Marketing Services and Resources in Information Organizations

Zhixian George Yi

• Publisher: Chandos Publishing
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9780081007983
• eBook ISBN: 9780081008140
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

With the rapid development of information and communication technology and increasingly intense competition with other organizations, information organizations face a pressing need to market their unique services and resources and reach their user bases in the digital age. Marketing Services and Resources in Information Organizations explores a variety of important and useful topics in information organisations based on the author's marketing courses and his empirical studies on Australian academic librarians' perceptions of marketing services and resources. This book provides an introduction to marketing, the marketing process, and marketing concepts, research, mix and branding, and much more. Readers will learn strategic marketing planning, implementation, and evaluation, effective techniques for promoting services and resources, and effective social media and Web 2.0 tools used to promote services and resources.Marketing Services and Resources in Information Organizations is survey-based, theoretical and practical. The advanced statistical techniques used in this book distinguish the findings from other survey research products in the marketing field, and will be useful to practitioners when they consider their own marketing strategies. This book provides administrators, practitioners, instructors, and students at all levels with effective marketing techniques, approaches, and strategies as it looks at marketing from multiple perspectives.Dr. Zhixian (George) Yi is a Leadership Specialization Coordinator and Ph.D. supervisor in the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He received a doctorate in information and library sciences and a PhD minor in educational leadership from Texas Woman's University, and he was awarded his master's degree in information science from Southern Connecticut State University. In 2009, he was awarded the Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from Beta Phi Mu, the International Library and Information Studies Honor Society. He was selected for inclusion into Who's Who in America in 2010.- Examines effective marketing techniques, approaches and strategies- Studies marketing from multiple perspectives- Empirical-based, theoretical, and practical- Systematic and comprehensive

Chapter One

Introduction to Marketing

Abstract

This chapter introduces the marketing. It starts by examining the definitions of marketing based on the data analysis. It then explores the importance of marketing in information organizations, the market environments, and the marketing process. The key marketing concepts including social marketing, relationship marketing, digital marketing, and social media marketing are explained. By the end of the chapter, the key points of this chapter are summarized and the references are provided.

Keywords

Marketing; information organizations; marketing challenges; definition of marketing; importance of marketing; market environment; the external environment; the internal environment; PEST analysis; SWOT analysis; the marketing process; marketing concepts; social marketing; relationship marketing; digital marketing; social media marketing; correlation analysis

With the rapid developments of computer technologies and information and communication technologies, information organizations are facing constant changes and numerous challenges such as the rapid growth of materials, increased user expectations, rising costs, budget cuts, networking demands, competition by database vendors, and complexity in information requirements and demands (Yi, 2014). Currently, the information organizations’ operations, services, and resources are greatly affected by mobile applications, “cloud computing, augmented and virtual reality, discovery tools, open content, open source software, and new social networking tools” (ACRL Research Planning & Review Committee, 2010, p. 287; Yi, 2014).

New and evolving technologies especially Web 2.0 and Web 3. 0, are being applied in a variety of areas in modern society, and there is no doubt that an information organization will be one of the first organizations using these new technologies (Yi, 2014). At present, there is an increase in the creation and publication of nonprint materials, with online and electronic materials becoming more common and digitization in information organizations is a new trend (Yi, 2014). Information and communication technologies, especially Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, have offered people more choices to have access to information (Yi, 2014).

In the information age, the ease of information and the variety of information providers have taken away information organizations’ traditional monopoly on information services and resources. Information organizations are not-for-profit organizations and must compete in the areas of service and resource delivery while having competition from other information services’ providers and the volume of information available through the World Wide Web. While information organizations do not make profits from their services and resources, those services and resources are still paid for and as a result, information organizations need to obtain positive returns on those investments. In order to achieve this, information professionals need to most effectively market those services and resources to the right users at the right time. This is where marketing can assist information organizations in competing effectively in the new information marketplace.

In today’s marketplace, information organizations can no longer simply assume that users are aware of services and resources by themselves and information sharing is enough. With so many competitors within supplier markets, it is important that information professionals remain at the forefront of identifying and meeting the needs of users in order to remain relevant. For information organizations to keep competitive in the current climate, it is vital that information professionals understand and use marketing strategies to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Marketing can provide information organizations with directions and the tools necessary to make users aware of what information organizations offer them. Where the focus is on user satisfaction and welfare, understanding marketing, importance of marketing in information organizations, internal and external environments and key marketing concepts helps to establish, maintain and enhance relationships so that the needs and demands of users are continually being met.

1.1 What is Marketing?

Information organizations face constant changes, numerous challenges, intense competitions, and high expectations of accountability and their survival relies on their abilities to sustain and prove their relevancy and value, for which marketing is an essential tool (Harrison & Shaw, 2004, p. 397; Kassel, 1999, p. 1). To appreciate the relevance of a marketing focus in an information organization, one must first understand what marketing is.

In the search to define what marketing actually is, it appears that there are a wide variety of definitions. However, most definitions focus on the profit making side of marketing. As formal definitions of marketing have generally been based on profitable aspects of an exchange, there is a focus on the product rather than the customer. The literature indicates that formal definitions of marketing remain somewhat lacking for non-profit organizations and a modified definition is warranted to encompass the added complexities of the service industry (Grönroos, 1997; Potter, 2012; Rowley, 2003; Wilkie & Moore, 2007).

The origins of marketing grew from industrial mass production of goods, which in turn generated marketing techniques with the aim of connecting customer and product (Welch, 2006, p. 9). As a result, marketing has developed in an evolutionary manner and “there is no single, universally agreed definition” (Lancaster & Massingham, 2011, p. 2).

Marketing can be used by both for-profit and non-profit organizations to achieve corporate or strategic objectives (Garoufallou, Siatri, Zafeiriou, & Balampanidou, 2013, p.313). Marketing is the effective management of the organization’s exchange relations with its various publics (Kotler, 1972, p. 12 and 1982, p. 27, as cited in Garoufallou, Siatri, Zafeiriou & Bala...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Biography
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter One. Introduction to Marketing
• Chapter Two. Market Research
• Chapter Three. Techniques for Identifying Users’ Needs and Wants
• Chapter Four. Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
• Chapter Five. The Marketing Mix and Branding
• Chapter Six. Strategic Marketing Planning
• Chapter Seven. Marketing Implementation and Evaluation
• Chapter Eight. Techniques for Promoting Services and Resources
• Chapter Nine. Techniques for Marketing Electronic Resources
• Chapter Ten. Social Media Marketing
• Chapter Eleven. The Future of Marketing Services and Resources
• Glossary
• Index