The college and university marketing system must be viewed as a separate but integrated area within the institution requiring its own planning and implementation cycle. The marketing concept as it applies to higher education means that a college or university exists to provide satisfaction to external and internal constituents (or segments thereof) who can be instrumental in providing the institution with the support and resources needed for survival and development. To effectively satisfy external and internal publics, a timely flow of decision-oriented information is necessary to support the marketing planning process. It is the crucial role of institutional research to design and implement a marketing information system to serve the primary marketing-oriented units within the organization. Some of the data necessary for effective marketing planning must be obtained using research methods and procedures not customarily practiced by institutional research staffs. Given the necessity for systematic marketing in higher education over the next 20 years, sharp increases may be required in both the status and funding of the on-campus institutional research office. (Author/JMD)