Promotion. It's not just for stuff.

Contrary to popular perception, promotional activities (advertising, public relations, etc.), are not always about convincing people to buy the latest and greatest [fill in the blank]. Often, promotion objectives include changing attitudes and behaviors. Such is the case with the "Use Only What you Need" campaign launched by Denver Water this past summer. Though summer is a distant memory for Northern Hemisphere-dwellers like myself, the campaign is nevertheless a timely reminder for librarians that marketing has the power to change minds.

Denver Water acquired the services of Sukle Advertising to get customers to do something a bit unusual. Namely, use less of their product by conserving water. An article in the Denver Business Journal describes the campaign, which uses humor to make its point,

"About 50 customer comments have come in so far, McGuire-Collier [community and media relations manager] said, and despite the irreverent tone of the ads, "We've had some real positive responses. ... [Some say] it's not the sort of campaign you'd expect from a, quote-unquote, bureaucratic organization. We're able to have fun and still deliver an important message."

The promotions truly are pretty funny. Check out this YouTube video, "Drunk Flowers," and this one, "Running Toilets Waste Water." You can see other promotional elements at the utility's Web site.

Denver's campaign is a good example of the promotional aspects of social marketing, which is basically a type of marketing that attempts to change people's attitudes and behaviors for the benefit of individuals or society. Sound familiar, librarians? For Denver, striking at the funny bone seems to have worked, as residents cut their water usage by 21%, just 1% shy of their goal.

Here are some of the things I took away from this campaign:

• Advertisements need to reach people on an emotional level. Sukle did this by doing something unexpected from a government organization (being funny).
• Sukle's ads communicated volumes of information visually. The "using only what you need" theme was reinforced visually by partially used billboards, for example.
• Social marketers aim to change behaviors by changing attitudes. To do so, it's important to understand existing attitudes and behaviors that would indicate success (lower water consumption, etc.). These goals should be included in promotion strategies.
• All aspects of a promotion campaign should be integrated and reinforce one another to have the most impact.
  

Did this campaign give you any good ideas? Please share!

[For more info: Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on Social Marketing]

Getting to the point with MarketingProfs

If you haven't explored them yet, MarketingProfs now offers a plethora of tidbit-sized chunks of information in its free (registration required) Get to the Po!nt newsletters. The thematic newsletters are really neat, covering topics such as:

• Customer Behavior (must-read for sure!)
  
• E-mail Marketing
• Marketing Inspiration (love this!)
• Small Business

These other topics are forthcoming, but you can subscribe to them today:

• B2B Marketing
• Marketing Optimization
• New Media (social networks, mobile devices, video, audio, etc.)

These newsletters are great ways to get just enough marketing information in your area of interest without overwhelming you or flooding your Inbox (most appear to come out every 3-4 days).

Bonus tip: Why not start your own mini newsletter for your colleagues? An e-mail once a week that briefly covers THE most important trend/news item/report/... you think people need to know would help keep staff up-to-date, and may even deliver the jolt of inspiration needed to come up with great ideas.

I blog, therefore, I am

It's funny (and nice) that I took a break from blogging for a while and a number of people thought that some tragedy befell me. Not to worry, loyal readers! I blog, therefore, I am. Everything's fine with me, but I have a whole lot of personal and professional stuff going on (some of which I'll be sharing on LM in the near future), and I thought the holidays would be a good time to relax, take a good chunk of time off, and come back to the blog refreshed.

That said, I have content up to my eyeballs to share with you, so I'm going to start with an initiative from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as described by trendcentral.com. The initiative sprang up from a new trend: blog bars. Blog bars are computer terminals set up on-site so that attendees can respond to what's going on in real time and receive responses right away.

The Met offers a blog bar for its show blog.mode: addressing fashion. The blog seems to be doing its job in that there's a flurry of comment and conversation. The idea of a blog bar, however, adds an extra layer of immediacy and relevancy for participants, and could be a great way to enhance library programs too! Trendcentral also points out,

"Additionally, expect physical spaces to increasingly include virtual components, creating a mash-up hybrid environment."

This trend reminds me of the importance of thinking about patron experiences, rather than focusing on distinct technologies and tools. It's the marriage of technology, great services, and community engagement that will continue to shape library services.

Bonus tip: Every librarian needs to pay attention to what museums are doing and how they're applying technology. They're doing fascinating stuff!

Thank you readers for your understanding while a took a break! I'm glad to be back in the blogosphere.

