As happens with so many endeavors in my life, my initial zest and enthusiasm for the comment challenge has waned somewhat. It’s not that I’m not still interested, just that I’m tired and blogging on a daily basis is not my MO. This particular challenge asks me to elevate a discussion that’s taking place in my comments to the next level by turning it into a post.

I was fairly disinclined to complete this task for what I thought was a pretty obvious reason: If I’d thought a comment or set of comments was worth a new blog post, I’d have already written one. But in the spirit of participation, I do want to touch on one point that was raised by multiple people in my post on Stepping into Marketing.

What I learned is that I’m being pretty fast and loose with my use of the word marketing. Stephen Kellat points out, in espousing the need for data and demographic info, that “Marketing is okay, I suppose, if seen merely as a synonym for promotion.” Tim Keneipp, who begins his thoughts in the comments, but ultimately takes the conversation over to his blog, had this to say: “I think what Greg and some of the others are really talking about is librarians becoming active public relations ambassadors and not really marketing.” If I remember correctly, Tim has a marketing background, so he certainly would know better than I would. The back and forth between him and me on his blog post is worth reading.

Of course, I’ve since spent a little time digging into the term marketing and getting a better grip on the broader processes that the term indicates. I’m not so sure that I won’t still be using it as my catch-all term for activities that, for example, are geared toward elevating the presence and position of librarians within the context of social media. But at least I’ll now be better aware of my bastardization of the term.

What I want to stress though is my awareness that I have no idea what I’m talking about. My thoughts on marketing, promotion, public relations, etc., are nascent at best. That’s why I toss them out here, bandy them about with y’all and see what sticks. Your comments are profoundly helpful in forcing me to better articulate my ideas and wrap my head around things. So keep challenging me. (I welcome agreement too!)

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