UI Current LIS Clips: Library and Information Services
Marketing
September 2003 - Compiled and annotated by Marianne Steadley with assistance
from Chuck Gray
http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/clips/2003_09_print.html
In This Issue: Marketing: The Power of Ten
1. TEN Ways John Cotton Dana Promoted His Libraries - Tips
From the Past
2. TEN Reasons for Marketing Library and Information Services
3. TEN Barriers to Marketing Library and Information Services
4. TEN (divided by two) Marketing Strategies
A. Internal Marketing - It's Everyone's Business
B. Marketing - It's All in the Mind
C. Relationship Marketing - It's About Them and Us - Together
D. Customization - It's More About Them
E. Marketing and Technology
5. TEN Marketing Ideas and Tips from Academic, School, and
Public Libraries
6. TEN Marketing Ideas and Tips from Special Libraries
7. TEN Marketing Ideas and Tips to Attract Diverse Populations
8. TEN Marketing Ideas and Tips for Virtual Reference Services
9. TEN Web Marketing Resources
10. TEN Recent Books on Library and Information Marketing
1. TEN Ways John Cotton Dana
Promoted His Libraries - Tips From the Past
Fink, Deborah and Bonnie McCune. "Marketing Libraries." Colorado Libraries
v27 n4 Winter 2001 p5-40.
John Cotton Dana was one of the most innovative and influential librarians
of the twentieth century. From his first library job in Denver where he opened
the first public library, until his death in Newark in 1929, Dana successfully
used public relations and marketing strategies to promote his libraries. He
believed the library was there to be used and the more people who used it the
better. In 1946, the library profession honored him with a library public relations
award in his name. The John Cotton Dana contest is the oldest annual competition
in the United States recognizing excellence in library public relations. His
theories and practices still provide models for libraries today. To promote
his library in Denver, John Cotton Dana:
- sent circulars advertising the services of the first Denver public library
to editors of a variety of local and national journals and newspapers;
- made personal visits to every editor and every leading clergyman in Denver;
- reached out to the business community by developing a business library in
the Chamber of Commerce building;
- established the first children's room in a public library in the U.S.;
- granted teachers the opportunity to check out up to 50 books for use in
the classroom;
- developed a picture collection of art works and illustrations and lent these
to schools for art classes;
- collected foreign language materials that reflected the ethnic groups in
the community;
- provided meeting room space to local clubs;
- published a monthly newsletter about the library;
- developed an apprenticeship program to train inexperienced staff.
2. TEN Reasons for Marketing
Library and Information Services
Sass, Rivkah K. "Marketing the Worth of Your Library."Library Journal June
15, 2002. http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleId=CA220888
Shamel, Cynthia L. "Building a Brand: Got a Librarian?" Searcher v10 n7
Jul/Aug 2002 p60-71. http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jul02/shamel.htm
Zauha, Jan, Sue Samson, and Cindy Christin. "Relevancy and Libraries in
the Consumer Age." PNLA Quarterly v66 n1 Fall 2001 p8-14.
Libraries and information centers of all types and sizes are faced with the
need to market. Librarians and information professionals must learn to effectively
market and advertise their services. The authors of the above articles offer
TEN reasons why.
- Competition for customers - Libraries are part of a highly
competitive service industry. Competition comes from mega-bookstores, online
book dealers, consultants, the Internet community, and individual customers
who feel they can go it alone. Libraries are no longer the only information
show in town. Free web access to information is here to stay and non-library
and fee access information providers won't hesitate to market to library customers.
- Competition for resources - Libraries of all types have
to compete with other organizations or departments for funds. Public libraries
have to vie for public monies that provide for their existence. Special libraries
find their funding is frequently targeted during parent organization budget
cuts. Marketing library services benefits the bottom line.
- Maintain your relevance - As noted by Zauha, Samson, and
Christin, libraries need to market themselves to remain connected with their
communities and have some bearing on real-world issues and present-day events.
- Stop being taken for granted - Libraries need to convey
what is unique about the access and services they provide. Both customers
and librarians cannot assume that libraries will always be available.
- Promote an updated image - Librarians are not perceived
as well-trained, technologically savvy information experts. Most customers
do not see the demanding information management responsibilities of a librarian.
- Visibility - Shamel believes that librarians are not on
the radar screens of many people who think of themselves as information literate.
