Introduction
Phillip Kotler has defined marketing in his work, Marketing Management as "the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and finding solutions that satisfy those needs, and at the same time, producing profits for stockholders." It is therefore necessary to understand people’s needs, to design services to satisfy those needs and to inform the target market of the value inherent in the use of the product to satisfy their needs. So, we may correlate that special libraries, in general, are organizations that have been established to serve the needs of an identified client base.

Funding sources are dependent upon the type of library. For example, public libraries monies come from taxes, private colleges and universities from fees and special libraries draw from corporate, and research and private sector funding.

Whatever the organization, the purpose of marketing is to achieve that organization’s objectives. Wilson in Marketing Tips for Professionals states "The no. 1 rule in the business environment of a special library is: everything relates to the bottom line; profit. The no. 2 rule is you must market your product to be successful." Special libraries have frequently been operated as cost centers.

Through effective marketing of the special library this cost can be turned around. Increasing Information Center usage and cost recovery through client or departmental chargebacks will turn a negative into a positive. Such an Information Center can be turned into a profit center and become essential to the parent organization’s success. In today’s climate of information center cutbacks and reductions, marketing can help insure an Information Center’s survival. Marketing is finding what your customers want and, within reasonable parameters, providing it.

The question now becomes for the library professional "how do I market the Information Center?" The answer?: Through the development and implementation of a marketing program. A marketing program is more than just good public relations and the dissemination of information to the public. It is hoped that the information presented in this chapter will provide a roadmap for successful marketing strategy.

Developing a Marketing Strategy

According to Charlotte Wilson, author of Marketing Tips for Informational Professionals, the development of a marketing strategy is composed of five broad steps:

Articulating Marketing Objectives
Developing an Action Plan
Choosing Action Tools
Evaluating & Reviewing the Marketing Strategy: It is essential to take stock and analyze the current situation. This effort will provide an overview and help define a plan of attack.
Mission statement: The identification of the basic purpose of the organization and the Information Center. Examine the mission statement of the parent organization and use this as a guide to create a specific mission statement for the Information Center. If you have one in place, make sure that it reflects the mission and objectives of the parent organization.
Organizational placement of Information Center: To whom does the Information Center report. Take a look at the organizational structure.

Draw a chart to help you determine the hierarchy of command and where in the hierarchy of command the Information Center lies. Just as no company can successfully market to every single person, no Information Center can efficiently serve every single employee. Groups have different needs. It is essential that you look and assess those who are strategically place and as a result, "they get things done."

Library products/services/staff of Information Center: What types of information and services do customers need and want? Create a list of products/services that the Information Center provides for its users. This list will provide a rough guide to areas that may need to be marketed more effectively. The list may also show you new areas to be marketed or gaps in the services/products being provided by the Information Center to its users. Be aware of any changes in the quantity and quality of the staff in the Information Center and the organization. This may effect both the Information Center and the organization’s ability to carry out its mission.

Target markets and Internal customers: Identify the departments and personnel that hold power within the organization. Study the Information Center’s user population, its environment, its resources, the competition, and the parent organization itself. Find out what makes up the Information Centers user population. Look at those individuals who have power within the organization. This is the primary target market. Information Centers must select from these groups those who they impact the most. These are the groups who can best support and defend the Information Center. Examine the secondary market. These are those people and departments that are not currently using the Information Center, but should be.

Information Gathering Habits: Where do clients go other than the Information Center to gather their needed information and why? Determine how the Information Centers users most often obtain information. Determine where they are going other than the Information Center: personal reading, personal access to databases, business contacts and other alternative sources.

Determine the reasons they are using other resources: i.e.: unfamiliar with the Information Centers’ services, bad experiences with the Information Center or others like it. This knowledge will help the Information Center target those areas in its service that may need to be expanded or users who may need to be informed, through proactive marketing, of services provided by the Information Center. Marketing Strategy:

Determining Goals & Objectives: It is important to determine where the Information Center is headed. Use the information gathered during the Developing the Marketing Strategy phase to review the Information Center’s current situation. Establish objectives and place them in order of their importance to the success of the marketing program. Determine goals based on the objectives, remembering goals and objectives are restated in an operational and measurable form. For example: Objective – Increase the number of customers using the Information Center and its services. Goal – Increase the number of customers using the Information Center and its services by 20%.

