Word‐of‐mouth marketing: abandoning the academic library ivory tower

Purpose This article aims to dispel the perception that academic libraries do not need to market their services and resources; to acquaint academic librarians to the concept of word‐of‐mouth marketing and its potential for academic libraries; and to share a word‐of‐mouth marketing academic library success story. Design/methodology/approach Includes an introduction to the concept of word‐of‐mouth marketing and its application to academic libraries. Also includes how one academic library successfully employed this marketing technique. Findings Provides an introduction to the word‐of‐mouth marketing strategy and its usefulness for academic libraries. Shares a real‐life success story of academic library word‐of‐mouth marketing. Practical implications Useful as an introduction for academic librarians to a specific type of marketing strategy that works well in a college/university setting and provides some successful techniques of word‐of‐mouth marketing for academic libraries. Originality/value Helps fill a void relative to using marketing strategies in an academic library setting and offers suggestions on how to do this successfully.