Session: Positioning your Library Marketing for Success

Positioning your Library Marketing for Success

Cake not just icing

5 keys to library marketing success

1. Make marketing part of the strategy
  - not just 'can you make a flyer'
2. Set clear goals from the beginning
  - metrics and how will you define success of campaign
3. Support from the top is critical
  - seat at the table of leadership group, autonomy able to say no or yes to projects
4. Understand your audience
 - where does audience live, where do they get their information, opt in listserv
5. Understand the tools
 - start with a press release, define scope of the project in the press release

Examples of successful campaigns

A. Open House
Objectives: increase attendance, reduce library anxiety, show resources
$3000 happy video, happy tshirt give away

B. Blue Crew
Objective: increase reference statistics
To begin gather front line staff.
Customer service training, how we might portray them as a group to engage students, branded themselves as blue crew, library purchase shirts (a variety of styles and type) improved visibility and service point
Branded all services, chat, reference etc with blue crew
1 year campaign but they are still using the brand

Set metric from the beginning. Their goal was a 40% increase in statistics.  They achieved a 48% increase.

C. UndeadTech
Campaign for 2 weeks to find cables to get info off dead devices
Prepared staff to answer questions
Facebook ad

D. GRRM comes to Texas A&M
George R.R.Martin
Deeper than swords
Press release, invitation, dinner for 80 people at $400 each which raised money for campaign
Dinner included reception
Standard free lecture
Book signing
HBO actually helped and pre-screened an episode

E. Virtual Exhibit: Gebhardt Company Archive in Special Collections
Who is this for?
What are we hoping to get out of this campaign
How do we engage them

For foodies, donors

virtual exhibit, both in spanish and english, visually engaging, light on reading, bordering on edutainment, little metadata, guestbook, pinterest board.
http://webapp.lib.utsa.edu/Gebhardt/

What didn't work:
A. Embedded Peer Coaches
Office hours in library for peer tutoring
A case of 'make us a flyer'
needed to do more research prior to launching service

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1. Advocate for seat at the table
2. Take the time to gather baseline data (set clear goals)
3. Make case with data & proven success
4. Do your audience research (10 people minimum)
5. Find tools audience use the most