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Super Library Marketing: Practical Tips and Ideas for Library Promotion

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The Clever yet Simple Trick One Library Marketer Uses To Remind Her Community of All Her Library Offers Every Day of the Year!

Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

When Donna Forbis graduated from the 8th grade, her parents gifted her a 10-speed bike. Her mother decided she was old enough to ride to the Peoria Public Library‘s Lakeview branch. 

“Back then, kids were not allowed in the adult stacks, so I was limited to my ‘side’ of the library,” remembers Donna. “I was very short (under 5′ tall), so even as a teen, I still looked like a kid. My ventures into the adult stacks would sometimes draw ‘looks’ from other patrons, but the library staff knew I was in search of mysteries I had not yet read!”

Donna’s love of the library never abated. She now works for the Illinois Prairie District Public Library. The library is small, with rural and suburban areas covering a service population of about 25,000 residents.

“We have fewer than 25 staff members (including our Director) servicing our six branches,” explains Donna. “Many staff members do double- or sometimes triple-duty.”

“My official title is Marketing & Events Coordinator, but I am also the branch manager for our Germantown Hills branch. I oversee all adult programming at our branches, and I coordinate with our Youth Services Librarian/Assistant Director on teen programming. I am responsible for creating nearly all of our promotional materials. What I don’t generate myself is usually shared with me to make sure it fits our style and brand before being shared with the world.”

It’s a lot of work, and Donna’s library still struggles to reach community members, especially regarding their programs and events. But Donna’s library is doing something that seems old-school yet innovative: A wall calendar!

“The idea for the wall calendar came from our Director,” explains Donna. “Several area outlets like banks and stores used to offer free wall calendars to their customers, but the practice has dropped off in recent years. While the world might be more comfortable with digital calendars, many patrons still want a wall calendar. Since the banks were not offering free calendars anymore, we decided to fill that void.”

“With a wall calendar, we can promote the library every day for a full year inside our patrons’ homes. We want our patrons to think of us as their go-to for research and resources, educational and entertainment opportunities, and a central community gathering spot. The calendar is a daily reminder that we are here for our neighbors.”

Donna and the rest of the library staff spent about three months working on the format and layout for the 8.5″ x 11″ wall calendar.

“The first version was nothing more than a stack of stapled papers, with notes on each page of a suggested layout,” recalls Donna. “Then I created an initial mock-up of the calendar in MS Publisher and shared it with our Director for critique. From her feedback, I shifted some photos around, added, and subtracted date-specific holidays, and determined what other information we wanted to include.”

“One topic of discussion was whether to have the library info pages at the beginning of the calendar or the end. My logic was, that if the info pages were at the end, behind the December calendar, they would be accessible to users all year long without taking the calendar off the wall.”  

The final calendar is a mix of fun content and library news. You can see it here.

“Our calendar is set up to highlight our branches, reading challenges, and some of our evergreen programming,” says Donna. “We also provide ways to connect with the library through a page filled with links and QR codes to get to our website, catalog, calendar, reading challenge platform, and social media channels.”

The library printed 725 copies and distributed them beginning the week before Christmas. Calendars were available at each branch and through some of the library’s community partners, including nursing homes and daycare centers.

Donna also promoted the availability of the calendars through the library’s regular marketing channels. And until just a few weeks ago, she posted a notice of the calendar’s availability in every library email newsletter. They managed to hand out nearly all their copies.

“We are very pleased with how it came out, and our patrons have been very appreciative,” remarks Donna. “When looking at it from a cost-benefit analysis, we spent a little under $2300 (plus shipping) for the calendars. That equates to roughly $200 per month in advertising spread across our community for a full year. And it is in a form that our patrons want and need. Even on a tight marketing budget, the expense was worth it.”

If Donna does the calendar again for 2025, she says she’ll have the final design done by Thanksgiving, so patrons have a longer window of time to pick one up.

And where will her next great library marketing idea come from?

“Inspiration can come from anywhere,” declares Donna. “I maintain connections with other library marketers through the Library Marketing Book Club, the regional Heart of Illinois Library Marketing networking group, and professional groups like the Illinois Library Association’s Marketing Forum.”

“One of my all-time favorite pieces of library marketing came from the Invercargill (New Zealand) City Library back in 2017, which was 2 years before I became a library marketer! They did a parody of a Hollywood Reporter magazine cover featuring the Kardashian clan at the height of their Keeping Up with the Kardashians fame. When I look at it today, I still laugh!”  

“I keep an eye on what advertisers in other industries are doing through organizations like Adweek, HubSpot, and other marketing tracking organizations. If someone on one of those platforms is writing or commenting about a particular piece of advertising, it may be worth noting.”

“As far as other libraries go, I am awed daily by my peers! Because of my ‘solo marketer’ limitations, whenever I see a library with a catchy video on TikTok, Reels, or Shorts, I am completely jealous! There are not enough hours in the day for me to learn how best to shoot and edit videos, get them uploaded, and do it regularly to build and maintain a following and get all my other stuff done!”

