Lucas Maia
(Article MIL Cities Scientific Journal VII International Meeting – March 2021)
Link: http://wiscience.ru/archive
Summary: This study deals with the way the Digital Marketing Cycle of Felipe Chibás Ortiz and its use by communication and political marketing professionals in Brazil in election campaigns and maintaining candidate mandates can contribute to the construction of MIL cities. In addition to a brief theoretical survey, a research was carried out, carried out in December 2020 with 47 political marketing and political communication professionals from different states of Brazil, a survey of information about their preferred tools and strategies to be used in election campaigns and in maintaining their candidates’ mandates. This survey will be used in the future for a broader analysis of how we can modify the way of working marketing in a more strategic way, technological and, above all, ethics, in addition to combating disinformation according to what is proposed in MIL cities.
Keywords: marketing, politics, digital, communication, ads, advertising.
1 MIL Cities − what they are and how the Digital Marketing Cycle can contribute to its construction
MIL Cities is a concept of smart cities that develop with the use of technologies, with the active performance of the whole society in an ethical, sustainable, critical, creative way, with social and environmental responsibility in addition to combating disinformation. The concept of MIL cities goes beyond the concept of smart cities (cities that seek to increase the quality of life and efficiency of their inhabitants through technology), because to develop it is necessary the active participation of the citizen in the process (Yanaze et al., 2019).
The Digital Marketing Cycle (Ortiz, 2011) presents ten stages of the digital marketing process covering in most of them ethical aspects and social and environmental responsibility that are inherent to the concept of MIL cities. This process goes according to a society in which customers demand an ever closer relationship with companies in which the consumer is not only a buyer, but who is inserted in the mission, vision and values of the organizations. In other words, in a current world where not only allows but claims more human-oriented marketing (Kotler et al., 2017).
They are part of the stages of the Digital Marketing Cycle, which explore the concepts mentioned above, the Research, Planning, Shooting E-mails, Social Networks, Blogs, Websites and Final Shot phases. Currently, the ideas are not only present in recommendations for digital movements but also in community actions that must be practiced by companies to win over their customers.
The applicability of the Digital Marketing Cycle, in its fullness, by companies, organizations, institutions and politicians is the certainty that the concepts related to MIL cities will be disseminated in the social networks and digital environment in a society increasingly connected and active to digital media.
2 Digital Political Marketing in Brazil. A brief introduction:
Before addressing how the Digital Marketing Cycle applied by political marketers can contribute to the construction of MIL cities, it is necessary to seek the history of digital intervention in the Brazilian electoral process. The history of digital political marketing in Brazil begins in 1998, when the internet started to be used as an e-campaign tool (Braga and Carlomagno, 2018) through the use of websites. At first, interventions without voter interactivity with the new communication channel, adopted by the politician’s marketing team who used the same materials on the website, were also used as offline media (Fernandez, 2005).
This interactivity starts to be present in the post-web period (Gomes et al., 2009) also classified by the authors Tim O’Reill and John Battelle as Web 2.0. This period marks the arrival of social networks and with them the beginning of interactivity when users move from mere consumers of information to content creators (Knoll e Ghisleni, 2018).
But despite the increasing popularity of social networks and the increase in internet use in Brazil, the digital movement only started to get the attention of communication and political marketing professionals after Barack Obama’s victory (Braga and Carlomagno, 2018) to the US presidency, in the year 2008, when the candidate broke record donations and mobilized millions of Americans around his candidacy using a broad and complex digital marketing strategy (Cornfield, 2008).
With the use of social networks for electoral and political purposes, another novelty emerged: bots or network automation robots. Regattieri (2019) defines “bots” as accounts controlled by software capable of performing tasks automatically. On social networks, these accounts perform various functions such as posting content and interacting between accounts, whether they are humans with robots or robots with humans in a very similar way to what happens between real people.
The first case of this type of interference in Brazilian electoral campaigns occurred in the 2010 presidential campaign, just two years after Barack Obama’s victory in the campaign for the US presidency using a digital marketing strategy. Candidate Dilma Rousseff suffered a series of attacks on the social network Twitter where thousands of accounts propagated that the candidate would release abortion if elected (Ramos, 2012). This factor was decisive to take the dispute that year to the second round.
Four years after using social media automation robots to spread false information during the election campaign, there are also records of the use of bots to stimulate movement “Vem pra Rua”, in 2014, provoking the population to protest against the political class (Ragattieri, 2019).
In the same year, robots were also used to amplify the positive points of the re-election candidate Dilma Rousseff and her opponent, in the second round of the Brazilian presidential elections that year, Aécio Neves, according to a survey carried out by the Public Policy Analysis Directorate of FGV – FGV-DAPP.