People who are in positions to employ librarians are not reading much in their
professional literature about a librarian's value. In A Place at the Table:
Participating in Community Building (ALA Editions, 2000), Kathleen de
la Pena McCook found that libraries were virtually invisible to the movers
and shakers who wanted to revitalize their communities.
- Valuable community resource - Libraries are and should
be viewed as essential and valuable community resources. Sass says that people
need to be made aware of the services and products that are provided and their
comparative value. Librarians should be the resource that the local power
structure goes to for information.
- Rising expectations - Library users expect recognition,
attention, and appreciation for their individual information needs. Customers
also have ever-changing needs and wants, which makes the library market as
dynamic as retail markets. Marketing helps to create an environment in libraries
that fosters customer consciousness among employees.
- Survival - Libraries depend on the support of others for
their existence. A library must communicate and work with its customers and
governing/funding entities to provide information about what the library is
doing and to enable the library to learn about the community it serves.
- Beneficial to library image - Effective marketing can among
other things: increase library funds, increase usage of services, educate
customers and non-customers, change perceptions, and enhance the clout and
reputation of the library and its staff.
3. TEN Barriers to Marketing
Library and Information Services
Sass, Rivkah K. "Marketing the Worth of Your Library." Library Journal
June 15, 2002. http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleId=CA220888
Shamel, Cynthia L. "Building a Brand: Got Librarian?" Searcher v10 n7 Jul/Aug
2002 p60-71. http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jul02/shamel.htm
Zauha, Jan, Sue Samson, and Cindy Christin. "Relevancy and Libraries in
the Consumer Age." PNLA Quarterly v66 Fall 2001 p8-14.
Most librarians do not market their libraries, do not know how to market, or
do not know how to do it well. TEN possible reasons are proposed by the authors.
- Old models - According to Zauha, Samson, and Christin,
many librarians work on the old model of existence by mandate or "shoulds."
- Students should use library databases to locate quality information
for their papers.
- Faculty should send their students to librarians for assistance.
- Children should be brought to the library to learn about books.
- Middle managers should tap into the corporate library for information.
- Humility - Too often librarians wait for others to notice
that they are doing a good job. Librarians may be reluctant to capitalize
on their strengths and knowledge, while the general public often does not
see the value that information professionals could bring to sophisticated
information challenges.
- Myth - There is a belief that libraries do not need to
be promoted in any special way because their importance to society should
be apparent to all.
- Old expectations - Librarians and libraries are limited
by their traditional image; that libraries offer books for lending and provide
programming for children, but do not contribute to more sophisticated information
needs.
- Lack of training and education - Often librarians do not
promote library services well due to lack of training and knowledge of marketing
tools and techniques. Shamel notes that although marketing is more widely
discussed and accepted professionally than in the past, this acceptance hasn't
necessarily resulted in more marketing classes in library schools' curricula.
Despite the growing literature on library marketing, there remains a lack
of familiarity with the total marketing concept among librarians.
- Confusion - There is confusion about what the term marketing
means. Much of this has to do with the interchangeability of terms such as
'promotion', 'public relations', 'publicity', and 'marketing'. There is also
confusion about marketing libraries; the perception is that marketing is a
business tool and not applicable to library settings.
- Fear - Librarians are often reluctant to borrow from the
private sector. They have a fear of commercial publicity and see marketing
as manipulative, a waste of time and resources, and unprofessional.
- Passive vs. active stance - Rather than selling the library
on its value and letting people know what the library or information center
offers, librarians often wait for customers to come to them. Rather than pushing
out responses to anticipated information needs to customers, librarians wait
for customers to stop by the facility or stumble across the library web site.
- Complex and complicated task - Marketing is a complicated
problem for libraries because of their wide range of products and services
from books to Internet access, and an extremely diverse audience that ranges
from children to seniors, public officials to business people, and students
to faculty, etc.
- Money and attitude - Lack of funds is often used as a
reason or excuse not to market. However, marketing library services is not
simply a matter of spending dollars on promotion and advertising. Marketing
is also a matter of improving the customer's experience of library services.
The attitude of the library director and the staff as they interact with customers
is what shapes customers' experiences and 'markets' the library to those customers.
4. TEN (divided by two) Marketing
Strategies
A. Internal Marketing - It's
Everyone's Business
Singh, Rajesh and Mariam Ginman. "Challenges and Issues in the Application
of Marketing Principles in LIS Environment: An Experience." Tidskrift for Dokumentation
v57 n4 2002 p131-139.
