Marketing matters! Because you do it (consciously or unconsciously), you talk about it in conferences, seminars, continuing professional programmes for better functioning of your library and also you preach for it for others to employ for safe future. But there are not many good examples of marketing; the reason is that we do not do it by heart. Our heart beats for acquiring books we consider those useful for prospective users, processing these professionally and employing technologies.
Do you agree that marketing matters to you, your library, your institution, your profession. When I stand for speaking on any meeting or conference, I represent many things myself, my institution, my association, my network, even my place. If I am successful in my presentation I market all of these. So the first thing about marketing in libraries is that when you talk, do, preach do it by heart.
You can see lot of changes over the last decades, may not be historic, but there has been a positive move in the moods of librarians about the marketing. There is generally consensus over this aspect; disagreement exists about its meaning, its scope, its relationship with advertising, public relations, promotion, advocacy, etc.
What marketing is all about? There are many-many definitions of marketing, if you go through ten definitions you would get eleven, meaning thereby one definition of your own. So do that: have your own definition of marketing, because it is always better to define a concept in your own terms as you are going to apply marketing in your own, which may not necessary be similar to the other library and the success in modern times rests with distinctiveness and not on copying what others do. Do not become rigid about your definition of marketing, keep open mind to change in it if you find something to be added or deleted with the passes of time. It gives you flexibility to adjust yourself in the situations whatever you face, today or tomorrow.
