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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

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How to Tackle Library Signage in a Pandemic and Make Visitors Feel Comfortable With Your New Rules

Photo Courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Has your library physically reopened?

I am collecting the reopening experiences of library staff members of all levels. Whether your library is now doing curbside or drive-thru service, books by mail or in-person interactions, how are you, your coworkers, your supervisors, and your patrons handling new reopening restrictions? All comments are anonymous. I may use your comments in a future episode of the Library Marketing Show or a future blog post. Thank you in advance.

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Thank you for your response. ✨

When the pandemic forced libraries around the world to close their physical buildings, there was one major library marketing tactic that instantly became obsolete… signage. Suddenly, all the effort we put into the size of the sign, its design, and its placement vanished.

In my days working at a public library, signage was the most common marketing request from my fellow library staffers. It was a big deal. Everyone wanted a sign or a poster for their program. They wanted to put their sign in as many locations as possible.

When COVID-19 forced libraries to close, library marketing abruptly shifted to digital tactics. But now, as libraries move toward reopening, the debate over signage has returned to professional groups and library staff discussions. Signage is now crucial for communicating new rules about mask-wearing, social distancing, and time limits within physical library spaces.

In the old days, I would have encouraged staff to use less signage and do more talking with patrons. That’s not possible right now.

But we can still think strategically about how we place our signage, how it is designed, and how much of it we use. Here are some tips for planning your signage as your library moves toward reopening physical spaces.

Place the most important signs at the entrance, along with a staff member. My favorite neighborhood grocery store is small, like many library branches. I’ve been studying their signage and customer service model during the pandemic, and I think it is easily transferable to the library world.

The grocery store has a sign at the entrance informing patrons they must wear a mask and maintain social distance. They also have one masked staff member who stands six feet from the door, rain, or shine. This staff member points out the sign and ask the customer if they have any questions.

It’s incredibly simple but effective. It gives customers a chance to ask questions in a safer location–the exterior, where there is better ventilation and where it is easier to practice social distancing. It reduces staff interaction inside the store. Libraries might consider following this model to ensure that everyone entering the branch understands the expectations.

Map out your visitor’s journey through your branch. You’ll want to make it easy for people to understand how to get to your key service points while following the new social distancing rules. To do that, draw a bird’s eye view of your space. Then map out how you want people to move.

Walk the path yourself several times, noting where you need to put signs to maintain traffic flow. At each sign location, note how much space you have to work with and the color of the surface background. Do you need posters? Do you need laminated signs? Will you need plexiglass holders? Will you need double-sided tape? Then gather your supplies, make your signs, and place signage to facilitate a smooth flow of traffic.

Keep the map and the signage plan in a location where all staff can access it, so anyone can replace a sign when needed.

Create signs to make first-time visitors feel more at ease. Though the new rules may seem clear to you, or even to regular patrons, don’t underestimate the confusion your first-time visitors may experience. Some people will be unfamiliar with where to go or what to do when they arrive at your branch. Simple instructions such as, “Check out this way” or “Return Books Here” can make the difference between smooth traffic flow and potential bottlenecks.

Use color coding. Maybe you already have a color-coding system that your customers are familiar with. Use those colors as part of your new reopening signage to make your visitors feel at home in your library. Color coding of signage can be especially helpful in libraries with many departments and several floors of service.

If you don’t use color coding, pick a universally familiar scheme like red, yellow, and green to create a sense of direction within your branch. Use consistent color-coded signage from the entrance of your branch right through to the checkout to keep the flow of patrons going and minimize questions.

Use icons. Icons are common symbols that everyone can understand. Use icons with your text-based signage to make the new rules easy to interpret for everyone.

Use your digital signage. Libraries often use their digital signs to promote programs and collections. But you can also use those displays to communicate your new reopening restrictions.

Digital signage might also be used to encourage people to use an alternative service method like a drive-thru at a nearby branch. Post your new open and closing hours or updated information about the wait time to use a computer on your digital signage.

Don’t forget to use digital signage to help visitors understand the value of your library. A slide that demonstrates the online services your library provided during the pandemic will help your visitors to understand that your library staff was working even when your building was closed.

Be flexible. You may have done all your homework and put together an amazing signage plan. But it’s hard to predict every situation. None of us know exactly how people will interpret your signage until they enter your branch. Be ready to make changes to your plan to solve customer flow problems.

Related Help

Tips for Dealing With Angry Patrons When Your Library Reopens

Seven Cheap and Clever Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide and Promote Your Library to People Who Don’t Have Internet Access

Latest Book Reviews

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson.

Westering Women by Sandra Dallas

Find more 60-second Book Reviews here.

Have a topic suggestion for Super Library Marketing?

