Impact of Promotional Tools on Marketing of Library Services: An Exploratory Study of Polytechnics in Ghana

Abstract

The study investigates the impact of promotional tools on marketing of library services. The study explores the relationship between promotional tools constructs: personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and advertising on marketing of library services among selected Polytechnics in Ghana. With the aid of SPSS, the following statistical method were employed: supporting literature for measurement scales, values of cranach’s alpha for construct values, descending means of constructs, skewness and kurtosis on the constructs, correlations and regression analyses on a sample of 402 obtained through convenience sampling method. The study revealed that, all the constructs of the promotional tools thus personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and advertising have significant positive relationship with marketing of library services. The study suggests that the professional training of library staff should include courses such as personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and advertising. . Library staff should be trained and develop skills on how to handle users request and establish a good personal relationship with users of the library. Library staff should be oriented on the procedures to handle complaints and find lasting sloutions to them. Users should be updated with the list of new databases, online services and new journals via notice board, leaflets and newsletters as well as the institutional websites. Library staff should collaborate with professional markerters on the application of the marketing mix in the promotion of their services.

Keywords: Advertising, Personal selling, Sales promotion, Public relations, Academic libraries