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Empathy Marketing: How To Use Greed, Fear, Love, and Hope To Motivate Your Audience

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

The worst day I’ve ever had in a job was in 2009.

I was working in television news as a producer. It was during the recession, and times were tough for TV stations. Most of our ad dollars came from car dealerships. Vehicle sales fell 40 percent that year, which meant the dealerships had no money to spend on television ads.  

One morning, as I sat down at my desk, our news director called one of our morning editors into his office. Andy was in there for about 10 minutes. He emerged crestfallen.

Over the course of the next two hours, a dozen or so of my 60 fellow co-workers made the same journey in and out of the news director’s office. When they emerged, all of them had lost their jobs.

I could barely function that day. Writing was hard and my concentration was nonexistent. The only thing that got me through the day was the conversations I had with my fellow, still-employed co-workers, in hallways, offices, and in the back parking lot. We spent time trying to process what had happened and how it would impact our work.

I’m certain you have a similar story. And to make it through the day, it’s likely you pulled aside a friend, or a co-worker, or called your spouse or parent and talked it through. Sharing your story and receiving validation for your experience made you feel better or at least, more able to handle the crisis. Someone practiced empathy for you.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It can, and should, play a role in your library promotions.

Libraries are uniquely positioned to put empathy marketing to work. We care about our communities. We want our patrons to find the information they have, to experience joy, to learn, and to feel included. And that can play a significant role in creating effective promotions.

What is Empathy Marketing?

Empathy in marketing means communicating with your audience that you understand and share the emotions they feel. It’s more than pushing out promotions, one after another, on all channels.

Empathy marketing shows your community that you understand their pain, frustration, hurdles, and problems. When you demonstrate that, you’ll unlock the key to turning your audience’s emotions into action.  

Emotions that drive action

Think about your favorite novel. The author used empathy to make you care about what happens to the characters. Without that, you likely would never have finished the book.

In the same way, a promotion that lacks empathy is just noise to an audience. You need to make people understand that you care by harnessing emotion in your library marketing.

People are motivated to action by four main emotions: greed, fear, love, and the chance to grow. And under those main emotions, there is a range of nuance: stress, anxiety, worry, compassion, hope, and many more.

How does this work in the real world?

Research shows empathy in marketing increases engagement. Social media platforms take full advantage of this. They count on users to respond emotionally to posts with emojis, and comments, and share the thoughts, struggles, celebrations, and memories of their family and friends.

This is why storytelling works so well in marketing. When your promotions are emotional, they are more memorable. Your audience can see themselves in the story and imagine how they would react in the same situation. And the emotion someone feels after hearing that story has a greater influence on whether that person takes action and uses their library. It’s that simple.

When I worked in a library, the people in our community were worried specifically about jobs. They wanted valuable, stable employment. Many were stuck in low-paying jobs with no prospects for advancement.

At that time, there weren’t many programs in our area aimed at giving people the basic coaching they needed to put together a resume, ace an interview, or even sort through prospective job openings to find the right fit for their life and their family. So, my library partnered with another organization to put on a series of free workshops aimed at improving the job prospects of members of our community.

The emotion we’ve used to market that program was hope… a sense of hope for the betterment of our community and a sense of hope for those who want a better-paying, more fulfilling job. Hope is related to that fourth base emotion: the chance to grow.

Hope infused every promotional piece we created to promote the workshops. We knew that if we really leaned into the hope this program provided, we would compel our target audience to sign up and attend the workshops.

And it worked! Our workshops filled up and we had to start a waiting list.

A subtle but important shift

I want you to take a look at the last few promotions you have created. Were you merely telling your audience that a service existed in your library? Did your promotion include any emotion?

Here’s how to bridge that gap. Look at the difference between the two paragraphs below promoting Weiss Financial Ratings Site, a library database that allows patrons to find and compare insurance companies. Let’s say you want to compel your community members to do their insurance coverage shopping using your library.

Push marketing: Introducing Weiss Financial Ratings – Your Ultimate Insurance Database!  Tired of sifting through endless insurance options? Look no further! Weiss Financial Ratings is a comprehensive database that helps you find the perfect insurance company tailored to your unique needs.  

Empathy marketing with fear: The fear of making the wrong insurance decision can be overwhelming, leaving you vulnerable and uncertain about your coverage when it matters most. But your library is an unwavering ally in this sea of uncertainty. Weiss Financial Ratings, available for free at your library, lets you easily and confidently navigate through insurance options. Peace of mind is non-negotiable when it comes to safeguarding your future.  

See the difference?

Here’s another example. When I worked at a library, we had a personalized reading recommendation service called Book Hookup. Cardholders used a form on the website to tell a librarian what books they like. Then the librarian gave them three personalized reading recommendations.

