Angela Hursh leads an outstanding team of marketing and training professionals at NoveList, a company dedicated to helping libraries reach readers. A 2023 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, she has also created courses on LearnwithNoveList.com designed to help library staff learn how to create effective marketing. Before her job at NoveList, Angela led the content marketing team for the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. She also has more than 20 years of experience as an Emmy-award-winning broadcast TV journalist.
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Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Terrance is a senior in high school, with a bright future ahead of him.
He’s gregarious, curious, and extroverted. He lives with his dad and two younger siblings. His dad is managing to make ends meet, but there isn’t a lot of money left over for things like vacations or extra-curricular activities.
Terrance doesn’t have a car, but he’s been using public transportation all his life. He really wants to go to college. He’d be the first in this family to go. But the application, the financial aid paperwork, interviewing, and essay writing required for admission feels overwhelming to him.
Terrance isn’t a real kid… not exactly. He was a target persona I built when I worked at a library.
Terrance was based on real teens who used our library. And when I read that description, I could clearly see Terrance in my mind. (I still can–can you?) More importantly, I could find the words I needed to say in library promotions that would reach Terrance.
Terrance helped me figure out how to create effective library promotions.
What is a target persona and why do we need them?
A target persona is a fictional profile of a person who represents one of your key target audience groups, based on the characteristics of your community members.
Target personas help us get granular about our target audience. Getting granular helps us create promotions that let our community members know that we see and hear them.
Simply put, we can use target personas to create marketing that convinces those community members to use the library.
A target persona is not supposed to detail one specific person. It should never be based on one specific individual. It’s a composite sketch, like Terrance, that should reflect most people it is supposed to represent.
How to build target personas for your library
Your community members can be broken down into core segments, or groups, based on their wants, motivations, and the problems they need your library’s help to solve. Those are your target personas.
The number of target personas your library will need will depend entirely on your library’s strategic goals and your marketing goals. Some libraries only need 2 or 3 target personas. Some will need more.
The first thing your library will do is gather demographic information about the community or target group for which you are building a persona. You may do this by researching census data or other data available from your city or town government. Settle on a general answer to these questions:
Age range
Income
Education level
Living situation (Married, single, living with multiple generations in one house, living in an apartment, unhoused, etc.)
Transportation situation (Do they have their own car or do they use public transit?)
Current library usage
Then you want to add depth to your persona. Write down answers to these questions:
Their motivations. Are they career or money-motivated? Are they family-focused?
Their attitudes. Can you identify their perspective on social issues like environmental welfare, human rights, or intellectual freedom?
Their pain points: What problems are they looking to solve?
Their aspirations for the future.
The activities they participate in, both inside and outside of the library.
Their religious and political affiliation.
Using ChatGPT to create target personas
Once you have gathered as much information as you can on your target audience by answering the questions above, it’s time to create your target persona. ChatGPT can help you get started.
Let’s say you want to build a target persona for someone who might use your library’s small business center.
Put all the information you have on your target persona together in a description and feed it into ChatGPT like this:
“Pretend you are a marketer. Build me a target audience persona for a person who is in their mid-50s, who was laid off from the job they held for more than 20 years. This person has always wanted to start their own business, and they figure now is the time. But they do not have a business or marketing degree, and they have very little money. They are single and are living off savings now. They do have a bachelor’s degree in English. They have their own car. They use the library to check out books about once a month. They could use library resources to help them start their small business.”
ChatGPT generated a target persona for “John Anderson, a resilient midlife entrepreneur on a mission!” ChatGPT assigned characteristics that I hadn’t considered, like tech savviness and media consumption.
Here’s the rest of the ChatGPT-generated target persona for John Anderson.
Goals and Motivations
Fulfilling a lifelong dream of starting his own business.
Achieving financial stability and independence.
Creating a legacy and finding personal fulfillment through his work.
Challenges
Limited budget and financial resources.
Lack of formal education in business and marketing.
Navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship later in life.
Hobbies and Interests
Enjoys reading, especially classic literature and business-related books.
Values community engagement and local events.
Appreciates the arts and cultural activities.
Media Consumption
Relies on traditional media like newspapers and local community bulletins.
Limited online presence and social media usage.