In 2016, there were signs of using the same profile automation robots on social networks in the municipal campaign in the city of Rio de Janeiro (Ragattieri, 2019). Another digital marketing tool was used in Brazil, in 2018, in order to generate political debate and manipulate information. Candidate Jair Bolsonaro used a digital mass mailing strategy via WhatsApp in order to misinform and persuade voters (Calejon e Vizioni, 2019).
In just 20 years, digital political marketing in Brazil came out of the construction of simple websites, as channels of communication between politicians and voters, for the use of digital tools and more complex marketing strategies, such as the use of robots in social network accounts − to form herds of opinion that encourage users to position themselves in favour or against a certain topic − and the triggering of messages by cell phones in order to generate confusion and misinformation (Calejon e Vizioni, 2019).
3 The Digital Marketing Cycle
The Digital Marketing Cycle addresses ten main guidelines that must be considered for the implementation of marketing strategies and actions using digital media (Ortiz, 2011, p. 69). The author contemplates not only the 4 Ps of the offline (McCarthy, 1979) but the 8 Ps of the online (Adolpho, 2011).
Ortiz (2011) establishes 10 main points in the Digital Marketing Cycle, they are: Research, Planning, Endomarketing, Shooting E-mails, Blogs, Other Sites, Website, Final Shot and Analysis of Results. All ten steps form a cycle. When the last stage of analysis of results is reached, it returns to the initial stage of research, initiating a new cycle. The first two guidelines established by the author coincide with those adopted by Adolpho (2011), research and planning. In the planning phase, Ortiz (2011) suggests the use of the SWOT and Yanaze matrices (2011), in addition to establishing a positioning, media plan and analyzing quantitative and qualitative indicators.
In the third stage, Chibás Ortiz proposes Endomarketing as a way to sell inside the organization before selling outside. The author points out that this guideline is commonly overlooked in the development of companies’ digital marketing strategies.
The fourth stage of the Digital Marketing Cycle proposed by Ortiz (2011) is the triggering of emails. The main objective is to create relationships with the target audience. In the fifth stage are the social networks that should be used to transmit content with indirect references to the company’s products and services.
In the sixth stage, the author establishes the use of blogs as an intermediate tool between the website and social media in order to convey an institutional image of the organization or company in a more personalized way and, unlike social networks, in a more informal way (Ortiz, 2011).
The seventh stage is other sites as a means of diffusion between the company’s main site and the target audience. This guideline aims to propagate the name of the company or organization in other places where it is not only the company’s own. The eighth guideline concerns the website itself or the virtual store that has a more formal and institutional language of the organization (Ortiz, 2011).
The ninth step is called by the author of Final Shot, which deals with the use of offline media such as the use of TV, radio, magazines and printed newspapers, in addition to sending text messages and active telemarketing to complement product sales or services. The tenth guideline is the result, a step geared towards analysing results and starting over at the research stage.
4 The Digital Marketing Cycle Applied by Political Marketing Professionals in Brazil
In 2016, US presidential candidate Donald Trump and the movement calling for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union used one of the strategies pointed out by Chibás Ortiz in the Digital Marketing Cycle (2011) to identify the target audience called persuasive, undecided voters who could be influenced and thus decide the American elections and Brexit[1]. To identify this audience, Questionnaires on Social Networks were used.
Another digital marketing strategy pointed out by Ortiz (2011) and which was also used successfully in the North American elections was presence on Other Sites. Barack Obama, in the 2008 election, was present in more than 15 different social network escaping the usage pattern of the most popular, each of them with millions of users in addition to its strong presence on content sharing sites, one of the main ones being Youtube (Graef, 2009).
Another strategy by Ortiz (2011), which was also used by Barack Obama in 2008, was the triggering of emails. The candidate also used the tool on a large scale because it is a very low-cost form of disclosure. With this tool, the candidate maintained his dialogue with more than 13 million voters in the United States, generating a relationship.
These strategies, which helped Trump, Brexit and Obama, are also used by political marketers surveyed by Maia (2020). The researcher listened to 47 Brazilian political communication professionals about the main digital marketing tools and strategies they currently use.
The main strategies mentioned above present in the campaign of Barack Obama, in 2008, are little used by the interviewees. Email firing is used by 70.2% of professionals, and presence on other sites is used by 72.3%. However, these points are used in isolation. Only 31.9% of respondents reported using the entire Digital Marketing Cycle proposed by Ortiz (2011).
