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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

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Libraries are Winning the Relevancy War! Why Now is the Perfect Time to Banish Your Fear and Promote Your Books

I have a confession to make.

For more than a year now, I’ve been amid an internal struggle that caused me some anguish. It started when I realized that I was hearing the same phrase from many administrators and staff in public libraries, both here in the U.S. and abroad.

Here’s what I kept hearing, over and over: In order to stay relevant, libraries must change completely.

The fear that the public perceives libraries as old-fashioned and unnecessary is not new. But it seemed to reach a kind of fever pitch last year. Everyone was writing about it. Everyone was talking about. There were whole conference sessions and webinars dedicated to library relevancy.

I thought maybe I was imagining it at first. So, I did what any normal person does when they’re looking for validation. I did a Google search.

I clicked on the first result, “library relevance.” There are 314 million results.

I understand why libraries are worried about relevancy. It’s the media narrative. (For a great perspective on that, read this fabulous opinion piece from Public Libraries Online). It’s also the argument made by those who want to cut funding and services for libraries.

But here’s the thing. The public at large doesn’t think libraries are irrelevant. In fact, they think quite the opposite.

I’m sure you saw the new Gallup poll released this past Friday (Jan. 24, 2020) that shows “Visiting the library remains the most common cultural activity Americans engage in, by far. The average 10.5 trips to the library U.S. adults report taking in 2019 exceeds their participation in eight other common leisure activities.”  

Public libraries have bought into the notion that we have a brand perception problem. But we don’t. We’re doing a great job. And people see it.

What we have is a fear problem. Public libraries are afraid to market the fact that they have books.

Why? Because they’re terrified that talking about our collection will reinforce a notion that libraries are a dusty, old, unsophisticated repository of classics. They may even believe that marketing the collection will distract people from the other great services that the library offers.

I vehemently disagree.

Libraries should market their collection. In fact, they should do a lot of collection marketing. Instead of limiting the conversation to non-collection services, libraries should expand the conversation to show the connection between the books, literacy, and all the other amazing work they do.

Your collection makes it possible for you to offer social services. Your collection makes it possible for you to create programming around workforce development. Your collection makes it possible for your library to offer support to educational institutions in your community. Your collection makes it possible for your library to be a thriving, open, welcoming, and inclusive public space.  

Literacy is tied, undeniably and inextricably, with all the things libraries do outside the realm of books.

Data tells us that most people who sign up for a library card do so to get free and open access to the collection. The collection is the gateway to get community members in the door of your library, where they’ll experience the other services you provide.

If you were to look at the Google Analytics data for your website, or the usage data provided by your library’s app developer, I’ll bet my bottom dollar that the number one activity for online use of your library is collection-based. That’s why your library spends most of its non-facility related, non-staff related budget on collections.

Studies of library usage by the Pew Research Institute shows that 66 percent of library cardholders use their card to check out items including books, magazines, CDs, and more. Only 17 percent of library cardholders say they use their card to attend programs, classes, or lectures.

People are still reading books. People believe libraries have transformed themselves into tech hubs. People see that libraries offer digital services. People hear about the social service help offered by libraries. Libraries are winning the relevancy war (good job, you!). The community knows and understands that we are more than a place for books. It’s why your library gets regular requests from organizations looking for a partner in important outreach work and advocacy.

The message is out there that libraries are more than books. But make no mistake, most of the folks who walk through your doors or interact with your library online, are there for the collection.

Before I was a library marketer, I worked as a television news producer. That means I put together each night’s newscast, decided which stories were told, in what order, and how they were told.

Every year, our news director would bring in a consulting firm to help us improve our shows and increase our viewership. I was proud of my work as a journalist. But when I was presented with the feedback from focus groups, it was clear that most viewers were watching my show for the weather. I spent a lot of time writing insightful, informed, well-sourced investigative pieces. But my viewers only wanted to know was whether it would rain the next day.

In television news, weather is king. In libraries, the collection is king. That’s why your library spends the majority of it’s non-staff and non-facility money on the collection.

Now, please understand me. I’m not saying you stop promoting your non-collection related activities. Far from it. Library programs and outreach nourish the soul of our community and offer cultural and educational opportunities for those who might not otherwise have access to them. And they must be given attention through marketing.

