Review Paper
Angela West
INSC 590: Marketing
Summer 2015
University of Tennessee – School of Information Sciences
West, Review Paper
Abstract
For this assignment, the author will compare two journal articles: One general
marketing article from Entrepreneur, and one library-centered marketing article from
LIBER. This paper will compare and contrast the approaches proposed by these two
articles.
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Read two substantial/scholarly journal articles: one with a general marketing theme
(non-library) and one focusing on marketing in a library environment and write a
paper that compares and contrasts the two approaches to marketing.
Library Marketing Article
The article chosen for this assignment is “Expert Tips for Marketing your
Library” by Friedel Grant (and featured on the website for LIBER, the Association of
European Research Libraries). The author interviews marketing expert Ned Potter,
author of “The Library Marketing Toolkit: a Practical Guide to Library Marketing and
Branding.” Potter’s book offers “coverage of every element of library marketing and
branding for all sectors including archives and academic, public and special libraries,
providing innovative and easy-to-implement techniques and ideas.”
The article states that libraries have not been achieving their potential when it
comes to marketing, and one of the greatest struggles faced by libraries is the vast array
of services offered. While most companies are mainly concerned with the promotion of
one type of product or service, libraries serve patrons that are diverse and have a wide
variety of needs. Pinpointing a start to a marketing strategy can seem difficult and
overwhelming.
The first suggestion that Potter puts forth is for a library to figure out its
particular goals and what it wants to achieve. This is crucial in guiding the library’s
marketing efforts and keeping its expenditures (both monetary and in staff time) in line.
He then recommends moving on to research on community demographics and user
needs. By determining the needs of the user base via census and SWOT analyses, a
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library can tailor its plan to be the most effective it can be. Only after these initial stages
does Potter suggest going into the actual job of promotion and marketing.
When it comes to promotion, Potter highly recommends using social media and
video to get the library’s message out to users. With video promotion cheaper than ever
to produce (most smart phones come with built in cameras) and easy to host on sites
like YouTube, he calls video a “must-have” in library promotion.
New York Public Library are brilliant with social media marketing. They use
blogs and Facebook well, but their online portfolio reaches a huge amount of
people partly because they use so many platforms successfully: Tumblr,
Foursquare, and YouTube – plus they have 200,000 followers on Twitter
(@NYPL). They don’t stand still, they innovate and change things up all the time.
For an example of more traditional promotion working in new and interesting
ways, Calgary Public Library’s fantastic “Everything You’re Into” campaign has
been plastered everywhere: on coffee cups, in grocery stores, and even jet-washed
onto local pavements. It aimed to change perceptions, and it really worked.
Potter also discusses a method that he calls “quick wins,” where a library makes
small, short term goals that can be used to show management that your marketing
tactics are working.
Non-library Marketing Article
For this section, this paper will focus on an article titled “Marketing Strategies for
the Future,” which was written by Barbara Findlay Schenk and featured in both
Entrepreneur and Business on Main. This article focuses on the changes in general
marketing strategies over the years and how companies need to adapt to new methods
and ways of communication. “The old paradigm,” it states, “where businesses produced,
marketers talked, consumers listened and sales followed --- has given way to an
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economy where customers co-create, marketing strategies involves two-way
interactions, and customized product offerings move into the marketplace via channels
unheard of even a few years ago.” This is a clear reflection of “Business 2.0” and its
pervasiveness.
One of the ways the article suggests adapting is to react to customer needs. Find
out what customers want (or indeed DON’T want) and change tactics according to that
need. This involves closely monitoring the customer base and watching as trends
change and evolve. It mentions that customer opinions are the main force behind the
economy, and that marketers must strive to please the customers in ways that they’ve
never had to worry about before. For example, the article mentions when Gap and the
University of California changed their logos, an act which prompted an outrage so
significant that they recanted the designs. This is tied into the greater interactivity
between business and customer, and the internet is making customers’ voices heard in
ways they would never have been able to in the past.
The article also stresses uses new perspectives and innovative ideas to change
marketing strategies. Forming committees to brainstorm new ideas and think outside
the box are essential to generating new tactics to reach consumers. “Don't play it safe.
