Political marketing: Part 08: Why parties engage in political marketing

Today, the crisis of democracy rarely affects individual politicians, but rather entire parties. In times of democratic crisis, a party can hardly afford negative headlines. In order to save its own reputation, a party must distance itself as directly as possible from the misbehaviour of individual party members. Political advertising is not only carried out in a positive sense by you as a politician or by your party, but to a large extent in a negative sense by critics. Since the Internet is the fastest and most far-reaching medium, political marketing on the Internet is of crucial importance during the crisis of democracy.

The crisis of democracy is triggered by the fact that criticism often spreads faster than targeted countermeasures through a party's skilful campaign management. Political marketing is so important for parties as a whole because it is much more about internal cohesion and collective external appearance than political advertising and the campaign management of individuals.

In the crisis of democracy, the lesser evil for a party is usually to distance itself directly from the misbehaviour of individuals through political marketing on the internet. It does not matter whether political advertising or political marketing on the Internet is presented in the sense of political marketing and election campaign management filled with counterstatements, explanations or criticism, whether the person in question is expelled from the party or asked to resign, or even whether legal action is taken against them. In the crisis of democracy, every party must show that it first and foremost represents democratic values and only then stands behind its own members. Therefore, from a party's point of view, the crisis of democracy can only be overcome with its own targeted political marketing and election campaign management.

Through political marketing on the internet and other forms of political advertising, a party must take care of its own reputation. Targeted image building can counteract a worsening of the crisis in democracy before a party's image is damaged by the misbehaviour of individuals. Furthermore, it is very important for a party, just as it is for you as an individual politician, to differentiate itself from other parties. In this way, the party's goals do not disappear into a uniform, empty policy that is more geared towards pleasing other parties than the voters.

For these reasons, targeted political marketing and campaign management through political marketing on the Internet and political advertising in other media, as well as in public, is of such crucial importance for every party. By highlighting specific goals that the party is striving for, voters' interest is reawakened and they see a renewed sense of purpose in engaging with party goals, election campaigns, plans for the future and other aspects of current politics.

Through targeted political marketing and political advertising, a party can change and improve its own image in the minds of voters, develop more individuality and ultimately end the crisis of democracy with the new interest of voters.