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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

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Library Marketing Case Study: How UVU’s Fulton Library Connects with 47,000 Students

Black-and-white photo of a large, historic library interior with multiple balcony levels filled with students looking down. Overlaid text reads, “Academic Library Shares Secret to Connect with Students.”
Photo courtesy Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library

Lauren Tolman learned to read when she was just three years old.

“Books have been part of my life since I was little,” she explains. “My family made weekly trips to our local public library. I tore through Arthur, The Baby-sitters Club, Little House (on the Prairie), and any series I could get my hands on.”

“As a kid, my dream job swung between ‘mermaid’ and ‘librarian.’ The librarians at my local branch sat at this big wooden desk surrounded by paperback spinner racks, and they’d read to kids on carpeted risers. I visited the library again thirty years later… the same desk, the same brown carpet, the same happy library noise.”

Lauren’s first library job was as a shelver. In her 20+ year career, she’s been a page, a story time performer, a clerk, a children’s librarian, and a supervisor. Now, she’s the Communications Specialist in the Marketing Department at Utah Valley University’s Fulton Library. 

Lauren and two other staff members market the library to the school’s 47,000 students. Lauren supervises the department full-time and handles project management, social media, and campus outreach. Her work is complemented by a part-time graphic designer and a part-time copywriter.   

Lauren says the most effective channel for reaching her audience is Instagram. The library appears to have a formula down that works well for their audience. All the videos are short-form with a healthy dose of humor.

The library is also really, really good at putting its own, unique twist on trends, as they did for this video. (You will remember when this song was all the rage on Instagram and TikTok videos!)

And this is an absolutely memorable video to help students remember citation styles!

But beyond social media, Lauren and her staff have other ways to reach students on campus. 

“Our staff is our best ‘channel,’” shares Lauren. “They talk with students constantly through instruction sessions, resource fairs, research help, circulation desk interactions, etc.”

“Students love seeing other students in marketing. We also work with peer mentors, ambassadors, and other student leaders who help share our posts or pass along information to their programs.” 

Recently, Lauren and her team worked through a library campaign refresh with new branding, colors, iconography, and more, called “Find It at the Fulton Library.”

“We aim for a new brand campaign every 3-4 years to keep our image fresh and current for our students,” explains Lauren. “The process can take 6-9 months, as we work with our campus marketing, communications, and photography departments to produce all the materials.”

“They help us with concepts and developing a brand kit with colors, fonts, and more to help maintain a consistent look among all of our deliverables. They also help us with student lifestyle photoshoots, giving us a high-quality photo library to use throughout the next couple of years.”

As you can see, this new brand has a vintage feel, while being fresh and colorful.

But not everything is all fun and games for an academic library looking for promotional success. Like most library marketers, there have been times when the strategiesy Lauren has tried just didn’t land with her audience. 

“I will say I’ve had many disappointments where social media posts or Reels get low engagement,” explains Lauren. “It always seems to be the ones that are really informative or take forever to make that turn out to have the lowest interactions. That can be frustrating, but I try to learn from it. If even one student is helped by the content, that’s great. And there are always other channels to try to share that information!”

To that end, Lauren has some advice for libraries of all sizes and types when it comes to marketing. 

“Get to know your audience, what they care about, where they hang out, what they struggle with. Lead with approachability and benefits. Our audience likes to feel seen and have their problems solved.”

“Track your results, even informally. This will help you figure out your strengths and weaknesses, and the direction your content should go. And don’t be afraid to experiment with types of content, even the casual kind. While we keep our language kind and professional, students love it when we go a little unhinged or use pop culture references in our content.”

Want more help?

From Shelves to Screens: How an Academic Librarian Captures Student Narratives for Library Marketing

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Boost Your Biggest Supporters: Branding and Marketing Advice for Your Friends of the Library Group

Watch this video now

I have a one-question poll I need you to take. Record your answer here.

#LibraryMarketingShow, episode 288

How can a Friends of the Library group successfully spread the word, attract more donations, and recruit new members? They need marketing and branding! But they often don’t have the expertise or budget. So… then what?

This is a very niche episode that you’ll want to send to your friends of the library group!

Plus, we’ll give kudos to a library with a brilliant idea for a simple library storytelling video.

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching! 

P.S.: If you wish, you may download a transcript of this episode.

Miss the last episode? No worries!

Will I see you soon?

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Viewer Question: Are Specialty Logos for Services a Good Idea? Here Are the Pros and Cons.

Watch this video now

#LibraryMarketing Show, episode 261

Does it make sense for your library to have separate logos for your main services? It’s a fascinating question sent in by a viewer. I will give you some things to think about before you create a new logo in this episode of the Library Marketing Show.