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3

Seven Cheap and Clever Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide and Promote Your Library to People Who Don’t Have Internet Access

 

If I had a nickel for every time I was asked, how do we promote our library to people who don’t have internet access or who choose to live offline?, I’d be a rich woman.

This problem has always plagued libraries. By nature, our services are needed most by those who struggle with economic disadvantage. And it’s a huge concern of many librarians right now. Some libraries in the United States are reopening their physical buildings and returning to services involving in-person interaction with patrons, like curbside pickup or drive-thru windows. But there seems to be no way to make sure our offline community members know we have returned to service.

I’ve always been a fan of digital marketing because it’s targeted, effective, and easy. The problem of reaching people who don’t have access to Wi-Fi and will never see those messages has always bothered me.

What’s a library to do?

I decided to stop letting it bother me. It’s time to solve the problem. 

Prepping for promotion

First, concentrate on your core message. If you only had 10 seconds to tell someone about your library’s reopening, what would you say? Boil your message down to the most important points. Then create a few, highly focused and easy-to-deliver print pieces to carry that message. Good choices are a bookmark, a quarter-sheet flier, and a postcard. These will be your library’s main promotional vehicles for non-digital marketing efforts.

Second, adopt an outreach attitude. Many libraries are hesitant to market themselves. They worry they are intruding. They don’t want to seem pushy or salesy. They are convinced their promotional efforts will be viewed as “spam”.

You are not spam. You are not intruding. You are not selling a product. You are promoting a service that is free and necessary. 

Your community is already paying for library services in some form or fashion. They need to know what they’re paying for. They need to know how you can help them. They are grateful to learn how to access the services they are funding.

It’s more important than ever to promote your library. We need to make sure, at the very least, that our community understands what we do and why our work is important. So, make a commitment to banish humility! Don’t be timid!

Now, here are seven relatively cheap, yet clever ideas for promoting your library. And they all have nothing to do with the internet.

Non-digital promotional tactics

Mail your postcard. If you have the budget, now is a good time to try mailing your postcard to people in your community. Start with your patrons. And if you have leftover money, a mailing house can help your library secure addresses for people who are not patrons.

In some U.S. states, your library can request a list of voter addresses from the Board of Elections for free. You can reach people who aren’t library patrons but who are registered voters, legally and cheaply.  

Canvass. Adapt this political campaign strategy for library awareness! Distribute your printed piece door-to-door.

Now, I know it’s time-consuming but it’s also effective. In my former job at a large metropolitan library, our outreach librarians went to apartment complexes and hung door hangers with information about the library. Door hangers are relatively cheap. If you can’t spring for them,  slip your postcard into screen doors. This is a great job for libraries looking for ways to keep their staff busy. And, of course, you will reach people who have forgotten the library or who have never interacted with the library.

Buy a print ad. Many newspapers will give your library a discount on ad space. Try to use your limited space to the full advantage. Use a catchy graphic to draw the eye.

Put your partnerships with local businesses and other non-profit organizations to use. Ask partner organizations to distribute a bookmark or some other kind of small print promotional piece to their visitors. Ask local businesses, like restaurants, to include a small promotional piece in their takeout bags. Ask local realtors and rental agencies to give your promotional piece to prospective homeowners or new renters. Give some of your print pieces to day care providers, teachers, summer camps, and recreational centers. Seek the help of any business or organization with a physical location that is open in some capacity and ask them to distribute your material to people who use their services.

Place signs outside your building. A banner in your front yard or a sidewalk sign can help spread the word to people in the neighborhood. There are lots of online stores that will sell you weather-proof signage for a reasonably cheap price.

Pitch to the media. Despite what you may see on the news right now, journalists are always looking for good news stories. And your library offering services is good news. Try pitching to individual reporters. Keep THEIR audience in mind and make sure you point out how a story about your library will be beneficial to their audience.

And be helpful. If they need photos but can’t make it over to your branch, offer to provide some. Have staff members who are comfortable on camera at the ready to deliver soundbites to local TV news crews. You might even offer to write a piece for your community paper. Free press is a great form of marketing.

Call patrons. I spoke to some librarians this week who called people to let them know that their library had reopened. They clearly identified themselves at the beginning of the call and asked permission to proceed with the call. If the receiver said “yes”, the library staffer proceeded to relay the information about their library’s new hours and service requirements and asked the receiver if they had any questions. Like canvassing, this is a time-consuming tactic, but it may be necessary in a community without internet access.

Related Help

Email vs. Social Media: Which is Better for #LibraryMarketing Right Now?⚔️

Marketing is Not a Dirty Word! Why Libraries Need to Promote Themselves Now, More Than Ever

Latest Book Reviews

You Don’t Look Your Age and Other Fairy Tales by Sheila Nevins.

Postscript by Cecelia Ahern.

The Familiars by Stacey Halls.

Find more 60-second Book Reviews here.