It should be noted that another strategy pointed out by Ortiz (2011), which was widely used in the victories of Donald Trump and Brexit, both in 2016, is not a favourite of Brazilian political marketers. It is the use of Questionnaires on Social Networks to obtain data from audiences. Professionals prefer to use Google Analytics (38.3%) and other platforms (29.8%), leaving Social Network Questionnaires in third place (27.7%), precisely the action most used by Donald Trump and Brexit to be able to identify the profile of voters called persuasive influenced by Facebook ads. In contrast, social network is the main communication channel used by the professionals surveyed (87.2%), in front of the candidate’s website (27.7%). The triggering of text messages, cited by Ortiz (2011) in the final phase of the Digital Marketing Cycle and which complements all strategies adopted are used by 66.7% of professionals, further reinforcing the relevance of this type of strategy present in the campaigns of Barack Obama, in 2008, and Jair Bolsonaro ten years later.
A fact that deserves to be highlighted is the use of E-mail triggering for a purpose different from that adopted by Barack Obama, in 2008, and by Ortiz (2011) in the Digital Marketing Cycle. Most of the professionals surveyed by Maia (2020) pointed out that they use the triggering of E-mails to propagate content from social networks (52.4%), reinforcing the weight that social networks have in the campaigns of political marketing professionals in Brazil today. Most of them also reported that social networks are the main channel of communication between the politician and the voter.
Below is a table showing the number of professionals surveyed by stages of the Digital Marketing Cycle:
| Digital Marketing Cycle | Tools proposed by the Digital Marketing Cycle for each of the stages: | How many political marketers and political communication professionals use this part of the Digital Marketing Cycle |
| Research: Moment of diagnosis where the target audience is known using questionnaires via E-mail, websites, portals and social networks, research through Google Analytics, surveys on social networks with open or closed questions, triggering E-mails (Ortiz, 2011, p. 71). | Google Analytics Questionnaires Polls Firing E-mails | 76,6% |
| Planning: Formation of the digital strategy comprising the marketing actions that will be carried out during the campaign using the SWOT Matrix, as well as the YANAZE Matrix (2011), with the establishment of the positioning and the Media Plan, in addition to the campaign’s success indicators (Ortiz, 2011, p. 71). | Swot Matrix YANAZE Matrix (2011) Online Media Plan Qualitative and Quantitative Indicators | 83% |
| Endomarketing: In this step, it is proposed to sell the product to the team members themselves, making them not only know but also support the project and buy the idea (Ortiz, 2011, p. 71). | Internal Online Media Plan Intranet Task Manager Software CRM or ERP Social media Trainings and Lectures Social Responsibility Actions | 80,9% |
| Triggering E-mails: The objective of this step is to create a relationship between current and future customers and the company (Ortiz, 2011, p. 72). | Institutional E-mails Newsletters E-mails with commemorative dates E-mails about Social Responsibility E-mails product marketing | 70,2% |
| Social Networks: Posts on social networks in order not to sell a product, but to generate a relationship between the customer and the company (Ortiz, 2011, p. 72). | Fun, happy, friendly posts. Sponsored links. Polls about products. Virtual Events. Content Sharing. | 85,1% |
| Blogs: Intermediate tool between the website and small blogs or social media platforms that aim to convey a more personalized institutional image between the informality of social networks and the seriousness of the website (Ortiz, 2011, p. 72). | Animated Banners Miscellaneous Pages Misc Applications | 72,3%* |
| Other Sites: Stage that can occur concurrently with other stages of the Digital Marketing Cycle with the company’s registration on different search sites, portals, directories, blogs, partner sites allowing customers to reach the company from other sites (Ortiz, 2011, p. 73). | 72,3%* | |
| Website: Formal tool that conveys the institutional image of the company, offering products and services directly (Ortiz, 2011, p. 73). | – | |
| Final shot: In this stage, the use of offline media is foreseen to complement the digital strategy (Ortiz, 2011, p. 73). | TV Radio Magazines Newspapers Movie theater Mobile Messaging Active Telemarketing Among others | 80,9% |
| Result: Last stage of the Digital Marketing Cycle with the final result of the campaign and restart of the cycle if not satisfactory (Ortiz, 2011, p. 73). | Monitoring data on the website, blog and social networks. | 83% |
| They use all points: | 31,9% |
* The questionnaire used only one question for blogs and presence on other sites.
