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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

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Good Marketing is Good Customer Service: 5 Cruise Industry Secrets to Steal For Your Library

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

My husband is an optimist.

In April 2020, about a month into the pandemic, we learned that our planned family cruise was canceled.

“No problem,” said my darling spouse. “We’ll rebook for August. Certainly, this will all be over by August.”

You know the rest of the story.

Our cruise was rebooked a total of FIVE times over the course of the next 18 months. We finally set foot on a ship this year. And despite what you may have heard about the state of the cruise industry, our latest trip was wonderful. That’s due in part to the customer service on the ship.

And what I realized, as I was sailing through blue waters with a drink in hand, was that the marketing on the ship enhanced the customer experience.

So, I started writing down what I was learning to share with you. Here are the five big marketing lessons I learned while sailing.

Make it easy for your community to find the information they need.

It was easy to book on the company’s website. The cruise line walked us through each step of the pre-boarding process, with multiple touchpoints including videos, emails, and fliers mailed to our home. Any time we had a question, we could find the answer by heading to the cruise line website.

Your library’s website is as important a marketing tool as the sign on the outside of your physical location. In fact, I would argue that your library’s website is another branch of your library. Make certain your community can find what they need, when they need it, on your website.

If you have trouble figuring out how to organize your website, ask your front-line staff to make a list of the questions your community asks. Track questions for one week to one month, depending on the size of your library. Then arrange your website so your community can find the answers to the most asked questions on your website.   

Handholding makes the experience smoother.

Once we booked our cruise, the company we sailed with began sending us a series of email onboarding messages. They walked us through the process of finishing our paperwork, reminded us to get our passports and vaccinations, relayed important safety information, and gave us advice on packing and navigating the port on embarkation day.

Mind you, this was not our first cruise. But this onboarding made our vacation run more smoothly. We didn’t have to think about anything! We knew the company would give us the information when we needed it.

Show your community your library cares about the customer service experience of your organization by using onboarding email messages. Send new cardholders a series of emails designed to introduce them to services that your library has to offer.

And send current cardholders an onboarding series too! Once a year, re-introduce them to your select services. If they sign up for a program, send reminder emails in the days leading up to the event. For summer reading or other big initiatives, send periodic emails to encourage participation and remind them of incentives they can earn.

Repeating messages stick.

Remember the Marketing Rule of 7? The average person needs to hear a message seven times before it really sinks in.

On the ship, important announcements were repeated over the loudspeaker, on digital signs, in the daily calendar, and in automatic notifications from the cruise line app. Even on vacation, when I didn’t have 1000 things at work and home competing for my attention, I needed to hear messages more than once to absorb them.

Repeating marketing messages result in something called the mere-exposure effect. This phenomenon finds that people show an increased preference for a stimulus as a consequence of repeated exposure to that stimulus.

In other words, the more you repeat your library marketing messages, the more likely people are to remember them and do the thing you want them to do! You may notice that I often repeat advice on this blog. Why? Because of the mere-exposure effect!

This doesn’t have to involve a lot of work for you, the library marketer. When you’re creating your next promotion, focus first on what you will say. That’s your base message. Try to use as few words as possible. Write as if you were in conversation with your community member.

Example: Our Summer at the Library celebration begins May 31! Win prizes by completing reading goals and fun activities. Get ready by signing up for our digital tracker. Have any questions? Email us at mylibrary@mylibrary.org.

That language is short and direct. It can be repeated on social media platforms, email, digital signs, and posters. It won’t overwhelm readers. And it clearly tells community members how to participate.

One note: for some promotions, you won’t need to repeat your message on ALL channels. Think first about your target audience and where they are most likely to want to interact with your messaging.

For some programs, like summer reading, with a huge target audience, you may want to market on all channels. But for other, more niche promotions, you can focus on target platforms. This approach saves you time too!

People read signage when it’s done well.

The cruise ship’s wayfaring signage was placed in key public areas and was simple and direct. And that was the only kind of signage! We knew when we saw a sign, it meant something.

If your library puts too many signs in too many places, you’ll make it confusing for community members, who eventually tune out all that visual overload. Choose your sign placement carefully and strategically, and when in doubt, minimize. If you’re worried that people will get lost, then remember the next lesson…

Staff members are your secret weapon.

