Greetings from ALA in Chicago

Kathy says: Greetings from ALA where my first full day was already packed with interesting marketing / promo sessions. While I hate to ever send anyone away from The M Word, I must ask that you go over to the Info Today blog to see what I've posted about today's adventures. That is, at least until I have time to add some original content here...

This is one of the sessions I blogged about there:


Tomorrow (Sunday) will be another action-packed day that will include my book signing at the Swap & Shop, info on dealing with the media, and an appearance at the OCLC Blog Salon where the special guests will be our friends the Shanachies.
:-)

Improve Customer Input with Incentives

Marketing begins with understanding what your customers need. One way to get that information is through online surveys. If you've tried that approach and haven't gotten a great response you may want to try to offer an incentive. It doesn't take a lot of money to provide an incentives to have people give you input. Tech Soup offered a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Amazon just to fill out a survey. To be effective make sure the reward speaks to the people you want to hear from. Teens might want iTune cards, Best Buy dollars or a free pizza. 

What I love about the posting below is the way they invite people to take a second step by agreeing to an interview [highlighted in red]. Replicate the approach for yourselves and see how it works. 

Disaster Preparedness and Relief Survey: Win an Amazon Gift Card!

Have you ever checked out TechSoup's Disaster Planning and Recovery Toolkit? It's a good place to turn for any organization whose tech infrastructure has suffered a disaster, natural or otherwise. We're overhauling the manual and toolkit, and we need your help!

If you have ten minutes to spare, please take our Emergency Preparedness Survey for Nonprofits and Public Libraries. Even if you haven't been impacted by a disaster, your input is still important. We want to learn what steps organizations are going through to protect their computers and data, even if they've been fortunate enough not to experience a disaster.

The survey is completely confidential, but if you are interested in sharing more information, we're also looking for people to interview about their own experiences in disaster preparation and recovery. The survey will give you the opportunity to express your interest in further participation.

We will select one respondent at random to receive a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. Respond by July 10 to be eligible for the drawing. Please forward this survey to your colleagues at nonprofits, NGOs, or libraries. The survey is open to organizations anywhere in the world.

Information Literacy in the Age of YouTube

Fantastic!!

Information Literacy in the Age of YouTube

View more presentations from M.j. D’elia.

Twitterface: A viral marketing concept

Great PPT on Twitter...

Twitterface: A viral marketing concept

View more presentations from Ara Pehlivanian.

Resume infographic

Resume infographic, originally uploaded by Bart Claeys.

I love this. Doesn't it get your creativity going?Makes me want to create a new resume.

Library Marketing should start at the birth of an idea

meeting room, originally uploaded by obLiterated.

Photo: The Suspended Meeting Room at Brisbane City Council Library

Marketing your library should never start when the program or service is already developed. Marketing needs to be an integral part of the development of everything you do. Nowhere is that demonstrated better than in the recently released video by the Shanachies on their Australian Tour. Jaap van de Geer posted the HD film of their visit to the Brisbane City Council Library and it is well worth your while to watch it. You will be inspired. Here are some of the things you’ll hear about:

The message is clear that this library believes it’s role is to provide opportunities for lifelong learning and recognizes that not all learning comes from books. But what is relevant for those looking to market libraries is that the following sections are all created with a "marketing eye" by responding to the needs of their customers.


1. They have a “Fast Section” where people can get fast service.

· Fast information

· Fast book returns

· Fast checkout

· Staff only work at small service points to keep staff roving service they have gotten rid of the “fortress” service desk



2. There is a newsroom with big screens playing sports, news and finance information. I love that it opens earlier than other sections of the library so people can have a cup of coffee without having to open the rest of library. Not only would our customers love that kind of service, can you imagine the positive press you’d get for such a cost-saving idea?


3. The “Noise Floor” not only provides a place to make noise there is a sound and vision section where acoustic concerts take place. On Sunday mornings musician conduct workshops and then give an afternoon concert. They even rent out the room for performers so they can give concerts.


