| Module Identifier | ILM5710 | ||
| Module Title | MARKETING OF SERVICES | ||
| Academic Year | 2001/2002 | ||
| Co-ordinator | Dr Judith Preston | ||
| Semester | Semester 2 | ||
| Other staff | Timothy Hayward | ||
| Course delivery | Lecture | 22 Hours | |
| Assessment | Case study | POSTGRADUTE STUDENTS (3,000 WORDS) - Due Monday 8 May 2000 Read the case study from COOTE H and BATCHELOR B. How to market your library service effectively. 2nd ed. Aslib, 1997. pp.46-48 in appendix 1. As an external marketing consultant, you are asked to comment critically on the marketing strategy to date, and to offer suggestions as to how the market penetration of the LIS may be increased. Market Schedule A two-part question, each part carrying 45% of the available marks. The first part should encompass a critique of the strategy outlined, based on knowledge and understanding of relevant marketing techniques and theories. In Section 2, the students; own ideas ar sought as to how market penetration may be increased, again, based on their knowledge and understanding of relevant marketing techniques and tools. 5% of the marks will be awarded for report format; the remaining 5% awarded for bibliographical citation practice and sources consulted. Evidence that relevant literature has been consulted is expected to be displayed. | |
| Case study | Case Study 3: Library and Information Service of Southmead Health Service Bristols Southmead Health Services gained NHS Trust status on 1 April 1992 and is now on the largest Trusts in the UK, with over 1,000 beds on one site. Southmead specialises in peadiatrics and renal medicine, and both the regional cytogenetics and one of two National blood service sites are based there. The site has been in existance since 1902 abd actually started its medical history as the location for Bristishs first workhouse and infirmary. Currently in Bristol there are 3 substantial health care libraries and in the last few years a number of library contracts have been put out to tneder. As a result, Bristol is a good example of the competitive developement in healthcare library provision, with librarians having to prepare bids to run a service which a colleague from another library is also offering. Southmeads Library Information Service Manager is Caroline Plaice, who after qualifying at Aberystwyth moved immediately into working in the healthcare sector. She worked for hospitals in Cardiff and Plymouth before moving to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol as Medical Librarian in 1988. Here she was determined to make the library proactive; she set up a service for paramedics, was the firstto introduce CD-ROMs, and also to automate the loan system. During 6 years at Frenchay she was involved in a research project looking at the intrtaction between the Bristol Healthcare libraries, and also became a supervisor for the Library Associations Associate programme. (The latter was valuable in a number of ways, not least in that it gave her the opportunity to question why she had done things the way she had.) But the event that really made a difference to how Caroline approached developing a library and information service was winning the contract to run the library service of Bristol & District Authority (later Avon Health Authority). Caroline moved to Southmead in late 1994 to head a multi-disciplinary Library Service that is one unit of the Directorate of Medical Education and funded jointly by the Trust and the Post Graduate Medical Dean. There are 8 staff, of whom 3 are full-time and 1 part-time (qualified staff), who provide a service to people spread over 5 sites. As Southmead comes under a rival Trust Caroline couldnt bring the Avon contract with her, but her goal was to win it for Southmead. She knew already the high standard that Avon set and that the Authority was happy with its current service. She decided that taking the traditional marketing approach was not enough; it would have to be supported by a business development approach. She needed to build a strong business relationship with her key customer (whose organisation was at a crucial stage in its development) so that he understood the increased level of service that he could have by using Southmeads library. The first step was a marketing audit (including a SWOT and PEST see pages 11 and 15) of the library, which Caroline did jointly with her team. It highlighted two key skills within the service which had the potential to be developed and use to advantage. These were the ability to attract customers from outside the Trust because of existing extensive IT facilities, and a high level of expertise in setting up SDI services for small, specialised institutions. On the down side, the Library had an overload of paper-based filing systems and a low success rate in satisfying requests for grey lierature. Fron the audit th elibrarys strategy and mission statement evolved. Stage 2 was to segment the customer base and see whether the Library could satisfy the needs of existing and new customers. It was also important to assess what value any new customers would be to the Library - including Avon Health. After due consideration, Caroline decided to go for the contract and undertook some basic market research. "This is where networking came in very handy" says Caroline. "I updated my knowledge of the Authority by talking to colleagues and visiting a number of other libraries". She also looked at the competition and what they offered, the service given by the current library, and then rated Southmead against them. When the time came for Avon Health to select a provider to run the Library Service, Southmead was one of two service asked to make a presentation. "Market research is a thread which should constantly run through any service - it conmes back to the need to invesstigate inorder to anticipate" says Caroline. And certainly there were a number of key insights she gained from her background research which helped her to construct her presentation. A number of issues that needed careful handling included pricing and availablility of the service. She opted for a competitve strategy which would cover costs plus a small additional amount for the first year, and made it clear when a librarian would be on-site at the Authority as well as installing an answering machine at Southmead. Promotion was also an important part of winning the conntract. For example, the panel were invited to visit Southmead to see first-hand the quality of the service and be impressed by the range of IT. Profiles of the staff were produced, highlighting their individual skills and including photographs so that the visitors would be able to recognise individuals. Caroline also built the business relationship by regularly contacting her potential client with relevant information and details of new serives which would be of benefit to him. "Having a strategy undoubtedly enabled us to put in a strong bid" says Caroline - and all the preparation paid off. Southmead won the contract, and in doing so enhanced the Librarys image within its own organisation. This had led to Caroline investigating how she can start increasing the librarys market penetration within Southmead itself; starting of course, with a strategy before moving on to developing a market plan. | ||
| Essay | 2,500 word essay - Due 1500 hours Friday, 24 March 2000 Undergraduate Students Either Discuss the concepts of the marketing mix and its role in the development of marketing strategies for library and information services. Marketing Schedule An understanding of the concept of marketing is sought, together with a detailed knowledge of the components of the marketing mix as appied to service. Students ar expected to analyse and discuss critically how useful all the possible components of the mix are in devising a service strategy for LIS. 10% of the marks will be awarded for presentation, including bibliographical citation practice and sources consulted. OR What are the principal marketing implications resulting from the intangibility of services? Discuss with reference to library and information service provision. Marketing Schedule A definition of what is meant by the term intangibility in relation to service provision should be given. A critical and analytical discussion of the implications of intangibility iin effectively marketing library and information services should be provided. 10% of the marks will be awarded for presentation, including bibliographical citation practice and sources consulted. | ||
| Exam | 1.5 Hours unseen written exam | ||
At the end of this module you should know:
. the importance of marketing as a business philosophy in competitive operating environments;
. the tools of the marketing mix and their appropriateness to the marketing of services;
. the nature of an organisation's marketing environment and frameworks for its analysis;
. the purpose and methods of collecting and analysing marketing research data.