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.  

8

Your Library is Reopening: How to Communicate New Rules to Your Staff and the Public During a Pandemic

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

What is your #1 library marketing worry or concern right now?

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Thank you for your response. ✨

In many parts of the United States, library boards and senior staff have decided to reopen in the next few weeks. My social media feeds are filled with posts from library staff airing concerns over a return to “normal” library duties.

The plans vary. But it appears that most institutions are slowly phasing in services. Some libraries are doing curbside only. Some are opening drive-thrus. And some are fully allowing patrons back inside their physical buildings. 

When your library settles on what to do, it will be your job to let your staff and community know what’s happening. This week, I spent a lot of time compiling the best advice I could offer to help you communicate a library reopening during a pandemic.

As you know, communicating is SO important. Your staff, your regular customers, and your community need to know what you are doing and what changes you are making to keep them safe. They will need you to say it more than once. And they will need time to digest all this information.  

A guide to communicating your library’s new policies

It starts with the staff. So many libraries think about customer communications first and forget that staff need to know what is happening. If your library is contemplating reopening, be open and honest with your staff about all aspects of what that will entail. Ask for feedback and listen respectfully to staff concerns and ideas. Adjust your plan where you can.

And expect pushback. It’s uncomfortable. People are scared. And there are members of your staff who will be vocal about their disapproval. If you are a library leader, find ways to address the concerns of staff. The Library Management Group on Facebook is a helpful resource for advice from other managers.

When sharing news with your community, use all your tactics. Create a page on your website where you put all your re-opening information. Link to it from your homepage and, for the time being, in the bio of all your social media accounts.

Make a video, or several videos, to explain the changes. If your library has accounts on multiple social media platforms, use all of them to tell people about your plans. And make your re-opening plans the exclusive focus of a social media live event. You can really build excitement and interest by publicizing the livestream where you’ll unveil the plans and take direct questions from the audience in the comments or chat.

Send emails to your community and patrons. Ask community partners to help share information about your reopening. Finally, pitch your reopening as a story to your local media. 

Create one core message and repeat it. You are going to have to say the same things and repeat the same information before the changes sink in.

Remember the Marketing Rule of 7? People need to hear a message seven times before they are compelled to take an action. It applies in this instance. And, with the vast amount of information coming at them from various sources, your community may need MORE than seven messages to fully grasp your library’s new service requirements. 

For maximum effect, settle on a few sentences as your core message or talking points. Repeat those on all your channels.

For social media, post your message at varying times of the day to make sure that it’s seen by as many followers as possible. Add your message to all your email marketing campaigns. Ask staff to practice your message as talking points so they can deliver a consistent answer when they receive questions from people at the desk, at the door, or by phone. Add the message to your holds slips and receipts. Add your message to videos. If you do live virtual events, ask staff to repeat the message before they go into their main program. 

It’s going to seem redundant to you. But a consistently repeated messaging campaign works.

But don’t overwhelm people. I received a reopening email from a library this past week with no less than 18 calls to action! It was overwhelming. And I didn’t click on any of them.

Don’t make that mistake. The services you provide are going to be different for different people. If you can break your messages up by audience, do so. And instead of sending one message with EVERYTHING in it, send two or three messages containing your core talking points, plus two to three details that pertain to a targeted audience. Your readers will be better able to digest and retain the information.

Use your signage wisely. I know many libraries are putting a good deal of information on their signage to keep interactions with the public to a minimum. But remember that too much signage will look crowded, cluttered, and overwhelming to your patrons. Take some time to plan where you’re place signage, and what they will say, for maximum effect.

Don’t forget to keep stakeholders and legislators in the loop. It’s important to send regular updates about what your library has been doing during the shutdown and what it is doing now as it plans to resume physical service. Highlight the many ways your collection was used even when your building was closed.

Legislators love numbers… so check your library statistics for use of digital resources. Point out trends. Show how your library helped the community cope with the stresses of the shutdown. 

Why is this so important? Right now, we must send the message that the library is always valuable. A time is coming when the economic crisis caused by this pandemic will lead to budget cuts. We need to do everything we can on the front side of this crisis to save as much of our funding as possible. And that starts now, with communication. 

Resources to help you deal with reopening

Self-Care for Library Social Media Staff in the Midst of a Crisis like #COVID-19

Don’t Stop Communicating! Tips for Handling Library Promotion Overload During a Crisis

Libraries and Social Media Facebook Group

Libraries Step Up in a Time of Crisis Facebook Group

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1

Marketing is Not a Dirty Word! Why Libraries Need to Promote Themselves Now, More Than Ever

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Back in February, I had the great pleasure of attending and speaking at the Edge 2020 conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. While there, I heard from librarians across the United Kingdom as they shared stories about the fantastic work happening in their libraries. You can now see video of all the sessions on their web page.

