Politics Is Marketing

One of the problems that Democrats seem to have is that all too often Democrats overlook that politics is about marketing. A political campaign markets the candidate who is running. A political party markets its ideas, its philosophy about how a government should be run. A political action commmittee markets itself. All of these efforts are designed to somehow influence the voters when they choose their elected leaders.

Yet, it sometimes seems that while Republicans understand this basic concept, Democrats not only don't understand it, they resist it. Part of this may be that a lot of Democrats don't come from business families and don't have business backgrounds before entering politics. They are not likely to have been business majors in college. Their exposure to marketing concepts is limited.

It is way past time for Democrats to grasp this simple fact: If they want political power in a democratic society, then they have to market themselves, their candidates, and their ideas. Consumers don't usually buy a product they are not aware of and voters don't either.