Get your creativity on!

I had a blast last week getting my creativity on at NEASIST's program on guerilla innovation in Providence, RI. My gig was to talk about the theoretical/conceptual aspects of creativity, including techniques for enhancing one's innate creativity and the need to adopt creativity as a core professional competency. I had so much fun because NEASIST members are awesome, my fellow co-presenters were terrific, and because this topic (creativity) is very near and dear to me these days. Why, you ask (and even if you didn't)? Creativity is at the heart of every new service or 'a ha' moment in libraries. Ideas begin with creative thought. If we're not thinking creatively all the time, we're missing opportunities and letting problems hang around. Creativity, or ideation, are also accepted components of the marketing process, particularly in new product development. With all of the promotional clutter and competing services we face, unique, compelling ideas keep us competitive. Creativity, unfortunately, doesn't just magically happen. It takes an organizational effort and conscious practice to foster ideas and let the good ones see the light of day. It also takes a strong stomach because creativity is inherently risky as it usually means disrupting the status quo.

So, my talk had a lot of personal and professional significance for me and it allowed me to explore another marketing avenue. You're welcome to view the PowerPoint presentation here:

Off the Wall But On the Mark: Using Creativity to Make Libraries Better

Since I try not to load my PowerPoints down with text, you probably have no clue what these slides mean, which is why I'm also going to make my script available. Important Note: I use my so-called-script so that I don't forget the major points I want to make but I don't read from it! So, what you'll read is hardly a verbatim account, but it should give you a sense of how the talk went. I don't claim to be the best speaker ever, but I figured if I didn't mention this fact, you'd all be a tad horrified by what you read. :-)

NEASIST Script (PDF)

Jessamyn posted a brief account of the program on her blog, and I'll be recounting the major themes from all speakers on the Designing Better Libraries (DBL) blog. I'll also describe how to run a successful brainstorming session on DBL.

Best of luck with all of your creative endeavors!

Update: Here's an attendee's notes on the session.

Update #2: I posted my notes from the talk on DBL. I'll also feature creativity practices on DBL to help you generate lots of ideas!

Making the unfun fun: A marketing lesson

This news from Florida Radiology Imaging should give any librarian a boost of inspiration. The creative people at FRI held a brainstorming session in which they devised a way to persuade women to get those pesky but important mammograms done. Their solution? Throw a party! FRI now offers Midnight Mammogram & Manicure sessions where women can invite up to 13 of their friends for an evening of wine, food, pampering, and mammogramming. According to a local news article,

"The idea came about as employees at Florida Radiology Imaging brainstormed for ways to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October.

"You have heard of women going to Botox parties. Well, we decided this is way more important than that," said Melody Huffman, marketing director for the radiology group. "I have friends myself, moms who work and are so involved with school -- the last thing they do is take care of themselves. But you can always get a girlfriend to go to dinner. So we're trying to make it easy and fun to come out and take care of your health."'

The service, scheduled to run through October, is now booked through November, and then who knows? Their event site even features e-mail invitations, easily allowing women to spread the word.

Ok, librarians. We have our challenge! If a medical facility can make mammograms fun and actually motivate people to want to have them done, then making libraries fun and rewarding to use should be a snap, right? This is another EXCELLENT example of Triumphs in Marketing. Notice that this had little or nothing to do with promotion, and everything to do with rethinking services so that they appeal to women's needs and preferences. Also notice that this program is the result of a brainstorming session. Brainstorming is not fluff - it can have real and significant consequences and is a technique we should make more good use of. Kudos, FRI.

Cultural institutions tackle memory loss

Good morning, campers! It's the wee hours of the morning (at least for me). I'm at RIC ready to fly to Green Bay, WI to give a talk on drawing in new users for the Wisconsin Library Association - how fun! Ever on the lookout for great marketing inspiration, I had to whip up this post after reading a great story in USA Today. An article called, "Alzheimer's program is one from the art" describes how Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art offers special programming to persons with dementia and their caregivers. The program is called Meet Me at MoMA. According to the article, the specially-designed tours have been shown to aid recall and open people up who might otherwise be too nervous to express themselves.

Not only is this program inspirational, it's brilliant marketing. Great marketing serves important needs. In this case, museums are addressing a significant health issue and nurturing people's well-being, while providing caregivers with a well-deserved respite. Wow! This example is sure to be featured in my talk as a creative example of how we librarians could segment our market and fill unmet needs, even in our overcrowded marketplace. What a wonderful way to draw in non-users and benefit the community at the same time.