When we sent emails promoting this service, I used empathy in my subject lines. To parents, I appealed to their need for convenience, saying, “You’ve got a lot to do. Let us pick out your next favorite book.” To teens, I used greed and a little bit of rebellion as motivation, saying simply, “Read something YOU want to read for a change.”

For a streaming movie service, you can center your promotional message on frustration, saying, “Tired of endlessly scrolling through streaming platforms, only to be met with the frustration of not finding anything captivating to watch? Say hello to a free, curated selection of blockbuster hits, timeless classics, and hidden gems. Your precious time deserves to be spent indulging in the magic of cinema, not lost in the labyrinth of choices.”

It’s a slight, but effective change in wording that leads to big results. For your community, empathy marketing feels less like promotion and more like help.

How do I know what emotions motivate my community?

If you want to get to the heart of the emotions that motivate your community, use psychographics.

Psychographics is the study and classification of people according to their attitudes, aspirations, and other psychological criteria, especially in market research (Oxford Dictionary). They go beyond basic demographics: location, age, gender identity, and library card usage.

To segment by psychographics is to divide your library audience into groups according to their beliefs, values, and reasons for being. It delves deeper into your cardholder’s values, dreams, desires, and outlook on life.

Psychographics identifies motivation. Why does your library community take certain actions? Why do they feel the way they do about the library? How do they see the role of the library in their life? And what activities do they participate in, both inside and outside of the library?

Once you identify the emotions that motivate your community, create messages that help, rather than promote. Here’s an easy thought process to use as you sit down to create promotions. Ask yourself:

  • How does my community see this problem?
    What do they do about it right now?  
  • What are their fears?
  • What are their hopes?
  • What do they really need from my library, and why do they need it?

Psychographics lead to compelling marketing messages because they focus on your community’s unarticulated needs and motivations. Learn how to identify your community’s psychographic makeup here.

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The Secret To Tell Compelling and Memorable Stories About Your Library That Make People Cry!

Watch this video

The #LibraryMarketing Show, Episode 179: There are a series of Facebook ads that I have actually watched in their entirety… something I have NEVER done before.

So what does this have to do with you? In this video, I’ll reveal the secrets so your library marketing can have the same impact on your audience.

Kudos in this episode go to SIX libraries in Canada!

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.

Thanks for watching!

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Turn Library Promotions on Their Head with This Surefire Yet Simple Way To Capture Attention

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Imagine for a moment that you are walking down a city street, minding your own business when you see the clown Pennywise.

That’s right. The terrifying lead character from the Stephen King film “It,” remade and re-released in 2017, is hanging out in your city.

Now, what if I told you that the reason this horrifying clown was roaming the streets was to promote a library event?

Yea, that’s the reaction I had too.

But a library in St. Petersburg, Russia really went this route. And you know what? It worked.

The library used the wandering horror film character as a chance to draw attention to their Stephen King Festival. Someone dressed as Pennywise “would walk through the city, frightening passers-by and informing them about the upcoming festival.”

Honestly, I would never have approved this when I was working as a marketing manager in a library.

But it worked for this library. Because the media found out about the Pennywise clown stalking pedestrians. The clown, and the library, were covered in the press. We’re talking about dozens of outlets.

And that’s how people found out about the event. That led to record attendance. The library said 800 people showed up for the festival, more than four times what they had expected.   

How do you draw attendance without scaring your community

Promoting your library is difficult. Events, renovations, new services, and additions to your collection cost money. They come with high expectations and goals. They require months of planning. The pressure to prove the value of your work to your community is high.

But there are things you can do to increase the likelihood your library gets noticed. This list does not include having someone dressed as a horror character wandering around your city or town.

But you know, I’ve learned a lesson from reading about the Friends Library. Sometimes you must be bold to get results.

Use storytelling to capture attention.

The first step is to think differently about the way you promote your library to the world. You want to capture the attention of your community, your cardholders, and the media. Telling a great story is a powerful and effective way to do this.

Your promotions need to do more than list off the details about your library. You want to set up the reason why your community should use your services. You want a memorable, compelling way to convey the value of your work.

A simple storytelling formula begins with the people.

Talk with the library staff and community members about whatever you are trying to promote. If you’re focused on a big event, follow the organizers around for a bit as they attend meetings, make calls, and get materials ready for the big day.

Interview a community member who is benefiting from the event, service, or collection item. If you are promoting a project that involves a partner or sponsor, get an interview from those organizations.

You don’t have to do a full-length Barbara Walters-style interrogation. You can ask a few simple questions that will add color and humanity to your promotion.

Here are some interview tips.

  • Write down your questions ahead of time.
  • Ask open-ended questions like, “Why did you sponsor this event?” or “Tell me why the library is offering this new service to our community.”
  • Actively listen and ask follow-up questions.
  • End the interview by asking if there is anything else the interviewee wants to say that you haven’t covered.

