Political Marketing..An effective tool for communication, but it is not widely used in Morocco

Political Marketing, which relies on the same techniques of commercial marketing in order to promote a candidate, an electoral program, or a political party, is still little prevalent in Morocco for cultural and financial reasons.

Advertising, public relations, relations with the press, digital communication, etc. are all media used by political marketing in order to motivate and persuade the voter to choose a specific candidate.

If the selection of the candidate and the development of the electoral program are the prerogative of the political party, then the task of promoting them falls in this case on the shoulders of the professional communication structure. Its task is to view political content as a 'sale' product to potential consumers, the electorate, and, in a broader view, the nationwide voter base.

This mode of communication, widespread in the West, is taking its first steps in Morocco. Few political parties engage in this practice, which requires significant financial resources. In this regard, Mustapha Bennani, a consultant and marketing expert, considered that "political marketing in Morocco is not widespread despite the efforts made in this direction. There are many missing ingredients that would make this strategy the cornerstone of the success of an electoral campaign ".

In this context, Mr. Bennani highlighted, “For target voters, for example, the message remains unchanged at the level of form and we end up adopting the same communication with all groups of the target population, which can sometimes lead to misinterpretation and even contempt for the party. and/or his representative.

He explained, "Based on these facts, it is absolutely clear that the absence of political marketing professionals is in the interest of the competing parties, the voters, and thus the population."

The expert in this regard stopped at the advantages of political marketing compared to traditional forms of marketing, noting that it highlights messages with strong implications, does not change the identities and historical path of political parties respects the personality of the candidates and proposes reasonable electoral programs in line with major projects for the development of the country. He added that political marketing is based on a deep knowledge of the electoral college and an accurate diagnosis of election conditions. Subsequently, a socio-political diagnosis is developed, which allows for the development of a campaign strategy.

He explained that this socio-political diagnosis is based on four basic elements to determine the strategy: the positioning of the candidate (or political party), the position of the competitors, the behavior of the voters, and finally the selection criteria, adding that this strategy consists of a strong message addressed to the target population, which is conveyed via selected media. For Mr. Bennani, political marketing in Morocco is a “promising” market, but “there are unfortunately many gaps that must be filled on the one hand, and on the other hand, everyone can find what he wants, starting from the ordinary citizen to the higher structures, passing through the various actors in the Moroccan political scene.

In this regard, he suggested, "we can model the Moroccan market and adapt the various political marketing strategies to the diverse needs of this market, by creating unique variables that only apply to our country." He considered that "the low participation rates recorded during the previous elections prove to us the importance and necessity of paying attention to the population and voters in the electoral process through a motivational and participatory strategy for political marketing."

With regard to the obstacles that may hinder the development of this field in Morocco, Mr. Bennani said that it is particularly related to obstacles of a psychological and cultural nature (given the structure of society and the rural and uneducated electorate). Assigning communication specialists the task of promoting the party and its candidates and managing the electoral campaign would contribute to the reconciliation of Moroccan citizens, especially young people, with political work and positively affect the participation rate, especially in light of the health crisis associated with the spread of the Coronavirus.

However, the development of this communication tool collides with a number of obstacles, especially the mentality of political actors, as well as its high costs.