But don’t stop talking about your collection. Don’t hide your collection below the fold on your website. Mention your collection when you talk with the media. Write about your collection on your blog. Send emails to your cardholders with reading suggestions.

If we want to compete with Amazon, Audible, Netflix, Hulu, and other paid content providers, we must promote our main asset. If you want to attract new cardholders and keep the ones we have happy and using their library, market the collection. If you want to have a part in making the world more informed, more educated, and more empathetic, market the collection. Share this infographic to help spread the word!

Check the Upcoming Events page for a list of webinars and conferences where I’ll be next. Let’s connect! Plus, subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

4

The Emoji Experiment: The Pros and Cons of Adding Emojis to Your Library Marketing Email Subject Lines

I notice it, groggy from sleep. I check my email, as one does, first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. 😉

The sight of it causes my heart to skip a beat. “It’s going to be a glorious day,” I think to myself as I jump out of bed. 🤩

What is the magical thing that makes getting up in the morning easier? 🌟

An emoji. To be specific, a set of headphones, situated in the subject line of an email. An email that comes from my library.⬇️⬇️

The headphones signal to my brain, before I can read the words that come after them, that my audiobook from Overdrive is ready for download.

After dozens of such emails, my body has an almost Pavlovian response to the tiny drawing of headphones.

I get giddy. I get excited. I am filled with anticipation to download and start the audiobook.

According to Salesforce, only two percent of emails sent by businesses to consumers in 2019 had an emoji in the subject line. That’s not a lot, really. And that means there is room for libraries to experiment.

I don’t think there is any doubt that emojis are here to stay. As of October 2019, there were 3,178 widely-recognized emojis, according to Emojipedia. And the major cell phone and digital marketing companies keep adding emojis to their libraries.

I want my cardholders to have the same reaction I have to the headphone emoji when I send them library marketing emails. The idea that an email from my library could energize someone or fill them with anticipation or cause them to do a mini-celebratory dance is one I can’t ignore.

Why might emojis work?

Emojis work because the brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. More than 90 percent of the information that we process is visual.

The emoji drawing stands out in a line of letters. And if your recipient is using a device that adds color to the emoji, that also makes your subject line pop.

Your subject lines can also be shorter when you use an emoji because an emoji can do the work of some of the wording. And the shorter the subject line, the more effective the email. In 2018, 61 percent of emails were opened on mobile. Subject lines exceeding certain character counts can get cut off by mobile devices. And that impacts your open and conversion rates.

The experiment

I kept reading articles on the increased use of emojis in emails for brand marketing. There isn’t much data to suggest whether they are effective in converting customers to take any action on the email. And I thought, as I am apt to do, that someone should experiment with emojis in the library marketing space. Would my cardholders find them amusing? Would emojis help increase the effectiveness of my emails? Or would people think we had lost our mind and gone too far?

There was only one way to find out.

Over the course of six months, I sent 17 test emails to my cardholders with an emoji in the subject line. I used them in instances where I thought they added value to the subject line or helped me to make the subject line shorter. I also made sure I sent emojis to cardholders who tend to use digital services.

The results

After the six-month trial period, I crunched the numbers. And I discovered…

60 percent of the emails with an emoji in the subject line were effective. Ten of the 17 emails caused an increase in circulation, program attendance, or database usage for the item we promoted via email. That’s close to the average effective rate of my regular emails which do not include an emoji.

Emojis DID increase my open rate. The 17 messages I sent had an average open rate of 40 percent. Most of my regular emails have an open rate between 20 and 35 percent. So that was an improvement.

Emojis DID increase my click-through rate. The average click-through rate for the messages with emojis was eight percent. That is also slightly higher than normal. Most of my emails have a click-through rate of five percent.

Here are the subject lines from the four emails in the emoji test that had the highest open and click-through rates.

Ebook Publisher Policies
🚨New publisher policies will limit your access to eBooks.

This email had an 81 percent open rate and a 22 percent click-through rate.

Penguin Programs
🐧Make a date to visit the Library to see real live penguins this month!

This email had a 37 percent open rate and a 23 percent click-through rate.

