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How One Library Marketer Advocated for (and Got) an Additional Promotional Staff Member

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Have you ever wondered what you could do for your library if you had more people working on promotions?

Staffing up in library marketing is very uncommon. I believe this is a huge mistake that many libraries make. Leaders and board members don’t understand the essential connection between smart, strategic library marketing and the organization’s success.

So when I learned that Nicole Fowles of the Delaware County District Library successfully advocated for and got an extra library marketing staff member, I had to ask her how she did it! Nicole grew up in New Philadelphia, Ohio, and was a regular visitor to the Tuscarawas County Public Library Main Branch.

“I have fond memories of storytime with Mrs. Pittman,” remembers Nicole. “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt was a classic! But even more special was bringing my own children back to that library when we visited the grandparents for them to get to enjoy a storytime.”

Nicole is now the Communications Coordinator for the Delaware County District Library, a five-branch system with a bookmobile and other outreach services. DCDL serves a population of nearly 166,000 people.

Nicole came to the library in 2012. She had one Communication Specialist but was certain she needed more help.

“As the Library grew, the strain on our department of two grew, as well,” explains Nicole. “In 2018, the Library passed a levy with the promise to build a new branch. Feelings of overwhelm were setting in, and we knew it was time to really look at what jobs we accomplished for the system, what was being asked of us, and what we could realistically provide to the best of our abilities.”

“The first thing I did was sit down with my Communications Specialist and perform a job task audit. We each took a stack of colored Post-it notes and in about 30 minutes wrote down every job that we do or anticipate doing with the construction of the new branch.”

Nicole says it became clear their job responsibilities were unbalanced and not always aligned with the library’s priorities. So, she decided to use a graphing technique she had learned from business books.

She created a chart. At the top, she put two columns: Library needs and Library doesn’t need. Then, on the side, Nicole made two rows, one labeled I like, and one labeled I don’t like.

“Take your tasks and put them into those squares,” directs Nicole. “What do you like doing, but the library doesn’t need? What do you not like doing but the library needs? This gives a clear, hard-truth picture of tasks that might need to be eliminated or that could be given to a different person.”

“We took the Post-its that remained and looked at the common themes. Much of the work that was overwhelming me had to do with maintaining the website and managing email communications. I liked those tasks, and the library needed those, but I was doing both jobs poorly because I was not giving them the time or investment of education they deserved.”

“I knew the potential we could reach with email segmentation, but I had no desire to even begin to creep into that world because I was already overwhelmed with the basics of simple bulletin communications.”

“Our patrons were not being served in the best way that they could be. We knew a second Communications Specialist was needed to focus on the website and email communications.”

-Nicole Fowles

Nicole says the next step was to approach her director. But before that meeting, she did some additional prep work.

“I looked at the job description and had to decide if we’d keep the same job description or if it would need to be a new title,” remembers Nicole. “We decided to keep it the same, as this person would still have much cross-over with general communications duties. We’d post it with clarity that we were focusing on digital comms. I also needed to be sure that the organization’s pay scale for the title was appropriate for the job we wanted to accomplish.”

“When I had title, job description, and overall benefits and pay impact figured out, I listed the things I wanted to do and the cost if I simply contracted them out. I got various quotes for full-scale website management from other companies. I also got quotes for contract email support or PR for-hire agencies.”

“In the end, the benefit of hiring someone who would do the work of those two contracts (web and PR agency), in addition to being a DCDL employee and helping as needed with other Communications Department duties (campaigns, community events, etc.) outweighed the cost of hiring external contract help.”

Armed with that pitch, Nicole was ready to make her case to the director.

“The Director was sympathetic to our anecdotal evidence,” recalls Nicole. “He was also receptive to the financial analysis of what those things would cost if we used outside contractors as opposed to an internal employee.”

Nicole had to get approval for the potential staff member’s salary and benefits from the Board of Trustees. She knew the board liked to be on track or ahead of similar libraries, so she made sure to provide that information.

“Take a close look at your Board of Trustees and attend a Board meeting, if you aren’t already,” advises Nicole. “It’s wise to know where they dig in and where they relinquish control to their Directors.”

“I had already learned after many years of attending Board meetings that they were big on the numbers side and slightly competitive, and those would be the angles I’d need to use to approach them.”

-Nicole Fowles

As you know from the title of this post, Nicole was granted an extra staff member! That meant her original Communications Specialist could focus on print communications and social media. Nicole says the work she put into advocating for a second Communications Specialist focused on digital marketing was well worth it.

“Our website was not showing up on Google searches well, but she cleaned up our Search Engine Optimization,” says Nicole. “We did not have a great place to utilize news. We now effectively have a blog. A widget that I constantly broke but desperately wanted to use was something she took and ran with and used on several other pages that needed it! Our website needed a drastic facelift, specifically regarding organizational hierarchy; she led the charge.”