Scott Simpson, Head of Library & Information Services, and Paul Martin, Systems Development & Support Officer, East Renfrewshire, discussed their library’s program, “Do Your Bucket List at Your Library.” Attendees can visit places they’ve always wanted to see, pretty much anywhere in the world, using a VR headset and guidance from a library staffer. Simpson and Martin told us that many older people use VR to revisit places they haven’t seen in years or to show their families where they grew up.

I think this is brilliant. And marketable. And I said so on Twitter.

That’s when this back and forth happened.

The discussion has been on my mind ever since. I thought about it last week, when I recorded an episode of The Library Marketing Show about the need for libraries to keep communicating their value. I want to expand on that point.

The debate surrounding the word “marketing” in libraries is not new. When I worked for a large metropolitan public library system, my department was often met with skepticism or wary looks from librarians.

Most staffers wanted me to promote their programs and events. But many told me they felt weird or icky about promoting the non-program library work, like the collection or summer reading or homework help or online resources.

Library staff was more than happy to talk one-on-one about how great their library was. But there was something off-putting about loudly proclaiming the value of the library in mass library promotions.

Frankly, we must get over it. We must stop being humble. We must talk more about the work we do in our libraries, as loudly as we can, to as many people as will listen. Our very existence depends on it.

I don’t mean to be overly dramatic. But I am deeply worried about the future of libraries.

Marketing is not a dirty word. The importance of library marketing is the reason I started this blog five years ago. It is my mission to help library staff communicate their value to the public.

I love the library industry. I truly believe that libraries are the key to building a fair, educated, and empathetic society.

We’re not very good at marketing libraries, to be honest. In 2018, OCLC released this report on the marketing approach of public libraries in the United States. According to the data, 96 percent of US libraries said they use social media. I bet that number is much higher now. 70 percent send emails (also probably higher now, due the pandemic).

Here is the bad news. At the time of this report, only 40 percent of public libraries had a communications strategy. Only 17 percent said their strategy was current.

Why?  75 percent of libraries say they don’t have the necessary staff resources to do marketing. They don’t even have a marketing professional on their staff. That’s a big red flag, my friends.

I’ve been frustrated by the lack of focus on library marketing for years. But now, amid a pandemic, when library buildings are closed and when libraries face imminent budget cuts, it’s become a serious problem.

Many library staffers make an assumption that the community knows what they do in the library. But I am certain your community does not know the full extent of your impact.

They don’t know how you help craft the resume of the single parent looking to get a better job so he or she can provide a better future for their family. They don’t see how you help a terrified cancer patient research the latest treatment option. They don’t have any idea that you provide after-school homework help or teach young children to love reading. They don’t have a clue that your building is the only safe space a teenager has to hang out. They don’t know that the library is sometimes the only place where a child in their community gets a meal. Heck, half the time, they don’t realize you have eBooks.

It’s important to talk about all your work–loudly, openly, and all the time. It’s more than pride. It’s survival.

If you educate your community about the work of your library, it’s going to be painful for leaders to make budget and staff cuts. Your community will come to defense if they understand the loss that those cuts will mean for their community.

This is a change in mindset for libraries. This is not something that you’ll talk about once at a staff meeting and forget it. This is something we need to do every day, without fail.

Now is the time to make marketing one of the main focal points of your library’s outreach. It’s our duty to advocate for our own professional services and expertise.

Your patrons don’t want you to remain neutral. They want you to take a stand.

If your library isn’t centered on marketing, you might well face more problems than just getting people to your programs.

The very survival of your library depends on marketing.

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4

Butts in Seats: Which Video Metrics Count as Attendance in the New World of Virtual Library Programming?

Photo Courtesy the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

This week’s post is inspired by a question on the Libraries and Social Media Facebook page. A library staff member asked this: “We’re being asked to track the virtual ‘butts in seats’ numbers for each of our programs and also how many views each get in the first hour. I can’t for the life of me find that in insights.”

Analytics on views for videos, both live and pre-recorded, are measured differently by each platform. So, tracking actual attendance can be confusing and time intensive. But it is valuable data.

I have done some research this week to find updated information about how to track video views on the platforms where most libraries are posting video and doing live stream programming: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Special note: Libraries are also using Instagram for live streaming and video views. However, analytics for videos on Instagram are nearly impossible to track. My advice is limited by that fact.

What counts as attendance?

Before you begin analyzing video views on any platform, you’ll want to establish what will count as attendance to a virtual programming. It may be easiest to align your library’s definition of what counts as video attendance with the way each platform measures a video view.

Most platforms based their metrics on someone viewing a very short portion of your video, not the whole thing. That sounds like good news. But, like an email open rate or a social media follower count, the simple video view is vanity metrics. We want our videos to impact our community. We need to push our definition of video program attendance into deeper territory.