Beach Reads 2019 Booklist
🏖️ Dreaming of sand, sun, surf, and great books? Here’s our 2019 vacation reading list!

This email had a 39 percent open rate and a 19 percent click-through rate.

Green Township Library Anniversary
🎈You’re invited to the Green Township 30th Anniversary celebration!

This email had a 54 percent open rate and a five percent click-through rate.

Now, there is something to consider and that is that the emoji may have had absolutely no effect on the overall effectiveness of these emails! Because my email marketing provider does not give me the ability to do true A/B testing, it may be that these emails had higher open, click-through, and conversion rates because of the wording of the subject line or the content of the email itself. The fact that there was an emoji in the subject line might be pure coincidence.🤷

Are there downsides to emojis?

There are some negative things to consider when you’re using emojis for email subject lines in library marketing.

Your emoji may not display correctly for your cardholder, depending on what kind of email platform they use.

Emojis can give the impression that your emails are not authentic. In some instances, users see an emoji and wonder if your library wrote it… or a robot.

Emojis can be overused. Finding the perfect emoji is fun. It makes you feel cool. But if you start putting an emoji in every subject line of every marketing email you send, you will likely find that they’ll soon have no impact or, worse, a negative impact.

That said, I think it’s worth it to experiment with emojis in your library’s email marketing. Your audience may love or hate them. There’s only one way to find out.

Remember to use them in the right context. Use emojis sparingly and make sure they add something to the message of your subject. And get your emojis from reliable sources like Emojipedia, GetEmoji, or your email platform.

Check the Upcoming Events page for a list of webinars and conferences where I’ll be next. Let’s connect! Plus, subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. 

4

The Seven-Step Process to Empower Your Branch Staff and Turn Them into Incredible Library Marketing Ambassadors

I realized something significant in the past few months. It has changed the way I think about library marketing.

I have built a pretty great team and I’ve been vigilant about using data to help me market my library with tactics like email, social, and video.

But there was one marketing tactic that I haven’t used. I haven’t thought about using it. And I need to correct this oversight to take my library marketing to a whole new level.

I need to empower my library’s front-line staff to be library marketing ambassadors.

In the Library Marketing Show, Episode 26, we discussed handing over some of the library marketing work to branch staff. There is work that can only be done by trained marketing and communications professionals. But there are things branch staff can do to offer personalized promotions of events, services, and collection items. They can also offer personalized customer service. And that’s the most important marketing tactic of all.

Back in 2017,  commerce platform Cloud IQ team research found that 69 percent of people want personalized customer service.

In 2018, Accenture Research found that 91 percent of consumers are more likely to shop brands that provide a personalized experience.

Providing personalized customer experience is important for library marketing success. This is difficult for libraries, given our strong commitment to the privacy of our cardholders and their data. But there is a way to do personalized customer service without data. And it could differentiate libraries from our competition.

Library staff must be empowered to think of themselves as marketing ambassadors for the library. If we give our branch staff the tools, training, and confidence, they can create a great customer experience for our visitors. And that can be a competitive advantage for libraries.

We don’t have the money for artificial intelligence or fancy automated marketing tools. But we do have people. Great people. People who are passionately committed to their communities and their customers.

This is really a change in mindset for libraries. This is not something that you’ll talk about once at a staff meeting and forget it. This is something we need to do every day, without fail.

Here is the seven-step process to get front line staff to think of their work as part of marketing.

Change your own thought process around marketing. Just as the front-line staff doesn’t often think that their interactions with customers have anything to do with marketing, the marketing staff often doesn’t consider putting front-line staff to use. Make it a habit to think about how to incorporate front-line staff in your marketing. Handing them some posters doesn’t count. You will want to plot out the specific ways staff can help you with each campaign. Then give them the tools to help them succeed.

Communicate with branch staff regularly about your marketing. If you have a library staff blog or another communication channel, use it to share what you’re doing in your marketing department. And share often.

Each time you start a new marketing campaign or initiative, share your plans with staff. Tell them exactly what the goals are, what tactics you’re using to achieve them, and how you’ll measure success. Always remind the staff about your library’s strategic goals. State how your marketing efforts are making those goals become a reality.

