Marketing Plan
For
Government College University Library, Lahore
Launching a new Product
“DIGITAL COMMONS”
&
Adopt promotional tools to create awareness among library
users
By: Muhammad Tufail Khan
Department of Library, Government College
University, Lahore
1
Table of Contents:
Executive Summary-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
03
Strategic Overview (Introduction)-----------------------------------------------------------------
04
Mission Statement-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
05
Vision Statement---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
05
Current Marketing Situation------------------------------------------------------------------------
06
Marketing Analysis------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
06
External Analysis --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
08
Target Audience---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
09
Marketing Goals & Objectives----------------------------------------------------------------------
10
Marketing Mix------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10
Budget----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12
Action Plan----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12
Postlude (Evaluation)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14
References---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
14
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Executive Summary
Wishing to actively seek out and meet the needs of our dynamic community, we have
developed this marketing plan, which is closely tied to our strategic plan’s goals and objectives.
The plan places the library service in the context of the Institute and provides the strategic
Overview. The GCU Library Marketing Plan 2013 is a three months plan with realistic goals and
achievable objectives. The SWOT analysis develops the context by examining the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats which the library service (e- News Paper index) faces.
The plan examines the current marketing strategies in which the library is engaged. The main
purpose of this marketing plan is to aware the GCU Lahore faculty, staff members and students
regarding the usage of new library service “Digital Common” online full text access of News
papers Articles.
Strategic Overview (Introduction):
3
The changes will increase visibility for the library within the community as well as in an
electronic environment. The library service of GCU caters to the study and research needs of
the students and faculty. It provides students and the academic faculty member access to the
books, journal and Newspaper articles needed to remain abreast of developments in subjects. It
is a central resource and essential service of the Institute. It also serves the wider community by
providing access to library users in printed and electronic form through internal membership.
The Library offer products that includes: books, periodicals, reference sources, databases, audio
visual material and a special collection of Islamic and General knowledge books and also offer
news paper index .The library web site also provides access to the online free books, Journals,
magazines, databases etc.. Services of library included Reference services, circulation services,
acquisition services and access to digital resources services.
The GCU Libraries have been compiling newspapers index covering about thirty topics taken
from the National newspapers (Urdu, English) of Pakistan since 1998.
The ultimate goal of this marketing plan is to increase the usage of the Newspaper Index and an
effort is made to encourage more users to utilize the Newspapers Index. The GCU Library is
prepared and motivated to increase its involvement in social programs, reflect the diversity of
its patrons, and offer enriching programs to heighten the sense of community.
Through this marketing plan, the library modify this service add new special feature like full text
access of newspaper article through DSpace interface.
The overall philosophy for the marketing plan was a simple one: focus on content. Knowing
your audience is critical in the design of a marketing plan. In our case, we designed the plan for
our internal audience, rather than external.
Vision Statement:
4
GCU Lahore is a modern, demand-driven, futuristic, quality conscious and affordable
public university.
We are committed to be a research led institution that values knowledge and learning for their
own sake, as well as for the cultural, social and economic benefits it offers. We are committed
to the dissemination of knowledge and learning in an environment in which leading
academicians engage their pupils in rigorous intellectual activity. We focus increasingly on the
“learner-centered” approach to education and the promotion of research activities.
GCU Libraries Mission Statement:
The mission of the GC University Library Lahore is to support the educational goals and
instructional needs of the programs by providing professional reference services and
information resources to supplement classroom and laboratory learning as well as participating
in the teaching/learning environments of the academic departments, centers, schools and
online operations with the goal of contributing to the development of students applied
research skills and information literacy competencies.
Current Marketing Situation:
5
There is no marketing plan in effect at this library since 1872 but there has been some
