Political Marketing and Lobbying: A Neglected Perspective and Research Agenda

Abstract

This article proposes that political marketing and lobbying have much to learn from each other. Both are essentially persuasive forms of communication; both have some basis in more general marketing theory; both involve exchanges, networks, and relationships. However, while much lobbying practice is underpinned or informed by (political) marketing theories, this connection is only rarely made explicit in the literature of either field. Most political marketing writing relates marketing solely to the arena of party political electoral competition, ignoring how it could be developed further into the area of interest groups generally and, more specifically, into an examination of how organizations attempt to influence public policy. This paper looks briefly at lobbying activities, such as grassroots lobbying and lobbying coalitions, and suggests how political marketing can extend its research focus to a wider range of lobbying practices. It seeks to identify the conceptual basis for the beginnings of a marketing perspective on lobbying. Lobbyists can learn from it how to put marketing principles to practice, and academics will gain an understanding of how this analysis can be applied and further developed.

KEYWORDS:

• exchange theory
• lobbying
• networks
• persuasive communication
• political marketing
• relationship marketing

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Phil Harris

Phil Harris is Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business, Enterprise, and Lifelong Learning (and Westminster Chair of Marketing and Public Affairs) at the University of Chester. He was previously Professor of Marketing at the University of Otago in New Zealand and codirector of the Centre for Corporate and Public Affairs at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School. He is joint founding editor of the Journal of Public Affairs and a member of a number of international editorial and advisory boards. He has published more than 150 publications in the area of communications, lobbying, political marketing, public affairs, relationship marketing, and international trade. His latest books are European Business and Marketing (with Frank McDonald, 2004), The Handbook of Public Affairs (with Craig Fleisher, 2005), Lobbying and Public Affairs in the UK (2009), and The Penguin Dictionary of Marketing (2009).

Conor McGrath

Conor McGrath is an independent scholar and deputy editor of the Journal of Public Affairs. He was Lecturer in Political Lobbying and Public Affairs at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland from 1999 to 2006. His books include Lobbying in Washington, London and Brussels: The Persuasive Communication of Political Issues (2005), Challenge and Response: Essays on Public Affairs and Transparency (2006, coedited with Tom Spencer), Irish Political Studies Reader: Key Contributions (2008, coedited with Eoin O'Malley), and The Future of Public Trust: Public Affairs in a Time of Crisis (2008, coedited with Tom Spencer). He edited a collection of three books published in 2009: Interest Groups and Lobbying in the United States and Comparative Perspectives, Interest Groups and Lobbying in Europe, and Interest Groups and Lobbying in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.