Set aside time in your regular schedule to have conversations with the librarians. This shouldn’t be a scripted interaction. Ask the staff about their work. Find out what they get asked by customers. You will learn something new and get plenty of ideas for what library offerings need more marketing support. Speaking of ideas…

Ask the branch staff for ideas.  An informal suggestion process will help staff feel like they’re part of the marketing department’s success or failure. It makes them more likely to help market the initiative. And you’re likely to find something amazing in their suggestions.

Never reject an idea outright, even if it seems crazy. You risk hampering the creativity of your library staff if they are worried that their suggestions will be silly or stupid. Tell the staff that all ideas are welcome and that library marketing staff will consider each idea carefully. Incorporate the ones that best suit the campaign, the library’s strategic goals, the budget, and the library’s resources.

Try to work at least one staff idea for your marketing into each campaign. If staff make suggestions but see that their ideas are never taken seriously, they’ll stop giving you feedback

Encourage your staff to think of themselves as ambassadors for the library system. They represent everything your library stands for. Your library staff knows their community. They know the needs of their customer base. And they can offer the best, personalized customer service to the people coming into their location.

Let the staff know that you appreciate their unique perspective on your customer base. Reinforce the idea that every part of their job, from shelving holds, to signing people up for cards, to running programs, is a form of marketing. Every interaction they have with a cardholder is a chance for promotion.

Encourage staff to interact with your library on social media if they feel comfortable doing so. Talk to senior leaders and see if it’s possible to grant library staff 15 minutes a week, on work time, to share library social media posts on their personal profiles.

Give staff specific ideas for how they can help spread the library’s message on social by sharing library posts, sharing their own stories or inspiring thoughts about the library, and tagging the library’s social media accounts, commenting or liking posts, inviting friends and family to follow the library on social media, and listing your library as their employer on their personal profiles.

If staff is regularly engaging and sharing content from your library’s social media profiles, you’ll see engagement increase. Algorithms reward libraries with engaged staff!

Lead by example and encourage other senior leaders in your organization to do the same. When staff sees senior leaders and marketing staff talking about the library and sharing their enthusiasm for their work on social, they’ll likely follow suit.

Check the Upcoming Events page for a list of webinars and conferences where I’ll be next. Let’s connect! Plus, subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.   

 

 

 

 

4

The Top Eight Free Websites to Spy on Competitors and Get Ahead in the Library Marketing Game!

Eight Free Websites to Use to Spy on Your Library Marketing Competition

Library marketers are asked to make a lot of miracles happen. We are asked to grow circulation, drive attendance at programs, and increase the visibility of our libraries.

To reach your goals for 2020, your library marketing needs to stay ahead of your competitors. Who are you competing with? You’re fighting with independent bookstores, Amazon, Audible.com, video streaming services like Netflix, museums or other local attractions, genealogy websites like Ancestry.com, language apps like Duolingo, retail stores, and co-working spaces for your cardholders’ time and attention.

But don’t be discouraged! You can spy on your competitors and identify their areas of weakness. Then, you can use those weaknesses as an opportunity to promote your library. And you don’t have to pay to find out how to target your competitors.

I found eight websites that will help you gather intelligence on your competition’s website and social media presence. Most of these sites require you to sign up with an email and password for free access but their information is extensive. They also have paid plans (most are very affordable) that give you access to more data. I use all of them.

Here are my top picks to help you spy on your competitors in 2020!

SEMrush: This is my favorite tool. I check it frequently. Their analytics are incredibly robust. You can compare your own website and your competitors’ website in several areas, including keywords, traffic, where your page ranks on Google, what websites are sending traffic to your library’s website, and so much more. The colorful charts will tell you how well your website is positioned on the internet in comparison with your competitors. And it will even show you the cost, in dollars, that your library is losing in traffic to other websites. That’s a great statistic to have if you’re trying to advocate for additional resources for your library’s online presence.

SpyFu:  Use this tool to check how high your competitors rank in SEO keyword search. Get insight on keywords that lead people to your competitors’ site, including any paid keywords they may be using. You can plot the reach of any website on a timeline, giving you an idea of when the site is seeing a spike in traffic. The graphic below shows you what that looks like for this website!

