I Say, Jolly Good Show, Princeton!!

Attendees wore their royal-type finery.

A reporter was writing her
story while still in the library.

Quick shout-out to the hard-working, risk-taking staff from my home state's own Princeton (NJ) Public Library. They embraced a last-minute idea and threw a Royal Wedding party at 5a.m. (Eastern time) this morning so locals could gather for tea & scones and watch the big event on a big screen. 

Of course, they were savvy enough to make sure this got great media coverage. 

Princeton Packet was one that covered it ahead of time.

The Trentonian newspaper had a reporter there this morning who posted this video. 

The day prior, the Trentonian report mentioned that he'd be at the event, chatting live. Cool! 

Staff member / organizer Janie Hermann reported that The Trenton Times was there too, and even TV station News 12 NJ! 

Library director Leslie Burger (also a former ALA president) was on hand as well. See more photos of the event on the library's Facebook page. 

What did your library do to mark the big occasion?

What's the Point?

Last week I gave my "Create Your Own Customized Marketing Plan" workshop to a wonderful group of men & women from the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services. I always enjoy this workshop because it's not just about me explaining marketing, there's also lots of discussion / brainstorming time as participants fill in pages with info & ideas for their own mini marketing plans.** 

In the first half of the workshop, I tell participants about various pieces of information they should have on hand in order to write well-thought-out plans. My first topic is about defining their organizations, and I always ask, "For what purpose do you exist?" (Yeah, that gets me a few funny looks.) I follow quickly with two more questions: "What's your mission statement?" and "What are your administration's main goals for your info center or library?"

What I'm trying to get at with these questions is to make sure that people don't spend time writing plans for events or services that aren't worth their valuable time and effort. This kind of forethought can help prevent people from doing and promoting projects that don't really fall under the organization's mission.

This can be an odd concept for some. Yet, part of good marketing (and of any job, really) is ensuring that you're in line with organizational objectives. Put more simply, there should be a reason for whatever you do, and a big part of that reason should be "this is what my organization is about." You need to support your org's mission. (SLA is doing just that with its very smart Alignment Initiative.)

Still, during workshops when I ask listeners why their libraries exist, the answers usually aren't terribly deep or detailed. Some say "to help people" or "to provide information to improve lives," and that's great. But it's not exactly what I mean. Everyone should know the exact mission statement of his or her org or corporation and use it to help make everyday decisions. 

Yesterday, I found a great article about this very thing when a trusted associate, Pat Wagner of Pattern Research, posted a link on Facebook. It's called "Accomplishing More With Less, Instead of Doing More With Less." I thought to myself, "Man, I need to read that!" Turns out, this post from the Executive Leadership Group, Inc. was all about what I recommend in my workshop. People can do more work that matters, it says, by concentrating on what needs to be accomplished (according to the mission) rather than on the steps they think they need to do. 

This will make more sense when you read the whole post (it's not long), but I'll whet your appetite here by sharing the three questions that these leadership gurus say you should ask in order to work more efficiently:

1. What's the point?

2. How will I know when I've achieved the point?

3. What can we stop doing that doesn't achieve the point?

Their tactics also mirror other points from my workshop:

1. Be sure that you're promoting something worthwhile, that your target audience really wants & needs.

2. If you don't set specific goals for where you want to be, you'll never know when you get there.

3. True marketing can save you time & money because getting to know what target audiences want can reveal what they don't want. Those would be products or services you can stop spending resources on.

I was excited to find this leadership article and to see that it recommends the same things I do, albeit in different language & in a different situation. I hope it helps prove to you why the market research / info gathering / getting to know your target audience is essential for doing good marketing. It's not sensible to try to offer (and promote) every possible thing. I mean, what would be the point of that? 

(**I say "mini"' plans because this workshop isn't about writing an overall organizational plan; you couldn't do that with half a day and only a few staff members present. This one is about planning how to promote one event or service to a couple specific target markets. Once attendees understand the process, however, they can use it to write bigger & better plans going forward.)