Listens to podcasts or watches videos for learning and entertainment.
Tech Savviness
Basic computer skills but may need assistance with advanced online tools.
Open to learning and adapting to technology for business purposes.
Values
Values hard work, perseverance, and integrity.
Desires to make a positive impact on the local community.
Values practical and actionable advice.
How the Library Can Help
Access to beginner-friendly business books and resources to guide him through the basics of entrepreneurship.
Workshops and one-on-one assistance on creating a business plan, marketing on a budget, and utilizing digital tools.
Free or low-cost online courses for building essential business skills.
Networking events to connect with local entrepreneurs and mentors.
ChatGPT also said, “Understanding John’s unique situation and tailoring library resources to cater to his specific needs will be crucial. Marketing messages should focus on the practicality, accessibility, and community support the library provides for someone like John as he takes the leap into entrepreneurship.”
If I worked at a library, I qould take this ChatGPT generated persona and add or subtract the things that apply to my community.
Are personas too generalized?
There is nothing that replaces a personal conversation with a community member. But it is physically impossible to talk to everyone who lives in your service area.
Personas allow us to find the commonalities of the different segments of our audience. This exercise will lead you to create promotional items that connect with your target audience.
Your target personas will likely change over time. They may be different for different programs or goals that your library is trying to reach. That’s okay! Your target personas should be like your library: adaptable, flexible, and able to change to meet the needs of your community.
But by having defined target personas, you are better equipped with the insights needed to build an experience that consistently and efficiently speaks to your patrons as individuals – with content that’s super relevant to them.
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I know, we haven’t even gotten to Halloween yet. But guess what??
TikTok has released its holiday shopping guide for marketers! And although this guide was created for shops and profit brands, there were a lot of really great tips in here that you can use at your library. Let’s dig into the guide in this episode.
Plus someone will receive kudos!
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
(P.S. Here is the guide mentioned in this episode, no email required!)
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Courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Promoting your library can feel a lot like feeding a very hungry, very demanding giant.
You want your community to know that your library is the source of rich and valuable information. But, let’s be honest. When you are doing the entire job of promoting your library by yourself or with a small staff, keeping up with the audience’s expectations can be exhausting.
Heck, doing it with a big staff is exhausting. Marketing is tiring.
And the more exhausted and overworked you get, the more your original content suffers. You can’t put your best work out into the world when you are weary.
Your original content, like blog posts, videos, newsletters, and social media posts that talk about what your library offers and how your library helps your community, must be as engaging as possible. Those pieces of content take precedence. You should devote your energy to making those shine.
But there are so many content holes to fill! That’s where a little trick called content curation can be super helpful.
Content curation is sharing articles, infographics, case studies, videos, and other content created by other organizations on your library’s platforms.
Now, I know this sounds counter-intuitive to promoting your library. Why would you share the work of someone else with your audience? Shouldn’t you take every opportunity to engage your followers with your library’s stuff?
That would be ideal. But I know darn well you don’t have a staff of 20 writers to fill your content needs every day. And besides helping you fill your editorial calendar, content curation has other benefits.
Sharing content that aligns with your library’s mission, vision, and values will strengthen your library’s brand. It does this by building trust in your library as an institution of knowledge and inspiration. And it helps you to drive home important messages, like the joy of reading.
Before you begin sharing
The library I used to work for was huge: 600,000 plus cardholders and 41 locations. However, I had a small marketing staff. We often shared content from other sources to fill gaps in our social media and email calendars.
We set a focus for this shared content: anything we shared from outside sources had to be related to books and the literary world. This aligned with one of our library’s overall goals to drive circulation.
That focus was both simplistic and broad. It allowed us to fill our content needs with posts about authors, new books, books being made into movies, health news related to reading, beautiful libraries around the world, historic libraries (including our own), and a lot more.
Our library’s curated content led to higher organic reach on social media. Those pieces of shared content were intriguing additions to our emails. The curated content got a high click rate.
This strategy positioned us as a news source for all things related to the book world. Our followers and fans thought of us as more than a library. They turned to us for information on all topics related to literature.
So, I advise you to set a focus: one that is simple and aligns with your library’s strategic goals.