Steinmacher, Michael. "Underlying Principles of Library Public
Relations." Kentucky Libraries v64 n1 Winter 2000 p12-15.
Singh and Ginman note that an important element of services marketing that
the library world seems to have neglected is 'internal marketing,' the central
role of the staff in the successful delivery of services to the customer. Many
authors believe that internal marketing is a prerequisite for external marketing,
and, in order for external marketing to be successful, the staff of a library
must all be committed to marketing and to the delivery of quality customer service.
Marketing library services is a responsibility of everyone in the organization.
It is the service that the customer receives from all of the staff that helps
them perceive the value of the library. Although front line people primarily
shape the customer's experience, support personnel, rarely seen by customers,
are also involved in customer service. Overall, individuals in lower rather
than higher positions determine the failure or success of service strategies.
Steinmacher recommends that library staff develop a written plan of customer
service, which is not only taught to and distributed among staff members but
also posted in the library's public area for patrons to see. All people working
for the library should understand how important they are in supporting the service
philosophy and be properly trained to fulfill their role.
Internal marketing, according to Singh and Ginman, requires that directors
and heads of libraries and information centers be committed to taking the lead
and insuring that those activities which are the essence of internal marketing
- internal communications and customer-consciousness among employees - are embraced.
Staffs constitute the largest percentage of most library budgets, and library
directors need to market their value. They also need to motivate their staff
continuously in their effort to be their best and to assert themselves as experts
in the information field.
B. Marketing Attitude - It's
All in the Mind
Orava, Hilkka. "Marketing is an Attitude of Mind." 63rd IFLA
General Conference - Conference Programme and Proceedings - August 31-September
5, 1997. http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla63/63orah.htm
The author's approach to marketing is based on the notion that libraries are
primarily local or community in nature and that word of mouth takes care of
marketing to a great extent, given the right attitude and commitment of the
staff to the community and its members. Everyone should be aware of the library
and its services even if they are not users. People make recommendations to
each other based on their experiences, and subsequently their opinions, positive
or negative, can influence other users, and even more importantly, non-users
of the library.
One method Orava advocates in order to make the community aware of the library
is marketing in context, or "natural infiltration," which is providing
information about the library outside the library, in situations where people
find themselves aware of their individual informational needs. For example,
distribute lists of library resources at government or medical clinics, counselors'
offices (school, marriage, etc), college dormitories, or corporate break rooms.
As the author notes, this costs nothing but the awareness to spot the possibilities
and the energy to grab them.
Training in information searching and using the library that is offered to
school classes and other groups offers another opportunity for marketing. If
the training focuses on the needs of the individual participants instead of
being centered on what the librarian wants to teach, the participants will take
away a much better understanding of the services the library offers and can
share this knowledge with others.
C. Relationship Marketing
- It's About Them and Us - Together
Besant, Larry X. and Deborah Sharp "Libraries Need Relationship Marketing."
Information Outlook March 2000 p17-22. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0FWE/3_4/61533802/print.jhtml
Customers or users are the most basic ingredient in a working library or information
center. Therefore, marketing must be customer-driven; without the customer there
is no reason for a library to exist. Relationship marketing is about getting
and keeping customers by developing real and long-term relationships. In contrast,
traditional library marketing has been based on a transactional approach which
focuses on the number of items circulated, the number of searches performed,
and so on. It is about getting but not necessarily keeping customers.
The authors have created a practical model for visualizing relationship marketing
in libraries. This model lists six relationships and partnerships librarians
should consider:
- Customer markets include not only new customers but also
the loyal, long-term customers who are at the heart of every service encounter.
A loyal and strong relationship with customers will assist with fighting budget
cuts and with expanding services.
- Internal markets are the employees and departments within
the library or the organization who are both internal customers and internal
suppliers. Good internal working relationships enhance external relationships.
- Supplier and alliance markets include publishers, system
vendors, and booksellers who provide raw materials and basic equipment. Collaboration
and alliances resulting in new approaches and new ways of rewarding these
relationships are critical.
- Referral markets are groups that do marketing for the library
such as satisfied customers, personal and social networks, and mass media.
Referral markets can be fast-acting via the Internet and either supportive
of or damaging to marketing efforts.
- Recruitment markets are the new people we attract to the
profession. Getting and retaining the best people to work in the profession
by creating an appealing image is necessary for sustainability.
