En undersökning av politisk marknadsföring i Sverige
Samordning av budskap mellan kommunal och nationell nivå i svenska politiska partier
Political marketing has changed the way political parties internationally behave in relation to the voters. The purpose of this study was to investigate how political marketing is conducted on a local level in Swedish political parties, and how the local and national level of the political parties coordinate the message they send out to the voters. An explorative study was performed by interviewing experts in the field in the form of politicians on both a local and a national level. Initially the local parties' methods were investigated, followed by a second stage where we researched the link between parties on the local and the national level. Marketing of parties on a local level turned out to a large extent to follow traditional methods. Regarding the coordination of messages between the local and national level we found that the operations of a political party can be likened to the operations of corporations. Most accurately it can be recognized to be similar to the way franchise operations work, however with a greater degree of freedom for the franchisees. We also emphasize the crucial role of volunteers, internal organization and communication and of balancing between control and creativity in the organization, especially considering the non-profit and ideological nature of political organizations.