Local government marketing model

Local government marketing model

Local government is one of three tiers of government that operate in Australia. This research investigates how marketing can be applied to local government in a holistic manner. To achieve this goal, theory needed to be reviewed and developed with one particular outcome being a model outlining the components of the marketing environments that need understanding prior to the application of marketing practice. Local government was selected as the context of this study as much is written about the marketing of not-for-profit, social and public sector organisations but the literature on the integration of these practices in a holistic approach for local government is very limited. Further local government has a major economic impact on the viability and longevity of many rural and semi-rural areas of Australia. Equally in the metropolitan areas, local government accounts for a considerable proportion of the employment and impact on growth and development of these regions. Traditional marketing theory has been found wanting in the local government area, as traditional marketing practices is being applied in a piecemeal approach. This practice has caused local governments to have conflicting messages and product offerings to the community. However the review of marketing derivatives theory shows that no one derivative addressed the scope of products and activities managed by local government. Reviewing these derivatives show that marketing core concepts are relevant to local government, but the complexity lies in the application of marketing where the components of added complexity were derived from the organisational focus, structure and target market definitions. The theoretical process to develop this understanding of local government marketing and to develop a proposed model for the application of local government marketing was derived from the literature relating to the core traditional marketing concepts and the marketing derivatives of public, not-for-profit and social marketing. This review of the literature aided in defining the complexities of local government marketing and helped found the preliminary local government marketing model. With the use of case analysis three local government cases were explored. The first case, a metropolitan local government, used convergent interviewing to determine the factors relevant to the development of the holistic local government marketing model. Confirmatory case analysis was used for the remaining two cases, one semirural and one rural, to refine the developing model. Ultimately, the model was confirmed in principle but minor changes were required to make the model robust across the three cases. From a theoretical perspective the research identified that the marketing derivatives used in the development of the local government marketing model were relevant and further sets local government apart from but integrated with the three derivatives studied. From a practical perspective the development of the local government marketing model goes some way to developing practices that are coordinated and integrated across the local government organisation, thus providing local government with the advantages of having an integrated local government marketing approach.