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.
In this episode, Angela invites you to join a new Library Marketing Book Club organized by Chris Boivin of the Jacksonville Public Library.
Kudos in this episode goes to Mid-Mississippi Regional Library System for their Dial-a-Story service.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week! Thanks for watching.
This is the first in a two-part series on email marketing for libraries. Part two is here.
If there is one thing that I know about library promotion, it’s this:
If you want to be successful in library email marketing, you must target your messages.
This isn’t just my personal belief. It is a method which worked, with impressive results, during my years at a public library. And I see it working now for hundreds of libraries around the country and around the world in my day job at NoveList.
Why are libraries hesitant to do targeted email marketing?
There are two big reasons that libraries fear the idea of segmenting their email audiences.
First, libraries are worried about email marketing in general. They feel it’s too promotional and that email messages from the library will be received as spam. They may even believe that people don’t want to receive email marketing from anyone, even a library.
This is not the case. The average consumer is accustomed to giving out their email address in exchange for marketing messages targeted specifically to them. Opt-in Monster research shows 99 percent of people with an email address check their inbox at least once a day.
Why? Because they are looking for messages from friends, family, and places they love. They love the library. Your cardholders and community members feel excitement when they receive an email from you.
Libraries worry that, by sending targeted messages to segmented audiences, they will miss out on the chance to get a message to all their cardholders.
Many libraries are sending the same message to every cardholder, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people in one burst. It feels like the natural thing to do. “Everyone needs to know about this!”
The problem with that approach is that your cardholders are individuals. One message never fits them all.
This is particularly true if your service area covers a range of incomes and demographics. The needs and interests of your cardholders vary greatly.
By targeting your message, you are more likely to say something that matters significantly to your cardholders, which makes them more likely to take an action, which makes it more likely that your email will be successful.
Targeted email marketing for libraries is effective because it serves the right message to the right group of people. And it works for all kind of messages.
Do not let your fears about email set you up for failure. Your cardholders want to hear from you. There are not very many industries which can say that. Let’s take advantage of it and give the people what they want!
Libraries who do segment their audiences tend to use three main methods. There are benefits and drawbacks for each.
Segmenting by library card use
Some libraries group their cardholders by the type of material they most frequently check out: kids’ books, print books, e-books, etc. Then, they send targeted email messages about those formats or collection types to those specific users.
This was the method we used when I worked a public library. For example, we would send an email promoting three new e-books every month to people who appear to favor e-books.
Benefits: This method is great for collection marketing. Most libraries will notice holds and checkouts increase, sometimes exponentially, when they send messages about items to people who have shown a previous interest in those items.
Drawbacks: The way a person uses their library card may not correspond to their true library interests.
For instance, an adult who frequently checks out children’s books for their kids may also love to read e-books. By focusing solely on the fact that they more frequently check out children’s books, a library may miss a key opportunity to market e-books to that cardholder.
A second drawback is that your library will want to promote things besides your collection, like programs, big events, and advocacy messages. Segmenting audiences solely by their favorite collection format gives you no clue as to your cardholders other potential interests.
Finally, this kind of segmentation often requires sophisticated email marketing programs that are expensive and time-consuming to manage. Smaller libraries without a dedicated marketing department and libraries with limited budgets may find these programs cost prohibitive.
Letting people self-select
Many libraries have an opt-in page on their website listing email interest groups. Visitors can self-select which emails they prefer to receive.
Benefits: When a person chooses to receive an email from you about a certain subject, they are also likely to open and engage with that email. They have already indicated their interest by selecting it.
Most library email opt-in pages do not require a person to be a cardholder to sign up. So, a second benefit of this method is that you can send marketing messages to people who aren’t in your cardholder base but can be enticed to use your library. That’s a fantastic way to expand your cardholder base!
Drawbacks: A library using this method must commit to intentionally market the marketing lists. They must make sure the community knows the opt-in page exists and convince people to sign up.
Segmenting by cardholder location
Some libraries have sent messages to people who have indicated a certain branch is their home branch or to people who live in a certain portion of the community.
Benefits: This is a great method for in-person program promotion. People are more likely to attend events that are near their home. Segmenting your audience by their location is an efficient use of your time for program promotion.
Drawbacks: There is a certain set of library cardholders who are willing to travel to attend programs and events at branches far from their home. They may be interested in hearing from your library about certain types of events, no matter where they are held.
