Monday, December 12, 2016

Marketing concepts

What is marketing?
  • Marketing 
    • Managing demand 
    • Promoting product, service, use 
  • Public relations 
    • Maintaining relationship with clients
    • Managing library image with reasonable explanation turned into positive 
  • Advocacy 
    • Ambassador 
    • Bringing necessary service 
    • Managing support 
    • Cultivating movers and shakers to fight 
    • Encourage passionate support 
Library life cycle
  • What libraries can do when they reach the mature or decline stage 
    • Attempt to be the market leader 
      • Offered Internet, many thought this would be the death of libraries, but they can afford to offer it for free 
    • Find a niche of customers
      • What value can be added to users’ needs? 
    • Move into next cycle of communication 
      • Moved into Internet, databases to offer supports for users 
    • Divest 
      • What makes the library unique from others?
      • Add services 
      • Remove services 
How do we market? 
  • Key marketing concepts 
    • Market segmentation 
      • Public libraries segment by age – children, teens, adults, etc. 
      • Identifying actual and potential markets 
        • Who do, and who could, use the library? 
      • Determining proportion of individuals who will never be interested in your services 
        • Requires careful analysis 
      • Answers questions such as: 
        • Who are your clients? 
        • To what extent are they similar or different to their needs and demands?
        • Who are the most/least intensive users?
      • How might each type of library segment its market? 
      • Who are its primary clientele? 
        • Academic 
          • Faculty 
          • Graduates
          • Undergraduates
          • Professionals
        • Public
          • Age 
        • School
          • Teacher
          • Student 
        • Special
          • Department 
    • Market positioning 
      • Prioritizing groups of clients 
      • Who are primary client groups?
      • How much resources should be used in serving each group?
        • Allocate 
        • Outreach
        • Offer
        • Staff devoted to specific groups to provide resources 
    • Consumer analysis 
      • How do we find out who our nonusers are?
        • Don’t ignore users 
        • Don’t try to convert users
        • Find out who isn’t using the library
      • How do we analyze nonusers?
      • How can we determine the ongoing needs of users? 
        • Surveys 
          • Focus groups 
          • Interviews
          • Timed appropriately
          • Short
          • Keep track of questions and what can and cannot be answered
          • Must be easy to answer 
          • Clearly stated questions
          • Leave room for general comments 
            • Interesting feedback
              • Positive
              • Negative 
          • Suggestion boxes
          • Bulletin boards 
    • Marketing program 
      • The 4P’s
        • Product 
          • What are you offering?
          • Make a complete description of the product(s)/service(s) being offered 
            • Think about it from the user’s point of view: What’s in it for them?
            • What is the ultimate goal?
            • What does the user want?
          • What are the products attributes and benefits to the consumer? 
          • Product/service chart
          • Product/
            service
            Features Benefits
            Self-service circulation Easy to follow screen instructions Speed in check-out materials
            Children's summer reading program Prizes
            Contests
            Children find reading is fun
          • Six elements of quality of product/service
            • Performance 
              • Should be able to meet deadlines and turnarounds 
            • Features
              • What could be a value added? E.g. Story time, children participate 
            • Reliability 
              • Meet deadlines, be consistent 
            • Durability
              • Stands test of time, repetitiveness 
            • Esthetics 
              • Packaging 
              • Does it look professional? 
              • Means a lot
            • Perceived quality
              • Others recommend
              • It’s worthwhile
              • Time well spent 
        • Price 
          • Will it be free?
          • Will there be a cost? 
          • Link to the service and see the value.
          • How is service priced? 
            • Once free, printing is more often charged in both public and academic libraries. Special libraries account for all charges.
          • What are the costs involved to provide the service? o Should service be “fee” or “free” 
          • Levels of pricing 
            • Premium pricing
              • Charged at highest level for in-depth personal service 
            • Competitive pricing 
              • Photocopying, videorecording costs – can the library be cheaper?
              • Protect material if expensive 
              • People will rip or steal books 
            • Market penetration (discount pricing) 
              • Very aggressive 
              • Make place the first place to go
              • Libraries offer a lot for free 
        • Promotion 
          • How do you get the word out? 
            • How do you ensure that there’s good demand?
          • Getting the message out 
            • Personal selling 
            • Advertising 
            • Public service announcements
            • News releases 
            • On-site promotion
            • Direct mail 
        • Place
          • Be convenient
          • Where will service be offered? 
            • On location 
              • All branches? 
            • Over the Internet 
              • Virtual reference 
              • Chat
            • Various other sites 
              • Off site, not at library 
        • Politics
        • Public policy
      • Marketing audit
        • How successful was the program? 
          • Open house
          • Guestbook
          • Ask how they found out about the library? 
          • Use a decent evaluation form 
            • Check boxes
            • Additional comments
        • Different measures of success
        • Return on investment
        • Cost-effectiveness
        • Cost-benefit 
        • Popularity of program 
Marketing plan 
  • Determine what to promote (product) 
  • Define targeted audience 
    • Objectives
    • Target group(s) 
  • Choose type of outreach (strategy and promotion) 
    • Strategy and tactics 
      • Who
      • What
      • When 
      • Where 
      • How 
    • Communication tools 
  • Evaluate the program
    • Evaluation

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