Volume 2, Issue 1 (Summer 2018)

Feedback as Outreach: Turning an Assessment Survey into a Marketing Opportunity 

Fred Folmer, Connecticut College

Marketing Libraries Journal, volume 2, issue 1, pages 4-9.

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Abstract: Feedback projects—for instance, those that survey users about the use of resources—can be very useful beyond their originally intended purpose of collecting information. Because these projects also involve contact with library users, they may additionally be useful as outreach or marketing tools. This article provides a case study of the ways in which librarians at Connecticut College took advantage of the marketing and outreach opportunities that were provided by user feedback. This article identifies four areas libraries can pay attention to in order to utilize this type of marketing opportunity: careful consideration of the language used, anticipation of concerns, adoption of a teaching mindset, and follow-up. The article also includes specific advice on how libraries can address all four of these areas in a feedback project. It makes the argument that by doing so, libraries can strengthen their relationship with users moving beyond a paradigm wherein the library seeks to simply obtain knowledge from them, and instead move toward stronger two-way communication.

Keywords: feedback, assessment, outreach, marketing, communication

Citation to article:

Folmer, F. (2018). Feedback as Outreach: Turning an Assessment Survey into a Marketing Opportunity. Marketing Libraries Journal, 2(1), 4-9. Retrieved from https://journal.marketinglibraries.org/august2018/MLJ-v2i1-4-9.pdf