I hope to blog a bit from the conference and share any marketing-related goodies with you.

Need some inspiration?

If your creativity needs a jump start, take a look at Springwise.com, billed as " required brain food for entrepreneurial minds." Springwise, a sister site of TrendWatching, enlists springspotters who scour the worldwide business landscape to unearth the neatest of the neat business-to-consumer (B2C) endeavors. Here's more from the site:

"Springwise scans the globe for the most promising business ventures, ideas and concepts ready for regional or international adaptation, expansion, partnering, investments or cooperation. Ferociously tracking more than 400 global offline and online business resources, as well as taking to the streets of world cities, digital cameras at hand...So whether you’re a budding entrepreneur, head of a start-up, management consultant, marketing manager, business development director, trend watcher, or anyone else interested in creating or expanding companies, Springwise will instantly inspire you by getting the world’s most promising young ventures right in front of you."

They also offer a free weekly newsletter so you can easily keep up with all of the innovative ideas being put into practice. For librarian-marketers, you can scan their idea database by topics like Education, Non-profit/Social cause, and Marketing & Advertising.

This is quickly becoming my favorite Web site because I always feel recharged after seeing all of the inspiring ways in which businesses are serving customer needs. For example, the latest newsletter contains an article about a moving company that helps senior citizens relocate with a suite of specialized service options. It's a fascinating example of how one could target this booming demographic by adding special touches to existing services.

User-generated libraries

IG TrendCentral reported on a new social networking/media sharing site called Uber.com. Here's what TrendCentral had to say about the online community:

"The sleekly designed, user-friendly site offers innovative functions and features currently unrivaled by other popular social networking sites. Not only can users discover, publish, collect, store, and share all forms of content (e.g. art, photos, videos, blogs, and bookmarks) all in one place, but the site also provides them with capabilities to consolidate, manage and store profiles, pages and media from YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, and Facebook all in one place. In other words, Uber is a virtual library where users can store their digital footprints.

Inspired by community members’ ideas and fueled by their desire to create, express and share, Uber’s unique Visual Index is organically generated through the compilation of user-generated pages. As such, the platform is quickly evolving into a next-generation media publishing company that, by fostering creative collaboration, allows users to emerge as stars."

I've played around on this site a little bit. You can log in with your Facebook account. It's really neat to see people experimenting with photography and other media, and to see the collections people are putting together. I'd love to see libraries allow patrons to do something similar on library sites with library materials. For example, libraries provide the resources and information for patrons to produce their own media, and then provide a forum like Uber.com so that they can share their collections with others in a library-hosted platform. The idea appeals to me because it's a great way to demonstrate how information resources are brought to life, and to showcase patron's creative efforts at the same time. (Not a bad marketing strategy either...).

Creativity as responsibility?

I'm excited to be taking a Marketing class on new product development this semester. What's most intriguing is that our instructor is emphasizing creativity and innovation, which has never been directly addressed in any previous course I've taken.

My professor made one comment on this topic that stuck with me ever since. He said that most companies seek small innovations. These innovations typically revise existing products, but don't result in anything dramatically new. This makes sense because these types of incremental innovations are low-risk and relatively cheap. He added that this approach prevents companies from exploring the more risky and costly radical innovations that could result in new product categories. As a result, companies are neglecting opportunities to improve society with breakthrough products.

His words made me think that librarians have a social obligation to be creative and to innovate. This obligation may entail approaches to service that are dramatically different from what we've done in the past. Continually revising services may not be enough to achieve the benefits modern patrons seek.

This week, I'll make a guest post available from a librarian who is helping to radically redefine library services, which will lead into further discussions about libraries as creativity labs.

Get a dose of this Tylenol promotion

I saw a Tylenol ad on T.V. today that features employees promising to do right by customers. Nice idea and all, so I went to check out the Tylenol "Promise" Web site. Here, you can find employees talking about their work and perspectives. Overall, it appears generally unscripted. What struck me most is what a fantastic idea this format would be for librarians. As you well know, we suffer from some fairly annoying stereotypes (like the glasses-wearing, bun-sporting, shhh-ers). I think it would be nice idea if patrons could find their librarians talking about the issues they're concerned about, projects they're working on, hobbies they have, and so on, to put a friendly face on our services. I realize there are privacy issues implicit in this, but I just like the idea of patrons getting to see a more-well rounded version of us has human beings rather than one-dimensional bookish-types. And what a great tool for recruiting to the profession! Just a thought. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Flying high on outstanding customer service

The CBS Early Show aired a segment this morning called The Friendliest Skies. The star of the piece is a United Airline pilot, Captain Denny Flanagan, who takes it upon himself to bring customer service up to a whole new level. Here are the highlights:

Flanagan...