My favorite feature on SpyFu is the keyword analysis. I found out that people searching for “free downloads,” “free download music,” and “free faxing” are most likely to end up at my library’s website. Now I know that I need to make sure the word “free” appears frequently on every page of my library’s website to drive more traffic!

Social Searcher: This real-time social media search engine allows you to quickly pull all recent mentions of a competitor from the major social media platforms and the internet together into one dashboard. You can search for keywords and hashtags to see recently published posts. You can also set up email alerts to keep track of what people are saying about your library, a competitor, or a service, like Audible or DuoLingo.

SimilarWeb: This tool reminds me of Google Analytics, but with prettier graphics. You can see all kinds of useful information about your competitors including where their customers live, how much of their website traffic comes from social media, what keywords people are using to find their website and more. You can also see the top five “interests” of visitors to your competitors’ websites. And of course, you can compare that with your library’s website.

Moz: The site is focused on links and can tell you how other websites are linking to your competitors’ website, and how your competitor is using anchor text to drive traffic. You can also download their reports for free as a CSV file. You can also find out your website’s Spam Score!

Alexa:  This site will show you how your bounce rate and traffic sources compare with your competitors, as well as how much of your audience overlaps with that of your competition. Best of all, Alexa will identify keywords to drive more traffic to your website, based on what people in your area are searching for on Google and Amazon (Alexa is owned by Amazon).

TalkWalker: An alternative to Google Alerts, it lets you search blogs, websites, and news for posts about your competitors. You can have the alerts delivered to your inbox once a day or once a week.

MarketGrader: This free tool from Hubspot grades your website or your competitors on factors like how fast the pages load, keyword ranking, and security.

I did an analysis of this website and found that 30 percent of my traffic comes from mobile devices. That’s incredibly important information because that means that I must make sure everything I do on this website is responsive. This tool also gave me tips on how to increase my SEO ranking and security. All of those tips would be invaluable for my library’s website as well.

Check the Upcoming Events page for a list of webinars and conferences where I’ll be next. Let’s connect! Plus, subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on the “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.   

0

Attention! Here’s How to Write Headlines That People Simply Can’t Ignore for Any Piece of Content

In my former life as a web journalist for a television news station, crafting the best headline for each story was the most challenging part of my day. It was also the most crucial task.

A compelling headline for any piece of content–email, social media posts, blog posts, newsletters, posters, and signage is essential. The right headline will make it impossible for people to ignore your content.

It may seem silly to spend a lot of time, energy, and brainpower on a couple of words. But it’s a critical component of all your marketing efforts. Libraries should spend time crafting the best headline on every piece of content they publish. This applies to their website, blog, social media posts, press releases, and emails, including personal emails and mass emails to customers.

A good headline should give your readers a hint at the copy that lies ahead without giving away the whole story. It should trigger an emotional response that includes an irresistible urge to read more.

Think of your headline as the gateway to all the content you have poured energy into creating. It may seem tall order for a short succession of words but it can be done.

So how do you write a good headline? Here are my tips.

If someone held a gun to your head and demanded you describe the copy in one sentence, what would you say? This is my twisted yet effective technique for getting that first draft of a headline down on paper. It forces you to boil your work down to its main point or big idea. Go for the emotional core of your copy.

Example:  The title of this issue of our Library Links magazine. The lead story was about a veteran living with a disability. His neighborhood branch is a Carnegie library built in 1909. It’s never been renovated and it’s inaccessible to people living with mobility issues. We were about to ask voters to pass a levy to fund upgrades to this branch and more just like it.

I asked to interview him. He told me the story about how he can’t climb those stairs, and how fellow veteran friends who also live in his neighborhood have to drive their motorized wheelchairs to the next closest branch. The trip sometimes takes three hours. His story invoked a feeling of frustration and injustice. How the heck do you encapsulate that in a short sentence?

Keep the length manageable and the vocabulary conversational. Remember, you want to tease your readers into craving more information, not give away the whole story. You also don’t want to confuse them by using language they don’t understand.

Example: Our library recently made a pivotal switch in the way we market our storytimes. We want to emphasize the educational aspects.

It would be easy to get lost in a lot of technical language and big words to describe our focus on literacy and learning. I decided the best approach would be to write text that sounded like what I would say in person if I were talking to a parent about storytime.

