In this post, I walked you through what branding really means in a library: It’s the consistent experience people have every time they interact with you.
Now comes the harder question: How do you actually make that happen across an entire library system? Believe me, I know what a struggle this can be!
The Real Problem Isn’t Branding. It’s Alignment.
Most library marketers I work with tell me they struggle with branding because the library system is very siloed. Libraries are collaborative by nature but decentralized in structure.
Most library systems have:
- Multiple branches
- Multiple departments (youth, adult, outreach, etc.)
- Staff with different backgrounds and comfort levels with marketing
So people do what they think is best in the moment. And over time, that creates inconsistency.
- Each department and branch creates its own promotional materials
- Messaging varies depending on who writes it
- Tone and style vary depending on who writes it
No one is intentionally trying to dilute the brand. But no one is working from the same playbook, either.
The Fix: Give Staff Clarity, Not Control
Here’s where many branding efforts go off track. Leadership tries to “fix” inconsistency by:
- Locking down templates
- Requiring approvals for everything
- Centralizing all marketing decisions
That might create consistency. But it also creates bottlenecks, frustration, and disengagement. It also lowers staff morale, because it appears that leaders don’t trust branch or department staff to do their jobs.
Instead, what staff really need is clarity.
The 2 Things Every Staff Member Needs to Know
If you want your entire library to create promotion using one brand, every staff member, regardless of their role, should be able to answer these two questions:
1. Who Are We?
I’m not talking about reciting your mission statement. I’m talking about your library’s personality, tone, and voice.
Are you:
- Friendly and conversational?
- Educational and authoritative?
- Playful and creative?
If staff don’t understand this, they’ll default to their own voice.
2. Who Are We Talking To?
Your audience is not everyone. I know that’s so hard to understand when you’re working in an organization that aims to serve everyone.
But when you are working on promotions, you have to target a specific audience. So, your staff must be trained to think in specifics.
Who are they hoping to see come through the door as a result of their promotion? Are they looking for:
- Parents of young children?
- Job seekers?
- Lifelong learners?
- Teens looking for a place to belong?
- Some other target audience?
When staff can identify the specific people they are trying to reach, their messaging becomes more consistent — naturally
How to Communicate Your Brand to Staff
Your library doesn’t need a 40-page brand guide. Most libraries only need a simple document that includes:
1. Voice Traits (3–5 words)
These are the personality descriptors that guide how your library “sounds” in writing. For example:
- Friendly, welcoming, knowledgeable, community-focused
- Curious, inclusive, encouraging, playful
- Helpful, clear, approachable, trustworthy
For example, if your library decides its personality descriptor is “helpful, clear, approachable, and trustworthy,” you can tell staff that instead of saying, “Patrons must return materials by the due date“, you’ll say, “Just a heads up… return your items by the due date to avoid any fees.”
2. Visual Guidelines (colors, fonts, image style)
These define how your library looks visually across every tactic and channel, including social media, flyers, signage, and your website.
For example, your library might have three colors in your brand palette. Each color likely represents a feeling or emotion that you want your community to experience when they encounter materials from your library.
Let your staff know about the intentionality of your color palette by explaining each color’s associated emotion, like this:
- Primary: Deep blue (trust, stability). We use this color for promotions about our hours and policies.
- Secondary: Bright orange (energy, engagement). We use this color for promotions that include a call to action, like signing up or registering for a program.
- Neutral: Light gray or cream. This color provides us with a clean background for promotions.
Set guidelines for font use. Be sure to lay out which font staff should use for headlines, body text, or as an accent font for special promotions for kids’ programming, summer reading, or other big programs.
Finally, give staff clear direction about the use of photos in your promotions. You may want to indicate that all photos must depict real patrons in one of your branches. (Check out this post about how to do a “stock photo day” to build your library’s cache of photos.)
If photos of real community members are not an option, let staff know what kind of stock photos they may use. For example, you may set guidelines that all staff photos must include:
- Warm, candid, natural lighting
- Diverse, inclusive representation
- Focus on interaction (reading, attending programs, using spaces)
Coming Next
Now that you know how to align your team, there’s one more big challenge.
How do you create a consistent voice and look without making everything feel rigid and templated?
Your job is not to control every piece of marketing. Your job is to:
- Set the direction
- Define the brand clearly
- Equip your team to execute
That’s what we’ll tackle in Part 3, which will publish on May 11.
Want more help?
Branding for Your Library: Stand Out From the Crowd With Smart, Strategic Placement of Your Brand
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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 