Once you have all your interviews, it’s time to write.

Focus on the characters, not the library.

Put all the quotes you want to use into your document. Then, work the details of the event into your story where it’s appropriate. Before you know it, you have a compelling piece that you can use to promote your event on social media, in email, and in print.   

Guille-Alles Public Library is on the island of Guernsey, just off the coast of Normandy. And they work with Storybook Dads, a charity that helps incarcerated parents stay connected to their families by recording a bedtime story for their children. The Library’s Outreach Team has been working with Guernsey Prison for several years to provide books and readers’ advisory support for people convicted of crimes on the island.

To show the value of their work and to make sure their community knew about this project, the library wrote a compelling story. It featured interviews with library staff and incarcerated fathers.

Another great example of this comes from Bridges Library System. Marketing and Communications Librarian Jill Fuller does a great job humanizing the value of physical library spaces.

Find a home for your story.

The logical place to put this story is on your library blog. Another option is to create a landing page on your website and post your story. You want your work somewhere where you can easily share a link, preferably on your own website.

Housing your story on your website has an added benefit. You’ll also be rewarded by Google, which will pick up you keywords in your post and start showing the post in search results for anyone looking for those keywords. Google doesn’t catch keywords on PDF or Word document press releases posted to a website.  

If you are not allowed to post your story on your own website, you can post your story on Facebook or on LinkedIn as an article. Both social media outlets offer you plenty of space. Facebook gives you 60,000+ characters, which can be roughly 8-10,000 words. LinkedIn articles give you twice that amount!

Share your story link everywhere.

Your library has an available audience on a variety of platforms. Now it’s time to make sure they read your story!

  • Send an eblast to your cardholders and include the link.
  • Share the link on your other social media platforms.
  • Make bookmarks that include a few sentences teasing your article and a shortened URL. Insert those bookmarks in all your holds and checkouts leading up to your event. Share the bookmarks with your partner organizations.

And send a link to your story to your media contacts in a personalized email. I know it takes longer to send an email to each media contact than to send one mass email, but it’s worth it.

Here are some tips for writing the perfect pitch to journalists by email.

  • Keep the body short but personalized. Address the journalist by name.
  • Keep the subject line short and simple but intriguing.
  • Get to your point quickly and include the link to your story.
  • Explain why news of your upcoming event is beneficial to that media outlet.

3 Stories Your Library Should Be Telling Right Now

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How One Library is Promoting Themselves by Handing the Microphone to Patrons and Letting Them Make the Case

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

Libraries know the power of storytelling. Most of us are literally and physically surrounded by some of the best stories in the world.

But the quest for library stories that have emotion and a compelling story arch is daunting for many libraries. A Kentucky librarian has the solution: let your patrons tell their own stories!

Levi Simonton has worked for the Jessamine County Public Library for three and a half years and is now the library’s social media coordinator. “I love this place,” said Levi when I asked him about his work experience.

In January, Levi and his library launched a video series called Share A Story. The videos were created to amplify the voices of library superfans.

Levi’s library believes that patrons’ real-life experience is the best way to increase the use of the library and relay the library’s value. “We think that a community member is more likely to visit the library after hearing a story from one of their peers rather than seeing an advertisement from us,” explains Levi.

Approaching a patron and asking them to share their story is often intimidating for libraries. But Levi has a remarkably simple approach. “We typically ask other staff members if they know anyone who might be willing to share an impactful story with the library,” says Levi. “We may also ask for patrons with experience on a specific topic we plan to promote. Sometimes it’s a bit more serendipitous, though. We met the first patron we interviewed by chance at our big comic con event last October.”

The interview itself doesn’t take much time, according to Levi. He typically spends about 45 minutes interviewing his subject. Then he focuses on getting footage of the subject that matches what the patron talked about (in the TV world, this is called B-roll). The footage is used later in editing, to cover parts of soundbites and edits. It also makes the video more interesting.

Once the interview and footage are shot, it’s time to put it all together. For Levi, this is the most labor-intensive part of the process. “These particular pieces usually take 10-15 hours over a week or two,” recalls Levi. “Honestly, that’s longer than it should take. I’m just new to video editing and have a bit of compulsive behavior when it comes to getting those darn details right.”

When the library launched the first video, the reaction was positive, both from patrons and staff. “We showed the videos at a recent staff meeting,” says Levi. “They seemed to resonate with everyone. Hearing directly from patrons about the library’s impact on their lives brought at least a few staff to tears.”

