronbach’s Alpha was
capabilities of political parties/candidates must be evaluated calculated and found to be .816 which is more than the
and should be matched with opportunities available in the minimum acceptable limit (Nunnally, 1994). This shows
external environment of prospective target segments; and that the consistency between items is adequate and
ultimately, positioning describe the position of researchers can go ahead with the final data collection.
party/candidate in the competition (Mauser, 1983;
Bradshaw, 1995 ; and O’Shaughnessy, 2002). The image of B. Sampling and sampling technique
a candidate/political party is created with the usage of
media by highlighting some personality characteristics of The questionnaire was filled by 350 voters selected from 10
the candidate and stressing various issues which are close to districts of Punjab in the month of April and May 2017 to
the heart of voters (Newman, 1999)[8]. measure their individual perceptions. The questionnaire was
With reference to above discussion, the following translated to the Punjabi language to become more
hypothesis can be framed. understandable. Multistage sampling technique was used to
H4: Political marketing success positively influenced by choose the sample. In the first stage stratified sampling
party/candidate positioning. technique and in the second stage convenience sampling
was used to select the respondents.
K. Image management
The positioning theory for image management was VI. HYPOTHSIS TESTING AND RESULTS
developed by Schoenwald (1987). In the revolutionary
Several tests were performed to examine the suitability of
research on political marketing, Mauser (1983) keeps the
the data for multiple regression. To ensure that no
concept of image at the centre of his work[87].
multicollinearity exists among variables variance inflation
The process of managing image has been applied by the
factor (VIF) was used. To test the tolerance vales for
political parties/candidates to create modified images that
independent variable, tolerance test was used. High degree
more precisely coordinate with their new constituencies. In
of multicollinearity results in inaccurate estimation of
Marketing ideology can be seen as a labeling process
regression coefficients and difficulty in distinguishing the
identical in the nature used for branding the products.
impact of independent variables on the dependent variables
Majority of the people use ideology to label political
(Hair et al., 1998). Any variable with value of VIF above 10
parties/candidates and themselves and then establish a
and with a tolerance value below .10 will be correlated
relation between them and political party/candidate by
more than .90 with other variables, which is indication of
using this information. These labels are same as developed
multicollinearity problem (Hair et al., 1998). Table II have
for the products by marketers to build an image which
the result of multicollinearity test.
describe what they meant for in customers mind (Newman,
1999). Decision on the image of candidate is one of the Table-II
important decisions in political campaigns that dominate
how the organizers of campaign wish people to perceive Variable Tolerance VIF
about the personality of the candidate. Image statement is Market
the base on which political parties/ candidates shape their Orientation 0.634 1.577
Market Research 0.65 1.539
campaigns. Critical is how to change the core message to Market
distinct target groups. On some occasions, voters are Segmentation and
interested in serious discussion on problems, on other Targeting 0.849 1.178
occasions they may want to hear slogans and what they Positioning 0.671 1.491
want to hear (Juholin, 2001). Building and
Managing
With reference to above discussion, the following Favourable and
hypothesis can be framed[32]. Strong Image 0.794 1.26
H5: Political marketing success positively influenced by
building and managing a strong image.
The above table shows that VIF value of all the variables
V. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY range from 1.178 to 1.577
which is less than 10, and
Cross sectional research study used to explain the influence tolerance value ranges from
of independent variables on success of political marketing. .634 to .849 which are
greater than .10. The results
A. Data collection tool clearly show the absence of

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 Successful Political Marketing: A Punjab Voter’s Point of View

multicollinearity in the independent variables.

The data was also checked for normal distribution with the Table V
help of skewness test. The data is normally distributed if
Hypothesis
t
Beta value Significance Comment
H1: Political
skewness has a value of less than 1. In other words marketing
normality of data is defined as a “range of scores than success
positively
stretches either side of 0” (Hair et al., 1998). Table III influenced by
indicates the result of skewness. application of
market
Table III orientation
strategy. 0.163 2.73 0.007 Accept
H2: Political
Variables Skewness marketing
success
Successful Political Marketing -.322 positively
influenced by
conducting
Market Orientation -.428
efficient
marketing
Market Research -.409 research. 0.191 3.245 0.001 Accept
H3: Political
Market Segmentation and Targeting -.563 marketing
success
positively
Party candidate positioning -.451 influenced by
market
Building and Managing Favourable -.467 segmentation
-
and Strong Image and targeting.
-0.03 0.536 0.592 Reject
H4: Political
The above results clearly indicate that the data is normally marketing
success
distributed as skewness value is less than 1 in case of all the
positively
variables. influenced by
party/candidate
Table IV positioning. 0.07 1.211 0.227 Reject
H5: Political
Fitness of Model for Regressions Analysis marketing
success
Mode R R Adjuste Std. F Significanc positively
l Squar dR Error of e influenced by
e Square the building and
Estimat managing a
e strong image.
0.252 4.718 0 Accept
1 0.4 21. 0
9 0.244 0.233 0.63368 6