For example, Hennepin County Public Library’s strategic plan includes the line: “Offering free access to essential technology and connectivity.” Their curated content focus can be on technology and the benefits of open access to a community.
Here’s another example. One of Montgomery County Public Library’s strategic goals is to make sure all children ages 5 and younger are ready for kindergarten. Their curated content focus might be on shared literacy tips for caregivers of young children, as well as any content that helps caregivers prepare their kiddos for school.
Once you’ve set your focus, you can start sharing. Here is a list of 13 websites where you can find library-related content to share with your audience.
Do you know of a website I should add to the list? Comment below the post to let me know!
This list of user-generated content on books, libraries, and the literary world is invaluable. Use the discussion boards to give your ideas for fun, and interactive polls to create for your social media followers or email subscribers.
A good source of more high-brow literary news and lots of book reviews. Use this site to help you decide which books to highlight for individual promotions on social media and through email.
Find in-depth articles and interesting angles on literary themes. Scroll down to the bottom for links to a host of podcasts on every kind of literary subject.
My team is responsible for the blog and newsletters, and we work hard to make sure they are a rich source of content curation or promotional ideas for your library. Steal away!
This company is based in the UK and sells printing options for libraries. Their blog is rarely about printing. Instead, they cover library topics like the impact of early literacy strategies and the joy of volunteering at a library.
This daily email from Megan Kowalski (profiled here) will give TONS of great, daily ideas for content. She’s a whiz at following those little-known holidays that can make for great fun on social media (Hello, Fish Tank Floorshow Night!)
Any blog from another library or one of your partners!
If you type “library blog” into Google these days, you’ll come up with a whole list of libraries that are publishing content on a variety of subjects. They’ll appreciate you if you share their content. And you’ll know those content pieces are well-researched and written from the library’s perspective.
Your partner organizations will also be flattered if you share their content. For example, if the town yoga instructor who occasionally holds a class at your branch posts about how yoga helps relieve stress, and your content curation focus is on mental health, share that post!
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I am proposing that you throw out one-third of your planned marketing and promotions for the next 12 months! I know it’s a big ask.
But I want you to use that space to create marketing and promotions that fight back against the biggest existential threat libraries have ever faced in their existence. I’ll explain why this is absolutely necessary in this episode.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Last week, we went over the Marketing Rule of 7 and how consistent messaging delivered many times over multiple channels will lead to promotional success.
But that does NOT mean you must create 500 versions of every promotion you do. PHEW!
So, let’s talk about the easiest way to make the Marketing Rule of 7 happen within the constraints of working in a library. We do that by repurposing our content.
Repurposing content
Repurposing content is the practice of reusing elements of existing content to expand that content’s reach.
Repurposing content makes it easy to fulfill the Marketing Rule of 7 because you don’t need to write every post, shoot every video, and design every infographic from scratch.
Instead, you can use a piece of new content as the basis for lots of other content.
Why repurpose your content?
Your community is diverse. Their preferred methods of receiving information are diverse.
Some of them are visiting your website every day for updates. Some are seeing your social media posts. Some are waiting for your next email to hit their inbox. And some are fans of your Reels, TikTok, or YouTube videos.
Re-purposing content helps you reach more people on the channels they prefer efficiently, so you can go do all the other things you need to do in a day!
I repurpose this blog every week. (Did you notice?!) Here’s how I do it.
I pull out a few lines, usually from the first one-third of the post. I may use the lines exactly as they are in the post. Or I might rearrange them, adding more humor or emojis… things I wouldn’t necessarily do in my blog post.
Then I take those lines and I post them across my social media channels and in my emails.
I also take parts of a post and use them in other posts, especially if these are key points I really want you to remember. For example, I strongly believe books are your library’s brand. And I say so… often!
Sometimes, I take parts of my blogs and use them in presentations. I also turn them into an infographic or a 60-second video.
How will this work at your library?
Let’s say you’ve created an infographic to communicate the value of your library in the past year. We know infographics are a great way to present those statistics and give a whole picture of your library’s contribution.
But infographics take time to build. And some people will still need those stats broken down for them, piece by piece, in order to comprehend their meaning.
So you can take each of the points on that infographic and create separate social media posts. This really helps your audience digest the information.
