Information marketing: seven questions
| Date | 01 February 2003 |
| Pages | 13-19 |
| Published date | 01 February 2003 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120310454476 |
| Author | Jennifer Rowley |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Information marketing:
seven questions
Jennifer Rowley
Introduction
Not long ago it was necessary to persuade
library and information professionals of the
wisdom and appropriateness of marketing.
Those with roots in public service defined
their responsibilities and role in terms of
service availability and delivery. Although
they were committed to ``users'', and it was
common to conduct user surveys that
informed the development of the service, they
were reluctant to embrace the concept of
``customers''. Marketing was regarded as an
alien commercial process, inconsistent with
the core values of public service. Successive
governments have promoted the
marketisation of public services. Public
services now compete for resources and
customers both with one another and with
private sector business organisations. Terms
like customer, brand and market offering have
claimed a central position in the rhetoric of
the public service manager. Public and
academic library managers have embraced
marketing activities and, even, to some extent
a marketing philosophy.
This article seeks to encourage information
managers to take a critical perspective on the
marketing activities that are employed in their
organisations. Such a critical perspective does
not invalidate marketing, but rather
encourages reflection on the nature of
marketing in pursuit of an enhanced
appreciation of the nature and impact of
marketing that can be used to inform policy
formulation and practice. The large majority
of the literature on the marketing of libraries
and information services is in the form of
either ``how to'' guides, or case studies of
practice in specific contexts. This needs to be
countered by an acknowledgement that there
are unanswered, and possibly unanswerable
questions relating to marketing. The
exploration in this article surfaces some of
these questions. From an academic
perspective the identification of these types of
questions aid in the development of an
understanding of the nature of information
marketing. From a practical perspective, these
questions are dynamite. They can be used to
put the over enthusiastic marketing
consultant in their place, and to critique
convincingly someone else's marketing plans.
Awareness of the questions can form the basis
of a powerful defence.
The author
Jennifer Rowley is Professor in the School of
Management and Social Sciences, Edge Hill College of
Higher Education, Ormskirk, UK.
E-mail: rowleyj@edgehill.ac.uk
Keywords
Information, Marketing, Information services,
Services marketing
Abstract
Seeks to encourage information professionals to take a
critical perspective on the nature and practice of
marketing as it relates to information-based products and
services. The following questions are explored: What is
marketing? What is information marketing? Are you
marketing or selling? When does marketing end and
service delivery begin? Is it possible to brand an
information service? Is it possible to ``make friends and
influence people'' through a screen? Does marketing have
any impact? From an academic perspective the
exploration of these questions supports the development
of an understanding of the nature of information
marketing. For practitioners, the discussion surfaces some
of the questions that marketers need to be prepared to
answer.
Electronic access
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is
available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
13
Library Management
Volume 24 .Number 1/2 .2003 .pp. 13-19
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/01435120310454476
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