- Influence markets include any person or group who can benefit
the library such as trustees, corporate executives, government officials,
and friends groups. Proactive instead of passive relationship-building is
key for these markets.
D. Customization - It's More
About Them
Gupta, Dinesh and Ashok Jambhekar. "Developing a Customer-Focus Approach
to Marketing Library and Information Services." DESIDOC Bulletin of Information
Technology v22 n3 May 2002 p5-13.
The authors describe marketing as a customer-driven orientation for the entire
organization that is essential for libraries to survive and prosper in a competitive
arena. Organizations that pursue a customer-focused strategy continually work
to provide products and services that meet the customer's changing definition
of value. The goals of the customer-focus approach are to attract, satisfy,
and retain customers for the long-term. Customer-focus is concerned with the
total customer experience, from personal interactions with the staff to the
products and services they use.
The authors note that service strategies in all arenas are moving toward customization
or individualization. Customization means getting customers to teach you what
they want, remembering what they teach you, and then providing what they want.
In a customer-focus environment, development and delivery of library and information
services must involve the customer to a great extent. Every service activity
must be undertaken as an opportunity to serve customers in an improved way.
It is much easier to satisfy a patron who is already in the library than to
attract new customers. Satisfied patrons will tell others about benefits from
the library and bring in new customers.
As customers acquire greater access to more databases, electronic journals
and other online information resources, customization and personalization of
library and information services become more important, particularly when users
do not have to enter the physical facility. Customizable portals have become
popular in academic libraries and corporate information centers, and, as users
become more accustomed to customizable features on the Internet, they will expect
the same options from all their libraries.
E. Marketing and Technology
Minkel, Walter. "We're Not Just a Building." netConnect April 15, 2003
p 26-7. http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA286653
Natarajan, M. "E-mail as a Marketing Tool for Information Products and
Services." DESIDOC Bulletin of Information Technology v22 n3 May 2002 p27-34.
Marketing the library through technology goes hand-in-hand with marketing the
technology itself. Many communities and community members are not aware of the
technology that the library already offers. In order to be able to market libraries
through technology and to market the technology itself, the technology needs
to be usable and friendly. People need to be provided with training so they
can use these services easily and effectively.
Natarajan notes that libraries should promote the use of information technology
as an integral part of library services by using e-mail as a tool for marketing
these products and services. The benefits of using e-mail to communicate with
customers include: building relationships and developing brand loyalty by informing
users of new products and services, seminars, events, etc; conducting market
research by analyzing users' messages; and creating and maintaining one-to-one
relationships with customers.
Although many customers still access services at physical facilities, Minkel
notes that the library is not just a room or building full of books and computers;
it is services and activities. Services and activities as action can be marketed
on the library web site by using library web pages as portals or starting points
to the rest of the Internet and to the community it serves. Library web pages
should have links to community pages, local schools, local information and institution
sites, other corporate web pages, etc. And, because the library web site itself
needs to be marketed, libraries should also work with these other groups for
a link back to the library.
Library web sites can also offer access to all types of products, services,
and materials such as: customized access; electronic postcards and greeting
cards; email services (alerts, free e-mail use); web resources from local information
sources such as the newspaper index and business directory; local history; programming
activities (online book clubs, book discussions, technology classes online,
summer library programs, and online reference), and selling library products
online.
5. TEN Marketing Ideas and
Tips from Academic, School, and Public Libraries
Fink, Deborah and Bonnie McCune. "Marketing Libraries." Colorado Libraries
v27 n4 Winter 2001 p5-40.
The Auraria Library and Media Center (ALMC) in Denver serves three separate
institutions of higher education. For years described as "one of the best
kept secrets in the state," ALMC implemented the following strategies and
programs to alter this "secret" image.
- A wallet-sized library/business calling card printed with
the name, logo, hours, telephone number, and web site address of ALMC was
developed. ALMC also has produced a colorful, card-sized magnet with their
contact information.
- Colorful, eight-foot tall panels that are freestanding
and portable have been strategically placed in the library. Each panel is
devoted to a particular message, such as introducing new computer equipment
and advertising resources and services.
- To counter the misperception that using the library's physical resources
and services is an inconvenience now that remote-site access to online resources
is available, ALMC developed additional reasons for users to visit the library
by hosting a variety of exhibits, receptions, and
lectures.
