How to Get a Reporter to Come to You

Just found this great group, Help A Reporter. It started on Facebook but got too big so has evolved into a website. The guy who started it all is Peter Shankman and this is how he explains it...

"Each day, you'll receive up to three emails, each with anywhere from 15-30 queries per email. They'll all be labeled with [shankman.com] in the subject line, for easy filtering. If you see a query you can answer, go for it! HelpAReporter.com really is that simple.

I built this list because a lot of my friends are reporters, and they call me all the time for sources. Rather than go through my contact lists each time, I figured I could push the requests out to people who actually have something to say.

These requests only come from reporters directly to me. I never take queries from that other service, I never SPAM, and I'm not going to do anything with your email other than send you these reporter requests when they arrive in my in-box."

Pretty neat. and yes, it's free :-)

Welcome to the Vertical Web

Heard about this from Jaap Vandegeer's twitter feed...

From the makers:

"Layers is a new web platform that will launch in private beta in December.

Users will be allowed in on a first come first serve basis. If you want to be among the first, sign up above using the code: create1108. We will contact you when you can start using it.


Imagine if you could pull a transparent layer over any webpage and then you could create upon it. You could annotate, draw graffiti, embed video, photos or do whatever you want. Then, by providing a link, others could see your layer (with the original content beneath it) and you could see layers created by other people. You could follow your friends and see all the layers they create. You could go to any webpage and see any of the layers that have been created over that site.

That's Layers. Welcome to the Vertical Web!!"

Sign up to be one of the first to try it out.

The 'M' Word is Mobile!

Okay, how cool is this? If you have a data plan, you can just enter your phone number in the "Get Our Mobile Link" box and you will be able to read our blog on your mobile phone or iPhone! This is a free service provided by MoFuse. . Sign up for our blog and let me know how you like it!

Go to mofuse and take your blog mobile too!

It is REALLY easy to do! Paste your blog’s RSS feed URL into the box where it says Mobilize your blog now. Click on the Mobilize button. If you have any trouble finding your RSS feed, try looking for the RSS icon on your blog or go to Feedburner to create a feed.

Happy New Year!

50 Useful iPhone Tips for Libraires

Great post by Christina Laun on Colege@home . She lists 50 different ways libraries can use the iPhone and mobile devices to help your members and staff. Makers you want to take down all those signs telling people not to use their cell phones and replace them with "Please use cell phones"!

Here are the first 10:

1. Give staff phones to keep in contact with each other and patrons. It can be easy to ask another staff member a question about materials or to quickly respond and reply to patron questions when library staff members have iPhones. Being constantly connected on a small wireless device means quicker turnarounds and better service overall.

2. Creating a texting service for patron questions. Giving patrons the option of texting in their questions to the library can make it easy for those who prefer to avoid telephone conversations the ability to get quick and easy answers to simple questions, and if librarians within your library are using iPhones they can respond to questions in between checking in or shelving materials and other tasks.

3. Create a webclip for your library. Make it easy for patrons to add an icon of your library to their favorites by creating a webclip. This guide will explain just how you go about doing it.

4. Make it easy to use an iPhone within the library. Many libraries make it a point to ban mobile phone usage– and with good reason– but with new technology many patrons may want to take advantage of wi-fi or to use their iPhones for research while they’re in the library. Make it possible for them to do so, so long as they do it quietly.

5. Check how your site looks on an iPhone. Many sites don’t quite translate well to mobile devices like the iPhone. Check how your library’s webpage looks by using an online tool like iPhoney or by checking it yourself on an iPhone.

6. Make RSS feeds. There are numerous ways for iPhone users to subscribe to RSS feeds on their phones so you can get library news and updates to them right away by creating a library RSS feed.

7. Optimize your site for mobile devices. If you’ve checked out how your site looks on an iPhone and the result is not so great, consider creating a special page for mobile users to access your site. Many libraries are already doing so to maximize the usability of their webpages by patrons.

8. Get set up on Facebook. Facebook is one application that is designed to work well on the iPhone and additionally is incredibly popular with high school and college students. Creating a library account on the site will allow users to ask questions and get information about the library every time they log on.
9. Update patrons about the library. With so many ways to contact your patrons using an iPhone there’s no reason not to give text, email or Twitter updates a try whether you’re telling them the book they requested is in or that there is going to be a special event at the library.

10. Give instant feedback. If you have a library staff that is carrying around iPhones as they do their work, it enables them to immediately respond to patron queries, whether they’re on the phone, through email or by text. Even in person encounters can be speeded up with mobile access to the library’s catalog and database.

Read the full list at college @ home.

A Happy New Year for Philly's Libraries (?)

I'd like to wish all of our M Word readers a very happy new year by sharing a happy story that was in today's Philadelphia Inquirer. It's titled "A true melting pot helped spare libraries" and talked about how many different sorts of people banded together in a grass-roots effort that has stopped Mayor Nutter from closing 11 branches throughout the city (at least for now).

It's great how people around the city mobilized to "fight city hall," literally. Nice example of what advocacy can do.

Happy New Year, all you Library Lovers!

New Trend: Hyperwords

Just saw this  at Trend Central, is anyone using it yet?



Hyperwords: Some believe that this Firefox plug-in could change the way people browse, discover and aggregate information. Currently when one reads text online only certain words are hyperlinked for more information. But with the Hyperwords plug-in, every word becomes a hotlink, thus creating an even more immersive web experience. Users can highlight a word and choose from options to search, seek references, translate, shop, even map.