You’ll also want to consider whether your library will use a different metric to measure the number of people who attend a live stream virtual program versus a pre-recorded video. My recommendation is to track both numbers separately. This will give you a sense of whether your followers prefer live streaming over pre-recorded video.

When you live stream, you can see right away how many people are “attending” your event. When you finish your live stream on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll have the option of saving your video to your device. Always do that.

Then, you’ll be asked if you want to upload your live stream recording to the platform for on-demand views. You should do that too!

As soon as you end your live stream, Facebook and Instagram both tell you right away the number of people who viewed your live stream. Then you’ll need to decide how often you check the on-demand views of your live stream. You’ll also need to decide how long will you track the on-demand views on each live stream recording.

Make these decisions now so you can consistently report the attendance and compare metrics on videos to see which ones perform best. If you have one type of video program that does well, you should offer more of that!

Once you decide what will count as attendance by one person on each platform, you’re ready to start recording your views. If you are using a social media scheduling platform, this will be easy. Most scheduling platforms have a video performance section that will help you analyze your views. If you can’t find it, go to the “Help” section of your platform. You should also check your scheduling platforms help section to get more information about how they gather those metrics.

If you don’t have a social media scheduling platform, you’ll check the video views on each platform. Here’s how to do that.

Facebook: Go to your library’s page. At the top, under the general Facebook search bar, you’ll see “Insights.” Click on that. Then scroll down the menu on the left side of the page until you see “Videos.” Click on that.

Instagram: You can see how many people viewed your live stream after it’s finished. If you post your live stream to your stories, you can see how many people viewed it. Be sure to check it before the end of your 24 hour period, because it will disappear! If you upload a video to IGTV, you can see how many people viewed the video, but there are no further analytics. You cannot track video views for videos posted to your normal Instagram feed.

Twitter: Go to Google and type “Twitter Analytics.” If you are logged into your library’s Twitter account, the URL will automatically populate with your library’s analytics. At the top of the page, to the right of the Twitter logo, you’ll see the word “More” and a drop-down menu. Click on the arrow to find “Videos.”

YouTube: Go to your channel. Click on YouTube Studio, then Video Analytics.

Side note: You can see my latest book review did not do very well on YouTube. I am comforted by the fact that it was gangbusters on Facebook. And that’s a lesson too. Different videos will work better on different platforms. You’ll learn how to pair a video to a platform by tracking video analytics.

The top three video metrics to track

#1-Video Views

Facebook and Instagram: a view is counted anytime someone watches your video for at least three seconds.

Twitter: a view counts if someone watches at least two seconds. Additionally, at least 50 percent of the tweeted video must be visible on screen to be registered as viewed. This rule is to account for the auto-play function.

YouTube: a view is counted anytime someone watches your video for at least 30 seconds.

#2-Watch Time

Facebook reports this metric in insights and calls it “minutes viewed.”

Instagram, as far as I can tell at this writing, does not report watch time. (BOO!)

Twitter reports minutes watched under the “video details” of every video you publish on the site. In addition, they have a cool graph that tells you how long the average viewer watches your video. This is reported in quarter percentages. You’ll also get the completion rate, or the percentage of viewers who watched your video from start to finish.

YouTube will tell you the average total watch time for every video you create.

Let’s say you post a 10-minute video on YouTube. You might have 500 views, which means 500 people watched at least the first 30 seconds. Then you’ll have an average watch time of say, 5:33, which means most people watched at least five minutes and 33 seconds of your video.

YouTube prioritizes videos with high watch times in its viewing suggestion algorithm.

I can tell you from my own experience posting The Library Marketing Show to YouTube each week that it’s rare for someone to watch an entire video from start to finish. I challenge myself every week to improve my watch time.

#3-Engagement

As always, you want to record likes, comments, and shares of your videos, as you would with other social media posts. These metrics can tell you how many people were compelled to act based on your video. You can help boost these numbers by actively asking your viewers to like, comment, and share.

Shares are the most important engagement metric, because that means someone liked your online program so much, they wanted their friends and family to enjoy it too.

You might also want to read these⬇️

Videos Can Reach Library Users at Home Now and in the Future. Here’s Your Starter Kit.

The New Guide to Library Marketing Social Media for 2020! Part Four: Maximizing YouTube for Video Plus What About Tumblr, Snapchat, and TikTok?

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.  

8

The Complete List of Free Online Tools to Help You Do Your Job as a Library Marketer

Your work as a library marketer is no walk in the park in the best of circumstances. But it’s especially difficult right now.

I started compiling a list of tools for library marketers before COVID-19 turned our world upside down. Now I want to share them.

Each tool is free. And I hope they make it easier to do your job, wherever you are.

But first, I have a question.

Tools for Writing

Grammarly. Grammerly is a plug-in. It scans what you are writing as you write it. It points out common grammatical mistakes, like subject-verb agreement, article use, and modifier placement. You can also upload documents for scanning. For remote workers or library marketers handling all the work alone, it’s a lifesaver.

Hemingway Editor.  The Hemingway Editor grades your writing for readability and points out the excessive use of adverbs, passive voice, and complex sentences. Use it to improve your social media posts, web content, blog posts, and press releases.

I have a love/hate relationship with this website. I love it because it forces me to become a better writer. I hate it because every time I use it, it’s clear what an awful writer I am without it!

BrainyQuote. A directory of inspirational quotes for web, email, and social media content. This is a great site to visit when you’re feeling creatively drained. They verify all quotes. There are plenty of quotes about literature, books, reading, and learning.

The Secret Language of Books by NoveList. This little guide helps you create engaging emails and social media posts about books. It can help you craft language for genres, mood, and styles. It expanded the vocabulary I used to entice readers to check out our collection.

Disclaimer: I work for NoveList. But, I got my first copy of this handbook last year, before I worked for them, and it changed my life.

Tools for Graphics, Videos, and Photos

Emojim. This website is my go-to source for finding emojis. I search what I need and then hit copy. Then I insert the emoji in my platform of choice. The selection on this site is better than Emojipedia.

Use of emojis on social media platforms like Instagram increases engagement by 48 percent. My own data from my time at my former public library job showed that the use of an emoji in an email subject line increased open rates by as much as 60 percent.

HTML Color Codes. Use it to find the exact HTML color of any section on an existing graphic or photo. Upload a photo or graphic, then hold your mouse over the section you want to match and click. The HTML code will appear in the box.

When I worked at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, I would use this to create a call to action button for my emails that matched the accompanying graphic or photo.

Iconfinder. Iconfinder is a database of almost one million icons. Don’t be fooled by the priced sets at the top of the page. Scroll down to find their selection of free downloadable icon sets. Right now, they have lots of free choices for hand washing, social distancing, and public health.

Trace by Sticker Mule. This tool will let your library remove a background from a picture.

Giphy GIF Maker. This site allows you to easily create animated video GIFs and GIF slideshows with captions.

Lumen5. Lumen5 is a video content creator. There is a free version that lets you create five videos each month. You can choose clips from a standard video library and get access to free music.

RecordScreen.io. This site lets you record your screen and your webcam at the same time. There are no bells and whistles and no other features. It’s great for demos and tutorials you might want to create to help patrons learn how to navigate your digital resources.

Tools for Organization

Otter. This cool app is a transcription service. It lets you record meetings or conversations on your phone or browser and then turn those conversations into notes that can be shared. The free plan lets you record 600 minutes of conversations per month.

Andrew and Pete’s Content Editorial Calendar. Andrew and Pete run a marketing agency in the UK. I had the pleasure of meeting them in person at Content Marketing World in 2018. They are sweet, funny, and smart. They created this free template for download. I know many library marketers who can put it to use to organize and manage their editorial calendar.

URL List. This website is a revelation. It creates one URL for a list of pages. For instance, I entered all the articles I’ve written on Super Library Marketing about COVID-19 before today and created this URL: https://www.theurlist.com/covid19. It also generates a QR code for use on print materials. To keep your URL lists, just create an account. Use this to promote multiple blog articles or programs happening at multiple branches in your library system.

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.  

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Library Marketing During a Pandemic: Tips for Working from Home or the Office and Dealing with the Stress of a Crisis

This week has been super crazy.

Many libraries have closed their doors to help quell the spread of COVID-19. Some have chosen to remain open.

I’m not here to judge one way or another. I’m here to help you work efficiently during this crisis, whether you’ve been allowed to work from home or whether you are compelled to report to the office.

Even before the pandemic struck, remote work was growing in popularity in the library world. At the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, administrative staff could work from home up to two days a week.

That’s a trend in workplaces across the nation. The amount of people working from home has tripled in the past 15 years, according to the Federal Reserve.

But if you’ve never worked from home, the transition can be a little tricky. And there are things you can do to set yourself up for success and weather this strange time in library land.

Working from Home

Treat your morning routine the same as you would if you were heading into an office. Have breakfast, shower, and get dressed, even if it’s not in fancy clothing.

Keeping a consistent schedule will help you get in the right head space for work. It will also make the transition back to the office easier (once this is all over).

Make yourself a designated workspace. It is super tempting to set up shop on your couch or bed. Resist the urge. In fact, never do work in your bed. Your sleeping space is sacred. If you are working in your bed, you mind will start to associate that space with work and its stresses. It can mess with your sanity.

Set up at your desk, kitchen table, the kitchen counter, or some other non-sleeping space. Have all the supplies you normally have at hand. Set up your photos, your plants, and your trinkets. Make it feel as much like your normal workspace as possible.