Plus we’ll give kudos to a library doing something exciting, educational, and informative this election cycle.

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. And thanks for watching! 

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Miss the last episode? No worries!

Will I see you soon?

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then 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:

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Libraries Have a Huge Competitive Advantage: Customer Service! Here Are 3 Promotional Tips To Drive Home That Message

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

The best customer service experience I ever had was with a cell phone provider. No kidding.

I was having issues getting my contacts to transfer to a new phone. The provider’s website offered no solutions. So, with great trepidation, I called the customer service line.

The woman who answered was a delight to work with. She welcomed me in a friendly manner and assured me she wouldn’t hang up until she’d solved my problem. She was patient with me as I explained my issue. She was friendly, asking me questions about my day as she worked. And she thanked me with sincerity when our call is over.

A successful and delightful customer service interaction is rare. And it’s increasingly difficult for people to contact a human customer service agent. Earlier this year, Vox published a story about the death of customer service lines. Companies like Frontier Airlines, Facebook, and Amazon are cutting costs by eliminating their phone-based customer service lines in favor of email forms and chatbots.

When I read that, I thought, “That’s a huge opportunity for libraries!”

Our community is our customers. And our unique value proposition is that we offer personalized service provided by a real-life person, always.

Library staff is not chatbots. We’re not email forms.

We listen, and we help solve problems. In fact, we’re proud of our problem-solving skills.

So why don’t we spend more time marketing our unique, valuable customer service experience?  

Good customer service is a competitive edge for libraries. We can build a reputation as a warm and inviting space. When was the last time you heard Amazon or Best Buy described in those terms?

Building your library’s reputation for customer service will increase visits and use of your library. And for many of you, that can be valuable in budget and funding discussions.

And delighted community members are more likely to spread the word to their friends and family about our system and the services we provide. They are compelled to talk about us positively on social media, give us great reviews on Google Business, and support our work through donations or volunteerism.  

Here are 3 ways to use your library’s customer service as a marketing tool. Scroll to the bottom of the post for a great real-world example of customer service guidelines for staff from the University of Illinois.

Make it incredibly easy for people to contact you.

Your library’s address, phone number, and email address should be easy to find on our website. I’d recommend adding it to your page’s footer, as well as your “about” section. You might also add a “Contact us” page to your website.

It’s okay to have your contact information in more than one location! Don’t make your community members jump through hurdles to reach you. Remember, your competitive advantage is the ease of using the library.

You must also keep your library’s information updated on Google. And add your contact information to your bio or “about” page on all your social media accounts.

Finally, consider sharing your contact information at the top of your email newsletters, at the beginning of each video you produce, and even at the beginning of each program you hold. A simple statement like, “Our library is here to help you! Ask us any question, anytime by calling 555-5555 or emailing us at questions@mylibrary.org” is sufficient.

And if you do this anytime you interact with a group of community members, over time your concerted and consistent effort to share your contact information will convey the message that your library is a place where community members can seek help.

Promote your library as a place that helps people solve problems.

In your marketing, emphasize that your library is on the community’s side.  

Your promotions should drive the following messages:

  • That your staff works collaboratively with users.
  • That you take your time to listen to problems and find the best solutions.
  • That your community members’ problems are your problems!
  • That you care about the outcome of your interactions. 

One way to do this is to collect stories of the library solving patron problems. You might have to get out of your comfort zone to ask after a casual conversation but it’s worth it. Most people will be more than happy to allow you to use their feedback as a jumping-off point for a story. People love to talk about themselves. Use that to your advantage! 

You’ll likely need to train your staff on how to do this. It sounds complicated, but here is an easy framework for staff to keep in mind.

If you think there is an opportunity for a patron to share a story with you, don’t wait until the end of your interaction to ask. Ask questions when the moment presents itself, even if that’s toward the beginning of your interaction. Listen for the community member to say something like, “Oh that was helpful!” That’s your cue to ask permission from the community member to share the story of your interaction.

Avoid broad questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no, like “Would you recommend the library to friends and family?” or “Did you benefit from our work together?”

Instead, ask the patron specific questions that require a bit of engaging explanation.

  • “What are some reasons you’d recommend the library to your friends and family?”
  • “How is your life different now that you’ve received help from the library?”

When you ask these more specific questions, you’re setting up your patron to offer a bit of narrative and a back story. Remember that hearing more about another person’s journey can help a potential library user visualize the difference their life could have if came to the library for help. 

Look for stories everywhere… in emails to your library, in social media comments or messages, and of course, in person. When you actively look for stories, it will get easier and become second nature.  

