Introduction

In an era when governments need to be more responsive and accountable to the needs of the public, marketing can help governments accomplish this goal. With governments, crown corporations/agencies and other public institutions spending significant dollars delivering programs and services, there is a need for increased efficiency, accountability and transparency in the processes used to deliver these initiatives. Many government organizations are adopting marketing approaches to help meet two major challenges:

• the challenge of meeting mandates and satisfying client needs in the face of significantly diminishing resources; and
• the challenge of meeting specified revenue or cost-recovery targets.

As well, with the shift of the public sector to more of a managerial, business-like approach, the adoption of marketing and related managerial practices can serve as a key component in strengthening accountability in government operations.

Adrian Sargeant, Professor of Nonprofit Marketing at Bristol Business School, states “managers in government over the past few decades have been transformed from administrators and custodians of resources to accountable managers with greater delegated authority. This notion of accountability is significant since public service managers are increasingly being held accountable to the public. The notion of delegated authority is important because it provides managers increasing opportunities to match service provision with the needs of ‘customers’ in their area. This new-found freedom and flexibility has required public sector managers to learn and practice a range of new marketing skills.”¹ For example, the government of Canada’s Federal Accountability Act and action plan, is bringing forward specific measures to help strengthen accountability as well as increase transparency and oversight in government operations.

Organizations in the public sector have long debated the applicability of marketing concepts and management approaches, many of which stem from private sector notions of consumption and economic choice, as well as an environment in which market forces rule. However, in recent years there has been growing recognition that marketing can be used to enrich public sector management and better serve citizens and stakeholders. Concepts such as social marketing and services marketing have emerged in the context of challenges faced by government. Rather than equating the word “marketing” with the sale of goods for profit, marketing concepts are now being applied to help encourage program adoption, improve services and change attitudes and behaviors in support of “public good” mandates.

Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee point out in their new book, Marketing in the Public Sector… A Roadmap for Improved Performance, that “the public sector needs to improve its performance to raise the public’s confidence and satisfaction, and thereby their support.” One answer to improving performance is adopting private sector tools. Some public sector administrators question the use of marketing, claiming that government operations are inherently different from business operations.² These differences according to Kotler and Lee “are often exaggerated and should not be used as an excuse for inefficiency, ineffectiveness or waste.”³

¹  Adrian Sargeant, Marketing Management for Nonprofit Organizations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005).

²  Philip Kotler, Marketing in the Public Sector: A Road Map to ImprovedPperformance (Philadelphia: Wharton School Publishing, 2007).

³  Ibid.