Issue 21 Spring 1996 Publishing and Marketing Campaigns Putting Good Ideas into Practice Sally Gritten	Collections under which this       article appears:       Management Related Articles or Resources

This article is based upon a paper given at the Youth Libraries Group Weekend School 'Selling Yourself and Your Services: Marketing and Sales in the Library Context', held in September 1995 at the University of Ripon and St. John, York.

Yesterday, eminent professional librarians spoke about marketing in a personal and stimulating way, and, indeed, the execution of marketing activity is exciting. But I firmly believe that marketing is a structured discipline that is based on a theoretical framework. In order to be a good marketer, one must take some note of that framework. It is the knowledge of the theory that leads to decisions which are relevant and impactful.

There was a great deal of comment about Martyn Kempson's suggestion that in order to foster public relations the press officer should be taken to lunch. The basis for Martyn's statement is sound, and is one of the basic tenents underlying a Public Relations strategy. What theory can provide is a framework. How one develops a relationship with a press officer is a matter of execution and can be as individual as each person in this room.

Today I am going to tell you about the latest, and I think, most exciting marketing theory currently being developed. I ask you to listen, think and discuss the theory with your colleagues. Use it to help you make personal decisions about your own goals within the limits of your own resources.

Before I begin, I must say a word about jargon. You will hear me use jargon and I do so purposefully. The language of any discipline is integral to communication and practice. Sailors use port and starboard when left and right would do. But in their arena, using jargon focuses the mind to the task at hand. I believe the same is true when discussing any discipline.

The following quotation from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland always reminds me that all things can change: "Cheshire Puss," she (Alice) began ... "would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends on where you want to get to," said the cat. But before the changes take place, before the decisions are made, it is imperative to be clear and concise about the goal one hopes to reach through the activity.

When I accepted the opportunity to speak to this group, I was the Children's Marketing Director for Penguin. When I knew that I was leaving Penguin I told Christina Dyer, the Chair of Youth Libraries Group, that I would withdraw if she wanted someone currently employed in publishing. Happily, Christina asked me to speak, so here I am speaking from a slightly altered point of view.

David Packard maintains that "Marketing is far too important to be left to the marketing department". You probably do not define yourselves as marketers. You are professional librarians. But I put it to you that any business or service that segregates marketing from the main core of the business is headed in the wrong direction. I don't mean marketing of the 1970s and 1980s when the whole business was great design, clever messages, flashy ads and "power lunches". I mean marketing of the 1990s and beyond which has direct accountability to the bottom line, and any and all marketing activity is used to grow and enhance the business. Activity which seeks to create a dialogue rather than a monologue with the consumer, activity that crosses the line between services and products and any activity that uses the available technology rather than be used by it. In short, all activities that allow an organisation to own the market. In a short while I will explain what I mean by 'owning' a market. The name of this new form of marketing is 'relationship marketing'.

My session today is entitled "Publishing and Marketing Campaigns ... Putting Good Ideas into Practice". But to talk about that is to talk about the past. Today we must talk about the future, and I believe the future is called relationship marketing which involves everyone and exploits the latest technology available.

So, what does all of this mean to the library profession? First, it is important for professionals to start thinking about the theory and models which influence the effectiveness of their work. All too often we become bogged down in the day to day problems that surround us. Strategically thinking about the future may be the only way to break out of the hold in which daily details hold us prisoner.

Secondly, you came to hear a talk about putting good ideas into practice. Perhaps the practices I will outline are not those of dump bins and mobiles. But I hope that the introduction of new practices will ignite enough interest for you to explore ways which you can continue to put into practice in your professional arena effective marketing. In traditional marketing practice, the goal was the attraction of new customers. Thus, publishers spent vast amounts of money on advertising, promotion and publicity. However, relationship marketing extends the role of marketing to include three complimentary perspectives:

• the nature of the way companies view their customers is changing. Emphasis is moving from a transaction focus to a relationship focus with the aim of long-term customer retention;
• the definition of 'the market' is becoming broader. In addition to customer markets the organisation must be concerned with other relationships including suppliers, recruitment, influence and internal markets;
• quality, customer service and marketing activities need to be brought together. A relationship marketing orientation focuses on bringing these three elements into closer alignment to ensure their potential is released.

Now let us agree on the make-up of the various markets in which organisations operate. Just who is your market? Customers, most certainly. But as I stated earlier, the concept of the market must be much broader, and relationship marketing can be used to influence all of these markets.

Let us look at the market from six different perspectives.

