Frigate Limited

Branding In Politics

More often than not we think branding is just for business, not so.
Branding exists very much in politics.

If you’re a politician, personal branding is an important part of your campaign.
When people think about you, what do they feel?

As a politician you need to present your ideas in a clear and understandable manner.

Now the aim of this is to package yourself to look marketable to voters.

But if you are already a politician, it is important to create a personal brand for yourself. This helps people to know what you truly stand for.

For political parties: They must develop a recognizable brand that allow people to easily recognize the party and associate with it's values. A strong brand will generate more support and will enable a party to win.

Let's go back to politicians..

For a politician a powerful brand is important. It’s important to be honest, straight forward and likable.

If you want to be elected, people must know about you. One of the best ways is through social media because everyone uses these platforms today.
In addition, always have your audience in mind and always communicate effectively using words and phrases they can relate with.

As far as election is concerned, the primary thing you need to do when running for office is brand yourself.


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Inside The Mind Of The Nigerian Voter.

Every politician wants to know how voters think so they can know the best way to influence them.
First thing is first, you must understand that a voter is a human being like yourself, with dreams, hopes, expectations and of course fears.
Politicians make the mistake of seeing voters as just tools or mere numbers.
According to Jon A. Krosnick
Professor of Psychology and Political Science,
Ohio State University
Every voter supports a candidate based on two thinking patterns:

1) "Because the candidate is from my political party, therefore I support him/her".
2) "Because this candidate looks more knowledgeable and capable of handling the affairs of the state, I will support him/her".

There is a third but it's only peculiar to Nigeria...

3) "This candidate is from my tribe therefore my support goes to him or I can never support a person from such tribe therefore I support the candidate's major opponent".

In summary people just want a party or a person whose victory will benefit them not minding the consequences to others.

N/B: There comes a time when people generally become fed up of a system, in such situation if you develop a manifesto that tackles that system and show past results of you standing against such a system, the people will support you massively. A case study is the 2015 election, President Buhari proved to be the solution to a corrupt nation by his past records of war against indiscipline.

Happy weekend dear Nigerians!

The country today has so many problems.

If you were made president, tell us in the comment section which issue you will tackle first.

There is one thing to remember the moment you mount that stage meeting thousands of people who have now turned their attention towards you,

And that is you have few minutes to not just tell but show these people that you have the capacity to lead them....

Now it's time to speak,

However in course of preparing that speech, if you didn't include any of these, then you may as well try again in the next election...

1) A story of the people's people's most pressing problems

2) A well thought out solution to the problem.

3) A message of hope.

4) Simple and direct sentences.

5) Strategic repition of the key theme.

The aim is to connect with your audience, show them you understand their pain and you are just like them.

Your speech should not just tell them you have the solution but should tell them.. YOU ARE THE SOLUTION!

Voter engagement is very crucial in getting citizens to vote and have a say in their future.
If you want voters to come out in their numbers to vote for you, you must creatively develop a voters engagement strategy.

So here are 3 practical steps you can follow to engage voters.

1) Use Social Media: Thanks to social media you can easily interact with your supporters.
Your supporters can follow all your campaign trends and access you easily. Your job is to consistently dish out content that resonates with the minds of voters

2) Educate people about the importance of voting as an act of civic engagement: You can engage voters by enlightening them on the consequences of apathy and the power of their votes. At this point you may not want to sound all political, the goal is to appear neutral.

3) Organize and Support Community festivals: Most communities have festivals they hold dear, ensure you find a way support these festivals. This way you can get the voters excited about the coming election.

In the long run people will vote for who they like...
Therefore you must register your name in the hearts of voters.

P.S That's how they become your supporters.