Tarver Elementary School in Colorado implemented the Power Libraries Project,
a statewide program directed toward furthering the role that school library
media staff and programs play in promoting student achievement. The focus
is on developing and promoting quality school-library media programs and practices
that will help students meet standards. The success of the Power Libraries
program is dependent upon effective internal promotion to bring classroom
teachers and administrative staff into the process.
- The media specialist at Tarver has ensured that marketing the program is
a team effort by holding weekly informal meeting with the
staff, writing articles for the weekly staff bulletin and the parent bulletin,
and participating in a "quilters" group of media specialists from other schools.
The "quilters" meet to assist each other by working as a team on their individual
library projects.
- Promotional techniques for students at Tarver have included activities such
as producing bookmarks based on students' favorite authors
and a scavenger hunt in which students list as many activities
as they can find to do in the instructional media center.
Sass, Rivkah K. "Marketing the Worth of Your Library." Library Journal
June 15, 2002. http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleId=CA220888
The author describes "Five Things Libraries Can Do To Market Their Worth."
Public libraries can take the following actions to enhance their marketing
efforts.
- Have a real budget for marketing. According to Sass, the
St. Louis Public Library budgets $120,000 a year for radio ads, billboards,
and bus cards, targeting some of its low-use neighborhoods to encourage people
to use the library and understand its value. While library budgets vary, it
should be possible to earmark even a small amount of funds toward marketing.
- Develop creative public service announcements aimed at
Generations X and Y designed to be broadcast during late-night television.
Let them know that even though it is the middle of the night, with their library
card, they can access the library's databases all night long and get that
paper done.
- Follow the example of Multnomah County Library in Oregon and implement a
"Knowmobile, " a rolling reference cart that allows staff
to answer questions, make library cards, and promote library services at everything
from athletic events to farmer's markets.
- Develop catchy placards for the inside and outside of buses
that highlight the value of the staff at the library. Use some of the more
unusual questions librarians have answered next to pictures of local staff
members. These posters can also be used in the library and other locations
such as grocery stores and schools.
- Work with database vendors to develop strategies to market electronic
resources. Product-specific marketing materials about these resources
would be beneficial to users and give librarians a chance to highlight the
cost of providing these resources.
6. TEN Marketing Ideas and
Tips from Special Librarians
Dworkin, Kristine. "Library Marketing: Eight Ways to Get Unconventionally
Creative." Online v25 n1 p52-4 January 2001.
- The Coffee Schmooze program at Hewlett-Packard Labs Research
Library (HPL-RL) transforms the library into a small-scale coffeehouse-bookstore
by the addition of a gourmet coffee cart serving java to order. Once a month
employees are invited to the event which provides them an opportunity to exchange
ideas, ask library staff members about their research needs, and discover
that the library has more to offer than they first realized.
- The HPL-RL High Tea Talks are intended to explore and highlight
library issues that intersect with the issues of the research community. The
series has included talks by experts on electronic copyright, patents, news
retrieval technologies, etc. Tea and cookies are served.
- Colorful, three-fold brochures, which include business card size
magnets with the HPL Research Library contact information, are provided
to all employees.
- A tongue-in-cheek approach and the use of humor ensure
that HPL Research Library notices and e-mail stand out among the many formal
business communications customers receive. Being funny also helps dispel the
traditional library stereotype.
- Involvement in many company activities such as staff meetings and
company-sponsored events (blood drives, picnics) increases the visibility
of the HPL Research Library staff.
- A well-maintained, continually updated, state-of-the-art web site
that provides tools HPL customers can access while sitting at their desks
keeps the library at the forefront of customer attention, regardless of where
they may be located.
Swart, Sarah Lelgarde. "Marketing My Corporate Library on the Web." Marketing
Library Services v14 n7 Oct/Nov 2000. http://www.infotoday.com/mls/oct00/swart.htm
- A partnership between an online bookstore and the Lean
Resource Center (LRC) Library at Ford Motor Company provides customers the
option of borrowing books before they buy. A co-branded logo advertises both
the Resource Center and its partner, Fatbrain.com.
- The LRC Library challenges employees to read one journal
article per week to stay current and then provides a list of recent articles
and abstracts, available via the Library web site, from which to select.
- Two alert services are pushed out to customers of the LRC
Library. The alert services consist of journal article abstracts; one covers
technical and business articles, the other covers competitive intelligence
articles.