This sounds like an easy step, but I see a lot of libraries and brands that get caught up in the technical language of their products and services. It makes us feel important when we use big words. But headlines and copy need to be simple in order to connect with the audience.

Headlines for press releases deserve as much attention as headlines for emails and blogs.  Library marketers must remember newsrooms are a target audience and journalists crave a good story just as much as the average Joe. You really have to dig deep to grab their attention and evoke your emotional response. You want them to go into their morning meeting and fight for the permission to cover your library’s story. So, give them enough ammunition.

Example:  This release triggered coverage by all the major media outlets in town. Its headline is very simple and straightforward but it got the job done.

Be versatile–it’s okay to change the headline based on the distribution platform. If you have a great blog post you want to share on Twitter, but the headline, when coupled with the URL and a photo, exceed the 280-character limit, re-craft the headline just for Twitter. You might also want to re-craft headlines for different social media audiences. Your Twitter fans may have a different perspective on your article than your LinkedIn fans. You can rewrite it for an email distribution too.

Example: This blog! I often change the headline for the different social media platforms. Sometimes I’ll repost a blog in a month or two with a different headline as well, just to freshen it up and catch viewers who might not have been interested by my first headline. Experimenting is good!

Use the tools. There are lots of fantastic tools to help you fine tune your headline. My absolute favorite is Sharethough’s Headline Analyzer. It’s easy to understand. Since I’ve been using it to craft headlines for this blog, my views have gone up about 10 percent!

For this particular post, Sharethrough gave me a 75 rating, which is above average. It says this headline works because it’s long, it has a human connection, and limited use of positive sentiment. It also gives suggestions on how to improve the headline to get a higher score.

Go with your gut.  Sometimes, all the tools and analysis can cloud your head. If you’ve composed a headline that you feel will do the best job at capturing your audience’s attention, use it. You know your audience best.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  And check my list of upcoming events so we can connect.

2

How to Pick Amazing Library Marketing Swag That People Will Love AND Build Brand Awareness and Loyalty For Your Library!

One of my staff members has a request for every event, conference, and convention I attend. “Hey boss, bring me swag!”

Who doesn’t love free stuff? And seeing what other organizations give out to promote their institutions and brands is fun.

Most libraries and vendors stick to items like pens, notebooks, candy, cups, and stickers. We spend a lot of money on this free stuff, in the hopes that event attendees will love it and use it. We also use swag to increase awareness of our library and build loyalty with current cardholders and new folks!

When your budget is limited, picking the perfect swag is a big deal. Your swag has to be interesting, but it should also align with your strategy and helps your library achieve its overall marketing goals. That’s a tall order.

When a guest walks away with your swag and can’t stop raving about it, you will have done your job. And if it’s something a library cardholder or community member can use over and over again, and that makes them think of your library, your money will be well spent. A study done by Schreiber & Associates found 39 percent of all people who have received a promotional product can accurately remember the name of the company that it’s associated with as long as six months after the event!

There is another important reason for swag: it’s a conversation starter. Great swag can be a talking point for volunteers working your table to share information about services, collection items, and other related events at the library. Marketing studies show us that you have to get your message in front of your cardholder an average of SEVEN TIMES before they’ll be compelled to act on it. A direct conversation with a community member about your library counts as one of those “touches.”

A conversation between a library worker or volunteer and an event attendee is a highly effective means of marketing. According to Nielsen, 75 percent of people don’t believe the advertisements they read but 92 percent believe brand recommendations they receive from trusted sources.

Finally, giving good swag gives people a positive memory of your library. Memorable and useful items given freely and generously leaves people smiling and prompts sentiments like, “I love my library” and “I’ll always support my library.” You can’t beat that!

How to Pick Swag

Pick something functional and useful. I like to make sure the items I choose are necessary and can be used over and over again. That means that my library’s logo or name is an integral part of the life of my cardholder. I want them to constantly be seeing my library’s name or website. Some great ideas that fit this category are water bottles, kitchen utensils, ice scrapers, and pop-stoppers.

One word of caution: be aware that some attendees will take issue with certain types of swag. Many people don’t want to take a plastic bag at events because of environmental concerns. I’ve also had people turn away plastic bottles because of the possibility of harmful chemicals leaching into their water. Kids toys can be tricky because of small, removable parts.