So far, the library has released three videos in the series, including one from a woman who has been visiting the library since she was a little girl. “I grew up in an environment that was considered impoverished,” says Anna Kenion, who is featured in one of the videos. “However, my way of escape, to solitude time and to dream bigger was when I would go to our public library,”

The library is taking a break from releasing videos over the summer to focus on summer reading. But they are working on videos to promote their new outreach vehicle and children’s storytimes. “We may release podcasts, written pieces, or other media that fall under the Share A Story umbrella in the future,” said Levi.

Is your library telling patron stories as part of your marketing? Let me know in the comments!

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Listening Is the Key: How One Woman Turned Her Superpower Into a Video Marketing Series That Changed Public Perception of Her Library

Photo of children reading courtesy the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County's Digital Collection

As you well know, libraries have changed, evolved, and adapted in some remarkable ways, particularly in the past 19 months.

But past perception continues to be a real hurdle for libraries. Plenty of people who would call themselves a fan of the library don’t know all the things the modern library does.

We must make sure our community understands who we are right now. And there is a movement to do that through storytelling.

One of those storytellers is Evelyn Shapiro, Promotions Manager at Champaign Public Library in Illinois. As I was preparing to speak at Content Marketing World, I reached out to Evelyn to ask for details about her content marketing campaign, A Library for Life.

Evelyn graciously shared the story of how she compiled this amazing YouTube playlist of patrons who shared the relevance and importance of the Champaign Library’s work. And she’s permitted me to share what she wrote with you.

I hope you will find inspiration in her words. But also, I hope you will see how practical and, frankly, easy it is to gather and tell stories about the ways your library is changing lives.

“Libraries are one of the best ideas humans have ever had.”

Danielle Borasky, Vice-President, NoveList

“Friends and colleagues have told me that connecting with amazing people is one of my superpowers. It’s funny because I can’t help thinking—doesn’t everyone feel like they know truly remarkable people?”

“So, part of the genesis of the project came through the #LibraryLove shared by Karin Markovitch, the parent I interviewed. She had been sharing the most fantastic comments and stories with us in social media posts, tagging the library, also in person with the desk staff. She is just a natural library ambassador, brimming with appreciation.”

“I kept thinking about how I wanted to share her enthusiasm and appreciation of what we offer with the world, but especially with local community members who might not know about or use the library, and with staff because we never tire of hearing that our efforts and expertise result in a positive experience and impact for customers.”

“Our Teen Librarian Kathie Kading was keen on introducing me to Mallory Morris, the educator I interviewed. Mallory’s energy is pure magic, and she can speak with authority about the impact the library has on teachers’ and students’ lives. Interviewing her would mean other people would get to hear her stories, in her words. She was able to put together our group of teen interviewees, drawing from students at her school (across the street from the library) which turned out to be powerful testimony as well.”

“Also, a colleague in the children’s department introduced me to an area artist, Stacey Robinson, who was using the study room next to the children’s desk as his studio, coming in regularly and drawing illustrations for a graphic novel he was creating. She had gotten to know him over time and wanted to be sure I knew his story. (He ended up surprising her by thanking her by name in the acknowledgments of his book!)”

“I connected with him, and it turns out we know people in common in town in the art/design/theatre/dance/music worlds. Again, he was passionate about the library and spoke so well about what a treasure this place is. I wanted to be able to share his story. He also teaches on the University of Illinois campus in the Art + Design department and is a lot of fun to follow on social media.” 

“So, momentum had started building and because it was our tenth anniversary in this building, I realized I could propose the project as interviews with ten community members. It was our first video project and not part of my original budget that year, but it was the right timing to ask.”

“Once approved, I needed to build my list of who I would bring on camera. I knew about some of the range I wanted and topics I wanted to highlight including a parent and teen, a Board member, and someone who could speak about the Branch. Our director was able to recommend three of those featured—Candace, Thom, and Rajiv.”

“While working on developing our strategic plan, we invited a group of community members (around 50) to a retreat here to talk about the library and community needs. In one session I attended, Charlisa spoke up about the Douglass Branch, what libraries meant to her as a child, and how children access literacy in our community. I was so compelled by what she had to say. Charlisa has become a very active participant on our social streams as well.”

“Around this time, I’d met a new-to-the-community social media manager named Huan who worked remotely with an international org in communications and marketing. It turned out she spent a lot of time in our new walk-in co-working space for area entrepreneurs. She used it as her office and was getting involved with supporting the library in a few different ways—through a United Way young professionals project and through serving on the Library Friends Board. We met by chance in the FriendShop Bookstore. At the time, she was volunteering in the shop, and we had a chance to chat. She had an international perspective, having lived, and worked in co-working spaces in London. She could compare what we offered here with co-working amenities in a Big City.”

“I already knew Amanda personally and at this time she was heading up the local Project READ initiative and both our locations were public sites where their group offered tutoring. I love talking with her about making good things happen in our community. She had held the role of liaison for families as part of a school program our daughter participated in. I had seen how fluidly she moved in different worlds and languages and what an effective advocate she is. She turned out to be an ideal example of how the library partners with community groups and how our services help immigrants.”