efforts made at the end of 20th Century. The following information was gathered to determine
the marketing opportunities that exist for this library. These opportunities are:
1.1 Library website:
Library website provides access to Newspaper index. The new Issue of the Index
added in this section “Newspapers Index”. There are two categories of index one is Urdu
and the second is English.
1.2 Brochures:
Brochures relate the guidelines to access the Newspapers Index. This
information is available on library notice board.
Marketing Analysis (Prelude):
Internal Factors:
In an effort to get the most current thinking, a SWOT Analysis was taken.
Strengths:
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Staff: teamwork, experienced & well educated
Library staff brings a high level of education and motivation to their positions.
They are well experienced and committed to providing high quality library service to the
GCU Library community.
Dynamic Environment
GCU library provides to their users a dynamic environment and facilitate them in
a good manner.
Budget
Library has sufficient budget to enhance the library collection. Every year library
spend huge amount on the purchase of library collection.
Excellent physical facilities, building and study sections
GCU libraries provide printed, non-printed and digital resources, group study and
quiet study halls, computer connectivity with Internet access in study halls as well as
computer lab of library.
Weaknesses:
Interface to access Newspaper Index in not user friendly
Web interface of Newspapers Index is not User friendly because Searching
facility is not available for end users.
Computer literate staff
Library Paraprofessional staff is not highly computer literate, majority of them
know only basic level of computer usage.
Opportunities:
Availability of budget
More than enough budget is available to enhance the library collection and
Services.
Use of new technologies in information skills delivery
New technologies in delivering information can be explored such as free
available resources.
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Threats:
Lack of access to high speed internet
There is a lack of high speed internet in library. Some efforts made regarding this
problem, but there is no output.
More demanding students
GCU’s student varies from young to mature. There are also students with special
needs and foreign students attending the Institute. Staff needs to be trained in
customer service to ensure appropriate service to these patrons.
External Analysis:
The following are a list of trends that may influence the library today and in the future
as well. Monitoring the political, economical, social and technological influences of a library
should be done on a continuous basis. Trends knowledge will help in better strategic planning
and decision-making.
Political Factors:
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The political factors always play an important role in every organization,
some time it plays their role directly and some time it is indirectly. The GCU
libraries run by one Chief librarian, two senior librarians and five librarians for
their smooth functioning. There is no political threat but in future if the chief
librarian is on leave more than a month or for some long time so it will affect.
Economical Factors:
The library board has done a good job in providing adequate fund
balance and set-up a long term maintenance account for the facility.
Socio Cultural Factors:
The GCU libraries plays an important role to educate their library users,
for this purpose the professional staff of library arrange different types of
trainings, orientations and workshops. The library focuses to make library friends
through their satisfactory services to the users. That’s why the culture of library
is user friendly.
Technological Factors:
Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of
globalization. Currently the library provides free access to the resources through
website. The library also provides online services to the users. With ever
accelerating changes in technology, keeping hardware and software updated
over time is important and costly. There is huge growth in access via technology
and the library needs to stay on top of it or they may fall into the obsolete.
Target Audience:
Faculty, Staff members and Students of the Government College University, Lahore are
the largest patron group to target for the marketing purpose.
Marketing Goals & Objectives:
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1. To establish an overall clear image of new library service and its impact
2. Arrange orientations for faculty, staff, students and researchers
3. To increase awareness in the University community about the scope of Newspaper
indexing
4. To perform an annual evaluation of the library Service (Digital Common)
Marketing Mix:
Koontz and Rockwood (2001) suggested that marketing strategy is a comprehensive,
integrated and coordinated plan that combines four marketing elements, commonly called the
‘4Ps’ they are: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion and 3Ps of the marketing mix are: People,
Physical evidence, and Process. In focusing on the goals of the marketing plan, a review of the 7
P’s is in order.
Product:
The library provides a collection of services, which are its product. In this
marketing plan, the product of GCU library is to provide full text access of
newspaper articles through DSpace.