In addition, the branch a person most frequently uses may not actually be near their home! Many people frequent the library branch near their workplace or some other important and frequently visited location.
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In this episode, answers a viewer question about how to use customer testimonials for library marketing.
Kudos in this episode goes to Madison County in Mississippi for creating a Virtual Library.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week!
I don’t ever want to hear anyone tell me ever again that libraries can’t adapt and be flexible. My friends in the library world have proven their adaptability this year in dozens of ways.
The biggest sea change is around how libraries deliver programs to their community. Librarians shifted on a dime when buildings closed and limited service due to the pandemic.
One of the major changes came in the way libraries deliver programs. Almost every library I’ve worked with is now delivering programs live on Facebook. And they’re doing a fantastic job.
But many librarians say they have a hard time getting people to attend these live programs. They want more people to be a part of the livestreams.
It takes a lot of work to put a livestream virtual program together. And the more people who attend, the more likely they are to recognize the value of your library.
I’ve got some tips that will help you promote your Facebook livestreams to get more viewers.
Plan it out
Before you go live on Facebook, you ask yourself these questions:
What are my goals? Your main goal should be more than “I want to get 20 people to watch the livestream.” Think holistically about what you want your audience to get from your livestream. Be as specific as possible.
Some good goals are “To teach our audience how to search for articles, marriage and death notices, and other information about their families in our newspaper archive” or “To show viewers how to use the new feature updates on the Libby app from Overdrive to better manage their holds.”
A goal or goals for your live video will help you when it comes time to decide how you’ll structure your live and what you’ll say. It also gives you a measurable outcome that you can use to assess the use of live virtual programs.
What will my main message be? The main message is how you translate your overall video goal into a line that you can repeat in your promotion of the video and while you are live.
For example, if your goal is to explain those new features on the Libby app, your main message might be, “You now have more control over the e-books and audiobooks you check out from your library.” Repeating your main message in your video pre-promotion, during the video, and when you post the video on-demand will help drive that message home and make it stick in your viewer’s mind.
Who is my target audience? Readers of this blog know that the best way to have success in marketing is to pick an audience and market to them, rather than marketing to the whole of your cardholder base.
Picking a target audience is important when you’re working in Facebook, because the platform will pick up on any keywords you use in your program description. They’ll help you find those specific viewers by showing your organic post to people who may actually be interested in it.
Once you’ve answered these three questions, you’ll have a good foundation as you head into the stage where you promote your livestream.
Promote before you go live
Facebook suggests that you schedule an announcement post in Live Producer. That feature will automatically create a Facebook preview post. Your library followers can then set up a reminder to join the live broadcast.
You can also set up a Facebook event as a preview to your livestream. If you choose to go this route, be sure to explain that you’ll be going live on your main Facebook page, not within the event.
You can also create organic preview posts. Use an eye-catching graphic or photo and link to your virtual event calendar, where people can register to attend.
Registration for your virtual programs is a great option because it gives your library control over communication. Ask for your potential viewer’s email. Then, send them a reminder to watch from your own email marketing system.
In your reminder email, include other virtual program choices and collection items that compliment your livestream. You should also ask recipients to sign up for other email or newsletter marketing from your library.
Whichever option you go with, be sure to promote your livestream at least two weeks before it happens.
And don’t forget to promote your live program on your other channels, like in your email marketing, on your website’s homepage, or even with fliers or bookmarks that you slip into holds or curbside pickups.
Focus on the conversation
Your promotional efforts don’t end when you hit the “live” button.
Facebook will serve a notification of your live virtual program to people who may be scrolling the news feed while you are live. And the best way to get those notifications to happen is to make sure your audience is having a lively conversation.
To help facilitate the conversation, come up with a list of questions for viewers of your livestream before you go live. If the conversation with viewers lags during your livestream, refer to your list and ask the next question to spark comments again.
Now, that’s hard to do when you’re also the person who is hosting or talking during the livestream! So, ask one of your library co-workers with admin access to your library’s Facebook page to post a comment as the library.
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In this episode, Angela shares a key point learned at the Library Advocacy and Funding Conference, sponsored by EveryLibrary. Presenter Kimberly Solarz Gordan shared three questions to ask yourself that will set your library apart and make your marketing inspirational.
Kudos in this episode goes to National Trust South East for their fun Twitter game of Clue, something I’d love to see a library replicate.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week!