Market Segments Selected and Targeted: Review those primary and secondary target markets that were determined in the current situation analysis of your Information Center. Examine the secondary market. These are those people and departments that are not currently using the Information Center, but should be. Remember those who hold the power in the organization are those who are very likely get things done. They would be able to make sure the Information Center remains a necessary part of the organization during any downsizing that may periodically occur. The secondary markets can help create a demand through increased awareness and use of the Information Center.

Positioning relative to competition: Determine how the Information Center is positioned to compete with competitors in providing the information and services required by the users. A list of competitors and the services they provide will help you create or improve services offered by the Information Center. This will, in turn, enhance the organization’s perception of the Information Center as an Integral part of its ability to meet its business goals and objectives.

For example, if a neighboring library or a competitor provides CD-ROM printouts and searches to their users, then the Information Center should have the same or similar service too.

Product/Service: First list the services that the Information Center currently provides its users. Next, determine which services are utilized the most and are the most cost effective. Rank them from the most used and cost effective to the least. At this point you should consider discontinuing those services which are the most costly and least used in favor of newer services. Next, consideration should be given to what other services the Information Center could offer that it currently does not offer to its users.

Price: This refers to anything that relates to the cost of providing services or recovering costs by charging for the services provided to the organization. By making certain that you are using the most cost efficient services, the Information Center’s image will be enhanced.

This will also enable the Information Center to recoup some of its costs through the use of charge-back fees or by increasing the billable hours via increased patron use of the services. Therefore, a thorough examination of the costs associated with the Information Center’s services is very useful in creating a marketing plan for the Information Center.

Place: In this context, place refers to not only the physical aspects of the Information Center: how the Information Center is organized i.e. cleanliness, maps, signs, friendliness of staff , but its place in the organizational chart. Also to be considered are any methods used to disseminate information to the organization. The methods used to disseminate its information to the organization are tied to cost associated with speed of delivery. The Information Center’s goods and services fall within this area as well. Therefore, take a look at the physical plant of the Information Center. Is the collection organized for ease of retrieval? Are the directional signs adequate? Is the facility clean and orderly? Is the staff knowledgeable and helpful? Are online sources more efficient than hard copy? What can be improved?

Promotion: These are the various methods available to enhance the Information Center’s visibility within the organization. For example: additional training for Information Center personnel on how to deal with the difficult client. Training to increase staff research skills. Provide orientation tours and staff name tags. Initiate a suggestion box. Create special programs and workshops to assist clients in their searches. Make presentations before the organizations managers. All efforts should be designed to increase client awareness of the Information Center and resources.

Marketing Action Program:

Survey the population served: Find out the information needs of the organization. (1) Conduct an "information audit of clients and potential clients. This can be done using multiple methods: questionnaires, telephone surveys, one-on-one interviews, group interviews etc. (2) Determine what competition the Information Center has for its user’s attention. (3) See what services, resources, and staff members are perceived favorably or not favorably. (4) What services would the users like to see but that are not provided by the Information Center? (5) Do patrons realize a saving in time and or money by using the Information Center? (6) What types of document delivery do the users prefer?

Select Marketing Action Tools: The population survey will suggest what types of marketing action tools to use first. Use those tools that will bring the greatest amount of positive user perceptions of the Information Center to the organizations movers and shakers. Here are some of the most commonly used marketing action tools. (1) Brochures: these should be short and to the point. They should cover such key services as resources, the Information Center’s mission statement and the qualifications of the Information Center’s staff. (2) Special mailings: these are sent to specific targeted members of the organization and because they are targeted they are more cost effective than a general mailing. (3) Routine mailings: These are reminders to the users in the organizations of the existence of the Information Center. (4) Promotional presentations: they can include presentations at staff meetings, employee orientations, and open houses designed to get-out the Information Center’s messages to the users on services. (5) Product packaging: The packaging should be easily recognizable as something from the Information Center. You can easily do this through the use of stamps, a cover page, a special folder etc. Try to make the package look as professional as possible. (6) Follow-ups after delivering a project to a patron: This activity while seemingly minor is still very important. It shows that the Information center is interested in meeting the user’s requests. It can also be used to gather more information on quality of the service. (7) Annual reports: these can be used to communicate the value of the Information Center to the upper levels of the organization’s management. It is an opportunity to let the management see just what contributions and successes have been made by the Information Center. (8) Internet and Web Pages: This is a great tool to use as it demonstrates that the Information Center is a part of the information revolution. It also provides a low-cost way for you to advertise the Information Center’s services. (9) Committee Participation: By participating on various committees and teams you can let people know just what an information professional can do for them. Once they understand what an information professional can do for their team or committee, others will ask for your services too.

