We have spent a good deal of time thinking about Academic Marketing. We have analyzed what it is and discussed its current shortcomings. The final topic to be considered is the importance of academic marketing. Why do it? Academic marketing is just as important as any other kind of marketing. If you don't communicate your message and your brand, then no one will know about it. And if they don't know about it, then you can't be as effective. It may be that an academic audience is more motivated to discover information about your academic program. So, you don't have to worry as much to get the word out. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't do any marketing or branding. It just means you don't have to advertise on television. Perhaps the greatest reason to do academic marketing is consistency. A consistent message and brand gives the audience a belief in your competence and reliability. They don't ask so many questions or worry so much about whether you're legitimate. Every program, department, college, or university can benefit from this kind of consistency in marketing and branding. All in all, the greatest barrier to academic marketing seems to be money. Academic disciplines traditionally have neither the resources nor the experience of their counterparts in the private sector. So, on the one hand academic decision-makers are not inclined to pursue marketing and branding. On the other hand, they don't have the resources to do it. And when they do engage, they traditionally rely on third-tier providers. And this group's substandard work goes to confirm the academic's mistrust of marketing. To be sure, this mistrust holds back academic marketing. Not many vendors and consultants even have the patience to work through this level of ignorance. I still maintain that it's worth it, and that academic marketing is an interesting and untapped area.