• buys McDonald's hamburgers for passengers on delayed flights.
• takes pictures of pets stored in cargo to reassure passengers.
• makes sure children flying alone get window seats; calls their parents if there are unexpected delays.
• asks passengers to play in a contest in which they write down their best or worst flying experiences; he later posts them on United bulletin boards so that employees can learn about customers' experiences. (Contest winners, by the way, get a bottle of fine wine).
  
• writes personalized thank-you notes on the back of his business card for first-class passengers who are frequent fliers.

Flanagan insists it only takes a minute to provide these little extras that put the "service" back in customer service. Makes one think about what small surprises we can add to our own services to make them exceptional.

Forget about being the third place. Be the first lab!

For reasons I won't bother to bore you with, today is the first day I've been able to post (or really, spend any extended amount of time on a computer) since returning from the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium. This is unfortunate since the Symposium really pumped me up and gave me no shortage of library marketing inspiration. So much, in fact, that I anticipate discussing gaming and related marketing issues over a number of posts. To begin with, I'd like to share with you the over-arching message I took away from the event: Forget about being the third place. Be the first lab!

After listening to speakers like Eli Neiburger, Jim Gee, Greg Trefry, and many others, I learned that games, perhaps better than any other pursuit, build community and spark intellectual curiosity. Eli spoke about how gaming brought seniors out from their retirement homes to challenge teens to Dance Dance Revolution contests; Gee described how students who wouldn't crack open a textbook in school eagerly poured through tedious gaming guides teeming with sophisticated language for hours; Trefry told stories of how big games dramatically altered the ways in which people perceived their physical surroundings. Do you know of other media that are so transformative? I sure don't. Games and the application of gaming principles capture the essence of what libraries are all about. They engage patrons' imaginations, and allow them to play around with ideas in an interactive, risk-free format with wide cross sections of the community. In the process, gaming patrons actually construct a series of unique experiences, thereby turning the library into a laboratory of sorts.

This "community creativity lab" is where where I see libraries' future and competitive advantage. I can't think of any other free, publicly-accessible place (except perhaps for museums, which we should be partnering with), where people can come together for purposes of serious play and creative enterprise. Unlike other "third places" like Starbucks that attempt to be a home-away-from-home space, libraries are much more. They are where old and new knowledge are explored, created, and re-envisioned. Our duty is to recognize and facilitate the many varied creative pursuits of our patrons and give them the value-added spaces, resources, expertise, and community engagement to explore them in greater depth. Gaming represents one avenue for libraries to look into, but there are many others as well.

Some of you may be skeptical about the potential of gaming and libraries, which is fine. I wasn't entirely sold on it either until I understood it better. So, I will continue to analyze how gaming makes sense from a library marketing standpoint based on what I learned. My next post will address who makes up the gamer market segment and what value-added services draw them in.

Meet me at the library

In the latest of my all-too-frequent travels to Starbucks, I picked up one of their publications called, Let's Meet at Starbucks. The publication refers to a Web site where you can find out about SBUX events, learn about the latest drinks, and, my favorite part, send a customized e-mail invitation to your friends that asks them to meet you at a selected SBUX. Perhaps I find too many good ideas at Starbucks, but this particular one seemed like it was custom made for libraries. In public libraries, I could see this functionality being an easy way for patrons to identify library events and nearby branches for groups to gather. In an academic setting, it could help facilitate study group meetings and perhaps be linked to an online room booking system. I don't know about all of the technicalities involved, but isn't this a great concept?!

The SBUX publication also mentioned the Web site Meetup.com, where people can identify groups by interests and location. There's a group for just about everyone, including for those interested in books, education topics, languages, and music to name just a few. Wouldn't it be nice to reach out to these interest groups and offer library space and services to them? It's possible to advertise in Meetup, sponsor a group, or create your own group. There are also some MeetUp tools you can feature on your Web site including a widget that lists all of the Meetups in your area. At first glance, this service appears to be somewhat similar to Facebook and MySpace, but the major difference is that Meetup aims to get people together in person.