“I learned to bring a stash of tissues with me each time because someone always started crying. The stories were so heartful. I’ve also thought about additional ways we could share these stories, including in print somehow. I haven’t even transcribed them yet or pulled quotes from them. There may be obvious ways to expand and reuse their stories. The key seems to be selecting people who could talk glowingly about the library, without a lot of prompting from me.”

“As communicators, we focus a lot on our messages, as we need to. However, I see our role as much as a listener—how else can we share great comments and stories?”

Evelyn Shapiro is Promotions Manager at Champaign Public Library in Illinois. Before that, she worked in graphic design and has more than 75 published books and CDs to her credit, along with numerous awards from Parents’​ Choice, University College and Designers Association, and the Chicago Book Clinic.

Is your library telling stories about your work and your patrons? I’d love to see and share those stories! Send me an email with more information.

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4

The Top Four Reasons To Use Content Marketing To Promote Your Library on Every Platform

Photo of card catalog courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County

My high school history teacher never assigned a textbook for his class.

Instead, every day, Mr. David Ulmer would pace back and forth at the front of a room of students, explaining the events of the world in vivid detail as a story.

He would wildly gesticulate when the action got heated or dangerous, use voices to give life to historical figures, and punctuate points with hilarious statements written on the chalkboard.

My classmates and I sat in rapt attention. We tried to take notes. But frankly, it was hard to tear your eyes away from Mr. Ulmer. We didn’t want to miss a single detail.

No one failed tests in Mr. Ulmer’s class. That’s because his method of teaching was storytelling. Everyone remembered the details.

Mr. Ulmer used content marketing as a means of teaching history. Rather than pushing a bunch of facts, figures, and details at us, he made historical events personal, vivid, and memorable by telling stories.

Your library can have that kind of lasting, memorable impact. You only need to integrate content marketing as part of your promotional strategy.  

Now is the time to work stories into your library promotions. You want desperately to break through the noise of life. You want your community to think of your library every time they face a problem. You want them to remember they can come to you for anything they need.

I sometimes wonder if libraries dismiss this idea because stories as marketing sounds childish and unprofessional. The word “story” may also imply that the content is made up.

But, in marketing, we use stories as content because they are true testimonials about how your library has helped your community. They aren’t fiction. They’re told with integrity and clarity. 

 “People think in stories, not statistics, and marketers need to be master storytellers”.

Author, columnist, and businesswoman Arianna Huffington

Here are the four things you need to know to start working content marketing into your library promotions.  

You don’t have to do all the work.

Research by Nielsen shows that 92 percent of people will trust a recommendation from someone they know. When a cardholder talks about the way your library’s collection, programs, and services have impacted their lives, people will listen. Let your community share their story about their experience at the library.

One year at my library, we sent an email to a target group of library users. We asked them to tell us why they loved the library.

We got more than 400 responses! Some people wrote a few sentences, and some wrote paragraphs.

That one “ask” was a gold mine for content for more than a year. We contacted many of the responders later to ask them to elaborate on their stories on camera. We used those interviews for fundraising and content marketing. We pulled some of their quotes and had our librarians read them on camera, which we used as content marketing during Library Workers Week and other big events.

We used some of those stories to lay the groundwork for the passage of a levy. And we used stories on social media. That drove our organic engagement rates higher and made our other organic posts more effective.

Your community is eager to share testimonials with you. All you have to do is ask.

You can gather stories every day.

Make it a practice at your library to start a conversation with cardholders at a point of service.

Use your own story to begin the conversation. You can share a few sentences about how the library has impacted your life. Or you can talk about why you decided to work in a library.

Sharing your personal story will signal to your patron that it’s okay for them to share their story. And once they have, you can ask them if you might write down the story and share it as content marketing with other patrons. Most people will say yes.

Stories don’t have to be long or complicated.

Your content marketing can be a few sentences, a few paragraphs, or a few pages. There’s no formula for length. If you’re not a confident writer, or your patron feels uncomfortable sharing in detail, you can still create a great content marketing story within a few sentences.

Jacksonville Public Library shared the story of a father who got his high school diploma with the help of the library. It’s less than 400 words, but it’s powerful.

Your library can share content marketing everywhere you do promotions.

Start by including one story in each of the places where you normally promote your library.

For instance, if you send a monthly library newsletter, include a story. You don’t have to delete any of the other things you normally promote in your newsletter. But slip a story into the mix.

Tease the story in your subject line to increase your open rates. A story will appeal to a wider audience. Once the subscriber opens your email and reads the story, they’ll be responsive to other promotional content in the email.