Every staff member on the ship was apparently trained to answer any question, from how to find the bar, to how to reserve seats at the nightly show.  If we needed any help, all we had to do was ask. What a treat!

This easy, comfortable staff interaction made the day so much better. We knew if we had any problems, the staff would have our backs.

With all the digital tools at our fingertips, it turns out that front-line library staff are the key communicators and customer service ambassadors. Train staff to understand that customer service is everyone’s job. They should be able to answer any question (or find the answer to any question) about any service, program, or department, even if they have never worked there.

More Advice

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

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Your Library Needs To Be More Like Walmart! How To Build Marketing Success Like a Giant Retailer (Without Sacrificing Your Integrity).

Watch the episode here

The #LibraryMarketing Show, Episode 180: How many times have you or someone at your library said, “We just want to make sure everybody in the community knows everything the library has to offer.”

That, my friends, is the wrong mindset for library marketing. You need to be more like Walmart, believe it or not! I’ll explain in this episode.

Plus we’ll give away kudos to the Westerville Public Library.

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

And please subscribe to this series on YouTube or follow me on LinkedIn to get a new weekly video tip for libraries.

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:

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Plan for Library Marketing Success! How To Create an Effective Marketing Plan No Matter the Size of Your Library (Plus a Free Downloadable Template!)

Photo Courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

The first time I went to a conference, I made a plan.

I decided which sessions I would attend weeks before the conference began. I studied the floor map of the convention center so I could plot the best way to get from room to room. I made a list of local restaurants and tourist attractions within walking distance of my hotel so that I could make the most of my free time.

Am I bonkers? Nope. I am a planner.

A plan provides a guide for action. It ensures goals are met and time and resources are used wisely.

There are times when spontaneity is called for. But library marketing is not one of them. A marketing plan is key for the success of any type of library promotion.

What exactly is a library marketing plan?

A library marketing plan is a tool you use to help to achieve your library’s overall goals. It lays out the steps involved in getting a promotion out into the world. It helps you decide how and when promotional work will be done for a pre-determined time in a specific way.

A library marketing plan also ensures everyone knows the end goal of your marketing efforts. It sets deadlines. It keeps people accountable. And it clarifies how you will measure your results.

You don’t need a plan for everything you promote at your library. You do need a plan if you are creating a campaign that lasts for more than several weeks.

How to put your marketing plan together

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a list of free project planning websites. They will help you with the execution of your plan. At the bottom of this post, you’ll also find a customizable template to download. It’s based off the library marketing plan spreadsheet I used for years.

Know the thing you are promoting inside and out.

Be sure you can answer every single question about the thing you are promoting. You must become an expert on the event, service, or item you will promote.

Ask yourself, what problem will this solve for my patrons? How easy is it to use? What are the features that can’t be found at any of my competitors?

Clearly define your end goal.

Use the SMART goal framework to ensure you and your co-workers know exactly what you are aiming to achieve. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

So, if you are looking to increase brand awareness, set an actual, measurable end goal like: “Within the next 6 months, we want 50 percent of residents living within a 30-mile radius of our Main Library to know that we have renovated the building and to be able to name at least one new service available at the library.”

Determine your target audience.

Many library marketers say their target audience is “our cardholders.” Be more specific.

Ask yourself:

  • Which cardholders?
  • How old are they?
  • How often do they use the library?

Fill out your picture of your target audience with as many demographic characteristics as you can. This gives you and everyone working on the plan a picture of who you are trying to reach.

Analyze your competitors.

Research anyone providing a similar program, service, or product. Ask:

  • What are they doing well?
  • What are they doing poorly?
  • What are the things that differentiate your library from their business?

These are your marketing advantages. You can use this information to create messaging that tells your target audience why they should use your library service, instead of a competitor.

Create the message.

Get the message or elevator pitch for your promotion set. It’s the most important part of your plan. You need it to create all the tactics you will use to promote your library.

Choose your tactics.

Go through all the available channels at your disposal for marketing and decide which ones will work best to reach your end goals.

You do not have to use everything that’s available to you. Sometimes, a video will work well and sometimes an email will do a better job. Not every promotion needs print materials, a press release, or a digital sign.