Ask ‘What if?’ again and again, exploring as many ideas as your group can generate.”
With technology and communication changing at such a rapid pace, businesses are
forced to adapt to the customer’s methods of providing feedback and purchasing items,
as well has staying relevant and valued in customer bases.
Compare and Contrast
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The articles show that there are a lot of ways to compare general business
marketing strategies with library-specific ones. While the outcomes are of each
business’s marketing tactics are different, there are also quite a few similarities that can
be drawn between the two. The following section will explore the various commonalities
and differences between information settings and general marketing efforts.
Similarities:
Both the library world and the general field of marketing strategies have become
very much embroiled in the world of Web 2.0, which has introduced a much closer,
more intimate relationship with a user base than has ever been seen before. Each of the
articles talked about reacting to user needs, reaching out to the user via their preferred
methods of communication, and adapting to technology. Making the user feel included,
even in decisions such as what the company logo should look like, is now a necessary
part of public relations. The Entrepreneur article cites a quote from Seth Godin’s book
“The Icarus Deception,” which states that “the value we create is directly related to how
much valuable information we can produce, how much trust we can earn and how often
we innovate.” This sounds very much like something that would be said and applied to a
library environment.
Both mentioned two-way user interaction as a key method of staying relevant.
The non-library article refers to this as part of the “sharing, connected and thank-you
economy,” which is similar to the concept of Library 2.0 in which users are encouraged
to interact with the library directly and influence the library’s growth and change in a
much more involved manner than was seen in the past. Both articles specifically
mentioned altering customer/patron behaviors. The idea is that a marketing strategy
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should not just appeal to users, but actively change the way they consume
information/products within your setting. For example, Potter mentions that a library
may get a lot of people to follow them on Twitter, but has their behavior changed? Do
they use the library more? Do they actively promote the library to other people?
Both articles stressed the importance of researching your users and creating
services/products designed for those users. Learning what your patrons/consumers
want is the cornerstone of successful business.
Differences:
The greatest difference between the two strategies is the user base itself. While
libraries seek to provide information to the public for free, the other article focused on
businesses that seek customers for profit. While this may seem like a slightly similar
goal, the fact that business seek money and sales can have a great impact on the style of
marketing.
In the Entrepreneur article, there is a section dedicated to providing easier
payment options and the different types of rewards that can be applied to purchases.
The idea is to reward a customer for their commitment to the company. Libraries, on
the other hand, do not seek profits and therefore are not in the position to provide
rewards for this kind of transaction. Libraries are focused on connecting with
consumers and asserting value, whereas businesses seem more focused on creating
loyalty to a brand.
Businesses also have to worry about creating products that people will be
motivated to actually buy, whereas a library can offer technology to the public for free.
The Entrepreneur article states that electronics are a particularly difficult sell because
“68 percent of people are satisfied with the technology they already own, and in part
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because consumers are more interested in solutions to what The Washington Post terms
‘seemingly intractable problems such as sanitation in the developing world, sustainable
agriculture and data privacy.’" Consumers need to be convinced that a product is worth
spending their money on, while a library’s services provide this sort of service for free.
Another key difference is that libraries are focused on one particular community,
therefore demographic research revolves around the statistics concerning that particular
area. Businesses, particularly the large ones, take a much broader approach. While a
library may be concerned with how the population has fluctuated within a town, a
business will be conducting research on “18-35 year old males” and other such wide
demographics.
Conclusion
While both libraries and non-library settings have some key differences, it is clear
that libraries can learn a lot from general marketing strategies. Although many
businesses are reliant on sales and profit, their marketing tips for researching
demographics, creating brand loyalty, and pleasing customers can easily be applied to a
library environment. After all, a professional environment, whether it’s for profit or not,
is wholly dependent on the satisfaction of its clients.
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References
Godin, S. (2012). The Icarus deception: How high will you fly? New York:
Portfolio/Penguin.
Grant, F. (2013). Marketing Strategies for the Future. Retrieved from
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225999
Schenk, B. (2013). Marketing Strategies for the Future. Retrieved from
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/225999
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