If your library has a blog, include at least one cardholder story on your blog every month. Your blog will grow in traffic and subscribers, which is good news for the other content you post.

One of the best places to share content marketing is in a video. Champaign Public Library has a full YouTube playlist of content marketing videos. Their work is a great example of the power of an on-camera interview testimonial.

You can create a newsletter filled with stories. You can create a landing page on your website. You can share stories on your blog, on social media, in your videos, and in your print pieces.

The Brown County Library works content marketing into its Facebook page posting schedule. They’ve even created a hashtag, #WhatsYourLibraryStory to drive engagement.

Content marketing deepens your library’s connection to your community. Are you using it for library promotions? Share your ideas by clicking on the “Feedback” button.

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7

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

Group of women at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, circa 1947. Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

“The only way we can differentiate ourselves is in how we communicate.”

I heard this quote at a conference six years ago and it’s never left me. I can’t remember who said it, but I remember that it changed the entire way I thought about library marketing.

We do a lot of push promotions in the library world. We try to inform our communities about what our library has to offer. We tell them why they should support the library.

Honestly, we do a lot of talking at people. And we end up sounding like every other advertiser.

When is the last time you asked yourself: how can I differentiate my library from the crowd of competitors?

Content marketing is a good place to start. It is, according to Content Marketing Institute founder Joe Pulizzi, “a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience–ultimately, to drive profitable consumer action.”

But what does that mean for a library?

It means we can’t rely on disruptive marketing to capture the attention of our cardholders. If we want to attract and retain people who will use the library and support the library and convince others of the value of the library, we have to be more strategic.

Think about how you go about interacting with signs, ads, and social media. Do you give every message your full attention… or half of your attention… or even a glance?

Unless something is seriously compelling, you filter it out. So do our cardholders.

Content marketing sticks with your audience because it’s not an ad. It doesn’t push.

It is stories about your library, your staff, or your community. Your cardholders will remember these kinds of promotions because stories make us feel emotions. And emotions are memorable.

Summer Reading, or any large library event or initiative, is the best time to be purposeful about using content marketing to promote your library. It’s also the best time to gather stories for promotion later in the year.

Here’s what I want you to do.

  • Gather stories about how cardholders are using the library. How is your library improving their lives? How is your library helping people get back on their feet or back to normal in this phase of the pandemic? Ask your library workers to be on the lookout for great story ideas.
  • Gather stories about your staff–who are they? What do they like to do in their spare time? What do they love about interacting with cardholders? How their approach to work changed during the pandemic?
  • Gather information about your cardholders. Survey your users or use social listening to create a list of the problems they are facing. Ask your cardholders specific questions like “Tell us about a time when your library helped you find some information you thought you’d never be able to uncover.” Or “Tell us your favorite library memory from your childhood.”
  • Set up a form on your website and solicit cardholder stories on social media, in your email, and printed newsletters. That list will be the basis for further content marketing your library can create down the road that answers those problems.

And then, tell those stories using the platforms you have available. Write them up for your blog. Create social media posts. Add them to your newsletters. Start a landing page on your website. Make videos.

There are three key pieces to look for in a good content marketing library story.

Emotion. The joy of finding a book, the fear of not getting a job, the frustration of another night of homework without any help… these are all emotions felt by our library’s customers. Other people can relate to these experiences and empathize.

A good emotional story activates many portions of the brain, including sensory, memory, and empathy sectors. The more active the brain is while reading, the more likely it is that the listener/reader will remember the story.

Emotion is the most important criteria of a good story. If it makes you feel something, it’s worth pursuing.

Conflict and a resolution. A good story includes some conflict, whether minor or major, and a problem or situation that is resolved.  Without conflict, a story is flat and unmemorable.

Look for stories with a beginning, middle, and end including a story arc that leads to a resolution.

Simplicity. A story that’s direct, with less adjectives and more heartfelt and straightforward language is more likely to be remembered by the listener than a complex story with a long, winding narrative and lots of details and unnecessary description.

When writing content for marketing purposes, draw a straight line from beginning, middle, and end. Keep the story moving forward with clear language.

Content marketing gives you a chance to tell your library’s story without making a direct pitch. It increases brand awareness and affinity and improves your library’s image. And stories are fun to tell!

We cannot rely on this old disruptive marketing policy to be the driving force behind our library marketing efforts anymore. We’re better than that.

We work with stories every day. Let’s start telling them.

Do you use content marketing in your library promotions? Do you have some great stories that you’ve gathered about your library and cardholders? Do you have questions about storytelling and how it works for libraries? Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below!

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5

The Dreaded Library Annual Report: How to Create a Masterpiece that Showcases Your Library’s Value and Inspires Your Readers

Is there any library marketing task as daunting as the annual report? I don’t think so.

