For this online learning journal blog post, I will focus my draft marketing strategy on my organisation – a primary school library. My first consideration for this draft plan is my target audience. Who are they, and what are their needs? Mon and Koontz (2020), alongside Potter (2012), highlight the importance of knowing your audience as you are trying to provide a service that essentially helps them do what they are doing, just better and more efficiently.
Once my target audience is set, I will assess and decide upon my goals for implementing a social media presence within my primary school library. Potter (2012) emphasises the importance of communicating clear goals to all stakeholders so that each person involved is on the same page. By doing so, I hope that the rationale for my marketing strategy is clear and stakeholders are on board.
Once the target audience is set, and goals are decided upon, I would conduct market research to inform my planning and resourcing (Potter, 2012; Ihejirika et al., 2021). By doing so, I would hope to ensure my goals are achievable and realistic. Otherwise, I would revisit those goals and adjust accordingly.
Once my marketing strategy has been implemented, I would look at various ways to measure and evaluate success with all stakeholders. Liew (2021) highlights the importance of this evaluation as it drives the need to modify the marketing strategy.
In summary, considering the research mentioned, I would follow several steps when drafting a marketing strategy for my primary school organisation. This process would involve identifying the target audience, deciding upon goals, conducting research, activating the strategy, monitoring and evaulting the strategy’s success, and modifying it if need be.
References
Ihejirika, K. T., Goulding, A. & Calvert, P. (2021). Rethinking academic library use of social media for marketing: Management strategies for sustainable user engagement. Journal of Library Administration, 61(1), 58-85.
Mon, L. & Koontz, C. (2020). Chapter 2: Marketing and mission, goals, and objectives. In L. Mon and C. Koontz (Eds.), Marketing and social media: A guide for libraries, archives, and museums (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Potter, N. (2012). The library marketing toolkit. Facet.