There is no single definition of an electronic library. It can be viewed as an integrated auto-mated library system, it may be a library where online access to local or remote bibliographic data-bases is provided, it might be one where extensive computerization is used (e.g. to download references, reformat and index them and push them out to users over an electronic bulletin board or as electronic SDIs sent to personal mailboxes over a local area network. It could even be provision of reference books, encyclopaedias, directories and the like on CD-ROM. It is clear though that the library contents -- whether references or fulltext -- are stored in machine-readable (electronic, digital, optical, however it is called) form and access to them is via computer terminal.

Such library contents, such information, can be viewed as a salable commodity. Information exists in a variety of forms (printed, microfiche, online, CD-ROM). If it is in machine-readable form, stored in a computer, located a long way away, references to documents a library might not have in its collection -- then it won't be so easy to sell since information is not always tangible and it is therefore often difficult to assign a value to it, nor is it always in demand. And it takes time to convince people of the need for information and the benefits they will gain from it in the long term. Furthermore people expect information to be free. So perhaps it's not the information per se you try to market in the first place, but rather the service behind it, the provision of it, the benefits of it. You need to see how your information product or service can fit in with the customer's existing information need and can support it, streamline or replace it.

There are, of course, all sorts of reasons why you might want to promote the sources and use of information not only within your own organization but also outside it. It could be to prove to management that the library or information center is indispensable and not only worth keeping but also even worth investing in. It may be to justify the money spent on it -- by offering good infor-mation services you might retain influence and actually get an increase in the library budget. It might be to compete with other departments (computer, public relations, publishing) for funds. A good library and information service can be a fringe benefit for the company in attracting high calibre staff; it can be a prestige department; it can bring income into the organization as a whole. It might be that the library environment or management attitudes have changed and the library now has to be self-supporting -- thus releasing the funds spent on it for use elsewhere in the organiza-tion. Maybe not much use is currently made of the library with newcomers not knowing about its services. Increased competition for the company might have resulted in the value of information being recognized and thus the library has to become more pro-active rather than re-active and anti-cipate demand. Information is a valuable commodity. It can benefit a company and the timely and efficient provision of all manner of information products (e.g. translations, literature scanning, product news, trade news etc) can ultimately benefit the library as well as the parent company.

Of course, information marketing will not just be carried out in-house, nor will information be the sole product or service. Every company selling information products or proving informa-tion services -- software packages, online databases, CD-ROMs, directories, abstract journals, abstracting and indexing services, database design and creation services, search services, docu-ment delivery, library system hardware etc etc -- will need to find customers and promote, market and deliver their products to them. There is often confusion between marketing and selling. Selling implies persuasion to change and focuses on the needs of the buyer. Marketing on the other hand focuses on the needs of the seller. The essence of marketing is designing products or services for the requirements of identifiable groups. Its end objective is the acquirement of improved "sales" performance (e.g. increased use of an online system, more CD-ROM sold, new upgrade of ILS) through greater satisfaction of the customer's needs. Marketing is not just selling although it does encompass the activity, but it does so along with other activities such as promo-tion, advertising, distribution, service, pricing, product performance, quality, product design and capabilities, costs, delivery and back-up etc.

2. THE MARKETING PROCESS

Marketing has been defined, described or explained in many diverse ways. Most definitions are, however, simply variations of one basic premise, i.e. that marketing is concerned with meet-ing and satisfying peoples' needs. This process or function comprises several tasks which are described below.

2.1. Defining the Customer and His Needs

People -- the potential or target customers and users -- all have various needs which stem from certain environments or conditions. These needs may be social, economic, cultural, environmental, physical, educational, technological and others. Some have a greater priority to be satisfied than others -- for instance, for some people it is the basic need for food and shelter, for others it might be the need for another online search.

2.2. Creating Products or Services to Meet Needs

Once a suitable market niche or requirement has been identified a product or service may need to be created or modified to fill it. This involves also evaluating the product or service as to its suitability, usability, quality, value, competitiveness, and price, cost and profitability. Normally the product or service will be market tested before it is launched and modified as necessary.

2.3. Persuading Customers to Buy or Use Products

Persuading the customer to buy or use a product or service is, in fact, a total communication process. This will include the organization and activities of any sales force -- for example, territory assignment, assessment of key accounts, the level of salesmanship required, selling techniques -- as well as the necessary advertising and promotion of the product to present the desired image.

