Public schools face many of the same marketing problems found in private-sector organizations. These include reputation building, resource mobilization, personnel employment, program development, client satisfaction, community good will, and public political support. This paper analyzes the marketing concept and illustrates its application to public school educational systems. The following questions are addressed: (1) What is marketing? (2) What market forces exist in education that create bridges or barriers between schools and the communities they serve? (3) Why apply marketing techniques to schools? (4) How do marketers contact the various segments of the community? (5) How do schools attempt to communicate with communities and vice versa? The marketing process is a mechanism intended to draw schools and their communities into productive and supportive working relationships. Within the field of education, however, natural market forces creating such relationships are virtually inoperative, causing inadequate citizen participation and inadequate funding. In order to stimulate a more productive school-community exchange process, the California Educational Research Cooperative (CERC) suggests developing ongoing marketing strategies. (78 references) (LAP)