Marketing and the political environment - Marketing of Library and Information Services

Use humor but with care. Legitimate humor may generally address achieved characteristics (such as pomposity), but must never be directed at ascribed characteristics (such as race or physical disability). Your own shortcomings, or those of the group you represent, are usually a fair target for your humor. Lacking either the talent or the urge to be witty, at least smile.

Always remember that every word has an emotional component in its meaning. Fillet of sole, sauteed to a delicate golden brown, is nothing more than a piece of dead fish fried in fat. This description, however, is very unlikely to keep a restaurant in business very long. Choose key words and concepts in presentations to evoke desirable emotions and connotations and to avoid negative ones.

Use appropriate presentation modes adapted to known characteristics of the audience at hand. It is entirely appropriate to use audiovisual aids in making a presentation to a group of educators. The audiovisual presentation made to a county board, however, can be disastrous. In one case in which a slide presentation concerning county libraries was made during an evening meeting to a county board largely composed of retired farmers, when the lights were turned off, thirty-four members were present. When the lights were turned back on some twenty minutes later, only two members remained.

Learn how to use mass media effectively. All too of ten, librarians consider it sufficient to communicate only with the "already converted" through such means as in-house surveys. In reality, obtaining scarce resources through political processes frequently requires appealing to a wide spectrum of the public. The mass media, including newspapers, radio, and television, are of ten the appropriate tool for this task. just as in the case of political officials, long-term relationships built on honesty and mutual respect are invaluable. Remember at budget time that everyone wants coverage, but news must be produced all year round. Libraries and their activities always provide good filler material, but be sure to offer appropriate items to each media format. For instance, a television station may rush to cover a fairly bombastic summer children's program, complete with local celebrities, but a shelf of books, no matter how valuable, lacks visual appeal and is better covered in print.

Strategy 7: Provide Solutions Rather than Problems

Decision makers in any political process usually face difficult problems at the outset. As the process unfolds, as resources are expended, and as the full magnitude of the task at hand becomes apparent, remaining problems can appear to be insoluble. Approaching decision makers and asking them to make hard choices violates the principle of activity versus inertia. It also faces these decision makers with even more problems than they already had. Such a strategy is unlikely to earn either their gratitude or their approval of your requests. A far better alternative is to offer a means by which your request can be granted and yet which has no negative impact on the decision makers involved.