Top 10 Forecasts from Futurist Magazine, 2009

Futurist Magazine released a YouTube video of it's top 10 predictions . I thought two predictions spoke to conversations many in the field have been having over the past year...

#6. "Professional knowledge will become obsolete almost as quickly as it's acquired. "
#1: By 2030 everything you say and do will be recorded.

Read the transcript: http://www.wfs.org/Sept-Oct08/Nov-Dec%20FUTURIST/topTen.htm

Marketing your library to gamers

I saw an interesting post about advertising to gamers on ClickZ by Matt Story called, How Marketers Miss the Mark With Gamers. We all know Obama tapped video games for advertising but there's an entire world of magazines, blogs, podcasts, web sites, etc. all geared for gamers.

Before even thinking about tapping into this realm the question to ask yourself is what does your library offer hard core gamers? This isn't as much about about advertising tournaments at your library, as looking at the connection between gamers and libraries. Are you building collections for gamers, making connections to preview new games, offering classes to create games, bringing well known game creators to the library or interviewing them on your podcast? How are you connecting gaming to your communities? Game challenges between mayors and teens, father/son teams, community teams challenging other communities.

Matt wrote some recommendations for businesses to looking to advertise to gamers. Here's an excerpt:

"Align brand with valuable content. Gamers who spend time outside of playing games reviewing magazines and Web sites are looking for the latest and greatest content. The content can be related to early looks at upcoming blockbuster releases or tips on how to beat the final boss of the game they've spent 60 hours playing. Consumers actively seek this content out. Aligning your brand to it will show that you understand gamers and their needs. The more coveted the content is among consumers, the better results you will receive.

Be careful when using gamer language. While it may seem appropriate to swap out copy with a few key gamer words, use caution. If used incorrectly, inserting "n00b" into your message can have a more negative impact than leaving well enough alone. Gamers are quickly drawn to brands they feel understand them and are even quicker to slam those brands that don't. As with any language, make sure you fully understand it before beginning conversations with the locals.

Humor always works. While humor tends to work across all forms of advertising, gamers aren't afraid to laugh at themselves. Assuming the brand understands the gaming culture, gamers are open to executions that exaggerate tendencies in a humorous way. The key is not talk down to gamers but instead to speak as a member of the audience in a credible way. It doesn't hurt if the brand also pokes a little fun at itself.


Advertising should be contextually relevant. It's a no-brainer: ads must be relevant. I saw many examples of the ads being relevant to the brand or brand's product, but that's only half the equation. It's hard to compete with advertising touting the upcoming game release consumers are counting down the days to pick up. Brands must find the sweet spot where the all-important brand message and relevant consumer message overlap. For example, gamers may be more interested in your telecommunication device if they knew it offered the widest variety of their favorite games instead of just knowing you have the best 3G network."

You can read the entire article on ClickZ here.

Mobile Marketing for Libraries

Everything I've been reading tells me mobile marketing is the next big thing. Even the Pew report I mentioned a few days ago notes that the mobile device will be the primary connection tool to the internet for most people in the world in 2020.  Here in NJ the largest groups using mobile phones that we anticipate being able to reach with mobile marketing are Hispanic, African American and teen audiences. We're going to bring mobile marketing to New Jersey for our libraries as part of our Solvjg Life's Problems campaign and are working out a way to offer opportunities for NJ libraries to implement their own campaign for very low cost. More to come.

Mobile Marketing for Libraries

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: mobile marketing)

WOMM for Libraries

Here's the presentation from Jeff Greene for our Marketing Boot Camp. -Nancy

WOMM for Libraries

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: dowd nancy)

App Developer Strikes E-Book Deals With Major Publishers

Aaron Schmidt (Walking Paper Blog) linked to this Wired Blog post from his facebook....

"ScrollMotion, a New York mobile app developer, has concluded deals with a number of major publishing houses, and is in talks with several others, to produce newly released and best-selling e-books as applications for the iPhone and iPod touch.

Publishers now on board include Houghton Mifflin, Simon & Schuster, Random House, Hachette and Penguin Group USA. Having these big names is a big step forward for iTunes itself in becoming an e-book shop and the iPhone in becoming a legitimate e-book reader and competitor to products like the Kindle and the Sony E-Reader.

The first official books will begin to roll out Monday and include titles such as Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight," Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass" and a number of others by Christopher Paolini, Brad Meltzer and Scott Westerfeld.

There are already several e-book readers in the app store, as well as a number of out-of-copyright e-books, but ScrollMotion’s product is unique in that these are stand-alone and newer in-copyright titles and best-selling novels." The full article can be found at Wired's blog

Great video series by NYPL

I absolutely love this series!!! Goes hand in hand with what we are trying to do here in NJ- would love to see one of our libraries create a similar series for our solving Life's Problems campaign.

"The New York Public Library holds a wealth of unexpected sources of inspiration for artists and designers—from vintage valentines and textile patterns, to fabric samples and turn-of-the-century menus from around the world. For this online-only miniseries, "Design by the Book," the Library partnered with the leading design blog Design*Sponge to invite five New York City-based artists to sift through our collections in search of inspiration. Stay tuned for future episodes as the artists, who range from a glassblower to a letterpress printer, create unique works inspired by what they found; special guest Isaac Mizrahi will also join us to share his sources of inspiration. The artists are: Lorena Barrezueta, Rebecca Kutys, Mike Perry, John Pomp and Julia Rothman. Music by Clear Tigers. Visit www.nypl.org/research/chss/bythebook for more information."