This can lead to an increase in demand for the Information Centers services and you will learn more about the organization too.

Cost Analysis: At this point you should determine if the cost of the product or service being offered is worth the investment in staff time, money, and materials to offer the service/product. You should consider the direct and indirect costs needed to provide the service. Questions that should be asked include: What does the client need? Is the client receiving what is really needed ? What is the value of the service to the client? Is there a way to make the product more cost effective? Additionally, the cost of any service the Information Center is going to provide should be examined relative to the overall benefit the Information Center services provide the organization.

Evaluation and Review: This effort monitors the progress of goals and also measures the marketing performance against established criteria. Review dates should be in the marketing plan. A critical part of the evaluation and review process is the Marketing Audit. An examination of the previous internal and external analyses of the organization would be the place to begin and give you a base from which to evaluate the success or failure of your marketing program.

Marketing Audit:

A marketing audit is an examination and evaluation of the Information Center’s activities that include its needs and capabilities. Planning and scheduling the data collection must be organized. Determining the methods and forms for collection data are nest. Data can be gathered for the evaluation through the use of various tools designed for this exercise. User surveys are frequently used. Tally sheets to determine usage of the facility. Questionnaires are useful for user feedback or one may determine the population(organization population)and track an In-Information Center use per capita.

Training of the staff for data collection is necessary. Last, one must analyze and report the data. A review or marketing audit should occur roughly every two years. The person who is to conduct this audit should be some neutral party from another part of the organization. This person can then examine the Information Center’s marketing performance and make suggestions on possible improvements. The audit should provide a thorough examination of all essential aspects of the program. It should reveal areas of success as well as determine efforts that did not meet expectations and goals. The object of the analysis is to provide information to develop better marketing strategies for the Information Center. A marketing audit should also examine the four P’s of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. Were the goals and objectives of those essential elements met? Were the goals and objectives of the Information Center met?

It should be noted that this is an ongoing process and should be considered for the life of the Information Center.

Bibliography Balas, Janet L. "Using the Web to Market the Library." Computers in Libraries Sept. 1998, v18, n8, n46,

Brown, Susan A. "Marketing the Corporate Information Center for Success" Online July – August 1997 v21, n4, p74.

Bushing, Mary C. "The Library’s Product and Excellence.(Marketing of Library and Information Sources)" Library Trends, Winter 1995 v43, n3, p387.

Carpenter, Beth. "Your Attention, Please! Marketing Today’s Libraries." Computers in Libraries. Sept 1998, v18, n8, p62.

Cohen, William A. The Marketing Plan. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1995.

Dean, Sharon. Winning Marketing Techniques: An Introduction to Marketing for Information Professionals: A Self-study program. Washington, DC: Special Libraries Association, 1990.

Kotler, Philip. Marketing Management, Analysis, Planning, and Control. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. 1980.

Kotler, Philip and Alan R. Andreasen. Strategic Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations. New Jersey. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 3^rd ed., 1987.

Muir, Robert F. "Marketing Your Library or Information Service to Business." Online. July 1993 v 17, n4, p41.

Tenney, H. Baird, et al. Marketing and Libraries: A Handbook for Libraries and Information Centers Do Mix. Cleveland Heights, OH: The State Library of Ohio, 1993.

Weingand, Darlene E. Future Driven Library Marketing. Chicago: ALA, 1998.

Whitwell, Stuart C. A. "Redeeming Value (Need for Libraries to Adopt a Marketing Approach)" ALA, 1995.

Wilson, Charlotte and Roger Strouse. Marketing Tips for Information Professionals: A Practical Workbook. Lexis-Nexis Information Center, 1996.

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