The first thing I do when I visit my parents is greet their dogs. The second thing is to look for my list.
My parents are aging, so I like to help with things they can no longer do. I wash windows, weed the flower beds, and sew on loose buttons. As I work through the list, I get a certain satisfaction in checking things off.
Lists have always been a part of my life. My mother wrote a daily list for when I got home from school. Feed the dogs. Make a salad. Start your homework. It’s almost as if she thought I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t have a list to follow.
And she was right. I now make lists for everything. Lists for packing. Lists for groceries. Lists of tasks I need to complete during the workday. Gift lists at the holidays.
Lists help you focus and prioritize. So, when one of my readers asked for a list of the ten best tips and practices for library marketing, I dug in. (Imagine me cracking my knuckles, blowing on my fingers, and setting my fingers on the keyboard here.)
Top Ten Tips for Library Marketing and Promotions
#1: Send email to your community.
Email is the most effective marketing tactic. You don’t have to battle algorithms. And 99 percent of people with an email address read their email daily, usually first thing in the morning.
Starting a consistent library email program can be intimidating. But I put it at the top of the list because it’s the best use of your time.
You can start small by sending a newsletter. Work your way up to targeted email segments, where you’ll be sending shorter, more focused messages to specific groups of people. Don’t worry that you’re leaving people out with more niche emails… you are not.
Coming soon: a new course on email marketing from Learn with NoveList taught by yours truly. It’ll be part of the staff subscription plan.
#2: Post no more than once a day on your social media channels.
Social media for libraries works to create brand awareness and affinity. But they’re also ruled by algorithms that determine who sees your posts. The algorithms value quality posts, not quantity. So, posting often does nothing to boost your reach. Once a day is plenty.
Make a schedule to create quality posts and give your social media feeds consistency (which the algorithms love). For example:
- Monday: Promote an item in your collection.
- Tuesday: Share a video.
- Wednesday: Ask a question.
- Thursday: Promote a program.
- Friday: Share something about a library staff member or something behind the scenes of library work.
- Saturday: Promote a service, like your seed library, a database, streaming videos, or your MakerSpace.
- Sunday: Share something funny, inspiring, or thoughtful about the joy of reading or the importance of intellectual freedom.
Each year, beginning in November, I publish a best practices guide for each of the major social media channels. To see the guides, type the name of the platform you want to research in the homepage search bar.
#3: Put a bookmark in every hold and checkout that leaves your library.
Your collection is a marketing tactic! No library visitor should ever leave the building without a piece of promotional material.
To get started, pick three areas of focus for your bookmarks. Make one bookmark for each of your three focus promotions. For example:
- A booklist
- An online item like streaming music
- A recurring program.
Teach staff to add a bookmark to every hold and checkout. They use context clues to decide which of your three focused promotional bookmarks will resonate most with each library visitor.
#4: Write a general marketing script and have staff recite or read it before every program.
Your programs are also a marketing tactic. Use the first minute of each program as a “housekeeping moment”, so share a marketing message to this captive audience.
The message should be short, 3-4 sentences. And it should be tailored to the audience.
Here’s an example. Let’s say your library just purchased a set of after-hours holds lockers. You want people to use them. You can create a script for staff to read before programs.
For children’s programs your script might say:
“Hello everyone! I wanted to let you know about a new service we have at the library – our after-hours holds lockers. You can pick up your reserved books and materials anytime, even when the library is closed. It’s a convenient way to get the books your family needs, on your schedule!”
For adult programs, your script might say:
“Hello everyone! Before we begin, I want to tell you that our library now has after-hours holds lockers. Maybe you saw them as you walked in: they’re just to the right of the front doors. You can pick up your reserved books and materials at any time, even outside of our regular hours. So if you work a late shift or you’re going to have a particularly busy day and can’t get to the library before we close, you can still get your books!”
#5: Talk to one community group every month.
Reach out to the Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce, Junior League, and local professional groups. Ask for five minutes during their next meeting to talk about what is available at the library and to sign up members for a library card.
#5: Analyze your promotional metrics each month.
Schedule 30 minutes once a month to look at the past month’s performance on social media, email, and your website.
Watch for trends. Did your social media impressions spike this month? What may have caused that? Did your email open rate plummet? Take a look at the emails you were sending to determine what may have caused the dip. Did attendance skyrocket at your monthly book club after you posted an Instagram Reel promoting it? Do more Instagram Reels!
This work will help you spot issues and opportunities. You can replicate the things that your audience responds to. And you can stop doing the things that don’t work for your audience, and have the data to back up your decision! It’s time well spent.
#6: Create an editorial calendar for the next 6-12 months.
Planning your promotional schedule gives you time to thoughtfully create your promotions and get approvals. Plus, you can share your plans with your coworkers and supervisors, so everyone at the library knows what’s been marketed and when.
Schedule your emails, when you’ll change your website graphics, your book displays… even the signs in your library lobby.
Some of this planning will be easy. You know when summer reading, Library Workers Week, National Library Card Signup Month, back-to-school, and holiday events happen.
Leave space in your calendar for those unexpected things that come up. If your director announces his or her retirement, your building needs renovations, or your library buys a new database… you’ll have space in your calendar to accommodate those promotions.
Here’s more advice on creating an editorial calendar.
#7: Ask for time at the next all-staff meeting to discuss library marketing.
One of the most common things library marketers struggle with is their coworkers. They don’t understand how promotions work!
Transparency is always a good idea. You want everyone, from the front-line staff to your senior staff, to understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Talk about your goals. Talk about how you work to accomplish them, and why you use certain marketing channels for certain promotions. Then, share successes to show that your efforts are working and share failures to drive home the point that marketing is an experiment and you’re always learning.
Here’s a great example of one library marketer who built advocates and allies inside his library.
#8: Follow best practices for press coverage.
The media is an audience you must court, like any other target audience! The easier you make their job, the more positive press coverage your library will enjoy.
I used to work as a television news producer and I have many friends still in the business. Here are the top six tips they give for garnering press coverage for your library. Here are more tips from another former journalist turned library marketer.
And, I hope you’re planning to attend the 2024 Library Marketing and Communications Conference because this is the focus of my session this year! I’ll be moderating a panel with three former journalists turned library marketers who will share their top tips for building positive relationships with your local media.
#9: Start a blog.
A blog is one of the best ways to share information about the library and drive visitors to your website. It allows your library to tell your story, create brand awareness, and promote your library to your audience for free, without having to deal with the rules of someone else’s platform.
And, frankly, it’s fun! But it can be difficult to get a blog off the ground. It took me five years to launch a blog at my former library. Now, I’m running the blog at my day job at NoveList. Here are all the things I’ve learned about blogging from those experiences.
#10: Set aside 20 minutes a week to learn.
Marketing is changing all the time. You can keep up with the latest social media news and marketing tips by dedicating time to this work.
Hey library marketing friends: Remember, every promotion you put out into the world can spark a lifelong love of reading in someone. Your work makes a difference!
P.S. You might also find this helpful
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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion 