The concept of personal branding and its application in a non-commercial marketing area: Political marketing example

This study analyzes by taking into consideration the increasing competition and the accompanying pace in branding process, whether the `brand? concept as it is used in marketing can be utilized personally. Firstly, the core concepts regarding brand concept is analyzed. Secondly, the literature review concerning personal branding is presented and the attention is drawn to the lack of information in this field. Thirdly, the literature review results about political marketing are discussed. Lastly, interviews, questionnaire studies and the factors affecting personal branding are examined in the domain of political marketing which is chosen as one of the application fields of personal branding.The results exhibit that there are ten factors affecting personal branding in the field of political marketing. These factors are physical appearance, humanism, character, modernity, ambition, economic capital, religious belief, populism, character, modernity, ambition, economic capital, religious belief, populism, leadership and sociability. When the items loaded on these factors are scrutinized, it is observed that most of them can be used in the non-commercial marketing domains such as art, medicine, education in the building of personal branding. These features most of which are alterable and can be latterly earnable, has a leading role in the creation of individual personal brands.Keywords: Personal Branding, Political Marketing, Political Leader Image