Be careful what you download. Ask your library’s IT team which platform they prefer you use to work remotely. Google, Slack, Facetime, and Teams are the most popular tools. If you do need to download a new tool or app, stick to well-known companies or ones that have been vetted and approved by your library.

Ask your library about a VPN. A virtual private network can give you access to shared drives at your home library and protect your privacy.

Watch out for scammers. Already, there are reports of coronavirus scammers calling employees. They claim they’re with the help desk, They try to get you to download software or go to a certain webpage. Don’t fall for it.

If you get an email or a phone call from someone claiming to be from IT, especially if the email contains links or documents, send a new email to your IT deparmtnet (so you’re not using the address the possible scam came from). Or call your IT department to make sure it’s legitimate.

Scammers also sometimes claim you library has set up special new call centers and the regular corporate IT phone numbers won’t work. Don’t buy it. Hang up and call your IT department.

Leave healthy food within easy reach. It’s hard to avoid the chips when you can just open the cupboard door. To help combat the constant urge to munch on junk food, I usually wash fruit and veggies in the morning and place them in bowls on my kitchen counter. That way they’re within easy reach when I get hungry.

Don’t fall into a Netflix/YouTube/Twitter/whatever hole. It’s hard for some work-at-home employees to avoid distractions. The best way to keep from binge-watching shows when you should be working is not to start.

I try to have the same mindset in my home office that I had at the library: if my boss walked in right now and saw what I was doing, would she approve?

Over-communicate. The distance created by working from home sometimes can hamper communications. Ask co-workers to tell you the best way to reach them… by text, or chat, or email, or video. Then try your best to respect their preferences.

Ask for clarity on projects from your boss. Get instructions and deadlines in writing.

And don’t be afraid to ask questions. Clarity will help get the work done faster and without mistakes.

Mute yourself if you’re on a conference call. As many of us move to virtual meetings and working from home during this strange time, we need to remember to respect meeting time as we would in the office. That means protecting your fellow workers from the sound of your dishwasher/barking dog/loud neighbor during a conference call.

Create a wrap-up routine for the end of your day. This will signal to your brain that your work has ended.

It sounds silly, but it works. Put away your laptop, pack up your pens, straighten your desk, and maybe talk a walk or lite a scented candle to signal to yourself that it’s time to relax and readjust to non-work life in your home.

If You Must Still Report to the Library

Talk to your boss about what to do if you get sick. Make sure you know who to call if you fall ill and what your rights are in terms of medical leave. Having a plan in place will help ease some of the anxiety of working in a public building.

Clean your workspace before you touch anything. This is particularly true for workers sharing desks. Clean the phone, the desk, the keyboard and the monitor buttons, the copy machine keypad, and any other shared surface with an antibacterial wipe.

Wash your hands or sanitize frequently. No need to be specific here. You’ve seen the recommendations from experts. Sing your 20-second song of choice and do it frequently.

Advice for Everyone

Remember it’s a global crisis. If you feel less productive, it’s natural and you’re not alone.

Managers: please remember that your staff are dealing with issues. They may not be sharing everything with you. Concerns about the health of loved ones, daycare situations, and generalized anxiety may lead to less productivity. Please be patient and generous with your employees.

Our cardholders and community may also be working through anxieties and taking out their stresses on staff. Please support your employees. Make sure they know it’s okay to talk about the additional stresses this situation creates for them.

And if you are feeling anxious, seek professional help. There is no shame in talking with a licensed medical professional about these extraordinary circumstances and the fears they may cause.

Try to get enough sleep. Exercise. Limit your exposure to the news. Talk with friends and family about how you feel. Read a good book.

We will all get through this. Let’s be kind and patient with ourselves and others as we navigate these uncharted waters.

Read More: How Libraries Are Responding to the Coronavirus Threat and How Your Library Can Prep for Any Crisis

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.  

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Practical Tips for U.S. Libraries to Promote the 2020 Census

The Library Marketing Show Episode 36

Watch Now

On March 12, people in the U.S. will start to receive an invitation to participate in the census. This is the first time respondents will be urged to respond online. In this episode, we talk about why it’s so important for libraries to promote the census and make sure everyone in our communities get counted. Plus practical tips!

How is your library helping with the census? Let me know in the comments.

More help

American Library Association Census Guide for Libraries

Public Libraries Online Podcast About the Census

Also KUDOS this week to the New York Public Library. They are celebrating their 125th anniversary and they put out a fantastic list of their favorite 125 books. The hosts of their podcast, The Librarian is In, will be reading and reviewing books from this list this year. How many have you already read? (I’ve read 20. Pretty sad!)

If you have a topic for the show, kudos to share, or want to talk to me about library marketing, contact me using this short form.