2.4. Delivering Products to the Customer

It is not enough just to create a product or service -- it must be made available to the customer as conveniently as possible. There are various methods of product distribution -- for example, by putting it on the shelves in shops, selling by mail-order, by door-to-door salesmen etc. In all cases, there will be a need to consider the packaging of the product, stock holding and stock control, distribution channels, as well as the associated costs.

2.5. After Sales Service and Customer Support

Various forms of after sales service can be envisaged: There will be a need in some cases for installation (e.g. perhaps with new software or with an automated library system); there will be a need for assistance with training and working methods; there will be a need for customer support services to assist when things go wrong or do not work the way they should. Careful attention to continued after sales service will often lead to brand or company loyalty by the customer and thus pay off in repeat or upgraded orders.

3. FIRST PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

A number of distinct marketing tasks have been identified which can be equally well applied both inside and outside an organization. For each task there is a given characteristic and a given strategy for handling it. One such task -- conversional marketing -- has as its characteristic an aversion to a given product or service, for instance reluctant readers or fear of computers or perhaps management has no idea about what a library is and does. The strategy for overcoming the aversion or refocusing attention might be to obtain special books, run computer training courses, provide more management information. Where there is a lack of demand for or indif-ference to a product (e.g. for computerized searches or CD-ROM reference tools) then stimulation marketing comes in to play. Demand can be created or stimulated by publicity, free searches or demonstrations. If the demand is more latent (e.g. people say they have no need of a CD-ROM service), then the strategy is to develop and stimulate the demand -- by publicity, displays, and by emphasizing the benefits.

If there is a decreasing demand for a product (e.g. the number of online searches declines) then the demand needs to be revitalized. Strategies might be to provide more online databases from different hosts, publicize selected databases, have longer opening hours, let users do searches themselves, provide more terminals and so on. At times there will be a fluctuating demand, e.g. online searches only required when a new project starts up. What is required in this instance is some strategy to spread out and stabilize the demand -- for example, the provision of an SDI service. If the demand is steady (e.g. for current journals), then clearly it needs to be. On the other hand, if there is an excess demand, then it may be necessary to reduce it by the task of demarketing. For example, there might be so many people waiting to use a particular CD-ROM that it takes a great deal of time for people to be able to search. Strategies here might be to charge for using it or make it available only for certain hours a day or only allow faculty rather than students to use it. On the other hand you could try to meet the demand by providing another CD-ROM player and a second copy of the disk or networking it.

To market the electronic library you must first ask some very basic questions:

Market research is thus a fact finding activity which is valuable for long-term strategic plan-ning and suitable for medium-term product planning and pinpointing market segments in given geographical areas. Marketing research takes into account technological, economic, social, ethical and cultural changes -- for instance, the speed of technological change (e.g. increased computer awareness); shifts in the economy (e.g. interest rates, spending power, income distribution, taxes); changes in social status (e.g. for women in many areas); disappearance of class structures; new ethical values (e.g. ecological, conservation); emergence of new groups (e.g. Yuppies, single-parent families); shifts in population (e.g. birth and death trends, increasing mobility of work force) and so on.

Before marketing your information products you will need a marketing plan. A strategic marketing plan is the description of how an organization views its place in society and its industry and how it intends to relate to its environment, both now and in the future -- bearing in mind what has happened in the past. Marketing planning is thus the process of organizing all of the consider-ations and tasks required to market a product or service most effectively to the potential customer.

3.1. Setting Objectives

It is necessary to establish a clear set of objectives which concisely express what it is you are trying to achieve with your marketing effort. To be able to do this it will be necessary to have a clear idea of why the organization exists, i.e. what its purpose or mission is and what issues need to be solved in order to accomplish it. Objectives must be measurable, achievable, credible, demanding and finite. They must also take into account any constraints placed on the company or library by the market, politics, economics or the environment in which it operates.

3.2. Present Position

Before any serious marketing is attempted you must decide where you are now. Where do you stand exactly in the market place today? What are you selling? To whom? Why? How are you selling it? When? Where? This involves looking at factors both internal and external to your library or information services company. Regarding internal factors, you need to look at the capabilities and resources your company or library possesses to enable you to achieve your objectives, the products or services offered, as well as factors which have inhibited growth in the past and which may constrain growth in the future. As well as looking at the internal aspects, you have to also consider and examine the external environment and how it does or will affect you. External aspects include the market place; consumer needs and behavior; the competition; and the trends and issues.