Whether or not you use these tools, it's worth considering how the libraries can do a better job of connecting the virtual and the physical while supporting the interests of their communities. Something to think about!

[Ooh - I just found numerous examples of people using Meetup to arrange meetings in the library: here, here, here, and here.]

Library Marketing has a chat room!

After seeing mentions of the new Meebo chat rooms on Walking Paper and BWL I just had to give them a try. So, I bring you the Library Marketing Exchange. It's also embedded in my blog, so you can chat with me and/or amongst yourselves directly from LM.

It's a highly experimental feature right now. My intent is for the Library Marketing Exchange to be a mechanism for librarians and marketers to get together and generate marketing ideas. Also, you can always use it to get in touch with me, though I doubt that's the biggest appeal! If it seems to be working well for fostering ideas, I'll keep it around.

To kick off the new room, I'll be donating my lunch hour this Thursday, June 14th at 12pm EST to get a conversation going. The topic du jour will be branding. This week, I plan to expand on the ideas from my recent branding presentation through a series of posts, and so I think we'll have some good food for thought prior to the chat on Thurs. (and if not, we'll just make something up!).

Hope to "see" you there!

Update: Please let me know if you have ideas for chat topics you'd like to participate in. I'll see about hosting some additional thematic chats if there's enough interest. You can leave your ideas in a comment or via the chat room.

Lovin' the library at the University of Tennessee

Perhaps I'm biased because my manager is a UT grad (Go Vols!), but I was really intrigued by a promotion campaign at UT's Pendergrass Library. In search for ways to enforce library regulations that are agreeable to both librarians and patrons, library staff came up with a clever promotion campaign that features a simple stick figure design.

Shown here is one graphic in the series. It encourages students to throw away their trash.

What appeals most to me is that this seemingly simple image conveys a lot of meaning to its target audience, which was evident after speaking with library supervisor Allison Roberts who worked on the design. For instance, UT Knoxville is located near the scenic Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The green color of the image is a nod to the respect the UT community holds for the environment. Furthermore, the "Pack it in; Pack it out" phrase is well-known among hikers, a popular pastime in the Knoxville area. Plus, heck, the image is just plain eye-catching to me. So, I was extremely pleased that Allison graciously gave me some of her time to talk to me over the phone and respond to some follow-up e-mail questions I sent her. The following is our exchange:

Jill: Your deceptively simple-looking image actually communicates a great deal to your target audience. Could you discuss how the "Pack it out" message and eco-friendly green color resonate with your patrons?

Allison: "The idea is derived from the hiking symbol used by park services and the idea of low impact use of resources. If you love your park you make strides to reduce your environmental impact. The same should also apply to facilities and resources we use everyday. If you love your library you should reduce your environmental impact. A library is a resource that deserves conservation and respect like a national park. Individuals that use Pendergrass Library have recognized that they share the responsibility and strive to make a difference in their impact."

Jill: You mentioned that you selected a stick figure for its simplicity and visual impact. What can librarians learn from your example about graphic design?

Allison: "It is important to convey an idea simply and succinct to reach all audiences."

Jill: How do you use this image and where do you display it?

Allison: "We currently have a large "Pack it out" poster on display as you enter the library, placed several posters on study tables and decals on trash cans. In addition, we created desktop wallpaper for all the workstations in the Library."

Jill: You said that the campaign has been effective and well-received. Can you give some examples of feedback you've received and changes in patrons' behaviors? Also, why do you think this campaign works so well?

Allison: "When we decided to allow food in the library a heavy weight was lifted. The staff no longer had to police for violations. The individuals that use the library were relieved that they no longer had to hide food. Overall the atmosphere is lighter. By allowing food we created a better environment for the users; however, the problem of pests was a concern. I felt that if we could try to eliminate food trash in the library the pests would not become a huge problem. I tried to create a message that would help the users share the responsibility. I think this idea works well because our users can identify with the message of conservation."

Jill: "Pack it out" is part of a series of planned promotions that seek to educate patrons about library policies. What other pieces are you planning?

Allison: "Currently, the stick man is presenting our "Love your Library: Quiet Zone" notification on the door to the stacks study area. It is also on our "Love your Library: Respect Books" bookmark. The design is versatile, so there is no limit to its future applications."

Jill: Is there anything else about this project you'd like to share with colleagues?