And Nicole’s second staff member also took the library from sporadic monthly emails to email marketing success.

“Our new employee was able to build many segments and help us reach our cardholders more appropriately for targeted messages,” shares Nicole. “She helped create a brand-new Mature Reader newsletter that specifically reaches our 55+ community, a Pre-K newsletter utilizing our mascot, and an A-Z newsletter specifically for children going into kindergarten. Our reach has grown leaps and bounds.”

What’s next for Nicole and her staff? She’s now building the case for an internal communications specialist after seeing an inspiring presentation by the Spokane Public Library at the 2024 Library Marketing and Communications Conference.

Nicole has one final piece of advice for her fellow library marketers.

“Read the business books!” she implores. “Most of what inspired me to do our task analysis came from a book called Do More Great Work by Michael Bungay Stanier. There are many more out there!”

One way to get more business books into your TBR is to join The Library Marketing Book Club! I’m now the co-host of the club with Anna Lowry of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. Want to join? Contact me here.

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How One Library Got All the Stock Photos It Needed for Promotions in Just One Day!

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The Secret of the 60-Minute Meeting: Six Tips to Keep Your Library Marketing Team On Track and Stay Productive!

I dread Wednesdays.

On that day of the week, I usually have between five and seven meetings. I basically spend the day hopping from one conference room to another.

Not so long ago, most of those meetings would last beyond 60 minutes. Tangents were pursued. Ideas were dissected in great detail. My team and I were often blind-sided by requests to come up with an entire marketing campaign for an idea we’d only learned of moments before. It was unproductive.

As a marketing manager responsible for proving the bottom-line benefits of your marketing, it can be tempting to rely on recurring team meetings and regular check-ins to make sure you know exactly what’s going on with your team. But when long meetings evolve into habit, their value tends to plummet.

No meeting should ever last beyond 60 minutes. There are a couple of reasons for this. After 60 minutes of intense discussion, participants begin to lose interest. Their creativity and energy wanes. And the more time you spend in meetings, the less time you and your team have to do ACTUAL work.

Obviously you can’t control every meeting. But when you’re running the agenda, you can create an atmosphere of productivity and creativity while setting an example of efficiency for the rest of the library staff.

I don’t remember how it started but someone in my library’s senior leadership team took the initiative to institute a more efficient meeting structure. Suddenly, everyone was following this person’s lead. It was amazing and liberating.

I started instituting the 60-minute or less meeting rule about a year ago in my department and it’s worked so well that I recently introduced it in another setting.

I’m the chair of my school district’s bond issue campaign and our core committee meetings are 60 minutes or less. It was funny how many people from that group have commented about my 60-minute meeting pledge! It had never occurred to them that meetings, even ones where important decisions are made, could last less than an hour.

If you want to increase productivity in your library, here’s how to execute a 60-minute meeting.

Super prioritize your agenda.  For my library team, I divide action items into categories: the weekly schedule, immediate concerns, future concerns, and individual tasks. These four categories appear on the agenda every single week. Under each category, I list the items that need to be discussed in order of their priority. Next to each item, I list the name of the person in charge of that item or project. For the bond issue committee meetings, I simply list items in order of their priority without categories.

Time it out ahead of time. Try to estimate how much time you’ll need to discuss each item. If your total discussion time is more than 60 minutes, do some more prioritizing with your agenda. Once your agenda is set, make sure everyone attending the meeting has a copy so they can follow along and stay focused.

Set expectations at the beginning of the meeting. As the leader, set the example and start on time. Remind the team that the meeting will last 60 minutes and that you’ll be working to keep discussions on track. Assure them that if further discussions are needed on a particular item, you will schedule a side meeting. Off-topic discussions will be tackled outside of the formal meeting time.

The first time I made this announcement at the bond issue meeting, everyone looked shocked. I was worried that people would start watching the clock and timing me, thus cutting the productivity. But because I set firm expectations, the group trusts me to stick to them. They end up focusing more on the items we need to discuss. It’s funny how that works!

Watch your agenda word choices. Use words like “update” rather than “discussion” to help frame the conversation and give mental cues to attendees that work for the meeting will need to be done before the meeting actually happens. If a key decision needs to be made in the meeting, use the word “decision” in your action item to cue the attendees that you plan to come to a consensus at this meeting.

Take notes. Make note of who is assigned to each project. Give clear deadlines and expectations for each action item and include those in the notes. After the meeting, send out a copy of the meeting notes so everyone is clear about what they’re responsible for and when it’s due.