Those separate pieces of breakout information can also serve as a springboard for your library to write blog posts or longer social media posts specifically diving into those key stats and what they mean for your community.
Choose three of the facts on the infographic. Pick a staff member who loves being on camera and ask them to create a 60-second Reel or TikTok video using trending audio and creative elements to explain this serious subject: the value proposition of your library.
Need more help figuring out how to make this work at your library? I created a 4-step guide for you!
Easy 4-step guide to repurposing content
Let’s say your library is publishing a promotional blog post about Book Club Kits. It might look like this.
Get Convenient, Easy Help Leading Your Next Book Club
Are you someone who enjoys discussing books, sharing insights, and hearing different perspectives on a story? Or maybe you’ve been thinking about starting a book club but don’t know where to begin. Well, look no further! Our Book Club Kits are designed to bring people together through the power of literature, and here’s why you should definitely consider checking one out:
Diverse Selection: Our Book Club Kits include a wide range of titles covering various genres, themes, and authors. Whether you prefer classics, contemporary fiction, non-fiction, or even a mix of everything, we have something for everyone. From thought-provoking novels to inspiring memoirs, our collection is carefully curated to spark engaging discussions.
Convenience: Starting and maintaining a book club can be challenging, especially when it comes to sourcing multiple copies of the same book. With our Book Club Kits, we’ve taken care of that for you! Each kit includes multiple copies of the featured book, making it easy for your group to access and read the same title simultaneously.
Discussion Guides: To facilitate meaningful conversations, our kits come with discussion guides. These guides provide questions, prompts, and talking points to help guide your book club discussions, ensuring that everyone gets a chance to share their thoughts and insights.
Cost-Effective: Participating in a book club can sometimes become costly when you have to purchase multiple copies of a book. With our Book Club Kits, you can enjoy reading and discussing a wide variety of books without breaking the bank. It’s a budget-friendly way to explore new literary horizons.
Community Building: Book clubs provide an excellent opportunity to meet new people, make friends, and engage in lively conversations. By checking out one of our Book Club Kits, you can be a part of a vibrant community of readers right here in your own neighborhood.
Flexibility: Whether you prefer in-person meetings or virtual gatherings, our Book Club Kits are designed to accommodate your preferred format. You can use them to start a club with friends, family, or even coworkers, making it easy to connect with others over a shared love of reading.
You can use that post as a base for repurposing.
Step one:Write a two-line version of your blog post.
This is going to be the mini-version of your post… the elevator pitch, so to speak.
For this example, I would say:
Book Club Kits from the library make it easy, convenient, and cost-effective to start a book club. The library provides free book copies and discussion guides that allow everyone to participate and build community.
Step two:Promote in your emails.
Add your two-line version of the blog post to your newsletter and any other email you send over the course of the next month, with a link to the full post.
Step three:Share on your social channels.
Post your two-line version of the blog and include a link to the full post in the comments of your social media post. (Here’s why you want to put it in the comments instead of the post.)
Keep the momentum going on different social media channels by creating more two-line versions of your blog. For example, during week one, post this to Instagram and Facebook:
Book Club Kits from the library make it easy, convenient, and cost-effective to start a book club. The library provides free book copies and discussion guides that allow everyone to participate and build community.
In week two, post a new two-line version on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn:
Book Club Kits from the library bring people together through the power of literature. The curated kits are convenient and flexible to help any book club leader.
On week three, you put another two lines on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X:
Meet new people, make friends, and engage in lively conversations about books without breaking the bank. Check out the free library’s Book Club Kits.
And so on. Mix it up to make it sound like new content while driving home the key points you wish to make.
Step four: Use the promotional message on print promotions.
Create a bookmark, flier, and sign, with your favorite two-line pitch from your blog post. Include a QR code linking to the blog post.
Place the bookmarks and fliers in every hold or checkout. Place your sign on a display of books that have been assembled into book club kits.
Re-purposing all content
You can do this with any piece of content, from podcasts to press releases. Break the content down into pieces and spread them across all your available platforms.
In this way, you can make sure everyone in your community sees your message. You also can make sure the work you are doing right now will have maximum impact.
The added benefit to re-purposing: more data.
