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The application and impact of marketing techniques in higher education are considered, based primarily on a literature review. Literature concerning marketing in higher education, primarily in the 1970s, focused on three major themes: discussions concerning the general need to adopt marketing techniques, marketing as part of the recruitment process and academic program development, and the use of marketing in promoting the institution and its programs. Each of these major themes provided academic planners with a broad spectrum of concepts to build increasingly viable programs that in turn reinforced the institutional recruitment. Increased use of marketing strategies has had a significant impact on postsecondary institutions. The adoption of the marketing process has demanded changes in the organizational structure of admission, registration, planning, and research offices, thus affecting administrators and staff members. In addition, marketing requires a unified approach to planning. Another impact of marketing strategies is increased awareness by institutional leaders of the true nature of "business" of an institution. Marketing can be viewed as a useful planning tool for postsecondary institutions. The research and analysis components, as well as the promotional aspects, provide institutional leaders with guides for planning and developing new services for students, encouraging higher student enrollment rates, and reducing attrition among the existing student populations. The costs involved in adopting a marketing process and negative reactions by accrediting associations to hard-sell techniques used by colleges are also addressed. (SW)