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Suggests that insufficient attention has been given to the significant differences between political and product or service marketing. The rise in awareness of political marketing has coincided with a decline of party membership in Britain and an increased distance between party and voter. Considers the relationships between party leader, brand image, exposure and awareness. Notes the current absence of predictive and prescriptive theories of political marketing action, and the relative significance of exogeneous factors in electoral success. Crossovers between conventional marketing, political science and political marketing are identified for future study.

The connections between political parties, the electorate (individual voters) and society at large, that may be achieved through applying marketing is an important area in need of research. Understanding such connections is vitally important for effective and efficient use of marketing in politics and also for improvement in the delivery of the political offering to society. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory research project carried out in Australia on the philosophical basis and operationalisation of marketing in politics. A survey and in‐depth interviews were undertaken to explore issues related to the application of market orientation and its relationship to the marketing concept in political marketing. The results highlight unique dimensions and relationships of marketing in politics.

This study aims to examine basic factors that may influence success of political marketing.

Drawing on relevant literature, the author empirically tested the relationship between study variables on a sample of 650 Jordanian respondents.

The findings indicate that market segmentation and targeting, candidate positioning and building strong image (to candidate and party) have a positive and significant effect on the success of political marketing. The study findings indicate that candidate/party image exerted the strongest effect on the success of political marketing. Results showed also that conducting efficient market research and adopting a market‐oriented strategy had no influence on the success of political marketing.

These findings have significant implications for both Jordanian candidates and parties that may be taken into consideration when developing their political campaigns.

The purpose of this paper is to deepen and add nuance to previous explorations of the voter‐consumer analogy in order to generate new insights into wider applications of the marketing concept.

A conceptual analysis is supplemented and enriched with insights from a non‐representative case of voter responses to political advertising.

Findings suggest that limitations to the voter‐consumer analogy revolve around the differing contexts of marketing in each case and reflect differing audience responses at the micro‐level.

The empirical component of this study is not representative or generalizable. However, it is used not to verify generalizations but to add qualitative insights to the conceptual discussion. Findings suggest that research which applies the marketing concept to non‐commercial settings, especially political marketing but also possibly extending to social marketing, non‐profit and public sector marketing, should be cautious in assuming that consumers of non‐commercial marketing respond in the same way to marketing initiatives as consumers of commercial marketing.

The research has implications for the application of the marketing concept in political and other non‐commercial contexts.

The application of the marketing concept in non‐commercial settings as well as commercial settings has become so common it is often taken for granted. Yet the behaviour, attitudes and responses of consumers in these different settings may diverge in important ways at the micro‐level. Explorations of the applicability of the marketing concept in different settings are relatively rare and this paper adds a previously unpublished empirical aspect to an original conceptual analysis which aligns secondary research from disparate sources in political science and cultural studies as well as marketing.

Has political marketing been over‐marketed? This article – taking a definition of political marketing that (controversially) excludes news management and “spin” control – does not seek to “prove” that it has, merely to suggest that the impact of marketing in politics is not directly analogous to its effectiveness in business because of differences between a business context and a political one. We argue specifically that political marketing programmes can sometimes do harm, and two case studies – from Canada and Britain – are examined to illuminate this. The claim is that marketing is thus less relevant in politics, both at the level of description and prescription. The broader aim of the article is to sensitise students and researchers alike to the differences in commercial and political contexts, differences of which practitioners must be aware if they are to utilise political marketing to its best advantage.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility and usefulness of adapting the concept of “customer value” from commercial marketing for use in the field of political marketing.

A literature review of the field of customer value, and the application of a prominent “means‐end hierarchy” model of customer value to the political context.

From the application of the customer value approach to the political context, it is concluded that an analogous concept of “voter value” can be delineated and is the basis for a promising approach to the development of political marketing strategy.

Several important testable hypotheses emerge from the article concerning the application of “voter value” as a segmentation tool in the field of political marketing.