You know best how your target audience reacts to each tactic and which will bring you the best results. If you have a budget, decide how you’ll spend it during this step.

Set the schedule.

Every library has a different approach to its promotional schedule. I am a fan of tiered distribution of marketing. The approach takes advantage of a consumer cycle of excitement. Here’s how it works:

  • Release one or two promotional tactics at the beginning of your promotional cycle, like a social media post and a press release. The promotion gets some play, and excitement builds in the consumer base. It gets shared and people talk about it… and then the excitement dies out.
  • Release the second tactic, like an email, and the people who see the email get excited and start talking about it and sharing it, and then their excitement dies out.
  • Release a video, and that builds excitement and gets shared, and the excitement then dies out. And so on!

When you use the tiered distribution approach, you get a longer promotional thread. Your promotions will be more successful because the excitement around them builds over time, not in one big burst.

It is also easier on the person running the marketing! It gives you a small break in between each tactic and creates time for you to measure the success of each tactic individually.

Assign tasks.

Delegate jobs and deadlines for appropriate staff. If you need help from another library department, assign their deadline now so they have plenty of time to get you the information you need.

Measure results.

Don’t forget to measure and record the reaction to each piece of your marketing plan. Analyze what worked and what did not, so you can put that knowledge to use next time.

Free or cheap project management solutions

Clickup: the free plan will work for small libraries. The unlimited plan is very affordable and would work well for medium to large libraries.

SmartSheet: their lowest plan tier is a little more expensive than ClickUp but has more integrations.

Asana: this is what my employer NoveList uses. It makes is easy to assign tasks and deadlines.

Marketing plan template

I’ve created a customizable marketing plan spreadsheet. It includes my suggestions for the timing of promotional tactics for an event or service promotion.

You can delete or add columns based on the tactics available to your library and the size of your library. Download it here.

Related Advice

What the Heck Is the Difference Between Library Statistics and Marketing Metrics? Here’s the Full Explanation and Why They Are BOTH Important!

Planning for Magic! How To Keep Your Eyes (and Your Schedule) Open for Unexpected Library Promotional Opportunities

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I Have NO Library Promotional Goals! How to Set Your Priorities When You’ve Been Given No Direction by Your Library Leadership

Watch This Video Now

The Library Marketing​​​​​​​​ Show, Episode 145: In this episode, we’ll answer a question from Leica. She says, “I am a one-gal, part-time show here. I can set my priorities easily, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on working with NO goals or strategic plans? I know it sounds crazy, but I’m not given anything to work TOWARD. So, as much as I *think* I do well, I don’t really have any measurable way to verify.”

Kudos in this episode go to the Garland County 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. And subscribe to this series to get a new video tip for libraries each week.

Thanks for watching!

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

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Every time I see a misaligned pink square on top of blue and white plaid, my heart skips a beat.

I realize that may be the weirdest sentence I’ve ever posted to this blog but hear me out.

I am a die-hard fan of Bath and Body Works.

The bath gels, the body lotions, the candles, the hand soap. There is a scent for every season, every mood, every situation.

No, they did not pay me to say this. (But if anyone from Bath and Body Works ever reads this blog, I am willing to work as an influencer.😊)

Bath and Body Works has a strong, recognizable brand. They don’t want you to just buy their products one time. They want you to come back, again and again. They know a strong brand style that is recognizable across all platforms is key to creating a relationship with their customers.

You want that for your library. You want your community to recognize the promotional materials you make. When someone sees a sign or a social media post or a video, you want them to know that it comes from your library without having to see your library’s name or logo anywhere in the brand.

Building a library brand takes consistency. And to remain consistent when multiple departments and staff members create graphics, social media posts, posters, and other promotional materials, your library needs to create a brand style guide.

A brand style guide will clearly define the look and tone of marketing materials. It saves staff time. It will be used by staff when creating graphics and writing text. Most importantly, it will ensure your library’s marketing is recognizable.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for creating your library’s brand style guide. Scroll to the bottom of this post for examples of library brand style guidelines.

Grounding statements

Begin your document by centering your library’s brand on the guiding principles of your organization. Remind your staff of your core mission. You want to explain the importance of this work and create buy-in for your style guide.