Neither does reader Carrie Weaver of Peters Township Public Library. She is the inspiration behind this post.

Carrie writes, “I am sure many other libraries are preparing their 2020 summaries for stakeholders, elected officials, and the folks in the communities they serve. Can you talk about what they should/should not be? What should be included? What is a good length? I want our annual report to be more than a bunch of stats – I want to tell the story of how our library served our community in this year like no other!”

Confession: I created six annual reports during my time at the The Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library. And I found it to be the most difficult work I had to do every year.

Carrie was spot on. The annual report has an importance that no other piece of library marketing holds. And that’s especially true this year. It must convey the work you did, the value you provided, and the ways the pandemic affected your library.

And, as Carrie says, your annual report is more than an archive of your library’s work. It is a way to tell the story of your library.

Your annual report can show the connection between your library’s mission and strategy. It can clarify the impact your organization had on the community. And of course, your annual report can thank donors and volunteers, as well as inspire future donations and volunteers.

You are no longer locked into using a brochure or a longform magazine. Your library may decide to change format, the size, and the way you present that information to best serve your audience.

We’ll start with ten tips for putting together a highly effective annual report. Then, I’ve gathered examples of library annual reports, as well as annual reports from other non-profit organizations for inspiration!

Decide what your key message will be.

Your annual report should be more than a list of your work. It can tell a story. And you can use it to stir emotion.

Ask yourself: What do you want your readers to feel once they’re finished reading your annual report? Think about how you’ll construct a narrative and take your readers through the various pieces to an end point, the focus of your key message.

Think of this as a call to action for readers. How can they help your organization to make progress this year? The answer should be very clear to readers once they reach the end of your document.

Focus on your library’s accomplishments, not just activities.

The readers of your annual report want to know why your library did what it did in 2020. You’ll want to highlight how your library staff responded to the pandemic. Don’t just talk about how you pivoted to provide support to your community. Talk about why that pivot was so important.

Write about the impact your work had on your community. Connect the everyday activities of your library to your mission statement and your library’s overall strategy.

Create an outline to lay out what you want to cover and how you’ll cover it. 

Plan to mix elements, with some pages including text, photos, and data. This mix will keep your audience interested and will help them to comprehend and remember the story and data points in your annual report.

Also, make sure that the pages include room for photos, as well as plenty of white space.

Use infographics to convey data.

Infographics can explain complex ideas and information in a simple way that is accessible to many audiences.

Our brains are hard wired for visuals. An infographic can trigger a reaction in the human brain, sometimes even before the person consciously realizes and processes that reaction. For more tips about constructing an infographic, read this post.

Balance data with stories.

Stories can humanize the work of your library and make your annual report more compelling.  

Clearly show the change that resulted from your library’s work. Use a storytelling structure with a beginning, middle, and end to show what changed as a result of your library.

In addition to patron stories, you might also consider including stories about your senior staff and employees to showcase the value of the people who do your library’s work. 

Finally, share a story of one person rather than a group. Your readers will find it easier to connect to a single person than a group of people. For the most compelling story, use that person’s own words as much as you can by including quotes and first-person narratives.

Use your words to inform and inspire.

The text portions of your report must be in your library’s brand voice. You’ll want your words to feel authentic and intimate to appeal to the heart of your audience.

Try to avoid being professorial or aloof. You can excite, surprise, and delight readers of your annual report by writing in a conversational tone.  

In fact, your library may consider using a blog-like model for the text in your annual report. Streamline your text to highlight only the most interesting tidbits for your readers.

Let the story determine the length.

There is no right or wrong length for an annual report. The amount of space you need to accurately convey the story of your library’s journey through the past year is exactly the right length.

Of course, you may need to add or cut sections based on factors outside of the story. For instance, if you use a vendor to print copies of your report, you may be bound to fill or fit a certain number of pages. But in general, let the story of your library be the guide when determining the length of your report.

Convey a sense of gratitude throughout the document.

An attitude of gratitude should permeate the entire report. Be sure to emphasize how important taxpayer and donor support is to your success. Saying “thank you” creates a personal connection to your supporters that can boost engagement for future fundraising campaigns, as well as loyalty to your library.

If you highlight a specific initiative or program, you can conclude the text with a line like: This was made possible with the support of taxpayers, corporate partners, foundation, friends, and individual supporters.

Proofread like your life depends on it.

Your annual report should be professional, polished, and proof-read. Recruit at least three staff members outside of your department to read the proof before it goes to the printer.

And double check the names of donors. Donors will feel slighted if their name is misspelled or if their donation is not acknowledged in the annual report.

Repurpose your annual report for additional marketing content.

You can extend the value of all the hard work you’ve put into your annual report by using the pieces for marketing.

Put the full report on your website for public transparency. Write a blog post version of the report and link to the full document.

