Political campaigns - Branding, communication strategy

THE 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections are lurking in the shadows; however, individuals and political parties have started with their campaigns.

The widely held notion that scientifically researched and proven methods and strategies for winning elections do not necessarily work in the African context, for that matter Ghana, still informs most of the aspirants and candidates in their choice of campaign strategy.

Whilst the lack of adequate data on constituencies, delegates and the electorate, in general, may be a genuine challenge for which our electoral dynamics may not be scientifically predicted with certainty, effective branding, skilled and effective communication, and the conduct of campaigns, in general, have indelible effects on election results.

Like marketing a product or service, a bad campaign can ruin a product or service, even if it is good.

As a political candidate, if you fail to coordinate your campaign around your thematic areas and resort to insults, personal attacks, hatred and acrimony, among others, you are likely to lose an election, even if you have the crowd.

Question

The question for a candidate presenting himself or herself for an election is, “how do I want my constituents or electorate to see me?”

As simple as this question may seem, the answer lies deep in the needs and desires of your constituents and not in you, as an individual or any false presentations of an artificial personality.

To answer this question, a well-planned research, aimed at gathering information about the needs of constituents and their desires is necessary.

This research should not be carried out by known political activists whose political leanings are known.

The research should be carried out by neutrals or strangers, who are not known in the constituency.

That will help the electorate speak without fear of victimisation, discrimination or criticism.

Sometimes, and those times are often, effective research may reveal that what you want for the people is opposed to what the people want. 

Failure

The failure of every campaign effort is ineffective communication.

As a candidate, you might be good at articulating your message, devoid of emotions, however, the same cannot, probably, be said of your team members, who are helping you to win the elections.

You must get experts to train your team members on what to say, how to say it, and what content they should even share on social media.

The personal social media accounts of your team members must be audited by professional content creators.

The random and uncoordinated sharing of flyers, posts and comments on social media, without a clear objective of what these posts are to achieve, do more harm than good.

Every communication endeavour has the objective of sending information across for proper feedback, which will indicate the effectiveness of the communication process.

As the campaign progresses, the best practice is to compare achievements to key point indicators in your communication strategic plan.

All over the world, there is evidence that politics and political campaigns have been monetised, but remember, people out there, in the majority, are looking out for positive values in candidates.

The writer is a Marketing & Communication Consultant.

E-mail: benonymullray@gmail.com