1. The customer. This is not as straightforward as it appears. Who is the customer for children's library service? The parents? Teachers? The children themselves? The answer is, of course, all of these groups at different times for different reasons. What about the issue of new versus existing customers?
2. Influence Markets. The Library Association obviously already understands the power of this market. Library Week and the many activities to engage and influence government are examples of this type of marketing.
3. Referral Markets. Perhaps the most potent marketing relationship of all. Good word of mouth is what creates block busting novels and billion pound cinema revenues. Good referrals from existing customers work not only to expand the customer base but also to reinforce the relationship which already exists.
4. Supplier Markets. The greatest about face must take place in this market. A breakdown of the adversarial positions between suppliers and customers will revolutionise publishing. This includes the relationships between publishers and library suppliers as well as library suppliers and libraries.
5. Internal Markets. How organisations relate to each other internally is critical in creating the kind of quality and customer service that continues to the customers. This embraces not only the professional librarian, but also every function which enables the library to operate.
6. Recruitment Markets. Often overlooked, the future of the business will depend to a large degree on the quality of the new people entering the field. It is no accident when high quality recruits enter specific fields. The organisations in those fields are putting resources toward influencing decisions.

At this juncture, an activity was offered to delegates which the reader may care to undertake.

Figure 1: Present and desired emphasis on Relationship Markets

Using the diagram in Figure 1, mark on the scales from 1 to 10, (10 being the highest rating), how you rate the emphasis given to these markets in your own working environment at present. Join the marks together to demonstrate where you are now. The aim of this activity is to help individuals focus on the reality of their library's attitude to marketing and to encourage them to rethink their position with respect to each market.

I have already touched on transactional or traditional marketing. When one compares this with the relationship marketing model, the differences become obvious. These are demonstrated in Figure 2.

So, what does all of this mean in terms of books. What can be the result of successful relationship marketing?

Who decides what books come into the market. Writers? Publishers? Retailers? Libraries? Schools? Consumers? The answer should be all of the above, but far too often this is not the case.

It is even more problematic when one asks, "Who decides that a particular book should go out of print?" We all know books that are wonderfully written that disappear.

But the answer to both questions is really the same - market forces, and whoever delivers the market has the power over the business. Until now, marketing was the function at the end of the production chain. What I mean here is that in most publishers, books are commissioned, written, printed, packaged and then given to the marketing department to help sell. If publishers' own marketing departments are at the end of the chain, where does that put libraries, let alone customers? But with relationship marketing the current order of events, which is totally out of synch with the way today's markets, work and what can determine success or failure for products and services will change. What is missing from the old model is the element of time.

Perhaps there was an age where goods and services entered the market and the manufacturer, distributor and customer had time to develop the awareness of the product and time to let the product slowly gain acceptance. If this was ever true, it is absolutely not true any longer. Consumers are bombarded by messages about goods and services, and books are competing with hundreds of other choices for the attention of the consumer.

But if the "time to acceptance" can be accelerated, the goods and services have a much better chance of performing well in the market quickly, thereby guaranteeing a place amongst the competition.

How, you ask? The answer is to involve potential customers early in the development process. And the way to do that is technology. The space where companies and consumers interact is no longer fixed and distinct. As a result of technology, the relationship between consumers and goods and services has become a two way process that can start early and continue through the life of the consumer. It is this technology, combined with the model of relationship marketing that has shifted the emphasis of marketing from a monologue to a dialogue.

"Marketing and innovation produce results ... Everything else produces costs ..." (Drucker).

Here is an example of how the new technology allows a company to respond to customers by creating a service experience for them. This company has gone beyond the monologue approach of customer service to create a true dialogue.

Levi Strauss has begun marketing a made-to-order service for customising women's jeans in certain North American locations. Sales clerks measure customers and feed the data into a computer-aided design information system. They let the customer try on sample jeans in the store to perfect the fit and they feed additional data into the system. The system forwards the information to a computerised fabric cutting machine at the factory and the jeans are made to order. The custom jeans cost only about $10.00 more than the mass-produced product. Levi Strauss could then use this system to broaden its dialogue with its customers. Buyers can order new jeans over the phone. Levi can send these customers information about new products and services. As the dialogue grows the benefits for both the consumer and the manufacturer grow as well.

In a time of exploding choice, the idea of customer loyalty is coming to an end. Organisations which offer goods and services that find a way to integrate the customer into the process, then build and sustain a relationship with that customer will have a large enough base to gain a competitive edge.

The ultimate assignment of relationship marketing is to serve customers' real needs. The goal of marketing is to own the market, not simply to sell the product. Smart marketing means defining what whole pie is yours. It means thinking about what you do in a fresh way that begins by defining what you lead. In marketing, what you lead you own.