Donna has a piece of advice for anyone working on library marketing.

“Regardless of the situation, whether you have a program or promotion you want to try, need money or materials, or anything else – If you don’t ask, the answer will always be ‘No.’”   

“People generally want to be helpful and be of service, but often they don’t know the best way to do it. Tell others what you need and ask them for their help, and you might be surprised at the answer, even for the ‘impossible’ ask!”

P.S. You might also find this helpful

What’s It Like To Promote a Library With a Non-Circulating Collection? Marketer at a Cultural Institution Takes Us Behind the Scenes

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The Secret to Writing Engaging Copy for Any Library Promotion AND Getting Results Starts With a “KISS”!

Delivery room (2nd floor of intermediate building) - in 1898-1899 Annual Report. Moved here from first floor in 1898-1899. Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

In 1960, Kelly Johnson was the lead engineer at a division of Lockheed that made spy plans.

One day, he handed a team of design engineers a handful of tools. Then he told the engineers that they must design a jet aircraft that would be repairable by the average mechanic in the field under combat conditions using only those tools.

At that moment, the popular design phrase “Keep it Simple, Stupid” or KISS was born. It describes the idea that most systems will work better if they are designed simply.

I first heard this phrase in journalism school. Reporters, marketers, ad agents, and public relations employees are all taught the power of simplified language in copy.

Simplified copy is easy to read and understand. It sounds authentic. Conversational copy subconsciously signals to your audience that you are a person, and people like communicating with other people.

Librarians are intelligent and sophisticated people. They have a deep understanding and appreciation of complex concepts. They’re driven by accuracy and information. It’s challenging to write clearly when you’re an expert in your field!

But our cardholders may have a difficult time understanding library brochures, posters, blogs, and websites with convoluted and confusing language. They may be tune out if the wording of your promotions isn’t conversational.

Your job as a library marketer is to translate complex thoughts and concepts into a concise and clear language your audience can understand and appreciate. You must present information in a way that the cardholder can understand.

It’s easier said than done, but here is some guidance you can put into practice any time you’re asked to write a piece of library marketing.

Identify your target audience and the action you want them to take.  

Before you even write the first draft of any promotion, pinpoint your audience as precisely as possible.

Are you writing for teens ages 13-15? Are you writing for women, ages 25-54, who love to read cozy mysteries? Are you aiming your message at parents of preschoolers who need help finding books to read to their children?

When you’ve settled on your target audience, write a sentence about them at the top of the page. Be as descriptive as possible.

Underneath that, write a sentence that describes the point of your marketing material. Are you trying to persuade someone to try a new service? Do you want to increase participation in a preschool storytime? Are you trying to get teens to enter an art contest?

Once you know precisely who your audience is and what you want them to do after they’re read your marketing material, you’ll have an easier job of writing clearly.

Define unfamiliar or difficult words, titles, or services. 

Go through the draft of your material and highlight words or terms that may confuse your audience. Then, find a better way to say or explain those words.

Never take it for granted that your reader has been a lifelong user or follower of the library. Words used by librarians to describe services, programs, catalogs, and databases, which may seem common and every day to you and your staff, may not be so to your reader.

Shorten your sentences and paragraphs. 

You may have noticed that, about 18 months ago, I started writing shorter sentences and paragraphs here on the blog. Views rose by 118 percent!

That’s because shorter sentences and paragraphs make it easier for your reader to understand and absorb what you are saying. Long paragraphs look thick and off-putting. Multiple studies show readers will skip lengthy paragraphs. And the Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack Study shows people are more likely to read an entire webpage when the paragraphs are short.

There are two rules you can remember to help you get into the habit of shortening sentences and paragraphs.

  • Ziomek’s 1-2-3-4-5 rule: Created by Jon Ziomek, a professor at the Medill School of Journalism. The rule says each paragraph must contain: 1 idea, expressed in 2 to 3 short sentences, taking 4 to 5 lines.
  • Nityesh Agarwal‘s 80-20 rule: You can convey 80 percent of the information in any piece of writing using 20 percent of the words.

Get into the habit of hitting your return key more often. You can also break your writing up using bullet points or lists.

Use online writing tools.

There are lots of free tools that can help you craft sentences that are clear and concise, even when the subject matter is not! They can help you figure out a headline that will draw readers in. They can help you discover just the right word to make your meaning clear.

Here’s a list of my favorite online writing tools. The Grammarly extension for Windows is also extremely helpful.

Ask a non-library employee to read your work.

I often ask my family members to read my writing. If they find anything to be confusing or convoluted, I know I need to change it.

Bonus Tip: Read or listen to the book Everybody Writes by Ann Handley. It’s life-changing. Check your library collection first. If you have Overdrive, you’ll have the audiobook version. You MUST read this. It will make you a better writer.