Such an appraisal is often called a SWOT analysis -- Strengths and Weaknesses (internal aspects), Opportunities and Threats (external aspects). Sometimes this SWOT analysis is conducted before the objectives are defined -- although it is a little like the chicken and the egg situation. The information required for such an appraisal can be found out by market research --

by writing to competitors, visiting them as well as potential clients.

3.3. Examining Alternative Strategies

To get from where you are now (present position) to where you want to go or be (objectives) is done by selecting and carrying out a series of activities called strategies which in effect bridge the gap between the two positions. A strategy provides a framework or system of ideas to be em-ployed in attaining the objectives and it thus determines the nature, kind and direction of support activities. Possible strategies might include such alternatives as:

3.4. Products/Services

The marketing plan will also include a description of the product or product range or services which it is proposed to offer to specific user groups to satisfy their needs. This might be a new database -- available in a printed version, online or as a CD-ROM. The product or service might be an existing one which is being extended to a new group of customers or it may be an existing one which needs to be modified for or adapted to the market under consideration or even a completely new market. It might even be that a particular product or service has to be stopped or cancelled as part of the strategy because it is no longer profitable or takes up too many resources or is obsolete.

Clearly the plan has to take into account the technological development of the products or systems as well as the user. It is no good creating products that are too advanced or sophisticated for the market to use, e.g. it is no good producing a CD-ROM of national publications if there are no CD-ROM players installed in the country -- unless you are planning to offer a package deal whereby you sell (bundle) the player along with the disk. There has to be a reasonable product mix with a product line that is wide, diverse, modern and required. It is often useful to think in terms of a complete product range to maintain the interest and custom of the user. For example, if you are going to offer a retrospective search service or a small specialized online database you could consider also complementing this with a document provision service. If you are selling a microcomputer-based library system, then you consider also offering data entry or retrospective cataloguing facilities. Such a range of additional complementary services help the client make up his mind favorably about your product or service.

3.5. Pricing Policy

Any plan will give your ideas on whether you are aiming for partial or full cost recovery or whether you are going to provide the service free of charge to customers both inside and outside your organization. There are both pros and cons of charging for information.

Prices can take into account the actual costs of producing the product, competitors' prices, the going market price, the purchasing characteristics of the target market, and the value of features and benefits provided by the product to the selected market. Other aspects include whether there will be a loss leader, discounts, rebated, credit -- what will be the break-even point? Actual costs will include such items as the development costs, production and distribution costs, marketing and advertising costs as well as overheads. How will the user perceive the price? The user or buyer operates also within certain budgetary limits and will be bearing in mind not only the capital cost, but also "lost opportunity" costs caused by late delivery, poor after-sales service etc.

The pricing of products and services consists of five basic components -- the overall creation cost (which includes development and overheads); the incremental unit cost (e.g. of printing a book or mastering a CD-ROM); promotion and distribution costs; the value that has been added by the features, benefits or service; and desired profit. All these have to be recovered from sales. The vital question is how many will be sold (which has a bearing of course on how many will be made) -- this is partly dependent on the price and partly dependent on the size of the market.

There have recently been some radical changes in pricing in the online arena with ESA-IRS effectively dropping connect charges, Reuters moving to low connect hour plus display charges and Chemical Abstracts Service charging for each term used which discourages complex searches. INPADOC charges on a per search basis irrespective of length and complexity. Time series data-banks often charge on the basis of cpu consumption and then there is the upfront subscription charges -- not employed so much by bibliographic database services (except for instance by Minitel and formerly by Reuters) but being used in some cases for CD-ROMs. In pricing CD-ROMs you have to consider the high cost of producing (mastering) the disk in the first place and selling it in a marketplace that is slow to take up the technology. On the other hand, the medium does offer unlimited, virtually free, searching and this benefit must be factored in. Subscriptions are often offered cheaply at the beginning because the sellers aim for on-going yearly renewals which will realize and maximize their profits as marketing costs are reduced.