Owning a market is an upward spiral. When you own the market you become the dominant force in the field. Ultimately, you deepen the relationships with your customers, suppliers, influencers, etc as they attribute more and more leadership and expertise to you.

Two examples come immediately to mind. Dorling Kindersly defined the non-fiction market. They did not go after a piece of the market. They created a product that owned the whole of the market. They created a product that owned the whole pie. In the service business, First Direct is on their way to doing the same thing in their sector. Who owns the delivery of books to the public? I believe that that was once the glory of the library system. Now the field is wide open.

So how does an organisation own a market? The first step is to think of a new way to define the market. You must ask yourself what business are you in? I just asked who owned the public book delivery service? If one thinks of libraries in that way, is it useful? Too broad? Too narrow? It is important because getting it wrong can negatively influence many future decisions.

The great example of one industry that got it wrong was the American railroads of the early 20th century. In the 19th century, the railroads owned America. They were the leading consumer of steel and lumber and labour. By the early 20th century they were bankrupt. Why? They defined themselves as being in the railroad business. How differently might they have developed if they defined themselves as being in the business of transportation, if they were prepared to use their resources to respond to consumers desires to travel by car and then by air?

We are witnessing the obsolescence of mass untargetted advertising. Why? For one thing, ad overkill has started to ricochet back on the ads themselves. The proliferation of products has yielded a proliferation of messages. However, the greater number of voices translates into smaller impact on the consumer. There is no greater example of this phenomena than publishing. Customers are unable to remember which ad pitches what product, let alone remember specific attributes or qualities. Who in this room can remember an ad in the book pages of last Sunday's newspapers?

Secondly, as ads proliferate and become more obnoxious, consumers become fed up. The more advertising seeks to intrude, the more consumers try to shut it out.

Finally, ads serve no useful purpose. Today, marketing requires feedback loops and advertising is the giant of monologue marketing with no capability for adaptability, flexibility or responsiveness.

This means that huge advertising budgets which once gave certain goods and services the competitive advantage, will no longer hold the power to do so. It is the new technology which uses feedback and connects the customer to the organisation which will define a marketing driven company, not awards for big production advertising. Those organisations that can adapt in a timely way to the changing needs of the customer gain the business.

Take for example Apple computers. When Apple entered the market they went head to head against the giant IBM. However, Apple focussed on home computers and by using relationship marketing, for example, free phone numbers, questionnaires, follow up service calls, Apple became the market leader. And they never used advertising.

Another important concept in relationship marketing is to understand that the line between products and services is fast eroding. Take Boots, for example. The stores stock thousands of products. The products are all for sale, but the store itself is actually marketing a service; the convenience of having so much variety in one location.

And service providers are creating tangible events, repetitive and predictable exercises, which can be seen as products. When you offer regular story telling sessions, your service is providing a product.

What consumers want is qualitative and tangible. It is the service that is integrated to the product. Service is not an event, however, it is the process of creating a customer environment of information, assurance and comfort. Marketers (or librarians for that matter) who focus on the importance of the product service hybrid focus on building loyal customer relationships.

Twenty years ago, the implementation of these principles would have been so costly and cumbersome as to make the very idea of relationship marketing impossible. But now marketing and technology have begun to fuse. The result is reshaping the entire discipline of marketing. Technology permits the information to flow in both directions between the consumer and the organisation. It creates a feedback loop that integrates the customer into the organisation, allows an organisation to own a market, permits customisation, creates a dialogue and turns a product into a service and a service into a product.

So what do you need to do? Start with three things. First, replace the monologue mentality with a willingness to give consumers access to the organisation and to view their actions and feedback as integral to developing and/or creating performance. Secondly, focus on customer satisfaction, provide the support, help, guidance and information necessary to win customer loyalty. Finally, be willing to learn how the information technology is changing both customer behaviour and marketing, and to think in new ways about the role of marketing in the organisation.

There was an American designer named Buckminster Fuller who sought to express the technology and needs of modern life in buildings and enclosures of space. He designed lightweight prefab enclosures called geodesic domes. You may have seen one of these if you have ever visited the Epcot Centre in Florida or one of the Centre Parks resorts. Buckminster Fuller once told the scientific community , "Don't fight forces, use them!".

I suggest that books and the market in which they exist is in a state of flux. The organisations who define themselves as marketing led and use the technology rather than oppose it will own the market. The organisations that deliver the customers will own the market. The organisations that communicate to and from the consumer in a dialogue will own the market. Why this ownership should rest with anyone other than the libraries is the question which can only be answered by yourselves.

Sally Gritten is the former Children's Marketing Director, Penguin Children's Books