4. The Developer’s Lounge provides a meeting space for the people who are building the city. The library supports them with a place to meet with free wi-fi and access to news and they have contact with library’s customers.


5. For the children’s section the library commissioned a well-known Australian children’s author to tell the story of the city, Home. The library owns the artwork and used it in the library to create an environment where children are “in the book”.


6. The most incredible spot in the entire library is the Sports section where a huge screen runs sports shows. Here is where you really understand what a library that is committed to providing information in the formats that is relevant to its customers looks like. They have seen an increased usage of young men 18- 35 . And why not? There are screens with sports and lifestyle shows, gaming stations, computers with Internet connections and graphic novels. Everything men love, in the library.


What struck me was that the library didn’t have to advertise this section at all- usage increased simply by word of mouth. Marketing starts by finding out what our customers need and want; knowing the way they want to to receive information and then giving them products that fulfill those needs. Brisbane gets that. They don't ask their customers to adapt to them, they are adapting to their customers. They have created spaces that are relevant to people’s lives and provide content in the medium they prefer and in turn their customers are spreading the word for them. They recognize that each generation has it’s own preferred medium to gather information and they provide content accordingly.


The interview provides much more about this amazing library. Watch all of Jaap’s videos on Vimeo.

Libraries are more than just places to learn to read ...

Great news report from Ohio. 

The big red box comes to Princeton!

From Janie Herman's FB post:
"We are a pilot site at PPL for having Red Box services to supplement the library collection. This gives our library customers 24 hour access to the newest DVDs, means that we do not have to buy as many copies of new releases (thus saving money), and we can a cut of the money from having the Red Box on site that we can use for collection development. Win, win, win -- at least we hope so. Pilot projects are exciting."

Drunkenomics - The Story of Bar Stool Economics

This was the $5000 winner of the Fuze storytelling contest. I'll bet you wished you had entered your story. :-)

Drunkenomics - The Story of Bar Stool Economics

View more presentations from slides2407.

I Geek Marketing Libraries

By now you've probably seen the new OCLC campaign, Geek the Library. I love the bones of this campaign and look forward to hearing from the pilot cities as to whether the concept of using geek as a verb resonates with the public and if the public is connecting "Geeking" to the value of libraries, especially those members of the community who may be advocates yet don't use libraries .

Here's a news clip from WSAV NBC 3 in Savannah. The connection is made here beautifully.



Here's a gorgeous video made for the campaign called, I Geek Opening Night. This I'm not so sure makes the connection.

Kathy's Podcast Interview on Longshots

Kathy is happy to report that she was recently interviewed by Sarah Long for her series of "Longshots" podcasts about library stuff.

We talked about my new book, The Accidental Library Marketer, and about library marketing in general. We also discussed that annoying question, "why do we still need libraries when we have the internet?" and I suggested some snappy comebacks for you to fire at those who dared ask. I hope you'll take a listen to the podcast and leave a comment.

And if this entices you, remember that I'll launch the book with a signing at ALA in Chicago on July 12. (It'll be part of the Swap & Shop in the Exhibit Hall, Sunday, 11am-1:30 pm.)

Nine Signs of a Losing Organization

Ideas Managements System blog found an article by the Indonesia Professionals and Entrepreneur's Club entitled, The Nine Signs of a Losing Organization.
Here's the list:

1. Fuzzy Vision
2. Lack of Leadership Skills
3. Discouraging Culture
4. High Bureaucracy
5. Lack of Initiative
6. Poor Vertical Communication
7. Poor Cross-functional Collaboration
8. Poor Teamwork
9. Poor Idea and Knowledge Management

How's your library doing?

Whew! Chris Penn tells it like it will be!

Chris Penn makes some predictions about social networking in his latest post. This piece jumped out as completely relevant for libraries:

"You have a very limited period of time right now when everything is in the open, when you can openly and plainly see influencers, when you can openly and plainly see how people are networked together. Study the networks now! As privacy continues to evolve, this period of Wild West openness will fade away, and suddenly the job of being a marketer will become a nightmare for anyone who relies on mass marketing, because the consumer simply will not let you in, not to their whitelist, not to their inner circle, not to their sphere of influence, unless the consumer actually wants what you have.