Bumgarner, Elizabeth A. "A Virtual Open House." Marketing Library Services
v14 n8 Dec 2000. http://www.infotoday.com/mls/dec00/bumgarner.htm
- The Information Systems Library (ISL) at Time Customer Service developed
an open house web site for National Library Week that highlighted
the new features of the ISL web site. Bumgarner used pictures of her cat as
a virtual tour guide, which helped give a relaxed feeling to the tour and
add humor to the site. The site included a guest book that allowed visitors
to register for a $25 prize drawing. Cookies designed by Ebake.com, with the
library name and a picture of the tour guide, were presented as consolation
prizes.
7. TEN Marketing Ideas and
Tips to Attract Diverse Populations
Fink, Deborah and Bonnie McCune. "Marketing Libraries." Colorado Libraries
v27 n4 Winter 2001 p5-40.
Over the past few years, the Fort Collins Colorado Public Library has reached
out to its diverse community with the following actions.
- A dedicated phone line with a Spanish greeting was installed
to provide customers the opportunity to ask questions, request holds, and
access other resources.
- A bilingual library assistant went door-to-door in Spanish speaking neighborhoods
personally inviting residents to the library.
- The library offered a bilingual youth employment program,
which introduced Spanish-speaking adolescents to the value of meaningful employment,
helped them obtain job-related skills, and provided assistance to Spanish-speaking
customers.
- When Spanish-speaking customers obtain library cards, they are given a bookmark
with some basic information written in Spanish about the
library and its services.
- A survey in Spanish and English was developed to obtain
customers' input regarding the library and how better to serve the diverse
customers' needs.
- Library card registration forms, brochures, web page, catalog, and informational
flyers are offered in Spanish.
- A bilingual book discussion group with a bilingual facilitator
was started.
- A series of three films was shown with a follow-on discussion
for adult audiences and with the theme of viewing culture through many eyes.
- During National Physically Challenged Month, the library
highlighted different kinds of pet therapy dogs with the tale "Lucky Little
Labradors," and the audience had a chance to meet several pet partners.
- The library started Fiestas and Forums, monthly cultural
on-site and off-site events to showcase the library's resources and build
alliances with other local diversity-related organizations.
8. TEN Marketing Ideas and
Tips for Virtual Reference Services (VRS)
From a presentation by Linda Wallace and Peggy Barber of Library Communication
Strategies (http://www.librarycomm.com)
"On Marketing Virtual Reference Services" sponsored by LSSI at the ALA Annual
Conference - June 15, 2002. Available as a printable PDF file from the Library
Media and PR web site at http://ssdesign.com/librarypr/content/p070802a.shtml
- Treat your online services like a branch library - Support
them with appropriate budget and staffing for both developing and marketing
"the product".
- Have a communications plan - This plan should complement
and extend your library's overall marketing plan. The look, tone and voice
should be consistent with the image of your library. Assign a coordinator
to manage and carry out the plan.
- Don't forget your most important audience - The most important audience
when launching any new service is staff. All frontline staff needs to be up
to speed, know the URL and be able to answer questions. They should understand
both the message and why it's important to the library.
- Remember you are only new once - The launch of a new virtual
reference service is newsworthy because it is new and unique to libraries.
Be sure to take advantage of it, get out those news releases and call those
radio and TV stations.
- Focus on what is unique - Online reference services provide
an opportunity to focus on what people say they like best about libraries
- the expert, personalized service that librarians provide.
- Have a clear and consistent message - Use one message over
and over again in all publicity materials. Make sure your "sales force" (the
whole staff, Board, Friends, etc.) understands the message and is prepared
to answer questions. Remember simpler is better.
- Harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing - Prepare
and encourage all frontline staff to put in a plug for VRS at every opportunity.
- Track positive feedback - Provide an interactive form for
VRS customers to give feedback. Collect testimonials to use in your next wave
of publicity. (Use names only with permission.) Remind your "sales force"
to forward any positive comments they hear to the publicity coordinator.
- Work the Web - Seek links with other Web sites of schools,
government, and other organizations to bookmark or link from their homepages.
Offer an e-mail newsletter to keep customers informed of developments.
- Evaluate - Evaluation is critical to any marketing effort.
Track your publicity. Watch and see what works and what doesn't. Aim to do
it better next time.
9. TEN Web Marketing Resources
Sharing tips and strategies is an easy way to multiply the power of TEN. These
TEN web sites provide resources available from library associations, marketing
services, and libraries.