Allison: "In addition to posting "Pack it out" notices we have asked housekeeping to remove the trash twice a day and increase vacuuming in the high use areas. Our collaborative effort has made a difference in the amount of trash and debris from study time munching."

Way to know your audience, Allison! And kudos on creating a campaign that can be recycled for many uses. I love how UT was able to translate popular environmental sentiments to library issues and to draw in patrons as partners in making the library a more comfortable place for everyone. Also, note that a good promotion campaign is always backed up by sound services, in this case, housekeeping. Promotion alone can't make much of a difference but it can be powerful in combination with real action.

Allison kindly shared two other images (below) from the series as well as a link to their bookmark promoting preservation (PDF). Please note that you need permission from Allison if you wish to use the images in any way. Thanks so much for sharing this well-planned and executed campaign!

The art of conversation is a marketing competency

There's a must-read article at BusinessWeek called, It's the Conversation Economy, Stupid. In it, author David Armano of the popular blog Logic+Emotion discusses how marketers must now become conversation architects to be effective in today's economy. It's one of those pieces that should make us rethink how we do our jobs. I wrote about it on KnowThis, so I won't repeat the summary here, but I would encourage you think about one of Armano's main points:

"Conversation architects move marketing beyond the idea of one-way messaging. Traditional marketing efforts were founded on this tried-and-true format and are still prevalent within the industry. Consider the example of a typical creative brief template, which usually says something like, "What are we trying to communicate?" Can you see the old-world residue in the word "communicate"? It lacks the dimensions of experiencing something and having an ongoing two-way dialogue. "What are we trying to communicate?" implies a one-way conversation. Maybe we should ask ourselves: "How can we facilitate?"'

I can't think of a better charge for librarians who are in the business of helping people succeed. In this way of thinking, we allow patrons' goals to become our goals, rather than letting our idea of what we want to accomplish dictate how patrons should interact with us. Makes sense to me.

Davenport Public Library gets an M+ for marketing cooperation

It takes a library to market its services, a fact that's not lost on librarian Angela Campbell, Public Relations & Programming Coordinator at the Davenport (IA) Public Library. Angela formed an interdepartmental marketing team called MarketingPlus (M+ for short). The group meets once a month to brainstorm on PR issues and plan events. On a PR listserv, Angela noted that having representation from many departments and administration helps to keep everyone on the same page and to generate innovative ideas for improvements. I contacted Angela and asked her to describe in greater detail how M+ came to be, how it operates, and what projects it tackles. The following is the description she gave me in full. If you have any questions about this approach, Angela provides her contact information. I'm very grateful to her for taking the time to share her efforts! I hope M+ will spark some further thinking on internal marketing approaches. From Angela:

"Public relations and programming efforts at the Davenport Public Library used to be spread across many departments and people. The Youth Services Department did their thing; Reference did their thing; and Special Collections did their thing. There was no cohesiveness to the Library's publicity and programming efforts. Due to the retirement of a few key staff in 2004, Library administration re-evaluated some of the job descriptions and also began working on building plans for two new neighborhood libraries that would open in 2006 and 2009. The focus of the two new neighborhood libraries would be to offer leisure reading materials, homework help, and excellent programming; with the goal of becoming the neighborhoods' community center. Because of this change in focus, administration decided it was time to centralize PR and programming efforts; thus creating the PR Department in January of 2005.

I had worked in the Reference Department ever since I graduated from graduate school in 1997. I have a MLIS and a BA in Corporate Communication. When the PR/Programming Coordinator position was announced, I was up for the challenge to be a one-person PR machine.

First task – updating all internal and external forms and publications. Before I was hired the Library had an "old school" graphic artist who did excellent work – but did it all by hand. Nothing was digitized. I did a major inventory of all our forms and publications. Each department went through their "department-specific" items and either threw them away; told me to keep them the same; or made notes for updating. I ended up digitizing all of these items by redoing them on Microsoft Publisher; I then pdf'd the items and indexed them in a joint folder on our computer network, so that they were accessible to anyone at any building. Finally, I reprinted everything with our new logo; contact information; and a standardized look, to aid in our branding efforts.