  • Set the tone with your mission, vision, and values statement.
  • Include a sentence or two that positions your library’s strategy, personality, and customer service principles.
  • Define your library’s personality. Do you want people to think of you as authoritative and resilient? Whimsical and conversation? Warm and welcoming?
  • List the perceptions your library is trying to avoid, like boring, traditional, formal, or pretentious.

Logo use

Emphasize the proper use of your logo across all platforms, including print and digital.

  • Define space rules, including the use of white space in relation to the logo.
  • Set the acceptable color variations for your logo.
  • List the minimum logo sizes, including pixels, print proportions, and aspect ratios.

Colors

Your color palette is the tangible component of your brand that people notice first. Color increases brand recognition up to 80 percent. Your colors also play a significant role in how your library’s brand is perceived.

  • Include the RGB, CMYK, Hex Code, and Pantone versions of your color palette.
  • List the shades of your color palette which are acceptable for use, including those variations required for accessibility on digital screens.
  • Include color contrast requirements for print and digital screens, keeping accessibility in mind.

Typography

Like color, the fonts your library chooses are a visual cue about your brand. Your fonts should tie all communications together, from your website to print promotions. It’s important to set clear guidelines for the use of fonts.

  • List the styles, sizes, and weights that can be used. Be sure to include instructions on acceptable fonts for headers, copy, and footers or fine print.
  • Include acceptable variations on fonts, if the font is unavailable in a particular piece of creative software.
  • Set guidelines concerning spacing to maintain a consistent style when font size changes.

Tone and text

This section is important to maintain a consistent brand through all the text written for your library promotions. These guidelines will ensure people recognize the copy is coming from your library, no matter who is doing the writing.

  • Outline your preferred word and sentence length. Shorter words and sentences are easier to read and will speed up the tempo of your message. Longer words and sentences will require your audience to do more in-depth thinking but may also be more nuanced.
  • List the jargon or library terms that staff members should use. This includes terminology for how you will refer to patrons, non-cardholders, staff, branches, and your branded names for services.
  • Determine the acceptable terminology for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Set guidelines for the use of gendered pronouns, ability, and references to racial and ethnic groups within your community.
  • Set your grammar guidelines. Will you use contractions? Will you allow prepositions? What grammar rules will you keep sacred, and which can be broken?

Images

In this section, you’ll give anyone creating promotional materials for your library the rules they need to find graphics, photos, and artwork that represent your library.

  • Set standards for the proper size, style, and composition of images for social media, email, digital signs, print, video, and your library’s website.
  • List approved image sources, including a list of websites that provide free stock photos and images. Here are ten websites to help build out your list.
  • Include clear guidelines on diversity representation to ensure staff use images that accurately represent your community.
  • Incorporate guidance on the use of graphics, GIFs, and memes.

Library Brand Style Guide Examples

Does your library have a brand style guide that you’re willing to share? Email ahursh@ebsco.com and I’ll add yours to the list.

Read These Articles Too!

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3 Promotional Goals to Re-engage Inactive Cardholders and Get Them to Use the Library MORE Than Before the Pandemic!

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Libraries spend a lot of time focused on getting people to sign up for a library card–particularly during summer. That’s a worthy promotional goal. Imagine how great the world would be if everyone had a library card!

But we often take our current cardholders for granted. We assume that once a person has gone through the trouble of signing up for a library card, they’ll use it.

The first reports on the exact statistical impact of the pandemic on library use will come out this fall. But I’m not willing to wait that long to address this issue. Every single library I work with tells me circulation, database use, program attendance, and overall visits are down.

Many libraries are trying to build our use and circulation stats back to their pre-pandemic levels. But I think we can do better. We can get more people to use the library now than before the pandemic.

How do we do that? With a focused plan to re-engage our current cardholders.

Re-engaging our disconnected users makes strategic and business sense for libraries. Our friends in the retail business have a secret: They know it costs five times as much money to obtain a new customer than to convince a current customer to buy more.

For libraries, this means it takes us five times more energy and resources to build our cardholder base than it does to get our current cardholders to use the library more often.