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Thank you for your response. ✨

Want more Library Marketing Show? Watch previous episodes!

Check the Upcoming Events page to see where I’ll be soon. Let’s connect!

This blog consists of my own personal opinions and may not represent those of my employer. Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.   

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The Secret to Forge Library Loyalty: Stop Holding Programs and Start Creating Experiences

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Anytime I hear anyone talk a new marketing trend, I must consciously remind myself not to roll my eyes. Marketing trends tend to be nonsense created by agencies hoping to generate buzz.

So, when I first learned about a trend called experiential marketing a few years ago at a conference, I listened politely, and filed it away in the back of my mind, along with my skepticism about whether this truly existed.

It’s clear to me now that experiential marketing isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a legit marketing option for libraries everywhere. And it could be the trend that permanently cements the bond between your library and the community it serves.

What is experiential marketing?

Experiential marketing is sometimes also called event marketing. It can be a pop-up library or program. It can take the form of a special day long library event, an immersion experience, a conference, a workshop—there are limitless possibilities.

But this isn’t just an ordinary event. An experiential marketing event is a program that includes a way to create an experience, to engage the attendee’s senses, and to create a personal and memorable interaction with your library.

It’s about sparking positive emotions in the people who attend. Those emotions become imprinted in the minds of the attendees. They associate that positive emotion with your library.

See why it sounded a little hokey to me the first time I heard it?

But here’s the thing. While most marketing interrupts and forces itself on the community, the experiential experience is voluntary. Your community or cardholders are choosing to interact with your library. Those experiences create beautiful memories. Those beautiful memories become a part of the overall library experience for your community. A loyalty is formed.

Libraries tend to think about their programs and events in simple terms. The program is a way to offer something to the community that is in line with the library’s overall strategic plan. It may also help to fill a community need like literacy or workforce development. These reasons are all valid and valuable.

But there is a clear marketing value in expanding our understanding of what a program or experience can be for our community–and what it can do for our libraries.

And we need to do so because our younger cardholders are at stake. Experiential marketing appeals to younger people. A study by Harris Group found that 72 percent of millennials would rather pay for an experience than for material objects.

This can be a differentiating factor for libraries. We should jump at the chance.

Why experiential marketing is so appealing

It all comes down to the fear of missing out, or FOMO. We see our friends and family posting on social media as they engage in exciting events. We feel anxious because we are missing out on these amazing experiences. And we feel compelled to resolve that anxiety by attending.

Think FOMO isn’t real? Check out the Twitter feed anytime the ALA or PLA conference is in full swing. The number of librarians who lament about missing the conference is pretty astounding.

What are the benefits of creating library experiences?

Experiential marketing forges a personal connection with your library. As younger generations increasingly value experience over tangible items, they’ll patronize and visit libraries that have taken the time to get to know them and offer them experiences that they can learn and grow from in a deep and meaningful way.

  • 85% of consumers say they were likely to purchase after participating in events or experiences.
  • 91% of consumers say they had more positive feelings about brands after attending events or experiences.

Examples of experiential library marketing programs

Challenge yourself to go beyond the normal crafting groups, story times, and passive programs. Instead, push your library to nurture the relationship between the library brand and your community.

You can create all kinds of innovative programs that foster a love and joy of reading. Try a TED talk style book talk. Invite readers to give a compelling talk under a time limit,  say 60 seconds, to convince people to read one of their favorite books. Or schedule book dates, where readers talk one-on-one with under a limited time deadline about their favorite books.

At the Edge 2020 conference in Edinburgh last week, the head of Library and Information Services at East Renfrewshire Libraries in Scotland talked about programs they hold called “Come Complete Your Bucket List at the Library.” Visitors use virtual reality sets to visit places and have experiences they’ve only dreamed about. That is an amazing example of experiential library marketing.

Other great experiences for library customers include:

  • Escape rooms
  • Interactive STEM programs for adults and kids
  • Interactive activities between patrons and in-residence programs featuring authors, entrepreneurs, makers, and artists
  • Interactive programs in your MakerSpace
  • A conference connecting readers and authors interacting in sessions, workshops, and one-on-one experiences
  • Interactive and immersive library exhibits
  • Interactive activities at outreach events
  • Library sleepovers

Experiential experiences are any kind of program that creates a lasting, emotional experience that will bond your community to your library. This is not a one-off kind of event. This is something memorable.

You’ll notice the word “interactive” is used frequently to describe these events. Experiential marketing events require that attendees to do more than sit, listen, and absorb. If they are playing a part in the activities, they’ll remember them.

Experiential marketing is not a quiet kind of marketing. It’s often noisy, literally and figuratively. It might be messy. It might take more planning. These events are not what people think of when they think about what libraries look like.

And that’s the whole point, isn’t it?

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.  

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