All I Want for Tweetmas

FRom the NY Times this morning..... they are running a whole series of articles on Twitter...

Like Facebook and Apple with its iPhone, San Francisco-based Twitter has successfully captured the attention and energies of third-party developers, who have unleashed a wave of both practical and trivial applications that work with it.

We have chronicled a few this week, not because these particular Twitter tools are going to take over the world, but because they speak to the larger wave of innovation that is making the service much more than the sum of its parts.

So here’s another one that caught our eye: Tweetmas. The app, developed by the London-based Crowdstorm, allows Twitter users to tell their followers what is on their wish lists for the holidays. The full article at the New York Times is here.

To add to this poignant collection of holiday wishes, users simply post to Twitter with the command @tweetmas. The request will flow to their friends and appear on the Tweetmas site for all the world to see and puzzle over.

Are you following your customers?

Internet 2020

My friend Helene Blowers has a great post about the future of the Internet:

"Lee Ranie, Director of the Pew & Internet Life Project, sent me an email (like I assume many people were copied on) yesterday providing a heads up about the Pew latest report on the Future of Internet III. I've only taken a my first cursory glance over the summary and predictions, but what I really thought-provoking are some of the comments shared by leading experts and futurists...

• "Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy. The Net will wear away institutions that have forgotten how to sound human."
  
• "The world will get a nervous system, and that is a big deal."
  
• "New methods of securing the true from the false will emerge. The source will become more important than the message."
  
• "The internet is like graffiti, only it can be targeted to the right niche.
  
• "Transportation will be refined through massive substitution of communication. The current flight to cities will be reversed."
  
• "The greatest changes will occur in the arena of trust and human relations."
  

Read Helene's complete post here

Read the Pew/Internet reports: Future of the Internet I,II,III, Imagining, The Internet here.

NBC's Brian Williams Lampoons Digital Media Hype

A young producer at NBC pitched a story to Brain Williams about the newest craze- a Netflix system for books , you would simply put in your request for you book, one that had been read by someone else, and it would be delivered to you. Brian Williams responded, "You know we have libraries."

You'll love this video! -Nancy

Using Stories to Market Your Library

Using Stories to Market Your Library

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: marketing stories)

Just got back from Maryland where Paula Isett (Maryland State Library) and I had the chance to share some marketing stories with the state librarians and folks from the LDB Bureaus. What a great group! Using stories in our marketing mix has become a passion for me. We are conducting a statewide campaign, Solving Life's Problems (solvinglifesproblems.org), where we are teaching how to tell stories, create story banks and develop digital stories.  If your library or association is interested in starting a campaign like this email me! ndowd@njstatelib.org

SlideShare Link

Nancy Does Disco! WOMM at its best.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

This is the ElfYourself card that was discussed during the Word of Mouth Marketing Boot Camp Kathy wrote about below. Not only is is so cute (call me disco queen!) that the world spreads the message (this is year two for this and it is still hot!) but when you sign up, Office Max gets the information they need from you to build that all important communication network. WOMM works best when you ask for the  information you need to keep in touch. Don't forget to include a place for people to opt in! Also notice the link for others to create their own eCards... sends everyone back to Office Max. 

Marketing Bootcamp

Last Thursday, Dec. 4, we had a "Marketing Bootcamp" at Ocean County Library here in NJ. The M Word's own Nancy Dowd organized this day-long, intensive event. There were two tracks; each lasted all day. One was on hosting a major fundraising event; the other was on word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing.

I spent the day in WOM, learning a lot from Jeff Greene,



exec director of client services for Gold Group, which helps implement marketing plans. He discussed WOM and mobile marketing. (that's "mobile" as in phones, PDAs, etc.)

He made sure the crowd understood that WOM is not necessarily organic, free, or self-propelling. A good word-of-mouth marketing campaign is well-planned and has some work behind it. More importantly, you need to have something worth talking about. And not what you, the librarian, think is worth talking about; it has to be something that your target audience will be interested enough in to discuss and pass along.

Jeff gave way more info on mobile marketing than I can summarize here. This is a topic I hadn't paid tons of attention to before, but he convinced me that it can be worthwhile for libraries. I had no idea that more people in the US have cell phones than have cable TV, or that 64% of mobile users say they are frequent texters. He explained how you can use text messages as event reminders, overdue book notices, short surveys, and contests. Interesting stuff.

After lunch, Li Evans from Search Marketing Gurus talked about search engine optimization (SEO). Keyword research is the basis of all search, so your library's website needs to be coded in such a way as to come up on the top of results lists in search engines. This is basic and essential stuff; if you don't know whether your library is covered, check with your webmaster. Yesterday.



While I can't get into all the coding here, at least make sure you have a good "title tag" in your web page; this is what will help engines like Google and Yahoo! pick up your content.

The last act of the WOM track was Nancy and I. We walked the group through the steps of creating a WOM marketing campaign. After explaining the process, we had everyone choose one WOM project they'd like to do and then fill in all the steps they'd need to do on worksheets. We walked around answering questions and helping people shape their ideas. This way, every attendee would go home with a simple WOM camapaign all written out and ready to go. (We want to help ensure action!!)



