Perception Management - Politics

Politics

Perception management in politics is referred to as "political marketing strategy," or "strategic political marketing." It originated from traditional business marketing strategies applied to politics, largely for the purpose of winning elections. Political parties and actors can choose between two fundamental methods: leading the market or following the market. Leading the market involves fulfilling underlying demands of principle, and a political actor would essentially assume the position of one who leads on their own ideas and principles. Following the market entails the political actor's reliance on research such as public opinion surveys and adoption of those principles and ideas held by the majority of the people who the political actor wishes to influence.

Central to political marketing is the concept of strategic political postures—positions organizations assume to prompt the desired perceptions in a target group. Each strategic political posture relies on a different mix of leading and following, and includes four general types of postures:

• the political lightweight: neither leads nor follows very well; does not represent a posture easily sustained; is not confident in own ideals or particularly concerned with adapting to the needs and wants of constituents.
• the convinced ideologist: leads exceedingly well, holding its own opinions and endeavoring to convince others of their merit.
• the tactical populist: emphasizes following to achieve power; focuses on adopting political policies that appeal to a majority in order to attain the political power necessary to implement a party’s goals.
• the relationship builder: both leads and follows; has confidence in own ideas but able to adapt to the needs and wants of constituents.

Political market orientation (PMO) originated from commercial market orientation strategies applied to a political environment. Developed by Robert Ormrod, the comprehensive PMO model involves four attitudinal constructs and four behavioral methods:

Organizational attitudes include:

• Internal orientation: focuses on including and acknowledging the importance of other party members and their opinions
• Voter orientation: focuses on the importance of current and future voters and the awareness of their needs.
• Competitor orientation: focuses on awareness of competitors’ positions and strengths, and acknowledges that cooperation with competing parties can advance the party’s long-term goals.
• External Orientation: focuses on the importance of parties that are neither voters nor competitors, including media, interest groups, and lobbyists.

Organizational behaviors include:

• Information generation: focuses on gathering information about every party involved in a given issue.
• Information dissemination: focuses on receiving and communicating information, both formally and informally.
• Member participation: focuses on involving all party members, through vigorous discussion and debate, to create a consistent party strategy.
• Consistent Strategy Implementation: focuses on implementing consistent, established strategies through formal and informal channels.