- The American Library Association's Campaign for America's Libraries
web site has talking points sheets, advocacy tips, quotations, artwork, marketing
plans, and more. https://cs.ala.org/@yourlibrary
- The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
has a section on Management and Marketing that includes a glossary of marketing
terms applied to the library field. Although it has not been updated since
1998, it is a useful resource. http://www.ifla.org/VII/s34/pubs/glossary.htm
- Library Media and PR - Free tips and tools for Library Communicators
- This site hosted by Stephanie Stokes provides a promotional calendar of
marketing ideas, links to clip art, a bulletin board for public relations
issues, and articles from the field. http://ssdesign.com/librarypr/index.html
- Marketing Library Services is a monthly newsletter that generally
has one or more articles on marketing available to non-subscribers for free.
MLS provides information professionals in all types of libraries
with specific ideas for marketing your services, including suggestions for
planning programs, making money, increasing business, and proving your value
to your administrator. http://www.infotoday.com/mls/mls.htm
- LEXIS-NEXIS "Marketing Tips for Information Professionals" is a 30-page
workbook designed to provide information professionals with a basic framework
for planning marketing efforts. http://www.lexisnexis.com/infopro/reference/pdf/MarketingTips.pdf
- Library Support Staff.com - This site for library paraprofessional
support staff, hosted by library technician Mary Niederlander, provides links
to marketing resources including articles and courses. http://www.librarysupportstaff.com/marketinglibs.html
- Colorado Library Marketing Council is a cooperative venture of four
library associations in Colorado with a web site devoted to its marketing
efforts. The web site contains a marketing course available for purchase as
an interactive online course, abstracts of market research projects, a well-organized
resource section with links to a wide variety of marketing sources, and several
bibliographies on market research, marketing and market trends. http://www.clmc.org
- Nebraska Library Commission - "Market the Library" is an online mini-course
in marketing which includes a glossary of terms and an outreach idea board.
http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/libdev/mini-courses/outreach/sell.html
(NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
- Marketing Ideas for Libraries is a service provided by the Outagamie
Waupaca Library System in Wisconsin. The web site provides ideas for marketing
online, traditional tools for marketing, and several bibliographies. http://www.owls.lib.wi.us/info/desks/bc/imarket/default.htm
- Ohio Library Council - "Marketing the Library" is an online course
with six modules: overview, planning, product, promotion, Internet, and Ohio.
The purpose of this course is to introduce Ohio public librarians to marketing
concepts, but it is applicable to librarians in all types of libraries. http://www.olc.org/marketing/instructions.htm
10. TEN Recent Books on Library
and Information Services Marketing
- Baker, Sharon L. and Karen L. Wallace. The Responsive Public Library:
How to Develop and Market a Winning Collection. 2nd edition.
Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2002. 364pp.
- De Saez, Eileen E. Marketing Concepts for Libraries and Information Services.
2nd edition. London: Facet Publishing, 2002. 224pp.
- Hart, Keith. Putting Marketing Ideas into Action. Series: The Successful
LIS Professional. London: Library Association Publishing, 1999. 99pp.
- Jones, Patrick. Running a Successful Library Card Campaign: A How-to-do-it
Manual for Librarians. "How-to-do-it Manuals for Librarians; No 119."
New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2002. 221pp.
- Rowley, Jennifer. Information Marketing. Burlington, VT: Ashgate,
c2001. 196pp.
- Siess, Judith A. The Visible Librarian: Asserting Your Value with Marketing
and Advocacy. Chicago: American Library Association, 2003. 154pp.
- Weingand, Darlene E. Marketing/Planning Library and Information Services.
2nd edition. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 1999. 187pp
- SPEC Kit compiled by Evelyn Ortiz Smykla. Marketing and Public Relations
Activities in ARL Libraries. SPEC Kit 240. Washington, DC: Association
of Research Libraries, Office of Leadership and Management Services, c1999.
109pp.
- IFLA General Conference (63rd, 1997: Copenhagen, Denmark). Adapting
Marketing to Libraries in a Changing and World-wide Environment. IFLA
Publications, 89. Munchen: K.G. Saur, 2000. 89pp.
- IFLA Satellite Meeting (2001: Quebec). Education and Research for Marketing
and Quality Management in Libraries. IFLA Publications, 99. Munchen: K.G.
Saur, 2002. 326pp.