Overall everyone seemed to enjoy the day and find it worthwhile. We were glad to have a crowd that was really engaged. We hope others will be interested in a day of sessions like this, learning about small campaigns that you can get going quickly. I'm sure Nancy will have some more details to add...

iThanksgiving

I read an article this morning in the NY Times of how families are staying connected with the use of web cams.  From the article:

Nearly half of American grandparents live more than 200 miles from at least one of their grandchildren, according to AARP. Prof. Merril Silverstein, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, has found that about two-thirds of grandchildren see one set of grandparents only a few times a year, if that.

But many grandparents find that the Web cam eases the transition during in-person visits, when grandchildren may refuse to sit on their laps or may reject their hugs because they do not recognize them. As one Web cam evangelist wrote on her blog,www.nanascorner.com: “You’ll be able to pick up where you left off without thosewarming up to you, awkward moments.”

It got me thinking. Have any libraries set up webcam or ichat rooms for their members yet? It could be a small room with a a clever name. The idea would be to set up a computer with a webcam and ichat or skype to allow families to stay connected to each other. It could also be part of a gadget garage concept where people could "try before they buy".  What a great service for grandparents, military families and anyone else separated by miles. What would be really great is if libraries networked across the world, everyone offering a webcam connection. That could become a game changer for us for sure. 

Wow, now that would make for a world story!  

20 Things... That Didn't Matter Much

Sigh... another great PR opportunity lost for libraries.

Have you seen this 4-part series on Examiner.com called "Top 20 things librarians in public libraries wish patrons knew or did"?

When I saw the title, I thought, "Wow! A chance for librarians to tell tons of people, in a public forum, all the great things they don't realize about libraries! What a great opportunity!"

The author, who apparently works in a library, said she surveyed other librarians she knew to come up with a list of 20 things, which she then published as a four-part series. Too bad that only a couple of those 20 things were actually useful.

(BTW, using the orange "next" button is the easiest way to see all four parts of the series in order; they are not all linked to each other.)

I was very displeased, to say the least, and I left a snarky comment at the end of the fourth part. Probably shouldn't have, but did...

What would you have said if someone gave you this chance to tell the public about libraries? You should always have a statement in your head to use at a moment's notice if a reporter (or anyone) asks, "What should I know about today's libraries?" Share yours here!!

Web Whacker

I saw a neat solution at the NJASL Conference last week for people who use Web pages in PPT presentations and are frustrated by slow Internet connections. WebWhacker allows you download sections or entire sites that you can use in your presentations. Gives you linking effect without the worry of slow or no Internet connections. It costs about $50, but a neat tool for presenters.

From their site:
Fast and powerful searching of entire web sites with new 5.0 version.
Drag Favorites or URLs to WebWhacker to save them permanently. (NEW 5.0 feature)
Organize web information in folders.
WebWhacker monitors Web sites for changes and updates you on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Save disk space by filtering out useless information from Web pages.
Schedule WebWhacker to download information during off-peak times.
Duplicate the directory structure of a Web site.
Provides you with a list of broken links found on a Web site.

Linked In and Slideshare

You can add an app to Linked In that adds your Slideshare PPTs to your page, very cool. I love Linked In for my non-library contacts. You too?

Social Technology Profile Tool

Sounds like... well what does a "social technology tool" sound like?

"Forrester's Social Technographics® classifies consumers into six overlapping levels of participation. Based on our survey data we can see how participation varies among different groups of consumers, globally."

Okay, so you probably still don;t know what it is. :-) This is a cool tool where you enter the age, country and gender of the target audience you are looking to attract and the "tool" will create a little graph that show you how many people fit into each category so you can develop a coherent approach to your social marketing plan. Go here and try it out.

Seth's QandA book is done!

I know all you will be psyched to hear that Seth Godin has released a QandA book about Tribes. What is so neat about it is that it was written by a tribe within a larger tribe Seth had created way back when. I'm a member of the larger tribe and had a chance to catch up on the process... Seth gave out the request in October, a group formed, they ran the outline by him and off they went, a month later a book. Take a look- it's pretty remarkable!

If only... a tale marketing won't resolve

I had a very interesting conversation with a group of librarians last week that has spurred me to write a post I'd been thinking about for a quite awhile. There's a line that I hear over and over again that drives me crazy:

"Libraries need to market more. If only people knew what we had they'd use us."

I hear this ALL the time. Librarians say it a lot and the statement is usually followed by an example of how the librarian had shown a patron how to use a database followed by comments of how that patron loved it. Forget about the fact that they are still calling people "patrons" (another pet peeve of mine) but they are missing the whole point - most people know what we have and either they don't want it or they just don't want it from us.

Consider the idea that it would be far more powerful to realign our image and reassess our products to meet the needs of our customers than to create a multimillion dollar marketing campaign.

1. Realign our image

We all know when people buy things they are feeding their self image and reinforcing who they are. The same goes for when they join groups, support organizations and even use their local library. We also know the image of libraries has not changed much over the years. Pretty much people think libraries are quiet places to study or read that lend books and movies, provide free access to computers and are great places for little kids and seniors. People who use libraries may see us differently but even our members might agree with parts of that general description.

That leaves the question of what kind of self fulfilling feelings do we offer our members? Do people feel smarter, more connected or cooler by using a library? Or do they feel poor, down on their luck, nerdy, old? Or maybe something else entirely. Whatever that feeling is, it is the driving force behind the desire to use the library. Sure anyone might need to use it but who WANTS to use the library, who FEELS BETTER because they visit us ... that's the question we need to be asking ourselves. Because that is the root of our branding. Change the perception and you change the audience.