Summer reading is the perfect time to re-engage cardholders. It is your library’s biggest opportunity to build momentum that lasts throughout the year.

Here are three promotional goals that every library should have this summer to reconnect with current cardholders and get them to use the library more.

Goal #1: Get an email address from every single cardholder.

Did you know that 99 percent of people check their email at least once a day? How many times have you said, “I wish we had one way to reach our community.” Emails are how you do it! They are the absolute most effective way to promote your library.

People expect to be marketed to by your organization. You are not spamming anyone. You are informing, educating, and entertaining the community. And you are making certain they remember they have access to your resources, which they pay for with their tax dollars.

How do you go about getting emails from current cardholders? Ask. Every time someone checks out, look to see if they’ve included an email address in their cardholder profile. If not, ask for one!

Check cardholder profiles before you put books on the holds shelf or pull together items for curbside. If the cardholder doesn’t have an email on file, slip a bookmark into their holds asking them to share their email address using an online form or by calling the reference desk.

Your library can also use social media to gather email addresses. Schedule regular posts with a link for an online form or an opt-in page on your website. You’ll want to make it as easy as possible for your community members. That’s the best way to build your subscriber list.

Goal #2: Onboard current library cardholders.

Normally, onboarding is the process of introducing your new cardholders to the resources available at your library. But it is also an effective tool for re-engaging cardholders. This is especially true as we rebuild after two years of COVID separation from our community. 

The most effective way to onboard an existing cardholder is through email. Your library should create a series of emails sent to cardholders once a week for four 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 your onboarding 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 onboarding emails you send.

Goal #3: Upsell at every opportunity.

Whenever possible, your library staff should suggest other services, collection items, and programs to the people they encounter.

Teach staff to pay attention to context clues. Then upsell another collection item, service, or program based on what the staff observes.

For example, is the patron standing at the checkout a young father with two small children and an armload of picture books? Pull a take and make craft kit off the shelf and suggest that that dad subscribes to your YouTube channel, where you have videos explaining how to finish the crafts.

If a community member asks for help finding a resource for her small business, make sure she knows about your co-working spaces, your entrepreneur book club, and your LinkedIn profile.

When a patron registers for a cooking class, hand them a bookmark with a list of recommended cookbooks and show them how to access the Cooking Fundamentals series on Kanopy.

To help your staff spot opportunities for upselling, it may help to create a flow chart or graphic to illustrate the connections between everything your library offers. You can even make a game to encourage participation by staff members.

Ask staff to keep track of the number of times they upsell to a patron. You might even use a log, like your summer reading log, to help with tracking. The top upsellers win a prize at the end of the summer. And your library wins by increasing awareness of services and use.

Read These Articles Too!

Your Summer Reading Challenge: How Your Library Can Use Big Events To Gather Compelling Content for Promotions During the Rest of the Year

Rebuild Your Summer Reading Program! Here Are Ten Tips To Boost Participation This Year

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The Divide and Conquer Method of Library Marketing: How to Realistically Reach Your Library Promotional Goals Without Losing Your Ever-Loving Mind [ARTICLE]

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Have you been in the grocery store cereal aisle lately?

Recently I had a craving for yogurt topped with cereal as a snack. So, I went to the store with the simple plan of buying a box of cereal.

Did you know the average grocery store carries nearly 300 types of cereal? The cereal in my store takes up the length of an ENTIRE AISLE.

Holy Cheerios, Batman.

There is such a thing as too many choices.

When you’re faced with a wide range of selections, you can end up feeling paralyzed and unable to decide. Or, worse yet, you make a decision that turns out to be the wrong one because there were too many factors to take into consideration.

I sometimes feel the same way about working in library marketing.

Many of us have too much work to do. We have multiple goals we are trying to reach. And all that work makes it impossible to do anything well. It’s no wonder our promotions fail. We need to focus on focusing.

Now that’s you’ve created a promotional strategy and you’ve set up a promotional calendar, you may be tempted to try a whole bunch of new promotional ideas all at once.

But for true library promotional success, you’ll need to pace yourself. You want to be deliberate, intentional, and thoughtful about the library promotions you put out into the world.

Easier said than done, right?

So how do you create your promotions, track the results, and not lose your mind?

