Chapter 5: Marketing

What is marketing?
Our textbook offered several definitions of marketing, and pointed out some common elements for success in marketing: 

• marketing is centered around the patron/customer/user, with the focal point being around their needs; 
• organizations need to design programs and services (and inform the public about those programs and services) that respond to the "perceptions, needs and wants" (Evans & Ward, 2007, p. 84) of its users.

Many libraries have been hesitant to do 'branding' (having consistent visual and content-related themes that represent the library to its users), but our group was able to list several examples where branding was useful to the libraries (and library departments) in question:

CSLP reads (http://www.cslpreads.org/): almost anyone who works in a public library in the US can tell you that this year's theme for Summer Reading was 'Dream Big: READ!' -- CSLP comes up with marketing materials, ideas for events, and book lists which it distributes to libraries to use for their Summer Reading programs. 


Here's some branded flyer material created for the Virginia Beach Public Library by our Group's own Amy Persons!

Virginia Beach Public Library

 

Many library systems use branding to help their customers understand that many branches can fall under one library,  like our Group member Tina's library in Minnesota:

Great River Regional Library

Works Cited:

Evans, G. E., & Ward, P. L. (2007). Management basics for information professionals (2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.