2. Reassessing our products

Pet peeve numbers 2 through 10: databases that need instructions, bookshelves without subject categories, librarians who make me feel like an idiot, not being able to buy books at the library that I like, fines, not being able to bring coffee into the library, being kicked out of a study room because my time is up, timers on computers, slow Internet connections, not being able to download audio books to my mac.

Wow, that's quite a list, eh? I stopped using my public library a few months ago because the list reached a tipping point where it was just no longer a place worth visiting. I'll go back, I always do. But that's because l want to use libraries. I'm not so sure we can take the chance that everyone is like me.

I just read the other day that Obama is going to be the first president to have a laptop but that he's going to have to give up his BlackBerry because of security issues. How archaic! Are libraries a little like that too? We work so hard to keep up with the times but something is happening in the translation. We are living in an era of online purchases, instant information and mobile phones and our libraries are installing timers on computers. Yikes!

In my talk in California last month I rallied librarians to refuse to buy any database that doesn't come with a marketing plan and tools designed to reach the end user. Today I'm going a step further - don't buy any database that can't be used without instructions. Send the vendors back to the drawing board. Meanwhile you can take the millions of dollars you were wasting to develop an online purchasing system were customers can purchase books from your library online. Add another element where they can purchase the book they are reading instead of renewing. (If you are interested in this idea email me because it could revolutionize libraries and I need people to help make it a reality.) Or build an extraordinary lecture hall with big cushioned seats, tiered seating, huge screens and great sound system where you can conduct classes, host speakers series and lend to businesses for their meetings.

Look, we have some neat products. But too much of our budgets are going into half baked ideas and it has to change. Timers on computers? Really??? Why are we not buying up tons of iPod touches for $229 and let people access their email and Internet while they are in the library?

Dewy decimal numbers on the ends of bookshelves? Come on.... no one cares about numbers, they need words and they need great big signs so they can just look and get an idea of where they need to go. Stop making people feel like an idiot.

We had a meeting the other day in a library and when our time was up, we got kicked out! Worse than that, I couldn't bring my cup of coffee into the room. Not good. I understood having to make room for another person to use the study room but the librarian never even tried to find us another space.

Look, we could spend a trillion dollars creating advertisements, establishing social networks, creating fantastic web pages but if we aren't providing products that people want, the word of mouth on the streets will counteract it every time.

If we want people to use our libraries then we need to understand that free doesn't cut it alone. People want the best. They want convenient easy-to-use products that make them feel good about themselves. They want to feel special in the way that matters to them. They want to be welcomed when they arrive and missed when they leave. They want to be part of organizations that are making the world the kind of place they envision the world should be.

If we work on that first, then we can create marketing strategies that will help our members spread the word for us.

Follow the Shanachies Down Under!

My buddies the Shanachies are taking their library innovation and inspiration Down Under. They've just started ShanachieTour2 in Australia! You can follow along on their blog. (also note the Twitter feed on the right side.) You'll find fun, insightful stuff there (plus all the goodies from their first ShanachieTour across the US last year).



They began in Perth yesterday, and you can follow some of their early adventures on Kathryn Greenhill's way-cool blog, Librarians Matter. Stay tuned for updates on their video blog as they visit libraries across the conti---countr---con--- ummmm.... is Australia a continent or a country? I'll call Sarah and find out. I'll get back to ya on that. [wink]

How to Write Good Press Releases

Last week, I did a training session for some really nice folks at the Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library.

I covered how to write good press releases, how to communicate with the media, and how to prepare to be interviewed. Since I'm not only a marketing person but also a member of the media (who has been press-released to death over the past 20 years), I'm in a good position to give advice on this topic.

Here are some of my rules for writing press releases that members of the media will actually read:

• If you're emailing your PR, make a clear, useful subject line. Subjects like "Press Release" or "Dempsey Library News" are not helpful. Tell the busy reporter exactly what you're talking about in the subject: "Obama to Speak at Dempsey Library."


• Include the name & contact info for at least one library rep; two if you can. You should use contact people who are always available to the media whenever they might need to call. A staffer who only works on Mon-Wed-Fri is not a good choice. (If your PR person is part-time, always list a second contact. Reporters on deadline cannot wait; contacts must be easy for them to reach now.)


• You all know to include the "who, what, when, where, why" prominently at the beginning of your press release. I advocate mentioning it again near the end, just to make it easier to find when busy reporters or editors skim.


• Write clearly and with focus. Don't try to be too clever. Media people who are reading your PRs want to know in 15 seconds what's going on. Don't try to make them figure it out; just get right to the facts. This is not the place for creative writing.


• Shorter, clearer PRs are always better than longer, fluffier ones.

These are just a few of my basic points, but they are ignored too often by those (librarians or otherwise) who are beginning PR writers. Take them to heart and your media contacts will appreciate it, I assure you!

Tribes- live with Seth Godin

Steven Bell pointed me to Zen Presentations which pointed me to mixery.com where you can get a free download from Seth's Triibers presentation! Here's the link:

Free Books

It feels funny to write that headline seeing how we are in the business of free books but this is a bit different- free ebooks by and for libraries.

The concept is brought to us by Techsoup (who are full of great ideas)- MaintainIT- a totally interactive site where librarians can share their knowledge with each other. The idea of free e-books (they call them cookbooks to keep with their food brand) written by librarians. Cool gathering place to share, discuss and learn. Wouldn't you like a place like that on your website?

Read it first from Stephen Abram's post at Stephen's Lighthouse...

Your next target audience.....

