You may have noticed, but QR codes are everywhere these days. A new report has just been released, packed with information on how to use QR codes to enhance your library’s marketing effectiveness.💡 So…
I’m going to share that new data with you in this episode of the Library Marketing Show! Plus, we’ll give kudos to a library with a brilliant strategy for sharing stories of connection and library impact.
Do you have a suggestion for a future episode’s topic? Do you want to nominate someone for kudos? Let me know here. Thanks for watching!
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Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Where I live, the air is thick and humid right now, the fault of something called “corn sweat.” That’s the process of corn plants releasing moisture into the atmosphere through transpiration, similar to how humans sweat. My friend from my TV days, meteorologist John Gumm, says the corn crop in my area is releasing billions of gallons of water daily. Fun, right?
To cool off, I swim laps at the local YMCA. And underwater, I have a lot of time to think. Lately, I’ve been using that time to figure out how to help my library friends prepare for what will come when the weather turns cooler.
In the United States, the full ramifications of the loss of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and its funding will hit in September. For libraries in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, funding cuts and intellectual freedom challenges are making work more difficult and threatening the core mission of libraries.
Longtime readers may already know that I’m not the kind of person who says, “There’s nothing I can do about it” very often. Action is how I deal with my anxiety. So, here’s the plan of library marketing action for the coming months.
The Big Problems We Face
Library marketers face a lot of obstacles. But in the coming months, the big threats are:
Decline or elimination of funding for libraries, which leads to…
No money for marketing or promotions, which impacts the effectiveness of our marketing, making it seem like marketing is no longer valuable. That often leads to…
Hiring freezes or the elimination of dedicated library marketing staff, which leads to…
Less use of the library, which leads to…
More funding cuts and library closures.
We do not want to get caught in that vicious circle.
What Library Marketers Need to Do
1. Lead with your value.
As we face the prospect of shrinking budgets and rising scrutiny, your library’s value must be front and center. And you must create a plan that communicates that value clearly and consistently, not just during certain times of the year like Library Works Week or National Book Month, but all year long.
Use every channel you have to reinforce how your library improves lives. Share patron success stories, promote your most-used services, and highlight how your library supports literacy, learning, and community connection.
2. Focus on the most cost-effective promotions.
We still have a good many low-cost, high-impact channels for promotions. But focus is the key.
This fall, I want my library marketing friends to spend their time and precious money on the following:
Email marketing: This is still one of the most effective tools for engagement. Targeted, opt-in messages are the most effective means of communication, with no algorithm to circumvent. So, get a plan together to grow your subscriber list now. And, as you put your emails together, think of them as a conversation between you and your audience. Try to keep your messages short and enticing. And offer your email recipients a way to email you back with feedback and questions. It will make them feel valued, and that feedback will make your messages stronger and more effective.
Collection marketing: Books are the heart of what you do. And we know most people come to the library for the collection. Don’t shy away from books! They’re your brand. Promote your books, databases, and digital resources through curated lists, displays, and themed promotions.
Strategic partnerships: Work with local organizations to amplify your reach without spending more money. Partnerships can take time to cultivate, but the investment is worth it. Your partners can strengthen your library’s offerings and give you access to audiences you’ve never reached before.
Organic social media: I put this last because of my mixed feelings about it. Social media effectiveness overall is declining. But posts that tell stories, highlight staff, or have some kind of interactive element like a poll or question, do boost visibility. So don’t use your social media accounts to highlight programs. I know that’s going to be upsetting to some readers, but the data shows it doesn’t work. Instead, think of your social media as an effective way to build relationships and reinforce your library’s personality.
3. Make it easy for new users to engage.
The moment someone signs up for a library card is critical for library marketing. It’s your first chance to make a good impression and use that person’s “new cardholder” status to convert them to a lifelong fan! You should:
Create a “New Here?” section on your website with the same information as the email series.
In those emails and on that website section, highlight services that are easy to access and immediately useful, like eBooks, streaming movies or music, or personalized reading recommendations.
4. Empower your front-line staff.
Your staff are your best ambassadors. Train them to talk about services, recommend materials, and encourage sign-ups for newsletters or events. Give them talking points so they can highlight personalized services like readers’ advisory, chat reference, and book bundles. These human touches build loyalty and word-of-mouth buzz and reinforce the message that your library is filled with helpful people.
5. Track what matters — and act on it.
No more excuses… stop doing what doesn’t work, even if it’s something you’ve always done. That means:
If your supervisor pushes back, ask them to message me. Seriously.
6. Experiment.
All marketing is an experiment. And some people shy away from experimentation during tough times. But now is the perfect time to try innovative approaches!
Try sending your videos in an email to see if you get more views.
Launch a blog or podcast.
Pilot a new format for your newsletter.
Test a new tone or voice in your messaging.
7. Streamline your approval process.
If internal red tape is slowing you down, advocate for a more efficient workflow. There are a lot of things you can do to make the approval process less painful,
Use templates to speed up content creation.
Set clear deadlines and expectations.
Build trust with leadership by showing how faster approvals lead to better results.
What are you doing to prepare your library and yourself for the challenges ahead? Let me know in the comments.