Second task – the MarketingPlus Committee. The internal MarketingPlus Committee (M+) used to lack direction and focus. I was on this committee while working in the Reference Department, and I speak from experience that it was one of those meetings I dreaded going to. They used to be weekly, and last for hours. One of my personal goals in this new position was to reach out to supervisors and have them assign an interested staff person from each department. I wanted committee members who wanted to be on the committee. I thought everyone would want to help – who doesn't want to market the library? I was wrong. It was actually hard to get people to volunteer because of past practice and perception. It took almost two years to create a reliable core committee. We now have representatives from each of the following departments: reference, special collections, youth services, customer services/circulation, administration, branch(es), and public relations. As the PR/Programming Coordinator, I head the committee, which meets the third Thursday of every month at 2:15 p.m. at the Main Library. The consistency of the meetings is important because of the scheduling issues and the diversity of the committee-members. The meetings last no longer than 3:30; and we have a proactive agenda that everyone can contribute to via the computer network. The meeting agenda lists the topic; the person responsible; the projected outcome; and a due date. Even though it is a highly structured meeting, it's also a lot of fun (especially the sharing of treats)! The departmental diversity of the members really adds to the brainstorming sessions, and the communication channels have really opened up. M+ Committee members are encouraged to share their experiences during their department meetings, not only to help create staff buy-in, but to communicate what is going on at both Libraries. For example, at one meeting, a staff person from the Customer Service Department told us that the staff was unhappy about all the handouts laying around on the service desk. Was there any way to combine these into one master handout? From that initial discussion, and after many revisions, the PR Department came up with a monthly 11 x 17 calendar format that would be easy to read, have the same amount of info (if not more!) as the flyers, and become less of a time-commitment to the PR Staff. This never would have happened if it weren't for the M+ meetings. Patrons and staff both benefited from this wonderful idea. Another example of the M+ productivity came during the planning of the Summer Reading Program. Our frontline folks expressed concern over the size of the program's finishing prize - that there was not enough room to keep the prizes behind the Customer Service desks. Because of concern, the Youth Services and PR staff found smaller (and even better!) prizes to offer to our patrons. Again, this would have never happened if it weren't for the M+ Committee, and is a good example of how important it is to communicate with all departments on a regular basis.

Third task – Get some help! It took only a few months for the Library to realize that even though I was doing a great job, I needed some help. Administration decided it was time to hire on another PR professional. My full-time assistant was hired in June of 2005, and we've been a two-person department ever since. Because we are responsible for all media communications, internal communications, graphic arts, most partnerships, special events, and ongoing adult programming, we’ve divided up our tasks by our strengths. My assistant (who has a BA in journalism) works on all written publicity – writing press releases, posting the releases to online community calendars, and compiling the releases onto a monthly calendar we hand out in the Library. She is also responsible for distributing printed items to staff and the public. I am responsible for portraying the programs and events graphically, on posters and handouts. I also edit two bi-monthly newsletters Main Entries (a general Library newsletter); and Booktalking, a bi-monthly readers’ advisory newsletter. I'm also responsible for media relations and placing stories; building partnerships; looking for grant opportunities; and coordinating the rest of the Library's programming efforts, including Reference computer classes, Youth Services programs, Special Collections' programs, and large "all-ages" special events that we do on an annual basis. Finally, when our budget allows for advertising, I look for the best deals in our local media outlets that can get us the most reach and frequency for the least amount of money.

We are never bored! Last year our Library offered more than 300 programs between the two buildings, with more than 15,000 people attending the programs. My goal is to continue getting the word out so our statistics continue to increase. This includes library use statistics, walk-in statistics and programming statistics.

If you have any questions about implementing a PR Department from the ground up, please don't hesitate to email me at: acampbell@davenportlibrary.com; or call at 563-888-3371."

Spoof this!

Granted, I watch too much T.V., which is why I derive a lot of marketing inspiration from television programs, for better or worse. I happen to be a big fan of the Discovery Channel, and I particularly like the shows Dirty Jobs, It Takes a Thief, MythBusters, and generally anything narrated by Mike Rowe. Last night, I watched a Discovery show consisting entirely of viewer-created videos called You Spoof Discovery (also hosted by mikerowe!). What I liked about this special is that Discovery could poke fun at itself (as the ads state, "Discovery Channel discovered its sense of humor"). The shows are the Discovery's bread-and-butter, but it still allowed viewers a forum for having some fun with them. There's also a message board where viewers can chat about the spoofs. Even the individual fan sites like this Dirty Jobs one, for example, allow viewers to get involved by talking to the host, posting programming ideas, and reacting to episodes through their discussion boards. Discovery leads off the discussion board with this statement:

"Discovery Channel is a huge fan of message boards — it's not only your chance to talk to us and each other, but it's also our chance to communicate with you and to hear your ideas."