Saw this over at Tame the Web... love it on so many levels.

Great format for libraries to use to make their own videos
Really sums up the energy of this generation ... even re-branding them - " Generation We"
Inspires .... will we allow this generation to reinvent libraries so that we can be a necessary part of their plan they need to save the world?

Be Green When Weeding

No, this isn't about clearing out your garden for fall. It's just a tidbit about what to do with books that you weed from your collections. I found this useful resource and just wanted to pass it on.

This list was compiled by an individual in Colorado, and is dated March 2008, but the organizations that will take or exchange used books are mostly "evergreen" ones (so to speak) so the list should be good for some time.

Most of us hate to throw books away, so it's nice to know of some groups that will use them or help you pass them on -- some even share profits with the donating library. Worth a look!

Seeing Seth Godin!

As Nancy already mentioned, she brought Seth Godin to speak in northern New Jersey. What a treat!

His latest book is called Tribes.





When Seth was done, Nancy presented him with one of NJ's famous Super Librarian t-shirts. He seemed to really like it!

Everyone who attended got a free book, which he generously signed. Nice!

To see more pics, go to my flickr page and NJ Library Events' flickr page.

Some of my notes from his talk:

• Tribes are made up of people who who share common language, goals, leaders, etc.
• Three main tribes that most people belong to are their work, church, and community.
• Old "interrupting" ads (ie, commercials) don't work anymore. Word of mouth thro natural networks is necessary today.
• Tribes are bigger than WOM, tho: the connections are deeper.
• Tribes can be small, tight groups (one sports team) or large, loose groups (Harley Davidson riders).

My favorite quote was, "If you care about what you're doing, you will cause it to spread." This is what librarians can and should do!

Big Award Deadlines Coming Up

There are deadlines coming up for several big awards.

2009 Best Small Library in America Nomination deadline is Nov. 3

2009 Movers & Shakers Nomination deadline is Nov. 10

2009 Librarian of the Year Nomination deadline has been extended to Nov. 17

John Cotton Dana Award deadline December 4

IL 2008

Giving your marketing a second life

From: ndowd, 2 days ago

Giving your marketing a second life

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: non-profit library)

Presented at IL2008
Trends and rules for new media marketers


SlideShare Link

Seth Godin - Inspires New Jersey Librarians

Is this too cool or what? Yes, he came to NJ and inspired us.. now we will go out and inspire....

Highlights from Monterey

Here are a few other highlights from Internet Librarian 08 in Monterey:

Nancy & I were lucky enough to grab some lunch one day with uber-blogger David Lee King (we're both fans!).

Nancy was chatting with Stephen Abram (again: we're fans!) after they appeared together in a Pechu Kucha presentation. (Nancy's talk was voted the best! Rock on!)

At the very end of the show I finally took a few minutes to sit by the bay and enjoy the view.

See more about my week at Info Today's blog and on my Flickr page.

Shanachies Bring Inspiration Back to Monterey

I'm still catching up from the Internet Librarian conf in Monterey this past week. I was especially excited that the Shanachies were back at this show, exactly 1 year after their first inspiring appearance.

Check out my full blog entry here.

As you may recall, these are the Dutch guys who drove across the US last fall, interviewing librarians. They ended up writing a book about it that comes with a way-cool DVD movie of highlights of their trip. During their return to Monterey, they launched the book at a festive signing in the exhibit hall on Oct 21.

(L-R) Geert van den Boogaard, Jaap van de Geer, and Erik Boekesteijn enjoyed signing copies of their book (ShanachieTour: A Library Road Trip Across America) for fans.

If you want to see lots more (better!) pictures, go to Flickr and search for "IL2008 + Shanachie".

And if you need inspiration on ways to use storytelling to promote your library, get their book/movie combo. (Full disclosure: I was the project editor, so of course I think it's a great package!!)

The Pecha Kucha Team ... a bit nervous?

The Pecha Kucha Team ... a bit nervous?, originally uploaded by nancydowd.

This was great fun. What an honor to share the stage with the best on the field! Information Today blogged about us here: http://www.infotodayblog.com/2008/10/23/pecha-kucha—conversation-face-off/

IL2008 Frank Blair

Frank Blaire – Charlotte Mecklenburg

Why we do what we do
Largest provider of free internet service
Only publically owned service that anyone can walk in for service
Annual foot service exceeds symphony, panther(home games),


Tech Scholar Program
Employees take six months (2007) to develop new ideas
Stated with a phrase … There should be a website that …. There should be a database that….
They realized these needed time to develop idea and content.
Application form, must submit ideas and meant to empower staff to develop leadership skills

Look for: CHANGE AGENTS
Are they questioning the status quo- why can’t we do x….. verses I wasn’t someone else to change something for me. We look for people who will take ownership
Tolerate risk gladly
Out of comfort zone
Persistence and patience
Adapt and change
Leverage resources- beg, borrow, steal…
Must trust the process that all projects might not be implemented


FOUR STEP CYCLE:
1. Idea generation
2. Incubation
3. Experimentation
4. Implementation/Analysis



It’s not enough to budget money, YOU MUST ALSO BUDGET TIME FOR INNOVATION

IL2008 Helene Blowers

Helene started her presentation with a great idea- have people share business cards with two people…
How do you start making change happen in your library…

Note to self: difficult to follow when speaker goes to back of room

Innovation is not the terms we use – it’s about taking some fresh ideas and doing something with it. Not about best practices- it’s about fresh practices. Don’t duplicate… innovate.