3.6. Back-up Services

If you intend to offer back-up and/or after-sales services these should be mentioned in the plan. Back-up services can embrace such things as document delivery, photocopies, microfiche provision, translations, interlibrary loans, retrospective conversion, SDIs and the like. After-sales or customer service will include things like education and training seminars, new software releases, trouble shooting, update service, equipment maintenance, and courtesy visits or calls to generally keep in touch. Such calls show the customer that you were not just interested in making a sale and then forgetting him, but instead care about whether your product works or not and whether he has any problems. Such customer attention invariably pays off when the customer is ready to renew the service or is in the market for an upgrade or new product. He will consider your company right from the start. The plan needs then to indicate the number and frequency of such visits or seminars or software releases etc.

3.7. Evaluation

Built into any marketing plan is an evaluation process the purpose of which is to provide feedback on the way things are going so that they may be modified or changed if necessary. All the various aspects and activities of the way the marketing plan is being carried out need to be evaluated over time -- whether products are being made properly, whether there are sufficient materials or resources, whether sales staff are active enough, whether customers are responding to the advertisements and sales calls or are using the product, which advertising and promotional channels are effective and which are not, where orders are coming from etc. The evaluative process enables the organization to monitor activities and costs and see whether it is getting the results it requires and is meeting the objectives it set.

4. PRODUCT CREATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Of course, you can always "create" a new product or service by changing or enhancing an old or existing one. Even slight modifications or improvements make a difference. Change the packing (the cover, label, colors, printing); change the name (IRS from SDS, Quest from Recon); or the price (ESA-IRS no longer makes an online connect charge); or the distribution medium (e.g. from print to online or CD-ROM); or the description; or the frequency; or the size; or the coverage. For example, a Swedish CD-ROM product, Termdok, which consists of a number of termino-logical dictionaries with foreign equivalent terms, for the second version, added another dictionary and changed the search software. The multilingual Harrap's CD-ROM dictionary for the second version changed the name, added a new dictionary or two and modified its user interface. These changes were essentially based on user feedback, i.e. brought about by comments and suggestions from customers and reviewers.

A product or service can be evaluated under various factors. These can include its profit-ability; range/assortment; marketing effectiveness; quality; price; cost/benefit or value; competi-tiveness; usability and function to list a few. Remember that the customer may see the product from a different point of view than your own as producer or seller. This is known as the perceived product difference -- difference means nothing unless it is recognized as such by the user or custo-mer and can affect him in some way (by being cheaper, more useful, quicker, more up-to-date for instance).

Before you extol the virtues of your product or service you must be aware of the factors influencing the customer's decision to buy and use. These factors depend on his perception of:

4.1. Organization's Reputation

An important selling point, which is equally if not more important for repeat sales, is the perception of the organization doing the producing, marketing and selling. How reliable is it? Does it provide accurate information and results with the minimum delay? Are the personnel courteous, helpful and not pushy? Do they answer correspondence and enquiries and return phone calls quickly, within a reasonable time or not at all? Do they send out incorrect invoices? How are complaints handled?

Bear in mind that if you are doing the marketing -- whether it is the promotion of some library service in-house or the production of a CD-ROM to be sold worldwide -- then these points will apply to you so you should be asking them of your own organization. Are you sufficiently compe-titive? Are your staff helpful and polite, competent and knowledgeable, capable? Is your library service or whatever well thought of and considered sympathetic to users' needs? Bear in mind that such aspects equally relate to subsidiaries and the parent organization -- any poor reputation for any department or office within an organization or group may very well rub off on your activities.

4.2. Product/Service Features and Benefits

The distinction between features and selling points is a fairly fine one. Features can be considered as the attributes the product or service possesses, while the selling points lie more in detailing what you can do with the product features. The design and appearance of the product must be seen to fulfil the customer's purpose and thus it should emphasize ease of use and effi-ciency rather than complexity and give value for money. A useful concept is that of "distinctive competence" -- i.e. emphasize things which your organization (library or information center, commercial firm, database producer or whatever) can do better than anybody else. This should be the prime selling point.

