Marketing and health Libraries

Marketing and health libraries Aim: To present an overview of the concepts of marketing and to examine ways in which they can be applied to health libraries. Method: A review was carried out of literature relating to health libraries using LISA, CINAHL, BNI and Google. Results: Marketing is seen as a strategic management activity aimed at developing customer relationships. Concepts such as the “4 Ps”, marketing plans, the marketing mix, segmentation, promotion and evaluation are identified and discussed in relation to health libraries. Conclusion: In increasingly complex health service and information environments the marketing and promotion of library services is becoming more important if those services are to justify the resources given to them. Marketing techniques are equally applicable to physical and digital library services. Marketing and health Libraries M. Wakeham 2 Key points on Policy • Marketing is a long-term strategy. • Health libraries need marketing plans, which derive from the missions and marketing strategies of the organisations to which they belong. Implications for Practice • The customer / user / reader is central to all marketing and promotional activity. • Every library transaction ‘markets ’ the library. • Marketing is as much to do with building long-term relationships as individual transactions. • Marketing is the public representation of other management activities, such as development and training, performance management, benchmarking and accreditation. • Marketing and promotional activities can be carried out locally or shared across library services