It won’t take long for you to learn where your audience is getting news about the library. If you notice that engagement is high on one marketing channel, you will know which channel to start with when you are promoting your library.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
A few weeks ago, I walked through my neighborhood listening to the Library Marketing for Library Marketers podcast. Katie Rothley was interviewing a woman named Sarah Tolle, who manages content for a large Canadian agency. And Sarah said something that literally stopped me in my tracks.
“People take comfort in hearing the same story repeatedly. They like knowing that they know the story and that they understand you. And they anticipate the ending. “
-Sarah Tolle, content director for Black and White Zebra.
I was standing there on the sidewalk, staring at a squirrel gathering nuts from the front yard of an indiscriminate house, and I thought, HOLY SMOKES, this woman is dropping some truth bombs.
Sarah was talking about the value of a consistent message. The timing of this episode could not have been more perfect. In my day job, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how library marketers can get the most bang for their buck.
Many of the libraries I work with are struggling to figure out how to do three big things:
Drive more visitors to their buildings
Get higher attendance at their programs
Get their cardholders to use their cards more often.
They’re working alone or with a small team, with very little money, and very little time. It’s an impossible formula.
Except, as Audrey Hepburn once said, “Nothing is impossible. Even the word itself says, ‘I’m possible.'”
And the secret to success may be found in the form of a marketing axiom that’s nearly 100 years old.
The Marketing Rule of 7
The Marketing Rule of 7 was developed by the movie industry in the 1930s. Studio bosses discovered that a certain amount of advertising and promotion was required to compel someone to see a movie.
It takes time and consistent marketing to make people aware of your library. One message, delivered on one platform, one time, is not going to be enough. We must work to make sure people are familiar with our library.
Now, I know what you are thinking. The Marketing Rule of 7 makes sense. But it’s also in complete contradiction to another marketing fact that is entirely a product of the digital age.
The Reality of Content Shock
Marketing expert Mark Shaffer, author of more than 12 books on marketing, defines Content Shock as “the phenomenon when exponentially increasing amounts of content intersect with our limited human capacity to consume it.”
In other words, there’s too much stuff to read and not enough time to read it. (Are we talking about my inbox or my TBR? Or both?)
So how do we square both marketing truths? And how do we figure out a way forward so we can reach the goals of our library marketing?
First, the number 7 in the Marketing Rule of 7 is an arbitrary number. It could take somebody more than seven times the exposure before they become a loyal library user. Or maybe it will only take five times. Or two times.
Don’t focus so much on the number. Focus on the consistent message.
Because when your audience is overloaded with content, sharing one, consistent message, repeatedly, will break through.
Political candidates know this is true. When they’re trying to get elected or whip up support for a bill, they come up with a main message. They repeat it everywhere: on fliers, social media, in interviews with the press, in speeches, etc. They do this because they know they must repeat the message to make sure their constituents hear and understand it.
How to Create a Consistent Message
Let’s say you work for a high school library and your goal is to get more kids to check out books to read for pleasure (because, let’s be honest, most kids do not find reading Catcher in the Rye all that pleasurable).
First, write a few lines that succinctly encapsulate the message you want to get across.
Read something for once just for fun! The library is filled with books that won’t give you class credit but will take you on an adventure you’ll never forget.
Now, use those two lines across your promotions: on bookmarks, posters, displays, and in morning announcements. Repeat it to kids who wander into the library looking for something to read. Do it all year long. By the end of the year (and probably sooner), the message will have sunk into the kids. That’s consistent messaging.
Next week: I’ll give you a four-step plan for repurposing any piece of content you create across multiple channels without losing your consistent, core message. (Yes, it can be done!)
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
“If you build it, they will come” applies not only to baseball. It works for email marketing for libraries too!
A reader asked: How do you get people to sign up for your email newsletter? It’s easier than you think. But you have to think of it holistically. I’ll share my four-step strategy in this episode.
One note: I mention an opt-in page in this episode. I think major library announcements, like changes in service, the opening of new locations, and all-system programs like Winter Reading, Summer at the Library, and Back to School, should be opt-out. In other words, send those emails to everyone, and let them opt out if they like (most won’t!)
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter youremail address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 