What's this 'Geek the Library' Thing About?

U.S. readers: Have you been hearing about something called "Geek the Library" and wondering what the deal is? I've seen two presentations on it & I'm convinced that it's a worthwhile campaign. 

Briefly: It's a nationwide library promo campaign that's been professionally put together. It comes in a ready-made package, is proven to work, and all it costs you is time & effort to implement it in your community. 

Here's info straight from the source about the simple steps to get started:

·          What is Geek the Library? A community awareness campaign designed to encourage a community-wide conversation about the value of public libraries and PL funding—and it really works! Public libraries from around the country have used this fun and effective campaign. You can, too. It’s free!

·          How can I be part of it?  Just 3 simple steps:

1. Get informed. Visit get.geekthelibrary.org to find out how Geek the Library can help you engage YOUR community.

2. Get moving. Fill out a short online form with basic information about your library, and a Geek the Library representative will call you to talk things over. (no pressure!) After your initial discussion, you'll get a registration kit with samples of marketing materials and info to help you get support from your board or other stakeholders.

3. Get launched. When you have the green light, you simply need to sign the Geek the Library online participation agreement, then the Geek team sends you a launch kit with marketing materials, as well as access to hundreds of art files and guides to help you execute a successful campaign.

·          What will it do for me? It provides ready-made, road-tested ways to focus attention on your library, tell your story, and make personal connections with community members. Over time, this campaign can help significantly increase community awareness about the value of the library and how it's funded—leading to the support your library needs when it counts! Not convinced? Check out this top ten list!

·          Is there any support? 

      Here's the best part: The Geek team will support you from start to finish. They help strategize marketing efforts and overall direction, train staff for using an online Campaign Management Center, and spend time brainstorming ideas or talking over concerns. If necessary, someone might even spend time with you at your library!

      Want to know more?

·          Read about one library’s journey and find out what another library team    plans to do with their local campaign.

·          See what current participants are doing on Flickr.

·          Follow the national campaign on Facebook and Twitter.

·          Check out the national campaign’s consumer Web site.

·          

I     This is a well-done promotion that really works, and it's ready and waiting for you, thanks to OCLC and the Gates Foundation. I urge you to look at the success that other PLs are having. You can join as a single library, as a system, region, or state.

     

      C'mon, get your Geek on!

      Click here to get the campaign in your community!

How Walmart Lost $1 Billion via Bad Survey Techniques

Read about this serious error that Walmart made so you don't have to make the same mistake!

"Ignore the Customer Experience, Lose a Billion Dollars (Walmart case study)"

The basic deal here is this: Walmart did a customer survey with a faulty question. It had bad wording and implied the answer that WM assumed to be true. So people answered Yes, and Walmart acted on the info, spending millions to revamp stores -- only to discover that sales went down, not up. Down by a billion. Whoops.

Some of the comments dispute the story, others cite articles that uphold it. At any rate, the lesson stands: If you want to do a customer survey, the way you word questions is extremely important! It's not enough to get a few staffers together, write some questions, and send them out. (OK, if you're asking teens whether they'd prefer pizza or pretzels at their next movie night, or something equally simple, go for it. However-- ) If you're trying to find out about something really important, something that's going to change your business model or your strategy, something that you're putting a lot of money into, then you need some expertise in this area to do it right.

At the very least, you need library outsiders to test your questions on before you send your survey to the masses. Do people interpret them the way you think they will? Are you using lingo that they don't understand (or that they have different perceptions of than you do)? Are the queries phrased in such a way as to invite a certain answer? If so, you could be polluting your own data before you even get it. 

Walmart can lose a billion dollars and survive. You can't. Be very careful about how you ask for, and interpret, customer data!

How to Pitch to CBS news correspondant .. on Twitter

This is a really short clip from Ragan that provides some great insights to using Twitter to pitch stories!