Innovation is just about being remarkable. “Innovation Circle” by Tom Peters. These books are really about changing the organizational process to allow for innovation. Because innovation is messy. Make it an iterative process. It’s constantly always in Beta- changing. You are delivering at 80% and always refining. It’s about risky behavior and being comfortable with risk and knowing you may fail. And looking for new patterns. Knowing that what we are doing today isn’t going to be sufficient for tomorrow.


Seeds of Innovation

1. Creativity - thinking of new ideas – wee need a “shower office”. Focus on Quantity not quality. Let those ideas be as crazy as you want be a collector of ideas. Take your office somewhere else. Bounce your ideas with others to get those ideas moving and see which ones have some stickiness.

Strategy - This is the one we need to focus on the most. You are going to be a change agent and change your organization.

Here are some tips
1. Make it believable- to convince your administration to put time make sure you tie your idea to the MVV- Mission, vision and values. AND communicate in those terms.
2. Create alliances. You must make those connections. You need to make really, really good relationships.
3. Don’t ask for permission, ask for support to build a leadership opportunity and run with it.
4. Sell your vision personally. You can’t sell your vision on paper…. Ake an appt with the most strategic person in your organization to the people who will champion that idea.
5. Find a champion who will support your vision, ideas.


Implementation
Projects and project management. The triangle talks about the constraints – resources, time and scope of work.

Profitability
The change that is going to occur- the outcomes. How does it make it meaningful for your organization.


THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY INNOVATIVE PEOPLE

1. Persistence – many people give up once they try something and it doesn’t work. Keep at it. A lot of erosion to make a mountain of change.
2. Remove self-limiting inhibitions
3. Take risks, make mistakes and forgive yourself
4. Escape and explore new angles
5. Collect ideas and write things down
6. Find patterns create connections – try to connect ideas
7. Focus in the input – stay curious and ask “why”



Employees
How to convince your management to give you the time

Managers
How do you support innovation- get out of the way and let the creativity grow. Your job is to inspire passion and innovation.


Audience
- Think tank at Omaha PL- starting a wellness 2.0 Helene is building in mini think tank sessions
- Ask management for support, accept leadership and take responsibility foe the risk. Know what’s important to your management. No magic formula, persistence is huge, don’ give up. Refocus, rethinking, try another way.
- I want to start a pilot program- start small and get excited
- Don’t care about credit- give it to management!
- Management’s job is fertilizing to help people grow to support them to take leadership and taking risks to make amazing things happen.
- We are remphasizing customer service – remembering how we treat people is how they are share their experiences- relaunching customer service
- “Other side of the desk: - schedule a ride along to get an indea of where they are coming from….

IL2008 Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan Keynote- What’s happening out there? Search Engines

Editor in chief Search Engine Land

Big Theme:
He felt a bit more positive about a big theme. Sure Google isn’t going to be knocked down off it’s perch – will probably be the major search engine company for at least five years….

Cuil.com played the bigger is better game to get attention. Size isn’t really a measure of “best” . It had the story to be a competitive stat up company but they did horrible. Their searches just weren’t relevant. Thank God it went away….

Powerset’s technology really can read the page- maybe useful in 5 years but overkill for today.

80-90% of websites are getting their traffic from Google in the US-

Might have Google Killerettes… maybe specialty niche engines, twitter,

Twitter- great way to get a buzz going
Urbanspoon- randomly pick a restaurant with reviews
Chowtown- select choice, shake and pick

He love that search tools know exactly where you’re at… Google has no search event at all.

Yelp: Local reviews
Google maps are trying to grow a community
Trulia/Zillow – real estate information available to ordinary people- best prices for homes

Travel/Sports:
Kayak
Farecast
Expedia
Craigslist: buy, sell related to local areas. Google has Google base but not really taking off..
Jobs: Indded.com
Video: blinkx.com, videosurf.com
Gas prices: gas buddy

It’s a challenge to remember them all- forget to go back to them so you end up going back to Google. We are a creature of habit.

Yahoo still there waiting to take over- mobile, BOSS, search monkey (enhances listins are more information). Yahoo probably won’t be around … their own investors don’t have the confidence in them.

****People won’t invest their time in something we don’t think is going to be around….

Microsoft is positioning itself as heir apparent… bt they are really just looking to make money off of ads. Wouldn’t it be nice if they actually got some passion for search? (live.com)

Does Google even have a master plan? Take over the world??? They experiment with things tat just happen to destroy establishments like newspapers, they just follow the invention… they are planning something chrome, checkout, shopping.

They are getting focused- the economy might sow their growth…. People still need things and will turn to the search engine – maybe not vacation in Hawaii- camping instead….

More ads everywhere. Maps, images, etc…

Googlettes- video has meta search, trends, can host video on youtube and can search across te web… community editng is growing.. blog search even includes top stories,- memoranda ….

Big trend still personalized results based on who you are… personalized searches if you are logged into the service.

Suggestions…. Search patterns between strangers might even interact?

Customized according to location, previous query, web history, - they are telling us and ramping it up! Willprobably be doing it more.

The big conclusion… no big conclusion. (audience laughter)

But mobile and vertical do offer new opportunities..

My apologies

I have been trying like a crazy woman to post my presentation and the Internet keeps timing out. I will post from New Jersey on Friday. Sorry for the delay. Thanks for coming to the presentation and for all the great feedback. -Nancy

Heeeeere's Nancy!!

