What is it that makes your political brand the better choice? If you accurately answer this question, ‘political consumers’ will choose your brand over your opponents. If they do so, you win the political race!
To come up with a perfect political brand, you must think of yourself as any commercial marque. Appropriately, every candidate must have a well-defined branding strategy with measurable goals. Yet, a typical plan should start with the answers to three chief questions:
- Who am I politically?
- What do I want to achieve?
- Why am I uniquely qualified?
Once you (or your political coachee) are done with reflecting on your ‘strategy’s starting point’, progress to the next level of that political race! In other words, ask yourself or the coachee: how does the political brand translate into key messages, stump speeches, a killer brochure, effective media, web-based mobilizations and all the other elements of a winning campaign? The answer to this question is mainly based on research.
However, the most important part in this process is to meticulously determine the vision and find the perfect way to communicate it. Indeed, Lieberman & Barnhart (2010) do believe that a political brand = the effective communication of a vision.
For example, Vice President George H.W. Bush was frequently told that he lacked “the vision thing” especially when preparing for his 1988 presidential run. Bush did not really find his vision, but “he successfully exploited Ronald Reagan’s vision of small government and low taxes. The “Read my lips, no new taxes” message helped Bush ride Reagan’s visionary coattails into the Oval Office” (Lieberman & Barnhart, 2010).
“In politics, a well communicated vision wins” because vision gives hope and meaning to people’s lives, and that’s why presidents Obama and Reagan were few of the leaders who were able to have a vision and communicate it; hence, were successful.
“Vision is, in essence, an identity.”
It is not enough that a brand identity includes the name, logo, slogan, design, brand personality, etc. Rather, powerful brands are those that have a “consistent brand voice and visual style that trades as equity when introducing brand extensions” which are the stories told to sell a brand.
The researchers suggested the following tips that will help you, or the coachee, introduce a coherent brand strategy into the political campaign:
- Use polling data to craft your message. For example, conduct research to find enough information on campaign awareness, people’s preference, important issues to tackle, issue relevance, emotional connection with the brand, brand loyalty, etc.
- Ask the candidate important questions that will help you distinguish him/her from the competition
- Create a well-communicated campaign position statement that includes the target audience, the campaign essence, promise, in addition to personality
- Conduct campaign communications workshops
- Based on your research, set specific message objectives
- Develop integrated media plan
- Use polling data to be able to promote the candidate, defend him/her, and ethically attack his/her opponent.
- Live the brand
“The truly successful political brand is a brand that communicates authentically. Woe to the candidate who cannot or will not live the brand. In the end, the most important advice anyone can give a candidate is: Be who you say you are.”
Source
Lieberman, M., & Barnhart, M. (2010). Finding and measuring your “vision thing”: Political branding: How to manage it and help your candidates win. Politics Magazine, 31(1), 61. Retrieved from https://www.mvsolution.com/wp-content/uploads/Finding-and-Measuring-Your-Vision-Thing-Political-Branding-How-to-Manage-It-and-Help-Your-Candidates-Win-in-2010.pdf
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