Marketing Your Library The Three Elements of a Successful Promotional Campaign

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Marketing Your LibraryThe Three Elements of a
Successful Promotional Campaign

• Kathleen Boylan
• Senior Vice President
• Public Communications Inc.

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What is Marketing?

• Marketing is the human activity directed at
  satisfying human needs and wants through an
  exchange process.
• Philip Kotler, Ph.D. S.C. Johnson Son
  Distinguished Professor of International
  Marketing, Northwestern University Kellogg
  Graduate School of Management, Chicago

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Keys to the Plan

• The 3 Elements of Success Checklist
• Do you
• 1. Have a top-notch Web site?
• 2. Work regularly with your institutions
  communications team AND know your local health
  reporters?
• 3. Participate regularly in management meetings
  with influential administrators?

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Key to the Plan

• 1. Build a Top-Notch Web site
• Is your library functioning online? There is more
  than one way to get readers to go to your
  library. More libraries are providing services
  and marketing on the Web in direct response to
  the changing ways people access information.
• The 1 marketing tool for libraries today is a
  comprehensive, user-friendly, frequently updated
  online resource, aka, a top-notch Web site!!

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Why You Gotta Go Virtual

• The ALA reports that public libraries are the
  number one point of online access for people
  without Internet connections at home, school, or
  work.
• A 2007 Harris poll found that of the 225 million
  adults in the U.S., an estimated 160 million have
  searched for health information online, up 37
  percent from 2005.²

¹ALA Office for Research Statistics ALA Public
Information Office. 2006 ²The Harris Poll 76,
Harris Interactive Inc. July 31, 2007.
www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll
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Building the Best Site

• Give Users What They Expect
• Quality - Your site must meet quality standards
  of other library and commercial sites in your
  community
• Performance - The site and content need to load
  quickly in comparison to the competitions sites
• Reliability - The site must be constantly updated
  and as free from technological problems as
  possible
• Source Ohio Library Council

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Building the Best Site

• Add Enticing Digital Extras
• Access to online catalogs
• Immediate reference services
• Overdue notices by e-mail
• Library e-newsletters or a library newsroom
• Relevant Webinars
• Online calendar of events
• Links to search engines for the site
• Social networking tools (Blogs, podcasts, wikis)

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Building the Best Site

• Speak the Users Language
• Ex Patrons are likely unfamiliar with
  MedlinePlus, PubMed, NOAH, etc. Include
  descriptions of what each site offers underneath
  the resources link
• Ex A Medical Animation drop down bar can be
  helpful, but only if patrons understand what it
  is Add a one or two sentences to explain the
  feature
• Ex Using a lot of acronyms such as AHEC or
  CINAHL isnt helpful - Spell it out!

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Key to the Plan

• 2. Start Working Regularly with Your
  Institutions Communications Team AND Know Your
  Local Health Reporters
• Most libraries dont have their own
  communications team working round-the-clock to
  make sure your institution gets the promotion it
  deserves.
• Fliers and open houses are a great start,
• but if you really want to make a splash

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After Construction

• Get the URL Out!
• Once your site is running, you need to promote it
  to the community and to institutional leaders.

• Send an e-blast inviting patrons and
  institutional leaders to visit the site
• Make a large banner with the URL and hang it in
  the front of the library
• Put a link to your site on your
• institutions Web site, community sites, etc.

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Communicate with your Communications Team!

• Call in the Professionals
• The brilliant people who work in your
  institutions communications department know how
  to get a message across and/or promote an event
  (or they should!)
• Ask to set up a meeting to discuss upcoming
  initiatives, events or programs you want to
  promote and ask them to help you build a PR
  strategy
• Do NOT leave these folks out of the loop!

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Learn to Work with Your Local Health Reporters

• Media are often the gatekeepers to getting the
  word outhave you mastered these basics
• Do you know how to write a news release and
  follow up in a timely manner?
• Are you familiar with what reporters, editors
• and producers to send the release to?
• Are you prepared to give an interview?

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Quick Media Relations Review

• A news release is a simple and effective tool to
  generate media interest in a story about your
  library.
• Targeted distribution and timely follow-up can
  help ensure your news will be covered.
• Dont give up!
• Offer interviews.
• When giving an interview remember Prepare
  talking points in advance and speak naturally!

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Key to the Plan
3. Participate Regularly in Management Meetings
With Influential Administrators

• Wouldnt it be great if our administrators and
  bosses saw all of the wonderful things we did
  every day? Unfortunately, most of the time its
  up to you to make sure they know what youve been
  doing!

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Meeting with Management

• Before the Meeting
• Evaluate Your Success.
• Did you increase awareness of library online
  services?
• Build an at-home user community?
• Attract more visitors to the library?
• Reach a different target audience?

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Meeting with Management

• Before the Meeting
• Measure Your Success
• Compile demographic data for leadership from
• Results from online surveys and opinion polls
• Tracking data showing how much time patrons spend
  on your site or a page, most/least visited pages,
  most/least used resources etc.
• Personal letters submitted through Write to Us

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Meeting with Management

• At the Meeting
• Broadcast Your Success!!!

• Brag about your online presence (How many hits
  does the site get a day? Does your site appear
  high on a page when Google searching?)
• Talk about how popular you are (How many patrons
  signed up for the e-newsletter? How many
  participated in the online PowerPoint webinar?)
• Highlight change and growth (Give anecdotal
  evidence of pleased patronsor use a positive
  reader comment posted to your fabulous Web site!)

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• Do you have all the elements for success?

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• QUESTIONS??

Thank you for coming!