Do you have tips for writing more clearly or examples where you have taken a complex library concept and simplified it for an audience? Share your experience or questions in the comments.  

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Four Steps to Transform Your Library’s Plain Old Newsletter into a Marketing Masterpiece (With Examples!)

Photo courtesy Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. People in the newspaper room, circa 1900.

I love to read anything in print. The texture and smell of the paper, the actual physical weight the words have in your hands, and the ability to re-read and annotate the pages give a sense of importance to the printed piece that you can’t get when you read something online.

Digital exhaustion is a real phenomenon, and the pandemic has only made it worse. According to Statista, the average daily time spent with digital media is expected to increase from seven hours and 50 minutes in 2020 to just under eight hours in 2022.

Even though people are spending more time online, that online space is crowded. It’s harder for the library’s message to break through all the content noise.

People want a more personal connection to their marketing. A printed promotional piece appeals to the senses. It’s tangible. It occupies physical space and creates the value of possession. Your audience must physically interact with it, and that makes it authentic and reliable.  

And for members of our community who don’t have access to the internet, or who don’t have a connection strong enough to support streaming videos or high-resolution downloads, print is the key to marketing success.

Most libraries have a printed newsletter. I want to challenge your library to take that piece and transform it into a powerhouse marketing tool.

To do that, you’re going to trim down the number of events in the piece and add stories about your library and its patrons.

Here’s how you can transform your newsletter into a promotional masterpiece that people will want to read. There are examples of great library print pieces at the end of this post!

Make a plan and an outline.

Divide your publication into pages. Then, plot out what you are going to put on each page.

You’ll want to create a balance between the sections of your piece. Start by dividing your publication into thirds.

  • One third will be dedicated to promoting collection items, including booklists, streaming music and movies, your physical movie and music collection, and magazines.
  • One third will be dedicated to events and programs.
  • The final third will be stories about patrons and staff and the ways the library has impacted their lives.

Pick one big story to serve as your cover.

Some cover stories we used at my library included:

A father and son who visited all 41 branches of our library in one day.

A middle schooler who gave a speech about library funding.

A 103-year-old woman who read three books a week, thanks to the work of our outreach department.

How to use the library to determine if stories on the internet are fact or fiction.

Once you determine your cover story, place it in your outline about halfway through your publication. You want people to have to read several pages to get to it.

Here are some other ideas for stories to put in your publication.

  • Staff and patron reading recommendations, including quotes about why they love and recommend the books.
  • Stories behind the forming of a book club.
  • A profile of a teacher or a school librarian who takes advantage of services like teacher collections and support from the library.
  • How your library has helped someone find a job or earn a degree.
  • Profile of a small business that used your library to launch a successful company.
  • Behind the scenes of a certain department at your library. For example, I interviewed the manager of our Preservation Lab, which restores and preserves rare items in the library’s collection such as military uniforms, books written on palm leaves, and all kinds of historically valuable photographs. In another issue, we took people along for a ride with our Outreach Services and talked to the people whose lives were changed by the simple act of bringing books to their homes.

Make sure each page includes at least one call to action.

Calls to action are very important, even in print. Remember, if you want your cardholders to do something, you must tell them to do it explicitly!

End each article with a call to action, like, “To learn more, email us.” Or “To join this book club, visit our website.”

The whole point of your print publication is promotion. Make sure that you give your readers a way to interact with your library and take the next step.

Give yourself time to edit and review.

Typically, it took me about a month from start to finish to write, edit, and review my 12-page print publication. Specifically, my timeline looked like this:

  • Four weeks before we went to print, articles written by other staff were due.
  • Three weeks before we went to print, I thoroughly read and edited each article. I used my own punctuation and grammar skills, plus Microsoft Word’s review editor, and a Grammarly extension on my browser to perfect each article.
  • Two weeks before we went to print, I made copies of the publication and passed them around to at least five staff members inside and outside of my department. I asked them to carefully read the articles and mark any mistakes they noticed.
  • One week before we went to print, I gave copies to senior leaders for final approval.
  • I also made a copy for myself and read it out loud. This is a trick I learned from journalism school that I still use today for this blog! Your brain may automatically correct errors when you read silently in your head but if you read each word out loud, as if you are doing it for an audience, you’ll find missing words or grammar errors that you never noticed before.

Some examples of great library print promotional pieces that incorporate promotions and stories about the library (that you can read online!)

Niles-Maine District Library Newsletter

Department of Library Services Newsletter from the University of Pretoria

The Storyline from Oak Park Public Library

Next Page from Bucknell University

Source from the Howard County Library System

Between the Columns from Eastern Kentucky University Libraries

Does your library have a print publication that you’re really proud of? I’d love to see it! Please let me know where I can read it by hitting the Feedback button on the bottom left-hand side of this page.

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