Make sure your swag is unique and something that other organizations aren’t giving out regularly. Head to any library event or conference and you’ll find no shortage of pens, notebooks, stickers, tags, and buttons. And while all of these items are useful and cheap, I don’t want to buy any for my table because everyone is giving them out. Hand sanitizer, lip balm, license plate frames, and pet bandannas are all great examples of fun, useful swag that will set your library apart from other organizations.

Make sure your swag is relevant to the attendees of an event. Be sure to ask the organizers before you go who their attendees will be, how many people they expect, and what the event is focused around. Don’t bring all your swag to all events… pick and choose carefully. At my library, we buy different swag for different age groups. We have earbuds and multi-function charging hubs for teens, piggy banks and temporary tattoos for kids, and aluminum water bottles and drawstring totes for adults.

Make sure your swag can be branded. Check the space where logos or text can be printed on items to make sure your particular logo, tagline, or library website will fit and be legible. I’ve totally made this mistake: you spot a great piece of swag at a great price. But the area where your logo or tag line is imprinted is too small or oriented the wrong way. No one can tell it’s from your library! Pay special attention to the imprint area, especially if you have a long tagline or a logo that can’t easily be resized or re-oriented.

Watch The Library Marketing Show to see some of my favorite choices for swag and talk more about why it’s so important for marketing!

No budget for swag? Do a giveaway. I’ve often had leftover donated items like gift cards that I use as giveaways at events. A giveaway, when promoted ahead of time, will drive attendees to your table. Ask people to give their email address and add them to your newsletter or email subscription list in exchange for an entry in your contest.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  And check my list of upcoming events so we can connect.

 

 

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The Four Library Marketing Myths That Need to Die RIGHT NOW!

One of my staffers wrote a post for our Library’s blog recently about common library myths. You can read it here. That post got me to thinking about library marketing myths, and how library marketing professionals can “bust” them. Here are my top four choices.

My library marketing video/blog post/article needs to be short because people will only consume “snackable content.” This one is really prevalent for all kind of companies and institutions, and it’s so, so wrong!

At the beginning of 2019, I started to write longer blog posts. Did you notice?? I went from 500-700 words to between 1000 and 1500 words.

And what happened? My site stats jumped. Already in October of 2019, I’ve exceeded the number of views and visitors for the site in 2018. I’ve had twice the number of people reading each post as I did in 2018.

When you write long form, more people will read your posts. People stay on the site longer. They read multiple posts. This is also true for longer blogs written for our library’s website.

I made the switch to longer posts because I’d read a lot of research about long form content and its benefits. It’s not easy. I spend more time on each post. I have to do more research. I have to be careful not to add words or sentences just to fill this imaginary word count goal in my head. It’s sometimes difficult. But it’s worth it.

The smart people at a company call serpIQ did a study of the average length of the content in the top ten results of search queries. The company found that the top-rated posts usually were more than 2,000 words long.

If your post is written well, helpful, educational, interesting, and builds interest or suspense, people will stay on your site longer. This will boost your library’s web page rankings in Google and drive more traffic to your site. Long form content also builds trust in the authority of your library. There’s no downside to longer pieces.

The only exception to this myth is email. The text inside mail marketing messages should be short, because evidence shows people will not read emails that are longer than 200 words (sorry, fans of the newsletter). Your short email can and should link to a longer piece but the actual text body itself should be 50-200 words max.

A high open rate is the best way to tell that my library email marketing is successful. So many libraries focus on high open rates for their emails. It’s sometimes hard to contradict that measure. But I’m going to do it because I want your work to matter. And if your open rates are high, you may still be failing at email marketing. Hear me out.

Open rates do mean something. They are a sign of customer loyalty. A high open rate means that your cardholders are eager to see what you’ve sent them. And that’s good. You are writing compelling email subject lines (Good job, you!). You have a loyal and eager audience.

But it’s what happens AFTER your cardholders open your email that counts. If your click-thru rate is low, you’ll know the content you are sending to your cardholders isn’t what they want.