American Attitudes on Libraries: Research from Archives.com

The people at Archives.com created this infographic for National Library Week, and they encourage others to use and share it. 

Archives.com is also launching a national awareness campaign about libraries' importance to family historians. There's an article you can download on the topic too. And, from the site:

Libraries have long been an important resource for genealogists and family historians, and the advent of sophisticated digital archiving technology has further solidified their integral role to the family history researcher. Many libraries boast multiple public record databases and decades of archived newspaper pages, in addition to many other historical resources.
Unfortunately, in recent years, many libraries have been forced to cut back due to budget restrictions. That's why, in honor of National Library Week this week, we have started an awareness campaign to help keep local libraries well-funded and operational within our communities.

2011 State of America's Libraries Report Offers Fodder for Advocacy

ALA has released its annual State of America’s Libraries report, which documents trends in library usage and details the impact of library budget cuts, technology, and other challenges.
It also contains information on First Amendment challenges (efforts to have materials removed from public access).


To see a full TOC or to access the report as a PDF, go to http://tinyurl.com/alasalr2011. It's also available here in a cool, electronic magazine format where you can "flip the pages." 


Here are a few paragraphs from the Executive Summary:

Thirty-one percent of adults –– and 38 percent of senior citizens –– rank the library at the top of their list of tax-supported services. Overall, the library’s most highly valued services pertain to the provision of free information and programs that promote education and lifelong learning. Ninety-one percent (up 5 percentage points from the previous year) place great value in the library’s provision of information for school and work.

And almost all Americans (93 percent) believe that it is important that library services are free. 

Nevertheless, the past year showed that some state and local budget-cutters see libraries as easy targets. Media reports of cuts and cutbacks to library budget and services abounded in 2010 and early this year. U.S. mayors reported in November that hours, staff or services at local libraries was the No. 2 budget area that had come under the budget-reduction knife, second only to maintenance and services at parks and gardens. 

Anyone who is advocating for libraries, fighting budget battles (or proactively campaigning so they don't have to!), writing reports, or gathering usage data on libraries should be using this report as one of their tools.

Publicity During National Library Week in the U.S.

I've been seeing lots of nice articles & media mentions floating around this week. And while I'm enjoying them, we have to remember that they're not just for us to feel good about -- they're important tools that we need to be sharing with our users, nonusers, elected officials, deans, managers, friends, board members, trustees, and everyone else you can think of.

Here are a few things I think are worth passing around. What others have you found? Share with the group!

* CNN Living--"Librarians: Masters of the Info Universe"

* NPR online, Monkey See blog --"The Library Card As A Pop-Culture Fiend's Ticket to Geek Paradise

* Facebook post from author Neil Gaiman

* Martha Stewart.com -- "Love the Library"

Of course, these are just a few national examples. What's appeared in your local media? What's your favorite   piece of media coverage for this week's observance?

Find the Future at the New York Public Library Game Trailer

Whoa.. this sounds amazing!!!

Kathy's Appearance on 'This Week in Libraries' Talk Show

TWIL #36: Kathy Dempsey - Library Marketer from Jaap van de Geer on Vimeo.


On Thursday 31 March, I was privileged to be the guest on "This Week in Libraries," the world's first internet talk show about our field. TWIL is created and run by Dutch colleagues Jaap van de Geer and Erik Boekesteijn under their new company Shanachie Media. This episode was filmed in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. (If the video above doesn't run, here's the direct link to the show.)


You can watch any of the 36 episodes here. 


Please let me or the Shanachies know what you think of the show by commenting here, or on the Vimeo site, or on the TWIL Facebook page. I hope you have as much fun watching it as I did recording it. Please feel free to share it widely with anyone who's interested in library marketing!


To get a brief email each week telling you who will be on the next episode, use the sign-up form here. This is the show to follow if you want to see what a wide range of people are saying about the future of libraries!