Finally, create a story bank. Collected stories have little value if they can’t be molded into something you can. Use whatever technology your budget will allow.

You can keep track of all the major details with a simple spreadsheet in Excel or Google Docs. Some libraries even use Trello, which is free, to gather and share patron stories. 

Promote your staff as problem solvers

Other companies have employees. Libraries have experts who truly care about the work they are doing and the impact they have on the community.

That’s why your staff is one of your most valuable resources. They are what makes your library stand out from your competitors.  Augusta Public Library did this in a fantastic Facebook post.

And when you highlight specific staff, your community members will begin to feel as if they know the employees. They’ll be more comfortable coming into your physical buildings because they’ll recognize the face at the desk or in the stacks. They’ll feel more open about asking you for help!

Bonus: Here is a great set of customer service guidelines for staff from the University of Illinois.

More Advice

You Don’t Have to Choose Between Print and Digital Books: How to Promote Your Collection to Patrons Who Use BOTH Formats

6 Simple Steps to Create the Most Important Asset in Your Library Promotional Arsenal: A Powerful Library Brand Style Guide 

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Paid Partnership for the Win! How a Library System Turned a Holiday Tradition Into an Opportunity To Reach New Library Marketing Goals

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Trenton Smiley’s job in a library is what you might call a full-circle moment.

At the age of 21, Trenton went to the library with his future wife to research careers. While inside the library, he decided to study communications in college.

Years later, he is working in communications for a library, specifically as Director of Marketing and Communications for Capital Area District Libraries (CADL). Located in Lansing, Michigan area, the library encompasses a service area of approximately 230,000 residents.

Every year, CADL does something extraordinary to reach new audiences. Beginning in 2020, the library launched a Christmas Eve Radio Storytime in partnership with 99.1 WFMK, one of the top radio stations in the Lansing market, especially among female listeners. During the holiday season, the station switches to an all-Christmas Music format, which provides a nice fit for storytime.

“We decided to read Clement Moore’s 1837 poem ‘Twas the night before Christmas because it was part of the public domain,” said Trenton. “Each year, we select one of our youth librarians to read the poem over a wonderfully produced music bed (done by the radio station) that also included special sound effects.”

“A holiday greeting from our executive director Scott Duimstra is always included along with a message from a special guest. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared in 2020 and 2022, while a cast member of Disney’s Broadway Show Frozen appeared in 2021 to promote the show, which was coming to our community a couple of weeks after the storytime aired.”

The radio storytime, which is about six minutes in length, aired twice on Christmas Eve. Listeners could also hear the storytime on sister station 1240 WJIM every hour until midnight. To become more inclusive, CADL launched a Spanish version of the storytime which airs on two NPR radio stations and a Spanish podcast owned by WKAR.

The cost is about $500 to air the storytime, but the station helps promote the special through free commercials and placement on the website and social media.

In addition to promotion on the radio, CADL began working with a local TV station WILX TV-10 to promote their reindeer visits and other holiday events.

“In addition to on-air ads, we also run homepage takeovers of WILX.com,” said Trenton. “A homepage takeover allows us to have 100 percent share of voice by using all available ad positions for a 24-hour period. We use this practice often to generate a great deal of web traffic over a short period of time.”

The library has taken that one step further by sponsoring the station’s broadcast of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and 5 More Sleeps Til Christmas. It’s a fantastic opportunity to reach people who never interact with the library.

“The idea to sponsor the holiday block of specials is really based on the homepage takeover concept,” explained Trenton. “We would secure all the available local ad positions during the hour block of holiday specials, which translated to two minutes. We would use this ad time to air 2, one-minute segments featuring a duo of librarians demonstrating a craft that was related to one of the holiday specials.”

It only took one day for the library to receive clearance from station management. The station also offered to help produce the library segments and promotional ads, as well as help create awareness of this special program the week leading up to the air date. It took another hour to shoot the segments and promos for the event.

Trenton said his library had specific goals for this paid partnership: to find ways to share the library experience. Specifically, Trenton had three main goals.

  • Increase marketing reach and frequency. “We focus on a more outward approach to our marketing. The larger pool of people we can engage with the greater chance we have to convert them to users of the library. The same is true of how they are seeing and hearing our messages and content. “
  • Strengthen brand awareness. “These programs provide us with an opportunity to highlight our expertise, create awareness of CADL, and position the library differently in the minds of the viewers and listeners.”
  • Expand promotional inventory. “Creation of programs like these provide CADL with content in which to promote other services and generate sponsorships.”