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Did you know there are seven things that you can learn by taking a marketing survey? I believe library marketers should be taking surveys from brands and companies because you can learn a lot about how to survey!
I’m going to share some tips with you and why I think it’s really important to take those surveys in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus, we’ll give kudos to a library that received press attention for a unique outreach program.
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!
Subscribe to this blog, and you’ll receive an email whenever I post. To do that, enter your email address. Then, click the “Follow” button in the lower left-hand corner of the page. You can also follow me on the following social media platforms:
It goes against conventional wisdom, but your library’s newsletter might perform better if you send it on a weekend!
In this episode of The Library Marketing Show, we’ll discuss this, and I’ll give you three reasons why I think you should experiment with weekend emails.
Plus, we’ll give kudos to an individual library marketer profiled in their local newspaper.
And I have a favor to ask:
NoveList is doing a market survey on how libraries handle professional development training. Would you be willing to take the survey? It should take five minutes or less. Thank you!!
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!
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:
We know that it’s very important to strike the right tone with our library marketing and promotions. But when you’re creating a social media post, a flyer, or an email, how do you ensure your message resonates appropriately with your audience?
I have a little trick I’m going to show you in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus, I’m giving kudos to a library that was mentioned on the Kelly Clarkson show!
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!
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:
Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Kelly Rembert grew up in rural Wisconsin but went to Detroit after college.
“Growing up, I visited the library regularly but never thought of working there,” confesses Kelly. “I loved the books and looking at the displays. In college, I studied journalism and German. ”
“After college, I was working as a secretary at a bank ‑ which wasn’t for me – and read an article about how a bunch of librarians would be hitting retirement age soon. It was a lightbulb moment. I realized that I like working with people and I like books, so I enrolled in library school a few weeks later at Wayne State University.”
Kelly now works as an Outreach Librarian for Southfield Public Library, which is located in a suburb of Detroit. The library has an individual location serving 80,000 residents.
Kelly started soon after the ribbon was cut on a new building, some 21 years ago. She’s part of the Community Outreach department, which oversees the library’s marketing, promotion, exhibits, and large programs. In addition to Kelly, the department has a full-time intern, a part-time graphic artist, and a part-time assistant.
One day, Kelly was attending a webinar when she got a big idea for a publicity campaign called 30 Days of Savings.
“I wanted a way to call attention to all the great things the library can do to help save patrons money and time, especially with the high inflation cutting into our paychecks. We decided to highlight one library program or service each day.”
-Kelly Rembert
“We came up with ideas and taglines. We fought against our wordy librarian tendencies and kept the tagline short and simple.”
“We highlighted services that fit the day. For example, Election Day was ‘Learn from History: Study the Past to Define the Future.’ The Saturday after Thanksgiving was ‘Stream Movies: Save on Streaming’, where we highlighted free movies on Hoopla and Kanopy.”
Though the planning process began in June, the library decided to launch 30 Days of Savings in November. They put all the information into a spreadsheet which included the message idea, the tagline, and the URL to be used by patrons.
From there, the library’s graphic artist produced graphics to use in print, on the website, and on social media.
In October, Kelly and her team created the website, got all the social media posts scheduled, and printed out signs and a large calendar. Before they knew it, it was November, time to launch the campaign!
“First thing each morning, the savings of the day were posted on Facebook and Instagram and highlighted on our website,” explains Kelly. “The savings item was also added daily to a large calendar located in our lobby. A special e-newsletter was sent at the beginning of the month to highlight the 30 Days of Savings program, and the daily savings items were featured in our weekly e-newsletters.”
“Information about the campaign was also sent to our local schools and some of them shared it with their students. Additionally, we sent out information to our elected officials and key community contacts and it was featured in the weekly Lathrup Village e-newsletter, which is our contract community.”
The month passed quickly and soon it was December. Kelly and her team were eager to analyze the results of their campaign.
“We looked at our statistics to find out if the campaign was a success,” says Kelly. “We compared our web views in October, before the campaign, to our numbers in November and each page view went up. The 30-day webpage was viewed over 1,300 times and we had almost 1,600 clicks from our e-newsletters.”
Putting the campaign together took thought and planning but no outright costs. Since the parameters are now set up, continuing the program will be easy.
“We plan to repeat this each April and November,” comments Kelly. “We will highlight the services we didn’t fit into November and repeat some programs and services again. This is a great way to draw attention to some of our lesser-known services.”
She gives your library full permission to replicate the 30 Days of Savings.
“I hope that other libraries will gain inspiration from this and put their own spin on it,” declares Kelly. “What benefits one library benefits us all.”
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:
Does your library send a monthly email newsletter? If so, do you send your newsletter on the first day of the month?
I want you to really think about that strategy, and I have some pros and cons for you to consider when you send your library’s monthly newsletter. We’re going to talk about that in this episode of The Library Marketing Show.
Plus, I’m giving kudos to a library that created a special, memorable video to celebrate a big milestone.
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!
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:
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:
We’re going to start the new year out right! There are six common mistakes that I see libraries making in their marketing. In this episode of The Library Marketing Show, we will talk about how you can avoid them this year.
Plus, we’ll give kudos to a library that wrote a fun holiday survival guide and published it in the local newspaper.
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!
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:
