It becomes clear that theoretical understandings of political marketing need to recognize the patterns of politicians’ actual work. In the vast majority of cases, even in parliamentary and local government systems, most political representatives are either members of non-governing parties or backbenchers or both. This fact is largely ignored in the literature on political marketing, which tends to emphasise either formal campaign periods and related activities, or policy-level aspects and implications. The tasks of speaking in the legislative chamber or its committees, researching policy options and other law-making activities occupy only a proportion of a politician’s time. For many, the ratio is very low compared to constituency service. The importance of this part of the politician’s job is attested to not only by the time but also by the resources given to it. Many analysts resist such observations because