The higher the click-thru rate is, the more excited I get. It means that my cardholders opened an email, saw something they liked, and acted!

Most of the time, my library emails direct cardholders to do one of two things: click a link for a specific item in our collection or go to the event calendar where they can register or put an upcoming event on their calendar.

If a cardholder takes one of those actions is a huge victory. It gives me data about what that particular cardholder is interested in. And I can use that information to craft future emails that are also compelling for that cardholder.

As happy as I get over a high email click-thru rate, a high conversion rate is the most accurate way to measure email effectiveness. It is the percentage of people who take an action after clicking through.

For example, let’s say 100 people click-through to look at a book I promote by email. If 50 of those 100 people put the book on hold, my conversion rate is 50 percent.

Conversion rate is the gold standard for the success of any email campaign. Your goal should always be to get people to act!

I need to grow my Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest followers. I’m not saying that a huge social media following wouldn’t be nice. But in the age of algorithms, it’s not as important as it once was.

What you really want is a large audience of ENGAGED followers. You don’t just want people to see your posts. You want them to compel people to take an actual: like, share, subscribe, comment, post emojis, and generally jump up and down virtually.

It’s kind of like speaking at a conference. You might be thrilled at the prospect of talking to a huge group of people. But it’s disheartening if half of your audience is yawning or looking at their phones. It’s much more meaningful to speak in front of a small room of people who are riveted by what you have to say.

I don’t care how many followers my library has on any social account. I want to see people engage with our content. Focus on actions and not the number of followers.

If you need to tell your cardholder something, just make a sign. No one reads signs. Seriously, we just don’t. I lead the team that makes signs at my library FOR A LIVING and I don’t read them.

Too many signs in a branch, particularly in a small location, can create clutter and confusion. And too much signage can annoy your cardholders, particularly if most of your signs are bombarding them with marketing messages.

Just as white space works to create breadth and depth for a website or a graphic, well-spaced signage in a branch creates flow. About 75 percent of the signs in your library locations should be wayfaring only, directing cardholders to important service points in the building. The other 25 percent can be selective marketing–promoting services and items that are of interest to your cardholders.

Don’t rely on signs to convey everything you want to tell the customer. Hire staff who are willing to speak with customers and show customers where items are located.

Do you have a myth you encounter in your work? Let me know about it, and how you’re busting it in the comments.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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The Library Marketing Show Episode 15: 🤷What to Do If You’re a Librarian Who HAS to Do Marketing!

WATCH NOW

In this short video, we talk about what you should do if your a librarian and your library has asked/forced/demanded/requested that you also handle the marketing. If you don’t have a communications degree, what should you do? Can you do it? Answer: YES!
(Watch episode 14 to see why I generally don’t hire librarians to do marketing).

Also KUDOS to Chicago Public Library for going fine free!

Talk to me! Share thoughts about this video in the comments, LIKE it, SHARE it, and subscribe (Pretty please!). Let’s grow this channel together.

Stay in Touch

Check the Upcoming Events page to see where I’ll be soon. Let’s connect! More events are coming soon.

Have an idea for the next Library Marketing Live Show? Submit it now.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  

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The Library Marketing Show Episode 12: How to Convince People that Flyers ARE NOT the Be All, End All of Library Marketing!!

Watch Now

In this episode, we’ll answer a reader question from Jenny at the Redwood City Public Library about how to address that age-old complaint: WHY CAN’T I HAVE MORE FLYERS? FLYERS ARE AMAZING! from your fellow library staff and how to convince them that digital promotions are worth time and effort. Thanks for the question, Jenny!

You can submit a question or a discussion topic by going to this page and filling out the form.

Also Kudos to Stark County Library in Canton, OH –find out why I think they’re amazing.

And a book review of “Calypso” by David Sedaris PLUS find out which book I couldn’t finish and why!

Stay in Touch

I’m speaking at two conferences this fall and you can register for both on the Upcoming Events page. I just finished the slides for OLC! I’m really excited about that one. Details about the talks at both conferences are on the page and more events are coming soon!

Have an idea for the next Library Marketing Live Show? Submit it now.

Subscribe to this blog and you’ll receive an email every time I post. To do that, click on “Follow” button in the bottom left-hand corner of the page. Connect with me on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  

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