“Since the specials aired during primetime on Friday evening, December 23, we were confident that there would be a large viewing audience and worthy of the $800 price tag,” shared Trenton. “The total planning time on our part was about an hour.”

The television and radio events were marketed via email, social media, branch digital signage, press releases, a holiday guide, and promos on radio and television stations. “All the tactics helped spread the word about the specials,” said Trenton. “But I favor the digital ones because they provide real-time reporting on engagement.”

And, the partnership was indeed a success. “Based on the audience sizes of both our television and radio programs, we were able to accomplish our goal of increased marketing reach,” shared Trenton.

“Through the partnerships with both the television station and three radio stations, we received free promotional ads which helped with our goals of increased frequency, strengthened brand awareness, and more content in which to use to cross-promote services and use for sponsorships. Discussions have also begun about expanding the number of radio stations airing our special storytime.”

Trenton says his library marketing inspiration comes from the for-profit world including Disney and retail outlets.

He has advice for library marketers looking to leverage events to promote their libraries.“Negotiate from a position of strength,” he said. “Libraries have so much they can leverage including their expertise, content, goodwill, footprint (digital & physical), and customer base.”  

More advice

The One Question Your Library Staff Should Ask Every Single Guest To Unlock Promotional Success!

Building Advocates and Allies: How One Library Marketer Used Storytelling To Improve Promotions and Unify His Library

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Does Your Library Really Understand Your Community? How To Use Emotion To Elevate Your Promotional Impact!

Hit the play button above to watch the video

The Library Marketing​​​​​​​​ Show, Episode 171: In this episode, I’m going to share an example of a marketing campaign from the makers of the game Monopoly.

This campaign uses a very specific technique to get at the emotional motivation for playing the game. What does that have to do with library promotions? Watch the video to find out!

Kudos in this episode go to a group of Alabama libraries.

👏 I do a lot of bragging about libraries. But I can’t see everything everywhere, and I’m certain I’m missing some of the best #LibraryMarketing examples. So I need your help! You can share anonymously if you like. Thank you!

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 weekly video tip for libraries.

Thanks for watching!

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.

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Marketing Done Differently: How To Use the Next Two Months To Build Library Brand Awareness and Affinity

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

My favorite library marketing season is about to begin.

The last two months of the year are when a library marketer must do in-depth work that will strengthen your library’s position for the coming year.

Every other business and competitor will be ramping up their sales and discounts as we go into the holiday season. You may be worried that any promotions your library does will get lost in the shuffle.

You should be worried! According to Sprout Social, your audience receives about 2,477 messages per month from retailers between January through October. But in November and December, that number goes up 13 percent to 2,804 messages per month.

That’s why I advocate pulling back on your “regular” push promotions during the last two months of the year. Instead, you can stand out by doing something different: focus on using this time to create a deeper connection with your community.

You’ll do that by strategically building library brand awareness and affinity.

What are brand awareness and brand affinity?

In its simplest terms, brand awareness is the extent to which your community can recall or recognize your library brand, no matter where they run across it. It means your community members know what you stand for and what you have to offer. Brand affinity, by contrast, is building an emotional connection between your library and your community.

Brand awareness and brand affinity are critically important to your library’s success. We want your community to recognize your content. And we want to create a lasting relationship between your library and your community.

When your library has strong brand awareness and brand affinity, your community members will choose to use your library over your competitors. They’ll recommend your services to friends and family. And they’ll support you with funding and volunteerism.

In fact, a study from eMarketer showed that 64 percent of people cite brand values as the primary reason they have a relationship with a particular brand. (BTW, your library is a brand!)

That’s why it’s crucial to make brand awareness a top priority for your library marketing over the next two months. Here’s how to do that.

Step #1: Inform, educate, and entertain your community.

The most effective way to build brand awareness and affinity is to position your library as a place that adds value to your community. You do this by helping people solve problems. 

For this to work, you’ll spend 8 weeks strategically educating and informing your audiences. This is called content marketing. It’s a strength that libraries have, and we don’t do this kind of marketing often enough.

Create and release a series of tips for your cardholders on how they can use your library to make their lives a little easier during the holiday. Brainstorm a list of ways your library helps ease the rush and craziness of the holiday season. Then decide on a sequence and schedule for releasing those ideas.

Create the promotional collateral to go with it: bookmarks, graphics for your website, email, social media, and short videos. Then, tell your cardholders you’re going to be helping them out this holiday. Reveal your plans and tell them exactly when you’ll be releasing each tip and on what platform. Create excitement and anticipation, then pay it off with your content.

