Marketing, Branding and effective communication / Prof Ronel Rensburg
The main objectives of the presentation was to alert us to the following issues:
- Organisational and/or institutional communication: This is basically the communication that takes place on a daily basis in orgainisations be it internal communication through intranet or grapevine etc. We learnt learnt about the benefits of each type of communications medium.
- Marketing: We dealt about selling the organisations products (in a library, it is about informing our users what we have and what we can offer them). It is very necessary for the library to go out there and invite people to maximally use the services offered.
- Branding: Reputation management. As examples we looked at well known brands like McDonalds, Mercedes, Nike, Nelson Mandela, Oprah, etc. We looked at what they are, what they stand for and if they could live up to their brands.
Having said the above, libraries need to define the impression that they want to be remembered about. We need to develop a memorable professional identity that others will remember about us.
Gaining a competitive edge / Dr Nisha Sewdass
Dr Sewdass addressed us on issues of competitive edge which is a systematic program for gathering and analysing information about your competitors' activities and general business trends to further the company's goal. Competitive intelligence is not just information, it is what managers need to make decisions. Competitive intelligence is a process.
Libraries are support structures. In an academic institution, the library must provide books, databases, journals and other information sources relevant to teaching and learning. It is the duty of the librarians to ensure that the service that is rendered to university community is suitable. This would mean that library goals must be in line with the strategic objectives of the university.
Changes in the marketplace must be taken into consideration, i.e. technology, products and services change everyday and so is the ways and means of delivering information to users. Librarians must improve their knowledge and meet the demands of users. Legislation, procedures and policies pertaining to information provision must be well communicated to all staff in order to provide the services fairly.
Funding is always a problem in the library for purchasing as much as the library would like. There are other common problems like bandwidth, leadership styles and lack of innovation within the company that may lead to resignation of highly skilled staff.
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