7. The process of marketing
Marketing is too often thought of as a single event or as a series of techniques and approaches. Marketing should not be considered as an individual event but as a process that is part of an overall management strategy. Brent Davies and Linda Ellison (1997, p. 18) consider that there are three main phases to this marketing process, each with its own subsections.

One of the potential failures of marketing in schools is to start at implementation rather than to follow the cyclical process as outlined above and another is to fail to realize the significance of the inter-relationships between each of the phases.

1) Strategic intent is the process of binding all those engaged in the school to a focused and directed purpose. It is the bedrock on which a marketing strategy is built. If those working in the school cannot articulate its purpose and aims, its core values and its achievements and demonstrate their belief in them, then many of the marketing techniques and approaches will be seen as superficial and may be ineffective as the clients' could be faced with a discrepancy between the image of the school and the reality of their experience when coming into contact with the school community. Kawasaki (1995) suggests that creating a strategic intent involves the three linked concepts of a strategic cause, a client focused culture and pro-active staff.

2) Strategic market analysis is mainly concerned with market research into a number of key areas: the school's environment, its competitors, its clients, its product and service. When this analysis has been carried out, the school's senior managers need to integrate and interpret the evidence obtained before they can make decisions about implementing a marketing strategy.

3) Marketing implementation comprises three major parts: assessing the techniques and approaches available for marketing; implementing a marketing plan to promote the school; and finally, evaluating the effectiveness of the overall marketing process.

THE CONTEXT OF THE MARKETING PROCESS: THE MARKETING MIX

The process of marketing is based around a number of key elements that will be developed. Often referred to as the marketing mix, we can list these as product, price, people, promotion and positioning.These elements form the link between the organization and the clients.