Takeaways: Spend time, invest time now in making connections with influencers, with superhubs in the social networks, because you’ll need their help later on to reach their trusted networks when you no longer can. Focus intensely on search, as that will be the one open mechanism for consumers to find you.

Above all else, maintain your focus on making products or services that don’t suck, because the tolerance for mediocrity will continue to decrease. No one wants mediocre in their social circles. They want awesome. They want to talk about awesome, share awesome, and be both consumer and purveyor of all things awesome. 

If you are not awesome, if your company’s products or services are not awesome, then the best advice I have is to keep your resume up to date."

QR Tags

Helene Blowers shares  how they are using QR tags her blog post. Be blown away ....

"Concept leadership is one of areas that my department, Digital Services, tries to focus on. It’s important for us to continuously keep on top of new and emerging technologies and explore ways that the library and our customers can benefit from them. 

QR tags is a technology that has actually been around for a few years. But until the mass adoption of smartphones with cameras, there wasn’t a dominant market yet for their use. When we launched our mobile text-based catalog early this spring we began to think of ways that we could use technology to market it smartly. QR tags seemed like a natural choice, since they are specifically designed for mobile devices. While we’re still playing with this idea some and refining the concept, the idea of placing QR tags strategically within the stacks on informational signs does have a lot of merit for it not only introduces the public to a new technology, it also tells those who are already familiar with mobile QR tags that the library has a mobile catalog." Read full post at Library Bytes.

Great point - Twitter for advocacy

The NY Times has an article in today's edition, Twitter on the Barricades: Six Lessons Learned,  that included an idea that could easily transfer to advocacy efforts your library may be conducting. 

Twitter Can Be a Potent Tool for Media Criticism

Just as Twitter can rally protesters against governments, its broadcast ability can rally them quickly and efficiently against news outlets. One such spontaneous protest was given the tag #CNNfail, using Internet slang to call out CNN last weekend for failing to have comprehensive coverage of the Iranian protests. This was quickly converted to an e-mail writing campaign. CNN was forced to defend its coverage in print and online.

You laughed when I said we'd be mind melding ....

During a recent Battle Deck I suggested librarians would be mind-melding with their customers and wouldn't you know it, Ellyssa Kroski blogged about Mike Laurie's latest post on Mashable, 7 Technologies Shaping the Future of Social Media where the possibility of mind-melding was discussed.  It is a great post that will excite your imagination. Here's his list. Go to Mashable to read the details. 

1. Arduino - a small circuit board commonly used to prototype electronics

2. RFID Tags & Transponders

3. Geomagnetic Sensors in Mobile Devices

4. Optical Pattern Recognition & Augmented Reality

5. Open ID, OAuth and the Identity Graph

6. Mind Reading

7. Natural Language Processing

Social Media, Libraries, and Web 2.0: How American Libraries are Using New Tools for Public Relations and to Attract New Users

Check out this report from South Carolina State Library's communication director, Curtis Rogers.

Social Media, Libraries, and Web 2.0: How American Libraries are Using New Tools for Public Relations and to Attract New Users

View more PDF documents from Curtis Rogers.

Big News: My Book Will Be Out on July 1!!

From Kathy Dempsey-

Drumroll please...

I've written a book on library marketing! It's being printed now and will be out in 2 weeks. It's called The Accidental Library Marketer, and I wrote it especially for all of you out there who did not intend to get involved in marketing and promotion (which, in libraries, is just about everyone who does these tasks).

Following my usual writing and speaking style, I made sure my book is very useful, practical, and interesting. It is most definitely not another dry, academic tome full of theory and citations. It's a very reader-friendly companion that starts at the beginning, explains why marketing matters, differentiates it from promotion and its related pals, and then walks you, chapter by chapter, through all of the preparation and steps of true marketing. It explains why what you've "always done" might not work, and what you can do differently to get real results.