This post is part two in my series on making the most of your virtual conference experience in 2020. If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to read part one here.
Once you close your laptop, the second part of your conference experience begins. It’s time to reflect on what you’ve learned, share with your co-workers and, most importantly, figure out how to put these new ideas into practice at your library.
Here’s a framework you can follow to maximize the value of your virtual conference experience with three important post-conference steps.
Reflect on what you’ve learned
After a virtual conference, you might be tempted to switch your brain off the minute you close your computer. But try to resist the urge to unplug right away. Instead, commit to capturing the insights you’ve learned while they are fresh in your mind.
I usually spend a half hour to an hour at the end of a conference day organizing my thoughts. At an in-person conference, I would return to my hotel, grab an adult beverage from the bar, and head to my room to organize my notes. At home, I schedule “buffer time” into my work calendar to complete this step. Reviewing your notes in detail while they are still fresh in your mind will help you retain the information.
First, copy important names, insights, and ideas into a collaboration tool like Evernote, Trello, a Google doc, or your library’s shared documents drive. Fill in details you may have scribbled down in haste. If you took screenshots, organize them so you can easily identify the presenter and session later.
If the virtual conference organizers are making videos available after the conference ends, go back to the sessions you watched to copy and paste the URLs into your notes. That way, if you want to re-watch them again, you’ll save yourself the time hunting for the right video!
Next, formalize any connections you made with other attendees. Look them up on Twitter and LinkedIn and follow them or send them a connection invite. Include a personalized message so they understand why you are reaching out.
If there were speakers or sessions that really inspired you, send a thank you email to the presenter. As a speaker, I can tell you I really appreciate hearing from attendees, especially when a session inspires them.
Finally, be sure to fill out any post-conference survey. Conference organizers and speakers truly appreciate the feedback.
Share what you’ve learned
At the very least, you’ll want to share what you’ve learned with your boss and your team. But more than likely, your conference learnings contain lessons that everyone at your library could benefit from. So, turn your notes into a short presentation and invite co-workers to watch. My husband does this as a “lunch and learn” for his co-workers.
If you aren’t comfortable doing a “live” presentation, you can record yourself on Zoom, Teams, or WebEx, and share the video (like you do with virtual story times!). Loom is also a great option for recording yourself.
During your presentation, share the top-line things you learned at each session you attended. Tie your findings to your library’s overall strategy. This will help prove the value of your conference attendance to your supervisors. It will also lay the groundwork for when you put your new ideas into practice.
After your presentation, make sure your co-workers have access to the notes you took at the conference using the collaboration tool in step one. Include links to any slideshows, handouts, or screenshots you have.
Put big ideas to work
Here’s where you find the true nuggets that will help your library. I suggest you look through your notes again and organize a new list of action items in categories that correspond with your work.
Tools and technology: List any digital trends and industry advances that your library should act on.
For instance, at the Library Advocacy and Funding Conference, I learned about new software platforms which allow libraries to gather and use data related to their community. I also learned new information about how to increase organic reach on Facebook and Instagram.
If you learn about a new social media platform or about a product that helps you to do a better job at promoting your library, list those in this section. Include the reasons why an upgrade or a change in tools and technology will help your library. Research cost and timetables for implementation.
Content inspiration: List any new creative concepts or topics you think your cardholders would respond to. If you attended a session from someone who shared practical ideas for what to put in your library’s newsletters or how to design print pieces, list those ideas. Then, pull out your editorial calendar and start scheduling!
Productivity and project management: List anything you learned that will help you and your library co-workers to do your job more efficiently.
Maybe you had a Twitter exchange with a fellow attendee whose library has an approval process you wish to imitate. Or maybe you attended a demonstration of a platform like Trello or Asana.
If you learn about new ways to address existing challenges, optimize workflow, or streamline your promotional methods, put those on your list. Your co-workers and supervisors will appreciate any new insight on how to improve efficiency at your library.
Have you changed the way you work at your library because of something you learned at a conference? I’d love to hear about it. Let me know in the comments.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter,Instagram, and LinkedIn.
In this episode, Angela answers a viewer request. “I need help justifying to my people why our organization should have a targeted strategy rather than just ‘will you post this, please?'”
She also shares Kudos with the blog, Ontarian Librarian.
Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.
And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week! Thanks for watching.