Continue to give time updates throughout the meeting. It’s OK to say, “We have 15 minutes left so we’re going to discuss one more item that is a priority to us. The rest of the items on this agenda will be discussed at a later meeting.” This will help keep discussions on track.

The LIVE LIBRARY MARKETING TALK ON INSTAGRAM is changing format. I have decided to pre-record my segments and post them to YouTube! I still want your email questions and topic suggestions ahead of time. Just fill out this form. If I pick your topic, I’ll send you a personal link to the video after it’s posted. I’m going to start posting my video segments on Thursdays so watch your email for that. Thank you to everyone who weighed in on the video decision!

And check out these upcoming events and webinars where we can connect and discuss library marketing. Registration links included.

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The Big Things You Must Do to Land a Job in Library Marketing

I never like to see a staff member resign. But when they do, it’s usually to take the next step in their marketing career, and that’s something to be proud of.

However, I suffer through several days of worry after I receive a resignation letter. Will I find a good person to fill this role? How long will it take? How hard will it be to orient them to the bureaucratic workings of my library?

In truth, despite the worry, I love to hire new people. A new employee can bring new ideas and energy to your library. Staff recruitment and nurturing is one of my favorite parts of the job. It’s also one of the hardest things to do. Hiring a manageable, long-term, qualified candidate who meshes well with your current team is crucial to the success of your library. The wrong hire can cause issues for you for a long time. So it’s important to get it right.

A job in library marketing is fun. It isn’t glamorous but it’s fulfilling. It’s also a popular field. For my last open position, I received more than 130 resumes in seven days. And many of those resumes were from candidates with the right degree and experience. But many of my candidates neglected to do some simple things that could have helped them land my open job.

I want to share some of the things I look for in a good library marketing candidate. These aren’t the things you’re told are important when you’re taking that college job placement class. Confession: I do want my candidates to have a degree but I don’t care where it’s from. These are the things that really, truly improve your chances of landing a job in library marketing.

And, if you hire library marketing candidates or hire for positions in your library in which marketing is part of the job description, look for candidates who have these qualifications.

A complete LinkedIn account. Your LinkedIn profile should include an updated photo of a professional nature. List your school and work experiences. Make sure you mention any professional organizations to which you belong. If you have writing or artistic samples, post them on your profile or include a link to your online portfolio or blog.

Most importantly, ask relevant professional peers to write recommendations of your work before you start applying for jobs. The candidates who got past my first round of resume culling where those who had at least one professional recommendation on their LinkedIn profile. And the more positive recommendations they had, the more likely I was to consider their resume.

A completed automatic application form. My library’s application asks questions that are usually answered in a candidates’ resume. Many of my candidates skipped the application step. I assume it’s because they felt it was redundant. However, it’s important to fill out the application for two reasons.

Many libraries use software to comb the online application for certain keywords to identify qualified candidates. They can’t do that search on a resume. If you don’t fill out the application, you’re automatically disqualified. Filling out the application form also shows you can follow directions.

A cover letter, particularly if the job you’re applying for involves writing. This is your chance to shine. Avoid using clichés such as “I’m a great fit for this position.” Write in your own voice. Be creative and personal.

The person I hired for my last open position began her cover letter by telling me the story of the library in her childhood–how her mother used to bring her to the library every night for activities and homework help because she was such an active and energetic child. That story stuck in my mind and demonstrated her writing skills. She wrote conversationally yet was professional in her tone. And it worked… she got the job!

Spelling and grammar are accurate on EVERYTHING, especially if your new job involves writing. This demonstrates professionalism and attention to detail. I eliminated some qualified candidates because they misspelled words or made grammar errors in their resume, application, or cover letter.

Writing samples. Generally, I would have two or three samples linked to your resume, and two or three more in your back pocket to send in if the recruiter needs them to help winnow down the pool of candidates. Prove you can write a variety of content including blog posts, press releases, emails, and long-form articles.

Social media accounts.  If you’ve worked on a social media account for another brand, nonprofit, or volunteer organization, include a link to those accounts in your resume. If you don’t have professional experience, you should have personal accounts and you need to be active on them. This demonstrates you have knowledge of how social media works. If you aren’t actively on social media, the recruiter will assume you don’t have a complete understanding of how the social landscape works.

Video examples. In TV news, we used to call this the “demo reel.” Make two or three videos to show your shooting style, and to show you know how to edit and upload videos. Put them on YouTube or your personal blog, and link to them in your resume.

Research the heck out of the library you want to work for. The more you know about the library, the better your chances will be of landing the job. Look at the library’s social media accounts, website, and mobile app, then visit a branch. Pick up some print marketing materials and pay attention to displays, signage, and customer service. This prepares you for the classic questions “What are we doing well and what would you like to improve on, if you were hired for this position?” The inability to answer that question is an automatic disqualifier for me.

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