Photo courtesy Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library

We are now firmly in the second half of the calendar year. I don’t know about you, but when I worked in a library, this was the time I usually started to “drag” a little. I was tired and uninspired. (Hey, that rhymes!) I needed a little boost… someone to remind me to focus on what was important.

I’m here for you. These are the eight things I want you to focus on as you move into the next six months. This is also a great post to share with new hires who work on library promotions. The eight principles listed below are the most valuable tips I can offer to help you center your work and find direction.

And I’m curious… do you think I missed anything in this list? Add your guiding principles to the comments!

8 Tips to Focus Your Library Promotions

1.  Plan ahead — don’t just react.

This is my number one tenet because so many of the library staff members I work with say they feel like order takers! They are asked by different departments and branches to promote the things that are important to those people, which allows no time to create a strategic library marketing calendar or campaign that supports the library’s overall goals.

Effective marketing is proactive, not reactive. You want your promotions to be holistic, covering all the channels where your target audience is located (see item #4). List the goals you want to achieve over the next six months, and create holistic campaigns. Before you know it, you’ll have a full editorial calendar.

And I know this might sound scary, but be transparent. Share your calendar with the rest of your coworkers. Inform them of the overall goals and provide them with regular updates on the content you share and the results you are achieving. At the end of the year, let everyone know how you did.

This will help educate your coworkers about marketing! Many of them probably think marketing is reactive. They don’t know how much planning and coordination go into an effective campaign.

2. Promote the benefits, not the features.

Listen, I know this one is hard. But your community is looking for a solution to their problems.

So instead of saying, “Use our personalized reader recommendation service”, highlight how your service solves real problems, like helping readers to find the right books for them (because, let’s be honest, there are SO many good books out there!), or helping readers who feel like they’re stuck in a rut, reading the same things over and over again.

You want your readers to think of the library, not Google or Goodreads, as the best place to find a book.

3. Tell more stories of how the library impacts lives.

User-centered storytelling, like Loyola Marymount’s Library Fans video series, connects emotionally with users and shows the library’s impact on real lives. These stories are more memorable than stats or service lists.

Storytelling helps your community to see how others are using the library and imagine how they might use the library too!

4. Meet your audience where they are.

Use the channels your patrons prefer. And remember, you don’t have to be on every channel. You just need to be on the right ones.

The channels you choose should match the preferences of your primary audience segments.

  • Teens and college students? Think TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
  • Parents and caregivers? Facebook groups and email are the best way to reach this audience.
  • Adults over age 65? In-person outreach and local newspapers or printed newsletters can be most effective.

Most importantly, don’t try to build an audience on the channels your patrons don’t use. How do you know which channels your audience prefers? Use metrics (see #8) and surveys to pinpoint where your energy will be best spent.

5. Consistency builds brand recognition and affinity.

At the Fourth of July parade two weeks ago, I instantly recognized the library’s entry coming down the street, even without my glasses. How? The color scheme of their banner and vehicle! (As an aside, I was sitting right in front of one of the branches, and the cheering that rose from the crowd when the library drove by warmed my heart.)

You can have the same impact. Use your brand logos, color palettes, and tone across channels. Patrons should instantly recognize your library’s content, whether it’s on a digital sign, flyer, or Instagram Story.

I know this seems like a constraint to some of my more creative readers, but the discipline pays off with instant brand recognition.

Beyond your brand colors and logo, remember to name your services clearly and tie all services to your library (e.g., “Consumer Reports from Maple Tree Library”).

6. Empower your advocates.

Your best marketing tool might be your most loyal library users. Feature them in campaigns and encourage user-generated content. When your superfans talk about how much they love the library and how it impacts their lives, people will listen!

Encourage staff to promote programs on their own social media (with branded templates or messaging prompts).

And provide your Friends group or foundation with a marketing kit: shareable graphics, key talking points, and event blurbs.

7. Always be repurposing.

Library marketers are asked to create a lot of content! Just like you may do in your home, you can reuse and recycle some of that content to help ease your workload and ensure your best content is seen on multiple channels. You can do that by:

  • Repurposing blog posts, newsletters, and program guides into social media snippets, videos, or infographics. Share this content with local media and community partners.
  • Turning book displays into short videos for social media by adding trending audio and creative elements like stickers.
  • Clipping moments from author talks or storytimes for Instagram Stories, YouTube Shorts, or TikTok videos.
  • Breaking down long blog posts into carousel posts or pull quotes for your homepage, digital signs, or social media posts.

8. Measure what matters.

Your metrics are key to guiding your marketing strategy. And listen, I’m the first person to admit I can easily go down the rabbit hole of data and measure everything.

But my boss coaches me to only spend time measuring the things I need to help make the decisions that will guide my future library marketing actions. That means I don’t obsess over likes and followers.

Instead, I track engagement metrics like watch time on videos, shares of social media posts, and read time on blog articles. I also urge you to use UTM codes like Bit.ly and Google Analytics to track campaign sources, so you know which channels are driving traffic to your library and which pieces of content resonate most with your community.

Need more inspiration?

How Libraries Can Get Better Press Coverage: Real Tips From Former Journalists

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