Add a line to your emails and newsletters to prompt the community to read the report. And separate out the sections to create condensed social media posts for further reach.

Library annual reports for inspiration

San Mateo County Libraries 2019-2020 Annual Report

Mid-Continent Public Library 2019-2020 Annual Report

Cuyahoga County Public Library 2019 Annual Report

Spokane Public Library’s 2019 Annual Report

New York Public Library’s 2019 Annual Report

Other annual reports for inspiration

EveryLibrary’s 2019 Annual Report

Feeding America’s 2019 Annual Report

Equal Justice Initiative 2018 Annual Report

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5

Manipulating Cardholder Feelings to Get Results

A cardholder recently leveled an accusation against my marketing department for making her feel all the feels.

Here’s the brief story: our library is trying to raise money for a facilities plan. We have several Carnegie-era branches that are not yet accessible to those with disabilities. So we’ve started a content marketing campaign to educate our cardholders and the residents of our service area about the problem, as we will be asking them for money to fund the facilities plan. In our first video portion of the campaign, we interviewed a veteran who cannot get into the library branch in his neighborhood.

When we released the video, one of the viewers sent us a message. She said, “How dare you  manipulate my emotions and try to make me feel sorry for this guy.” I think this person was trying to make us feel guilty for marketing to her.

Sorry, not sorry.

Emotional marketing is effective. We have seen it work time and again for our library and other libraries. You may remember the story of the Leeds Library campaign, which used story-driven emotional marketing to change that community’s perception of the modern library and its value. Leeds won an award for their campaign, and one judge commented, “We loved the application of real-life, personal journeys to draw on the emotions, capture the imagination and change the perceptions of the audience.”

Effective marketing appeals to emotions, not logic, reason, or even facts. This is particularly effective in the world now, where social media algorithms are cutting into our organic reach. If we want better unpaid reach, we need to constantly engage our audience. To constantly engage our audience, we need them to take an action on every post. To get them to take action, we need to motivate them through emotion.

Research from the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow, published in Current Biology, says humans really feel just four basic emotions: happy, sad, afraid/surprised, and angry/disgusted. The kind of messages that get us engagement are all based on these basic emotions. When you feel happy or angry, you want to share that emotion with others in your social network. When you feel sad, you empathize with the subject your sadness and feel a motivation to help ease their suffering. When you are afraid, you want to take action to ease your fear.

Your most loyal cardholders are likely already emotionally connected to your brand, particularly if you work in a school or public library. The people who already use your library on a regular basis know it’s value. I bet you have superfans, and you know who they are. So what do you do with all that emotion? How do you make it work in your library’s marketing?

Ask loyal customers to share their stories with you. Conduct interviews with those passionate customers by email or on video and use those answers in many ways. Video marketing is the best way to capture emotion. There is no substitute for talking to someone on camera, for hearing their voice and seeing their facial expressions as they talk about your library. You don’t need fancy equipment. Pull out your cell phone, have them stand facing a window or head outside for a few minutes to take advantage of the natural light, and then ask them some emotionally charged questions about their library experience.

What is your favorite library memory?

Tell me about how the library has changed your life.

How would you feel if the library suddenly closed tomorrow?

If a  neighbor asked you to describe how you feel about the library, what would you say?

Ask your staff to share their stories with you. The next time you’re at an all-managers meeting, visiting another branch, or enjoying lunch with a fellow employee, ask them about life in their branch. Ask them to describe their customers. Inevitably, they’ll have one or two specific examples of people who have an unbridled enthusiasm for their location, or whom the branch staff has helped with a specific problem. Once again, pull out your phone, find some good lighting, and ask open-ended questions like:

How did that request by that cardholder make you feel?

Tell me how the situation was resolved.

Did you worry about how you would handle that request?

What is your relationship with the customer now?

And for good measure, I always ask, What compelled you to look for work in a library?

You can post these emotional marketing videos as a whole edited piece or in sections. You can turn the quotes into a printed piece for your newsletter or email list. You can create digital slides or posters in your branches using the quotes. My library used this tactic last year for a series of videos we called Customer Impact stories. We posted them on YouTube and on Facebook and is was one of our first pieces of video content marketing. The audience and our staff LOVED them. We broke them down and used them in our Library Links publication and in other ways, and they prompted more customers and staff to come forward with more amazing stories. It wasn’t hard and it didn’t take a long time to put together. It was effective. Score!

Adding emotional marketing to your regular promotional schedule keeps your cardholders engaged and feeling all the feels whenever they think of your library. It’s not something to apologize for. It’s something to be proud of.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button on the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter and Snapchat–it’s where I talk about library marketing! I’m @Webmastergirl. I’m also on LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest. Views in this post are my own and do not represent those of my employer.

 

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