Social Marketing for Archives:The Austin History Center ExperienceW. Bernard LukenbillSUMMARY. The author outlines the basic concepts of social marketingand describes how the Austin History Center at the Austin Public Libraryin Austin, Texas has used those concepts to build an outreach programfor its targeted market. The discussion especially considers how the staffhas identified problems that have historically hindered its relationshipwith some elements within its minority population and how it has devel-oped programs and services which address the needs of Austin’s minoritygroups. Examples are provided that illustrate how the Center applied so-cial marketing concepts and suggests that these techniques can be used byother archives and libraries.[Article copies available for a fee from The HaworthDocument Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: <[email protected]> Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2002 by The Haworth Press,Inc. All rights reserved.]KEYWORDS. Austin History Center (Austin, Texas), Austin HistoryCenter–social marketing, Austin History Center (Austin, Texas) out-reach programsW. Bernard Lukenbill is Professor, The School of Information, SZB 564, D7000, TheUniversity of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712 (E-mail: [email protected]).[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “Social Marketing for Archives: The Austin History CenterExperience.” Lukenbill, W. Bernard. Co-published simultaneously in The Acquisitions Librarian (TheHaworth Information Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) No. 28, 2002, pp. 161-173; and: StrategicMarketing in Library and Information Science (ed: Irene Owens) The Haworth Information Press, an imprintof The Haworth Press, Inc., 2002, pp. 161-173. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a feefrom The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail ad-dress: [email protected]].http://www.haworthpress.com/store/product.asp?sku=J101 2002 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.10.1300/J101v14n28_09 161PURPOSE OF THE STUDYManagers of archives and libraries have known the power of market-ing for decades; and as competition for resources and public support be-comes more intense all aspects of marketing takes on new significance.This discussion addresses the concept of social marketing and how itcan be and is being used by archives today in their overall marketingand public relations campaigns. The Austin History Center, a divisionof the Austin Public Library located in Austin, Texas will be used to il-lustrate some the concepts that are important in social marketing.BASIC DEFINITIONSMarketing is the process of planning and executing the conception,pricing, promoting, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to cre-ate exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. The nextimportant term in understanding marketing is exchange theory. This isthe process in which two or more groups in society voluntarily providesomething of value to each other. The term marketing refers to individu-als and organizations that have the desire and the ability to purchase oruse a particular good or service. Consumers are the people who buy oruse the goods and services for themselves or their households.1Social Marketing is the application of the principles of marketing tospecial problems where the object is to change social behavior for thebenefit of a target audience and for society.2Social marketing seeks to influence behavior in several ways. The firstof these is to change an action. This means that by social marketing strat-egies marketers, and in our case archives, attempt to influence a group ofpeople to either stop doing something or to encourage them to start doingsomething. An example of social marketing is the positive effect of a so-cial marketing campaign undertaken by United States government to dis-courage smoking launched in the 1960s. Through various social marketingstrategies and laws, this policy has met most of its goals as today onlyabout a third of the adult population smoke.A second goal of social marketing is to change individual or groupbehavior, attitudes, or beliefs. This might be to chance the general atti-tudes held by a group of people about an archival program in the com-munity. Perhaps the archives are considered by a group of people not tobe very important in everyday life. They might feel that the archives arenice for a community, but that it really has nothing to offer them as they162 STRATEGIC MARKETING IN LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCEgo about their lives. An archival social marketing campaign might thenbe directed at changing this attitude or belief to one of viewing the ar-chives as important to one’s life because it can satisfy real needs. Athird type of social marketing is behavior re-enforcement. This is de-signed to reinforce and encourage behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs andother social objectives that are considered necessary for social progress.Such social agendas as often set through government policy.3Such pol-icies are generally communicated to the public through educational ac-tivities and pubic information management. This kind of informationmanagement is often referred to as public service information or as apublic service message.BEHAVIOR-CHANGE: AN OBJECTIVE IN MARKETINGMarketing is a management process and as such it needs to be guidedby goals, objectives, and monetary consideration. Marketers generallyfollow a model called the AIDA model. It is based on the concept that amarket message must be designed with these responses in mind:A AttentionI InterestD DesireA ActionThe market message must be noticed and it must attract attention. Itmust generate interest in the organization and in the product or service.The message must show that the product or service will be of benefit tothe client now or in the future; thereby it creates a desire for the productor service. The last element is action. The potential client must be moti-vated to take positive action regarding the service or product. For socialmarketing campaigns, this model must educate and inform. Social mar-keting does not indoctrinate, but it does educate and inform possible us-ers about choices and potentialities for betterment of both the individualand the group.4METHODOLOGYThe methodology used in this study is that of natural inquiry with theinvestigator assuming the role of impartial, outside observer. Data