By using something I like to call “the divide and conquer approach.”

I’ve put together a three-step process to help you manage your workflow. This simple plan will help make sure your time is spent wisely. It will ensure you have the time to create your promotions and check the results so you can ensure that you’re reaching your promotional goals.

This method will make your marketing goals feel more manageable to you. You won’t get overwhelmed. And you’ll be able to spend time creating and tracking promotions to make sure the work you’re doing is effective.

Tackle one goal at a time.

People often sing the praises of multitasking, but any time management expert will tell you it kills productivity and leads to burnout.

Instead, you’ll want to prioritize your library marketing goals. Decide which is the most important by asking yourself one simple question:  Which goal will have the most positive impact on your library? That’s the one you should focus on.

This laser focus will actually allow you to reach ALL of your library promotional goals faster. When you focus fully on one goal, you can learn valuable lessons about your community and how they respond to your promotions on your available channels. And those lessons will make it easier for you to reach your future goals.

As you work towards your goal, you’ll learn along the way which work, which don’t, and how to carry them out effectively. You can use this valuable knowledge for future goals.

Create an action plan with list of tasks you need to complete to reach your goal.

In this step, you’ll very specifically lay out what needs to be done to reach your goal. This will make the final goal seem less overwhelming. It will also help you to gauge how much time you need to set aside each day to work on your promotions.

Let’s say that your priority goal is to increase the number of people who come to visit a physical library space. Your initial task list might look something like this.

  • Create a weekly email to promote a service that’s only available inside a library branch.
  • Create one Instagram and Facebook story per week to highlight a service that’s only available inside a library branch.
  • Create two social media posts per week on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to promote one in-person event.
  • Create a video that shows people coming into a library branch, focused on the physical space as a place of community and social interaction.

Now that you have your initial list of tasks, you can divide each task further into two or three smaller action items.

For example, your initial task of creating two social media posts per week on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to promote one in-person event can be accomplished by making a smaller action item list like this:

  • Choose events (consult with programming department)
  • Write post text
  • Create images
  • Schedule posts

Set a firm timeline for reaching your overall goal. Assign deadlines for each item on the task lists.

For our example, we may decide that we are going to work for the next two months on increasing in-person visits to the library.

Now, we can take our lists of tasks and set deadlines for when each of these tasks needs to be completed and released out into the world. Those deadlines will help you reach your target efficiently by assigning a timeframe—a start and end date—to every step in the process.

This “divide and conquer” approach gives you and your co-workers a chance to merge this new way of thinking and the new workload into your schedule without stress. It will make it easier to measure results.

Related Posts

How to Create a Social Media Strategy That Actually Works

Call It What It Is: Toledo Public Library Explains Their New Brand Strategy

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The Magic Secret To Create Effective Library Marketing: How To Set Up Your Library’s Promotional Calendar!

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Now that you’ve created a library promotional strategy, it’s time to take the next step. And that is to create a calendar for all your library promotions.

Three main reasons a library promotional calendar is important

A promotional calendar is vital to success. This is especially true in an organization with many contributors and stakeholders, like a library.

Here’s why you’ll want to have a promotional calendar, even if your team of content creators or contributors is small.

  • It helps you stay organized and focused on the goals you set as part of your promotional strategy.
  • It helps you to keep track of holidays, seasonal library and literary events, and major annual promotions like summer reading.
  • It keeps everyone at your library up to date on your promotional plans.

How to set up your library’s promotional calendar

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for my recommendations of three free calendar templates that you can use to create your library’s promotional calendar.

No matter which template you choose, the calendar should be shareable. This will ensure the contributors at your library can see all future promotional plans. It will also make it easy for contributors to add comments and ideas.