This is a good example of open-source marketing in practice. Here, Discovery lets viewers have a say in the product (the shows), facilitates community-building (letting viewers talk to each other in a company-sponsored forum), and builds relationships between viewers and the talent (mikerowe! - Did I mention I was a fan?).

Librarians can learn a thing or two from this example. Our profession is rife with stereotypes and misperceptions. Why not make fun of them and get patrons in on the act? Rather than try to ignore or get huffy about the things in our profession that are irritating, let's engage those nuisances through our patron communities and open discussions.

Update: I wrote a post on the KnowThis.com Marketing Blog today on the topic of social media and marketing that fits with this discussion. I propose some ways in which marketers can interact with customers in these venues. You may also be interested in the free social media PR templates I mention offered by Shift Communcations. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how, when, and why we librarians should use social media marketing.

Learning from marketing in unlikely places

I'm going out on a bit of a limb here, so please bear with me and give this idea a chance. One strategy that I strongly advocate is that we should learn about marketing from every source available. Sometimes ideas come from businesses, other times they come from Psychology literature, while other times they come from non-profit organizations. In fact, we can often learn from marketing in unexpected places. Today, I want to discuss what we can learn from church marketing. Now, I'm specifically not getting into any discussion of religion or advocating any one religion or another, but there are some lessons we can glean from what's going on in modern churches.

The marketing of churches crops up in the news all the time, and it's as controversial (if not more so) as in the library world. There's actually a blog devoted to the topic called Church Marketing Sucks. In doing some reading on the site, I found that there are a lot of similarities between church marketing and library marketing:

• Like libraries, churches are often trying to expand their reach in their communities to draw in non-users.
• Monetary profit is not the ultimate measure of success for libraries or churches and there is usually no direct cost for services
• Both libraries and churches are "selling" what is, for some, an unsought product.

Surely, there are more similarities, and plenty of differences, but overall we have enough in common to learn from one another. In fact, take a look at Church Marketing Sucks' definition of marketing and see if it doesn't strike a chord with libraries. I especially like this definition:

"Marketing is the study and practice of better, faster, cheaper and friendlier. "Making things go more smoothly," as I put it to my students. The product or service a company provides is the "what" of its existence. Marketing is the "how."'

Also, under the section "Is Marketing a Dirty Word?," the author argues,

"Likewise, the process of marketing happens no matter what. We can either realize that and make sure our marketing doesn't suck, or we can ignore it and live in ignorance."

And,

"Remember that the goal here isn't to introduce slick and polished business marketing that ruthlessly targets pockets and cashes in on souls. That's marketing that sucks. Lousy clip art and typos are just as bad as glossy photos of people prettier than your congregation. The goal is being authentic and effective."

The blog is well worth taking a look at for the marketing discussions and analysis that takes place. Again, librarians can find marketing inspiration anywhere and everywhere, so keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to look at marketing in different lights that enrich our own points-of-view.

Take a whiff - Marketing's in the air

The latest MarketingProf's newsletter has an article on Scent Branding that's definitely worth a read. Scent branding is, apparently, a discipline of its own (there's even a Scent Marketing Institute!). Author Leigh Duncan explains, "Used in the right way, scent branding can enhance customer (or personal) experience in a pleasurable manner. The use of scent branding in consumer purchasing environments has been shown to be influential in driving consumer purchasing as well." She also cautions would be scent-marketers to make some considerations before heaping on the perfume, such as don't depend on scent alone to build your brand.

What I found most fascinating are the organizations putting scents to work. Duncan mentions a company called Scent Air that is a provider of "in-store scent solutions." When I discovered that one of their clients is a museum, I did a little digging on their site to find out more. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis used scents of the rainforest and dinosaur dung (yep, you read that right) in its dinosaur exhibit. Also interesting, Florida Hospital used scents to decrease patients' stress and cancellation rates when they came in for MRI's. They decorated their MRI department with a beach theme, complete with the smells of coconut and ocean.

Do we think about smells when we design our spaces? Would the eye-opening smell of citrus perk up students during late-night study sessions? Would the relaxing smell of lavender make leisure reading more pleasurable for patrons? Scent is not a magic bullet, but it's fun to think about how a subtle waft of fragrance can help reinforce and define spaces while reinforcing and shaping our image.

Update: LISNews mentions an article that describes what libraries can learn from bookstores, including how to use scents.