The Contents of the Digital Common are:
Art/Media, Biography/interviews, Culture & society/Women, Economics,
Economics- Pakistan, Education, Environmental Issues and Environmental
Management,
Governance/
Management,
History,
Human
Rights,
International Organizations, International Relations (USA, UK and Europe
etc.), Kashmir, Language & Literature, Law, Miscellaneous, Pak-Foreign
Relations (India, Islamic Countries and others), Pak-American Politics,
Politics/International Politics, Politics-Pakistan, Recent Military Wars,
Religion, Science & Information Technology, Sports, Topic of the Month,
War/Terrorism, Travel, Energy, Agriculture and Arab Countries.
The articles are taken from the following newspapers:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The News
The Nation
Dawn
The Express Tribune
‫نوائے وقت‬
‫پاکستان‬
‫ایکسپریس‬
Price:
All the basic services of GCU library are free and there are no restrictions
to the community’s access to our library resources.
Place:
GCU library product (Digital Commons “Full text Access of Newspaper
articles”) delivered to user desktop. Library offer 24/7 service for their users
and other scholarly community.
Promotion:
GCU library’s goals for promotion of our product will include the following:

Enhance the visibility of library website

Web 2.0 “Library blog, face book, Twitter and LinkedIn”

Email Alerts

Orientation Sections
People:
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People who work in the library are part of the product that is offered. All
library staff promotes the service every time they interact with a user. Staff
creates relationships with their users based upon the quality of service they
provide.
Process:
An orientation will be provided to head library community to create
awareness of new service “Digital Commons” Library will also conduct training
workshop for staff.
Physical Environment:
Expectations are formed as soon as the library is encountered. If the library is a
Resources Centre or Knowledge Bank or the librarian is a Knowledge Manager or
Information Specialist, an image is being conveyed. As a place it should be
welcoming, tidy, modern, well designed, centrally located and preferably purpose
built. The physical environment is itself a tool through which the library can market
itself.
Budget
This is zero penny expenditure marketing plans.
Action Plan
Phase 1- Prepare a demo for new product and also prepare presentation for
Convince the higher management.
Phase 2-Train library paraprofessional staff for data entry.
Phase 3-launch the product in trial bases.
Phase 4-Promotions and Orientation Programs
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01 -15 June 2013 (Begin Phase1)

Discuss marketing plan to higher management for approval

After approval of Higher management

After the approval, implement the marketing project
Mid of June 2013 (Begin Phase 2)

DSpace Installation on Server

Define communities and collection on the basis of Contents of Digital
Common (Customizing Process)

Modify Interface of DSpace

Prepare data (Newspaper articles) for Digital Common

Check the Quality of born Digital or Scanned Material
July 2013 (Phase 3)

Assign Duties to Data Entry

Start Data entry in Digital Common

launch the product in trial bases debug errors and modify the product

The product is ready to launch
August 2013 (Phase 4)
The promotional plan emerges from the marketing plan. It is to do with
how to achieve the objectives that have been forecast.
It involves:

A description of the service requiring publicity

Description of the audience at which publicity is targeted

Use Promotional tools for create the awareness
o Enhance the visibility of library website
o Web 2.0 “Library blog, face book, Twitter and LinkedIn”
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o Email Alerts
o Orientation Sections

Execution of campaign

Analysis of campaign performance
Postlude (Evaluation):
The final element of the marketing plan is evaluation. Evaluation tells us how successful
we have been and whether we are spending our time wisely on particular activities. It tells us
whether more people are coming through the door or using the website. Each objective listed
in this marketing plan designates a person to manage the objective. Each objective is
quantifiable. The control person will be responsible for reporting to their supervisor on the
activity of each strategy. The results of the innovative marketing and promotion changes will be
evaluated by statistical analysis of library programs.
For this purpose:

Feedback form available in Digital Common Interface

A monthly record will be tracked of the number of hits to the Digital Common
References:
Allen, MB (1993). ‘International students in academic libraries: a user survey’, College &
Research Libraries, 54, July, 323-333. 3.
Badke, W Winter (2002). International students: information literacy or academic literacy.
Academic Exchange Quarterly, 6 (4), 60-65. 4.
Cuiying Mu, Marketing Academic Library Resources and Information Services to international
Students, p.1-13. 5.
Curry, A & Copeman, D. (2005). Reference Service to International Students: A Field Stimulation
Research Study. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 31 (5), 409-420. 6.
Dinesh K. Gupta & Ashok Jambhekar (2002). Developing a Customer-Focus Approach to
Marketing of Library and Information Services, DESIDOC Bulletin of Information Technology, 22
(3), May, 5-13. 7.
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DuPraw & Axner, M (2002). Working on Common Cross-cultural Communication Challenges.
Rafiq, M. Ahmed, P. K. (1995). Using the 7Ps as a Generic Marketing Mix: An Exploratory Survey
of UK and European Marketing Academics. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 13 (9), 4-15.
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