Below is a table showing how communication and political marketing professionals use some of the prominent tools in Ortiz’s Digital Marketing Cycle (2011).
| How it is used in the Digital Marketing Cycle | In relation to the Digital Marketing Cycle, how they are also used (main results with the possibility of multiple responses). | |
| Google Analytics | Tool used in the research phase to obtain data from the target audience (Ortiz, 2011, p. 71). | Research (45.7%) Planning (34.8%) Results Analysis (34.8%) |
| Firing E-mails | Corresponds to the fourth stage of the Digital Marketing Cycle and is used to generate relationships between the company and customers (Ortiz, 2011, p. 72). | Promotion of content through social network (52.4%) Propagating content to reach more people (50%) Content personalization (26.2%) Internal marketing (16.7%) |
| Questionnaires on social networks | Used by the author in the search phase for information on target audiences (Ortiz, 2011, p. 71). | Research (52.2%) Planning (41.3%) Content production (30.4%) Content personalization (26.1%) |
| SWOT | Marketing Matrix used by the author of the Digital Marketing Cycle in the Planning phase (Ortiz, 2011, p. 71). | Planning (77.3%) Research (43.2%) |
Below is a demonstrative table that reports on how political communication and political marketing professionals use the actions proposed in the Digital Marketing Cycle:
| Phases | Main responses on the use of the tools by communication and political marketing professionals. |
| Firing E-mails | News Letter “To create a relationship, passing on relevant information and opinions, always segmenting and personalizing the message by tags.” I use E-mail firing to generate relationships and identify the target audience that is most in tune with what my candidate advocates. Through the mailchimp to signal supporters about any news or publication of the candidate. Just to personalize content and/or propagate content. I no longer believe in E-mails as an external communication tool in an election campaign. With funnel analysing the opening rate Publicize actions and seek feedback |
| Website | “Increase the ranking on Google” “Keep the information in the same place” “Macro site with all the candidate’s information” |
| Search | “Fake profiles” “Searches on TSE and Facebook” |
5 How can the Digital Marketing Cycle Applied by Brazilian Political Marketers Contribute to the Development of MIL Cities?
One of the main themes that govern the concept of MIL Cities is the fight against disinformation (Yanaze et al., 2019). The victory of Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency of Brazil in 2018, using digital media to spread misinformation and confuse Brazilian citizens (Calejon e Vizioni, 2019), following successful electoral examples from around the world like Donald Trump when he ran for president of the US and BREXIT in the European Union, reinforces the need to combat disinformation and Fake News.
The defense of the development of MIL cities runs through the confrontation with this strategic model of disinformation that aims to create digital armies that guide the recent electoral and power structures (Empoli, 2020). Political marketers, who are instrumental in the process of managing election campaigns and maintaining mandates, they must participate in the evolutionary process of cities so that they not only refrain from using disinformation as an electoral strategy, but also combat this type of practice.
Marketing today goes hand in hand with the concepts established by MIL cities (Kotler et al., 2017) and it is of fundamental importance that political marketers understand new marketing and the voter as part of these values.
Social network algorithms offer attractive content for users to stay on networks as long as possible. It is in this environment that the disseminators of misinformation and fake news support their theories that capture voters’ aspirations and fears (Empoli, 2020). Considering the present study, the future of marketing must include combating disinformation as the main defense and social protection.
The Digital Marketing Cycle can contribute to the proposal to use digital structures combined with offline media with the inclusion of combating disinformation and fake news, spreading this practice and establishing a healthier network covering ethical aspects, social and environmental responsibility and combating disinformation as the MIL Cities preach.
6 Final Considerations
In this article, a brief report on Brazilian Digital Political Marketing was presented, highlighting the main digital interventions in Brazilian politics. Ortiz’s Digital Marketing Cycle (2011) was highlighted as a complete digital marketing strategy model. It is currently being applied by a third of political marketing professionals in Brazil today. They use the entire strategy to seek better results for their candidates and the change of objectives to important tools such as the triggering of E-mails, in addition to the power of social networks as the communication channel most used by the professionals surveyed.
It is important to highlight that the tools used by large cases of electoral processes around the world are still active today, such as triggering text messages, triggering E-mails and the presence of candidates on other sites.
All stages of the Digital Marketing Cycle are applied by communication and political marketing professionals in Brazil today (Maia, 2020), but they are used in isolation. Only 30.9% apply all stages. However, a more in-depth analysis of these professionals is necessary to identify the degree to which these steps are applied and whether all the recommendations described in the Digital Marketing Cycle are used by these professionals, mainly the ethical, social and environmental responsibility aspects.
It is important to emphasize that the Digital Marketing Cycle applied by political marketers in Brazil still depends on the inclusion of the concept of combating disinformation and fake news applied to each of the stages proposed by the Cycle, allowing a greater reach of the MIL cities concepts in the Cycle of Digital Marketing.
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[1] Accessed on 02/06/2021. Available in (PRIVACIDADE HACKEADA. AMER, Karin; NOUJAIM, Jehane. NETFLIX. 2019. (111 min.)