Benefits may be difficult for the seller/supplier to identify or verbalize since they depend very much on the individual, but they are often easier for the average buyer/user to understand and re-member and relate to because they are applicable only within his domain. The features of a product or service, on the other hand, are much easier to elaborate and enumerate, but they are confined to the domain of the seller and are not necessarily required by the buyer. Features are inherent qua-lities or properties of the product itself and do not differ from user to user (even though any individual user may not need them all) as do the more intangible benefits. While a user can see a feature in operation, he may not be able to grasp the benefit of it to him. Few people buy some-thing merely for their features rather than their usefulness or benefits. Many information systems and services present and focus on their technical features to the exclusion of their user or buyer benefits. A ratio of two features to ten benefits has been recommended as a guideline to marketers to ensure that marketing communications (particularly advertisements) are heavily weighted to the decision of the buyer rather than the seller. Naturally, there is still a need to know the features, but these can be given or sent to the prospective client at a later stage after interest has been piqued. They will then form part of the technical documentation and appear as a brochure or data sheet.

4.3. Product Range

Of course, it is usually not sufficient to have only one product or service. Even if you start off by offering only one, you will soon be asked if you can provide complementary services in addition. For the sake of increased business and better customer relations it is wise to have a range of products or services to offer. The range need not be too diverse or broad in scope and it should cover related or similar products rather than completely different ones. This allows more efficient use of production and distribution facilities. In the CD-ROM field, because of the differences in search languages, many customers prefer to buy products from the same family, i.e. only Silver-Platter CD-ROMs, or only DIALOG's. This is an incentive for those companies to bring out more material on CD-ROM -- although it does lead to duplication of disks.

5. COMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES

Earlier strategies to be used in getting from where you are now, to where you want to go, were mentioned -- in other words reaching the user or customer. The methods or mechanisms which will be used to communicate with actual and potential customers must be clearly defined and costed. Communication mechanisms will include advertisements, promotion, public relations, publicity and personal selling and, generally speaking, the strategies will involve the one or more or a combination of the these mechanisms.

• Advertising -- This is normally paid, non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, a

product or service by an identified sponsor with intent to persuade to buy.

• Promotion -- This is used to inform, educate, persuade and reassure the customer or user.

• Sales promotion -- This technique encourages use and stimulates purchase in the short term by a

free or conditional offer or by a demonstration at an exhibition.

• Public relations -- PR is a deliberate and planned effort to establish a positive environment in

which a company can operate by the dissemination of timely news and information.

• Publicity -- This is a non-personal stimulation of demand for or awareness about a product or

service or issue by the provision of news or information about it.

• Personal selling -- This is an oral presentation of the product or service to a prospective client,

often at his own premises, for the purpose of making a sale.

Advertising aspects should consider the preferred media, use of an agency, and the policy, approach and message. Since advertising can run away with your money remember to include a cost and expenditure statement. Promotion will cover such things as displays and demonstrations, brochures and other publicity material as as posters and flyers as well as sales promotion activities (e.g. free searches or sample diskettes or CD-ROMs) and mail shots. Public relations enhances the image of the library or information center or company and can include items like newsletters, press releases, stickers, feature articles, radio/TV slots and so on. Personal selling involves going to see the potential clients and establishing a two-way dialogue with them. Seminars and demonstrations can be arranged and, of course, taking part in exhibitions is an excellent way to meet clients.

The distinction between advertising and publicity or between publicity and public relations or between advertising, publicity and promotion is fairly vague and ill-defined, although advertising is possibly the only one that is normally paid for by the sponsor. Promotion itself may be adver-tised, e.g. on television or in a magazine, and could form part of a mail campaign.

These mechanisms enable you to communicate your message, your ideas, information about your product or service to the potential customer or user. They enable you to educate, inform and persuade him about the features and benefits of what you have to offer. Clearly such communica-tion mechanisms cover a variety of activities, techniques and tools ranging from seminars and exhibitions, through brochures, posters, mail shots and TV ads to individual demonstrations and visits.
 

6. CONCLUSION

Marketing is a complex activity with many facets. Even though information is often intan-gible and has an unknown value and cost, electronic information products -- electronic libraries -- can be marketed using the standard techniques which are applicable to any other product or service. As more electronic information products and services are created and developed then there will be a greater choice for the consumer and producers will face greater competition. Even those promoting services in-house will be affected as there will be greater exposure of hitherto captive end-users to external products and services as these are marketed more aggressively and widely. This paper has attempted to give some necessarily brief insights into marketing activities for those interested in promoting and selling their own electronic libraries.