And, as a demonstration of how to reach a target market effectively, I've chosen a very special time & place for the book launch and signing: at the ALA Annual Conference's Swap & Shop event, which is where all the marketers go to find helpful examples from colleagues and to see award-winning work.

Here's a bit of the press release that just came out:

The Accidental Library Marketer fills a need for library professionals and paraprofessionals who find themselves in an awkward position: They need to promote their libraries and services in the age of the internet, but they’ve never been taught how to do it effectively. In this results-oriented A-to-Z guide, Dempsey–long-time editor of the Marketing Library Services newsletter—reveals the missing link between the everyday promotion librarians actually do and the “true marketing” that’s guaranteed to assure funding, excite users, and build stronger community relationships. The book combines real-life examples, expert advice, and checklists in a reader-friendly style. It includes chapters on getting buy-in for projects, using websites for publicity, and working with the press.

The Accidental Library Marketer is written for all library supporters, whether they’re directors, front-line staffers, volunteers, board members, or students. Since so few library schools have full-semester courses to prepare students for the real marketing they’ll need to do during their careers, the title is also designed to fill the need for marketing education. It could accompany a grad-school course or serve as independent reading for students who don’t have an option for a class. In fact, one prominent educator is already using pre-publication copies to supplement a marketing course at Simmons College. Ernest A. DiMattia, Jr., an adjunct faculty member at Simmons and a visiting associate professor at Pratt Institute, calls the book “a no-nonsense marketing guide that is comprehensive in scope and professional in style.”

You can read the full press release here, on my brand-new website! This site (still under construction) will support the book and will also be the home for my consulting business, named Libraries Are Essential. As such, the hopefully memorable URL is LibrariesAreEssential.com.

At the site, you can find more info about the book, including the full TOC, the Intro I wrote, and the Foreword by the experienced, award-winning marketer Judith Gibbons. You can also find my full CV, fascinating info about me, a slideshow of pictures, and lots more. Keep checking back as my ace webmaster and I keep building it up and adding more helpful library marketing resources.

Oh, and just in case you want to order the book, you can do that too. :-)

Questions, comments, thoughts?? Let me know, either here or at my new email address, Kathy [at] LibrariesAreEssential.com. I'd like to hear from all of you "accidental marketers" out there! I'm on a mission to make your marketing more effective.

SLA Members Creating Customized Marketing Plans

I'm following up on SLA as promised in my last post. I ran a workshop there over the weekend called Create a Customized Marketing Plan to Target Your Info Center's Clients. I spent the morning with 11 interested and engaged info pros who were committed to learning how to do good marketing, and I really enjoyed it.

I had attendees from varied organizations: insurance, medical, financial, food manufacturing, pharma, government, and agriculture. Despite their diversity, they shared many of the same concerns, particularly in proving their worth to retain funding and in attracting enough customers to support their organizations' goals but not so many that they can't keep up or can't do quality research for each one. To address those concerns, we talked about asking clients to comment on the value of the info centers' research reports, and on keeping track of comments and evaluations so the librarians would have their own data when it came time to prove their Return on Investment or to ask for more staff members.

Before we worked through the process of writing these mini marketing plans, I did several things:

* explained the differences in oft-confused terms
* talked about how to use everyday items as promotional tools
* warned the class about avoiding library lingo
* encouraged everyone to come up with a few useful soundbites to explain why library info is better than what's on the open web (at least for serious research)

This is a workshop I've taught a number of times, and the audiences always seems to get a lot out of it. One of my main goals is to get people to think about going through the steps of true marketing, not just doing bits of promotion for the products and services that they want customers to use. It's a whole new way of thinking for many in this industry.

This was a major conference for SLA because it was celebrating its 100 anniversary. There's no better time for special librarians to start fresh campaigns to prove their value to their parent organizations. I was honored to spend time with some who have the drive and desire to do just that.

SLA Gets a Nod from 'Fast Company'

There's a nice little blurb in the calendar section of Fast Company about the SLA Conference.

I'll be heading to SLA tomorrow, because on Saturday morning I'm teaching a workshop on marketing. I'm excited! I'll report back here afterward...