Based on the results of hypothesis testing, the following

The analysis of linear regression model shows that R is .244, inferences are drawn:
2

meaning thereby that independent variables explain 24.4%

variance in dependent variables. This also means that more 1) It was found that applying market orientation has a
variables can also be included in the model to allow more significant effect on successful political marketing.
explanation to the variance of dependent variable. As p value This result is consistent with; Newman (1999); Lees-
is .000 which depicts that model is statistically significant Marshment (2001a, b, 2008) and Ormrod (2005)
meaning thereby in explaining the successful political findings. This exhibited that political parties in Punjab
marketing the fitness of model is high. successfully applied the rules of recent marketing
concept while designing and implementing their
After meeting all the assumptions to apply regression analysis, campaigns[16]. This also means that voters in Punjab
the multiple regression analysis was used to test the feel that political parties strive hard in understanding
hypothesis to find out the effect of independent variables their needs and wants. They also believe that political
(market research, market orientation, segmentation and parties’ policies discuss their main problems and
targeting, positioning and image) on the dependent variables parties modify their policies to deal effectively with
(successful political marketing). The decision rule followed changes in their needs and
for accepting the null hypothesis was: Accept null hypothesis wants.
if value of p is greater than .5 and reject null hypothesis if p 2) It was found that efficient
value is less than .5. Following table shows the results of market research has a
hypothesis testing. significant effect on
successful political

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 International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
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marketing. This finding is also in line with what parties/candidates and political campaigns are basically used
(Kleinman, 1987; Worcester, 1991; Newman, 1999; by political parties/candidates to make their political
and O’Shaughnessy, 2002) found in their studies. “product” more acceptable to target market.
Results show that people participate in surveys and
opinion polls conducted by political parties before For this political parties should adopt a market oriented
election. approach which involves identifying the target market needs
and design their products as per their needs[15]. Also there is
need to modify their policies according to the changing needs
and wants of the voters. Offerings should be positioned in
3) Market segmentation and targeting do not have such a way that their offering can be identified different from
significant effect on the successful political the competitors. Further political parties/candidates should
marketing. This result is contradictory with earlier adopt relevant tools to attract their target segments. Market
findings (Yorke and Meehan, 1986; Miller et al., segmentation and targeting are beneficial tools to reach
1990; Smith and Saunders, 1990; Newman, 1999; voter’s effectively but somehow political parties/candidates in
Bannon, 2004; Lees-Marshment and Roberts, 2005). Punjab ignore this and people perceive that political
This also means that voters in Punjab do not believe parties/candidate segment the voters and target voters with
that political parties divide voters on geographic, product suitable for each segment. So political parties should
demographic, psychological or behavioral basis. In pay more attention to segment the voters and design specific
addition results was negative (B=-.028) meaning products for each segment. Political parties/candidates should
there by voters do not know or do not understand the use all the opportunities to position in the minds of voters as
meaning of segmentation and targeting voters in Punjab believe that they are week on this aspect.
4) Positioning does not have significant effect on the Further parties/candidates should do their best to build and
successful political marketing. This result is maintain a favourable and strong image in the minds of the
contradictory with earlier findings (Mauser, 1983; voters as it is found that Punjab voters perceive image is a key
Fletcher, 1984; Smith and Saunders, 1990; Newman, element for successful political marketing. As creditability is a
1999; O’Shaughnessy, 2002). It also means that key for successful political marketing, so political
voters in Punjab believe that political parties/candidates should create image of high credibility
parties/candidates do not make efforts to position among the voters.
themselves in the minds of voters[24]. Political
parties must look into it and make all the possible VIII. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE
efforts to position effectively in the minds of RESEARCH
voters[6].
5) Finally managing and building a strong and There are few possible limitations in the empirical and
favourable image was found to have significant conceptual work reported in this research paper. The
effect on the successful political marketing. This conceptual model (figure 1) mentioned herein was
result is similar to previous studies (Newman, 1999; developed from the literature only and empirical testing has
Juholin, 2001). Voters appear to be very much not been done. This is obviously the next step and
interested in party/candidate image. It was also found qualitative research seems to be the most pertinent way of
that voters feel that candidate/ parties make continues testing and improving the model. For example, focus group
efforts in improving their image basically when research may be used to examine whether the model
citizens are more informed and consider image while includes all the factors affecting successful political
voting in elections[5]. marketing. An identical qualitative approach can be used to
Many factors are there that influence successful examine additional moderating influences on the successful
political marketing as felt by voters in Punjab. In political marketing. For example the role of money and
explaining variance in the dependent variable these muscle power on successful political marketing not
factors are Building and managing a favourable and investigated.
strong image followed by conducting an efficient
Once the model has been fully developed, the influence of
market research and applying a market oriented
independent variables on dependent variable (successful
strategy. On the other hand factors that have not any
political marketing) may be more fully explored. Of the
significant effect on successful political marketing are
specific interest is how political party/candidate can create
market segmentation and targeting and party/candidate
credible image in the minds of voters. Will voters believe
positioning[63].
the efforts to create or change an image as signaled by
leader if the lower level workers and leaders appear largely
VII. DISCUSSION ON FINDINGS
unchanged? This is an issue faced by political parties in
This paper tried to indicate the usefulness of commercial Punjab.In addition, although factors affecting successful
marketing tools political marketing area. A model based on political marketing have been identified, we are not sure
review of literature was used to find out the factors that may about the relative importance
influence the successful political marketing. It has emerged as of these factors in terms of
interdisciplinary approach which involves the application of voting behaviour. For
marketing tools in politics. Political marketing is an example market orientation
instrument that helps to develop favorable political has a great influence on
campaigns. Connecting with the voters is crucial for political party/candidate choice then
image is? Do different
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 Successful Political Marketing: A Punjab Voter’s Point of View