Your tips can include:

  • Ideas for holiday gifts, recipes, and more–especially if they are literary-themed or items in your library of things that can be tested out before they make a purchase.
  • A special phone line or email inbox where you can take questions from community members who need help picking out a gift, cooking a big meal, or figuring out etiquette questions like which fork to use.
  • Curated lists of collection items for decorating, entertaining, wrapping gifts, and cooking.
  • A quick video tutorial on how to use their card to get free access to Consumer Reports.

Step #2: Promote your mission, vision, and values.

Libraries spend so much time marketing what we do that we don’t often talk about why we do it. In fact, I’d argue that we take it for granted that our community members know the importance of our work. So, during your two-month brand awareness and affinity campaign, make it a point to talk and promote your library’s mission, vision, and values.

Have a staff member or patrons (or both) write a blog post on the impact of the library. Here is a great example. Repurpose those stories for social media posts and print pieces like bookmarks featuring quotes from real-life library users.

You can gather patron stories by asking email subscribers to share how your library’s work has impacted their lives. When I worked for the Cincinnati Library, I sent an email to a portion of my cardholder base and asked them to share such a story. Our library received more than 900 responses! I was then able to pick a few of the best stories. Those patrons were more than happy to share them with the world at large.

Step #3: Show the contrast between your library and your competitors.

Start checking your competitors’ websites and ads as soon as they begin their holiday marketing. Figure out what their offers are and how you can counteract those offers with free stuff!

Stark Library, Winnipeg Public Library, Monroe County Public Library, and Brown County Library all are great examples of how this can work.

Step #4: Showcase your staff.

Other companies have employees. Libraries have experts who truly care about the work they are doing and the impact they have on the community.

That’s why your staff is one of your most valuable resources. They are what makes your library stand out from your competitors. Spend the next two months making sure your community understands the value of your staff.

Interview staff about their work, and why they got into this industry. Ask them to share the story of a time when they helped a community member. Then share those stories on your blog, on social media, and in emails. The Lane Library at Stanford University is a great example of how to write a profile.

You can also ask staff members to name their favorite book of the year. Release that as a special end-of-the-year booklist. You can cross-promote these staff picks on your social platforms and include an email message to cardholders. Make sure you ask all staff members to participate… even the cleaning staff!

Step #5: Re-educate your cardholders about all your library has to offer.

Your library should create a series of emails sent to cardholders once a week for the next eight weeks. Those emails will re-introduce your cardholders to the best features of your library. It will inspire them to use their cards again.

To create this campaign, you’ll make two lists. The first will be for the most popular resources at your library. This could include things like your Makerspace, popular storytimes, laptop terminals, or your extensive e-book collection.

Next, make a list of your library’s hidden treasures. These may be items or services that you know will solve problems for your community. This list should include things that are unique to your library, like online Homework Help, your small business resources, your vast historical resources, or your Library of Things.

Finally, look at the two lists you’ve created and narrow your focus. You want to highlight the best and most helpful things at your library without overwhelming your recipients. Choose to promote one resource from your list of popular items and one from your list of hidden library treasures for each of the emails you send.

More Advice

The Top Four Reasons To Use Content Marketing To Promote Your Library on Every Platform

Feeling Overworked? There’s a Secret Trick to Get More Mileage Out of Your Library Marketing Content!

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Perfection Fatigue Is Good News for Your Library! What Millennial & Gen Z Patrons Really Want ⬇️

The Library Marketing​​​​​​​​ Show, Episode 157

In this episode, I want to share some good news for libraries about something called Perfection Fatigue.

This is the idea that people don’t want to see your library in its most perfect form. They’re looking for something much more authentic. And that’s good news for libraries! I’ll explain why.

Kudos in this episode go to Escanaba Public Library. Watch the video to see why they’re being recognized.

Do you have a suggestion for a topic for a future episode? Want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know in the comments.

Subscribe to this series to get a new weekly video tip for libraries.

Thanks for watching!

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.

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Branding for Your Library: Stand Out From the Crowd With Smart, Strategic Placement of Your Brand

Watch the Episode Now

The Library Marketing​​​​​​​​ Show, Episode 150

In this episode, we will answer a viewer’s question.

Margaret Luedke is Programs and Marketing Coordinator at Juneau Public Library in Juneau, AK. She writes, “I am new to library marketing and do not have a marketing background. My library did not have a marketing plan or brand style guide when I started so I am working to develop them now. I’ve found your guides on both topics very helpful! I wanted to ask though, how far do you suggest we take our branding?”

Kudos in this episode go to the winners of the Library Science Tuition Scholarship in Kentucky.

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!

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, enter your email address and click on the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page.

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