For three days this week, more than a thousand library employees took part in the Library Advocacy and Funding Conference, sponsored by EveryLibrary. The organization helps builds support for libraries across the United States. This is the first conference of its kind, designed exclusively to help libraries learn to advocate on the ballot, in the donor arena, and in the hearts of their community.
The conference featured presenters from outside the world of libraries, so attendees got a chance to hear from successful, experienced experts talking about what works in politics and fundraising.
By Wednesday evening, my head was full of new information. Once I finished organizing my notes, I realized that the experts at the conference shared five big ideas specific to library marketing and advocacy. Here is what I learned.
Libraries must target ALL messages
Ashlee Sang, content strategist and copywriter for Ashlee Sang Consulting, said marketing fails when we try to send the same message to all cardholders. You must create marketing that talks to one person, on a level that speaks to their truth, their needs, and their problems.
Sang encouraged libraries to create personas to help with targeting. You can use data like checkouts and holds, as well as in-person interactions at the checkout desk, in the comment section of your social media, and even email, to help you create those personas.
Then, when you create marketing messages, think about targeting those personas. This will help you avoid designing around your own personal biases. Instead, it puts the focus on the people you are trying to serve.
Key quote: “If you create a message for everyone, you are creating a message for no one.”
Your library brand is more than a logo or a color scheme
Anjelica Triola, marketing director for Wethos, wants libraries to understand that your brand is not the colors and fonts that you use. It is the feeling that people get when they think about your library but are not actually in your library or around a librarian. That feeling will lead a cardholder to be an evangelist for the library.
Kimberly Gordon, brand strategist and marketing consultant, added that people crave a library with clear values and a commitment to being good corporate citizens. If your library communicates those two points, you’ll stand out in a positive way and showcase your value.
Gordon pointed out that we are living in a heightened state of emotion (I’m writing this pieces a few hours after the death of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg so that note really resonates with me!). She wanted libraries to remember that your brand represents a promise to your community.
Key quote: “Marketing your brand improves likeability and sets you apart from your competitors. It makes you stand out in a positive way.”–Kimberly Gordon
Librarians connect with their community by finding common ground
Jasmine Worles, trainer for the National Democratic Training Committee, emphasized that the issues that mean the most to library staffers, both on the job and personally, are not unique to you. Other people care about the same issues!
Worles encouraged librarians to talk about why they love the library and why they are passionate about their work. Your “story of self” is the starting place of a connection. It builds genuine relationships and makes you trustworthy and credible.
As a library staffer, you may think that the library is bigger than you or that it’s not about you. But it IS about you.
Key quote: “Tell your story of self all throughout the campaign. It’s the most magical and effective piece of any campaign.”
Diversity should be a part of your library strategy
Kim Crowder runs a consulting firm dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and in marketing. She’s been a guest on this blog before.
Crowder pointed out that diversity is looking at the ways people are different, then celebrating and acknowledging that. It’s not monolithic. And libraries must ask themselves, “How can inclusiveness be centralized in our message on a regular basis?”
She believes libraries must create a strategy about their commitment to inclusiveness and make it available to anyone to see. Crowder asked attendees to be open to feedback, to be willing to be uncomfortable, and to talk about diversity and inclusivity internally, as well as externally.
Key quote: “We all have bias, but we don’t always recognize it. If you fumble, admit your mistake, sincerely apologize, and be authentic in your efforts.”
Libraries should mix content formats for better engagement on Facebook and Instagram
Two representatives from Facebook and Instagram held a joint session with lots of tips for library social media engagement.
They encouraged libraries to share frequently and consistently, especially during important times like the pandemic. They also said the latest research shows a mix of format types (video, carousel images, static images, gifs, etc.) can help boost your page engagement. Avoid one kind of content all the time.
Finally, they encouraged libraries to livestream more often on both platforms, engage more frequently with other pages and profiles, and use Stories on both Facebook and Instagram to share content.
Key quote:“Highlight important announcements, share frequently and consistently, post more frequently during important times, and be informative and timely.”
Did you attend LAFCON? What did you learn? Share your takeaways in the comments.
Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter,Instagram, and LinkedIn.
In this episode, Angela shares the latest metrics on open and click-thru rates for library email marketing and helps you figure out what metrics are good!
She also shares Kudos with the Madison Public Library for their back-to-school teacher button project.
What did you think of this episode? Are you struggling with marketing and promotion right now? Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week!
Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 