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Management, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 295-306. Krishan Gopal is working as an Assistant Professor at Mittal
60. Thrassou, A., Vrontis, D. and McDonald, M.H.B. (2009), “A School of Business (ACBSP, USA Accredited),
marketing communicationsframework for small political parties Author-1 Lovely Professional University, Punjab. He has 12
in developed countries”, Marketing Intelligence &Planning, Photo years of teaching experience. His expertise entails
Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 268-92. areas like Political Marketing, Strategic
61. Worcester, R. (1991), British Public Opinion, Blackwell, Management, Business Simulations and Marketing
Oxford, available at: http://EzineArticles.com/875572 Management. He is actively involved in academic
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Models in Political Marketing: TheMarket Positioning
Analogy. Elections on the Horizon Conference, British Library, Dr. Rajesh Verma is working as Professor and
London. Author- Additional Dean at Mittal School of Business
63. Wring, D.P. (1996), “Political marketing and party 2Photo (ACBSP, USA Accredited), Lovely Professional
development in Britain”, European Journal ofMarketing, Vol. University, Punjab. He has 17 years of teaching
30 Nos 10/11, pp. 100-11. experience. His expertise entails areas like
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marketplace”, European Journal ofMarketing, Vol. 20 No. 8, Marketing, Marketing Research and Marketing Management and research
pp. 73-86. interests includes critical perspective on application of marketing theory
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political marketing to political lobbying”, EuropeanJournal of
Marketing, Vol. 30 Nos 10/11, pp. 76-90. Ajay Chandel is working as an Assistant
66. Bowers-Brown, J. and Gunter, B. (2002), “Political election”, Author- Professor at Mittal School of Business (ACBSP,
Aslib Proceeding, Vol. 54 No. 3,pp. 166-76. 3Photo USA Accredited), Lovely Professional
67. Bowler, S., Domovan, J. and Fernandez, K. (1996), “The University, Punjab He has 10 years of academic
growth of the political marketing experience of teaching Strategy and
68. industry and California initiative process”, European Journal of Branding. He has research interest in areas like
Marketing, Vol. 30 No. 10,pp. 166-78. Strategy, Branding and E-commerce.
69. Butler, P. and Collins, N. (2001), “Payment on delivery –
recognizing constituency service aspolitical marketing”,
European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35 Nos 9/10, pp. 32-44.
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inefficient media for political campaign advertising”, Journal of
Advertising, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 45-9.
71. Harris, P. (2001), “Commentory-machiavelli, political
marketing and reinvesting government”,European Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 35 Nos 9/10, pp. 1136-54.
72. Harris, P., Lock, A. and O’Shaughnessy, N. (1999), “Measuring
the effect of political advertising and the case of the 1995 Irish
Divorce Referendum”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol.
17 No. 6, pp. 272-9.
73. Harris, P. and Ward, M. (2005), “Marketing the mayor: political
marketing and Livingstone4London mayoral election
campaign”, Government and Public Affairs.

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