Once you choose a template and a location where it will “live,” set up the columns to track the important pieces for library marketing. Your calendar should include spaces to track these things:

  • The name of the event or service you wish to promote
  • The date of the event or service launch if the service is new. If it’s an existing service, you can leave this space blank.
  • The start and end date of the promotion
  • The type of content. For example, blog post, video, etc.
  • The channel(s) in which the promotional content will be published. For example: email, social media platform, digital signs, etc.
  • The topic. For example: you may have two promotions for summer reading. One could be planned for two weeks before summer reading begins with the purpose of promoting registration. Later in the summer, you may launch a second promotion marking the halfway point and encouraging readers to log their reading hours. The “topics” for these two promotions could be “Registration Push” and “Halfway Check-in.”
  • Due dates
  • The date and time for publishing the content
  • The person in charge of each promotion
  • Follow-through. This column is where you will note if the content was published according to schedule or if there were delays. Tracking follow-through will help you spot hurdles in the process of creating and approving promotions, which will lead to more efficient planning of promotions in the future.
  • Links to promotions after they are published. This will be helpful for those times when you’ll need to find and analyze a promotion after it’s out in the world.
  • Success measurements. List the data you gather after the promotion is published to measure engagement and effectiveness. Tracking your promotional success will help you spot the topics, formats, and publishing platforms that yield the best results for your library.

How your promotional calendar will improve your library marketing

The Marketing Rule of 7 states that a prospect needs to hear or see the advertiser’s message at least seven times before they’ll buy that product or service.

For your library, the Marketing Rule of 7 means it’s important to publish content on various platforms and in multiple formats. This will allow your library to reach your entire target audience.

Your promotional calendar will help you make those decisions by having a list of your channels all in one spot. Your calendar will also help you to spot effective ways to re-purpose your content.

For example, let’s say you created an infographic demonstrating the value of summer reading in preventing the loss of literary skills. Initially, you planned to post the infographic to Instagram.

Using your promotional calendar, it may occur to you that the infographic would be a great starter for a blog post on the dangers of the “summer slide.” Then, you realize you can promote that blog post and infographic in your next library e-newsletter.

The library promotional calendar helps you to see all your promotions and create a holistic campaign. It can help you decide if you have enough resources to focus on the platforms where your target audience is most likely to see your content.

Use your calendar to prioritize your most important channels. Focus on creating high-quality content instead of aimlessly posting on all available platforms.

Your calendar can also help you set deadlines. You’ll quickly learn how often you can realistically create and release new promotions.

Finally, your library promotional calendar will help you spot the busiest times for your library before they sneak up on you. It will help you plan for those busy times. You’ll be able to ensure that the promotional creation process is finished well before the publishing date!

What to include in your library promotional calendar

  • Holidays, especially ones that affect your library’s service hours like Independence Day and Veterans Day.
  • Local holidays. For example, where I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, opening day for the Cincinnati Reds is a holiday.
  • Literary holidays such as Library Lovers Day or Audiobook Appreciation Month.
  • Seasons, like back to school or graduation.
  • Promotions tied to popular culture, like the Superbowl and the Olympics.
  • Building openings/renovations
  • New service releases
  • Summer Reading
  • Author events
  • Fundraising opportunities, like Giving Tuesday and National Library Week.
  • Patron stories
  • Interesting or funny details about your library.
  • Evergreen content, like collection promotion.

Three free promotional calendar templates

Some of these websites make you an offer to try their product, but you can still get these calendars without making a purchase.

  • Smartsheet: I recommend the Marketing Campaign Calendar Template.
  • Aha: I recommend the Integrated Calendar
  • Search Engine Journal: This is a template set up in Google Docs, with instructions on how to copy it for your library’s use.

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Want To Improve Your Productivity and Feel Pride in Your Work? Here Are the 7 Essential Habits of Highly Effective Library Marketers.

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Photo of West End Branch Staff, circa 1940.

I’m 100 percent certain that everyone who reads this blog has heard of the book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. Written in 1989, this self-help book has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.

Covey’s approach to attaining goals is to follow what he calls “true north” principles. Those principles are based on seven character ethics that he says are universal and timeless.

It’s a great book. But, because I’m a weirdo, I read it and thought, “There needs to be a list like this specifically for people who work in library promotion.” No joke. My internal monologue is strange.

We need some true north principles for library marketing now more than ever. We face uncertainty in every corner. Algorithms and budget shortfalls and virus variants can make our job seem impossible.

It may feel like the whole world is working against you and your library. So here are my true north principles for doing your best and most effective work.

Be good to yourself.

This is first on my list because it’s the most important and frankly, most library staffers could use a little morale boost. This year, I want you to celebrate the work you do. Every. Single. Week.