“Voter value” emerges as a potentially useful tool in political marketing strategy, in particular with respect to shaping political communications messages, and segmenting voter populations.

It is widely acknowledged that “customer value” is an important concept in commercial marketing. This article addresses the important questions of whether and how the concept can be transferred to a different area of marketing.

This research aims to undertake a business theory application into the political marketing context, examine the degree and nature of its theoretical and practical compatibility, and develop a preliminary conceptual marketing communications (MCs) framework for small political parties (SPPs) in developed countries.

The paper is conceptual and incorporates and interrelates the findings of existing business marketing research as applied to the context of political marketing. Through a comprehensive literature review, it adopts a multi‐perspective analysis and interrelation of three dimensions of existing theory: the behavioural, the contextual and the operational dimension. The paper eventually bridges the fields of political and business marketing, identifies the underlying causes of voter behaviour, and distils the critical factors of SPPs' marketing communications success.

The research identifies a number of critical factors of SPPs' marketing communications success and four principal SPPs' marketing communications findings: an increasing association between business and political marketing, an environmental context that stimulates and nurtures a symbiotic relationship between parties and voters, a predominant association of SPPs' critical factors of success with the concept of “perception management”, and the existence of a number of discrepancies regarding the application of classical marketing theory to SPPs. Based on these findings, the research finally develops a marketing communications framework for SPPs in developed countries.

While the conceptual nature of the research is a methodologically viable approach to understanding the complex interrelation of the elements involved, so early in the development of a contextually new theory, it is also its main limitation. Hence, the research considers the framework produced to be preliminary and that substantial primary research is further required to test and refine the individual framework components and to provide the necessary validity to the framework in its entirety.

The value of the paper relates to its focus on small political parties, which are largely overlooked by existing research. Additionally, the research adds considerable value to academic knowledge on the fundamental discussion on the applicability of business marketing theory to politics, also contributing an analogous political marketing framework to the existing literature.

Suggests that political campaigners are faced with marketing problems and opportunities. Acknowledges the increasing professional marketing activity in political campaigns. Examines the similarities and differences between elections and other marketplaces. In considering marketing in the political/electoral context, upholds the convention of examining the distinctive marketing features of the “industry”, and drawing out the management implications of these. Presents a model of political marketing in terms of structural and process characteristics. Structural characteristics include the nature of the product, the organization and the market; outlines the marketing management implications of these. Process characteristics are concerned with the procedures and systems which govern marketing activity and their implications; briefly proposes appropriate strategic responses for each.

The purpose of this paper is to examine political marketing with regard to its different conceptualisations and dimensions, and to suggest cognate areas for empirical research efforts, especially in Sub‐Saharan Africa.

Perspectives from relevant extant literature on meaning and dimensions of political marketing are examined, and empirical examination of these perspectives in developing countries suggested.

It was found that political marketing has many conceptualisations and dimensions, and its practice may be coloured by environmental issues, especially in developing economies with weak democratic infrastructure.

Empirical investigations of political marketing in developing economies, as suggested in this paper, may be constrained by secrecy, lack of secondary data, and aparty on the part of relevant party executives, among others.

Party executives will benefit from the conceptualisations and dimensions documented in this paper. In addition, researchers and students in the areas of marketing and political science will find the research agenda a fertile ground for empirical research effort.

This paper should be of value to political party executives, electoral commissions, educators and students of marketing and political science, in addition to government executives interested in relating beneficially with their citizens and other relevant stakeholders.

Proposes a prescriptive model for political marketing based loosely on the Six Markets Model of relationship marketing. The rationale for this is to be found in an analysis of the historical treatment of political marketing, from within both disciplines. Argues that many of the conventional axioms of marketing are inappropriate in politics, and observes how in political science, as in marketing itself, there is a questioning ofthe fundamental rational foundations of anumber of key theoretical constructs. In proposing a multiple markets model for politics, cites as evidence the fact that many of the approaches advocated appear already to have been adopted during the 1997 general election campaign of the British Labour Party.