By the way, my boss gets full credit for this idea.

It’s pretty simple: At the end of the week, write down all the things you did. Then, pick a “gold star moment“: one thing that you did that stands out for some extra recognition.

Send your list to your boss or keep it for yourself. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you take the time to acknowledge all the work you’ve done in the last week.

And, rather than focusing on what you didn’t get done from your to-do list, recognize all the work you did do.

You’ll be surprised at how much better you’ll feel at the end of a workweek. And you’ll be motivated or excited about the work coming in the following week.

Be constantly learning.

I know that most library staffers are incredibly overworked. You’re promoting your library in addition to 100 other tasks, including cleaning the restrooms and acting as security. The idea of spending any time learning more about marketing feels overwhelming.

How does someone fit personal professional development into their schedule?

Set a learning appointment for yourself every single day. All you need is five minutes. Spend that very short but important block of time reading a blog, a book on marketing, or an email newsletter on marketing. If you’re a visual learner, watch a YouTube tutorial on marketing or work on a self-paced marketing course online.

For the typical, full-time library staffer working five days a week with two weeks of vacation, that will add up to 1,150 minutes or 19 hours of learning in a year! That’s plenty of time to stay on top of marketing and social media trends and learn new ways to engage your audience more effectively on all channels.

Best of all, at the end of that year of learning, you’ll feel more confident in your work and of course, your library’s promotional efforts will improve.

Need help finding places to learn about marketing in a short amount of time? Here’s a great list.

Be hyper-focused on your library’s overall goals.

What is your library trying to accomplish right now? Are you hoping to increase your circulation to pre-pandemic numbers? Are you helping to bridge the pandemic educational gap for elementary school students? Are you implementing a step-by-step plan to ensure your library is truly accessible to everyone? Are you undergoing a facilities improvement project?

Your promotions should be centered on whatever your library is trying to accomplish this year.

When you focus your marketing with precision on your library’s strategy, your marketing will be more effective. You will avoid spreading your message thin. You’ll be using your precious time and energy more efficiently.

Every piece of marketing you do needs to be in service of reaching your library’s strategic goals. They are the reason you come to work every morning. Make certain there is a solid connection between your promotional efforts and your library’s overall strategy.

Be a fan of data.

Block off five minutes in every workday to gather or analyze the metrics of your marketing and promotions. Just like with the professional development appointment you’re making each day, schedule this into your calendar.

This simple step will give you a very clear sense of what is working and what isn’t. You’ll have the numbers to back yourself up when you make decisions about which promotions to do and which ones to drop.

Be constantly experimenting.

One of my favorite parts of working in marketing is experimentation. There are so many ways we can test promotions to find the most effective means of communicating with our audiences.

I want you to think of yourself as a kind of scientist. Your experiments don’t have to be complicated.

For example, when you send emails, try sending on different days of the week and different times of the day.

When you want to promote an item in your collection or a service provided by your library, post on all your library’s social media channels. Then look at the insights to see where you get the highest engagement.

When you write blog posts, try experimenting with the length of the post, the length of the title, or the number of images you insert in the piece. Then look at views to see if your metrics are impacted by changing any of those factors.

Experimenting is fun. And it can lead you to create more effective promotions. Need some ideas about where to experiment with your promotions? Here’s a list of things to try.

Be open to change.

How many times have you heard someone say, “But we’ve always done it that way” in your library? Reject this phrase.

I think many times we get stuck promoting our library the same way we always have. Don’t be afraid to look at the data and say to your boss or co-workers, “This isn’t working. Let’s try this instead.”

In library marketing, change isn’t a bad thing. It means you are being responsive to your community’s needs and meeting them where they are as their lives are changing.

Be patiently persistent.

Sometimes it takes a while for fellow co-workers, senior staff, and your community members to respond to your ideas.

Effective library marketers set a timeline for how long they think it will take to increase engagement or reach a certain target audience with a message across multiple channels. A good rule of thumb is to give any new promotion about three months to catch on. If it’s not working by then, experiment with something else.

You May Also Want to Read These Posts

Three Easy Ways for the Exhausted Librarian to Figure Out What Your Community Needs AND Find Promotional Inspiration!

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