Here's Nancy, opening Monday's conference with a talk called Give Your Marketing and Advocacy a Second Life:

She's talking about trends, giving tips...

words and phrases that are jumping out at me:

• permission marketing
• relate with stories
• LISTEN to customers
• word of mouth
• green

Look for her powerpoint here soon... too much good stuff for me to keep up with!

'The M Word' Girls Are at Internet Librarian

Nancy and I are both at Info Today's Internet Librarian conference in Monterey, CA this week. Nancy taught a preconference workshop already, and is about to teach an opening-day session in about half an hour. After I post this I'll be on my way to her room to make faces at her and take pictures of her while she's trying to speak. ;-> I'll post more soon!

I'm also blogging for my employer, Info Today (publisher of Marketing Library Services newsletter) so look for more conference info, pics, fun, and tips over at http://www.infotodayblog.com/.

Report confirm bloggers are here to stay :-)

Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 report was released in five consecutive daily segments and has some great stats in it like the map above that indicates where people are blogging in the US.

"Since 2004, our annual study has unearthed and analyzed the trends and themes of blogging, but for the 2008 study, we resolved to go beyond the numbers of the Technorati Index to deliver even deeper insights into the blogging mind. For the first time, we surveyed bloggers directly about the role of blogging in their lives, the tools, time, and resources used to produce their blogs, and how blogging has impacted them personally, professionally, and financially. Our bloggers were generous with their thoughts and insights."

Full Report

The iPhone is more popular than Kindle

Wow- this caught me by surprise since I don't own an iphone (yet). Froom Library Link of the Day this Forbes article says,

"It's official: The iPhone is more popular than Amazon.com's Kindle. And not just in the obvious categories like listening to music, browsing the Web or the other applications where Kindle barely competes. Now, the iPhone is also muscling into Amazon's home turf: reading books.

Stanza, a book reading application offered in Apple's (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) iPhone App Store since July, has been downloaded more than 395,000 times and continues to be installed at an average rate of about 5,000 copies a day, according to Portland, Ore.-based Lexcycle, the three-person start-up that created the reading software.

By comparison, Citigroup estimates Amazon will sell around 380,000 Kindles in 2008. Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey expects Sony's (nyse: SNE - news - people ) Reader will sell only a fraction of that number. In other words, Apple may have inadvertently sold more e-readers than any other company in the nascent digital book market." full article

Why Vote Contest 2008 possible entry

And this is the power of contests- I love this video!

Why Vote? YouTube Video Contest

Great video contest from Pima County Public Library. Woo hoo.

Librarians: Help Voters, Please!!

One of the many interesting things I like to check when I have a chance is the result list from the little polls that Library Journal has in its LJXpress email alerts.

The results of a recent poll (open from 8/19 thro 8/26) really bothered me. The question was:

"With the national presidential conventions coming right up, what are you doing to prepare your patrons?"

The multiple-choice answers were:

* Creating unique informational resources on the web

* Highlighting materials in the collection

* Holding community forums

* Two of the above

* None of the above

* All of the above

The results surprised and frustrated me:

68.42% None of the above
15.79% Two of the above
10.53% Highlighting materials in the collection
5.26% Holding community forums
0% Creating unique informational resources on the web
0% All of the above

Granted, this is not a scientific poll, and the results page does not even say how many responses there were. But still--HELLO!!?! Libraries are supposed to be sources for quality, reliable information. That even some of them are not helping people get trustworthy info on the important presidential election is unfathomable to me.

Yes, yes, I know: politics--oooh, scary! We dare not take a position! Well, you don't have to. The least you can do is also one of the safest things you can do. Just post a link to FactCheck.org, which is "a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding."

Nobody could convince me that sharing this site with the public is not a good thing. There's so much spin out there that I'm getting dizzy. So c'mon, people, help out the voters by publicizing this fair and amazing website. Put a link on your homepage and on the screens of all your public-access computers. Keep on proving how valuable you are!

New Study Shows Mobile Phones Merging New, Established Roles: Communicator, Shopping Aide, Entertainment and Research Hub

This release from Knowledge Networks talks about the role mobile phones are playing in our lives.

These are among the findings of How People Use(R) Cell Phones, a new study from Knowledge Networks.

Three in five (60%) mobile phone owners say they carry their phones at all times, even inside the home -- up 50% since a 2002 KN analysis; and 32% say they call friends or family "all the time" or "often" when making shopping decisions, a figure that jumps to 45% among those ages 18 to 34. When asked an open-ended question about what they dislike about their cell phones, respondents most often (15%) said, "Nothing.

"

I was at a round table session in NYC the other day and the man next to me poked me to show me there was a message from his library on his cell phone letting him know his books were ready. What about mobile marketing? Has anyone been running any mobile contests, database building, or an other neat things with mobiles? I hear once you get outside of the US mobiles can do amazing things. Does anyone have a story to share?

If you advocate for your library you need to read this report

If you haven't read, "From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America", take the time soon. OCLC was awarded a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to explore attitudes and perceptions about library funding and to evaluate the potential of a large-scale marketing and advocacy campaign to increase public library funding in the U.S. The findings of this research are now available.

Among the findings from the report:

-Library funding support is only marginally related to library visitation.
-Perceptions of librarians are an important predictor of library funding support.
-Voters who see the library as a "transformational" force as opposed to an "information" source are more likely to increase taxes in its support.

The report suggests that targeting marketing messages to the right segments of the voting public is key to driving increased support for U.S. public libraries. Order or download the report here.

We are incorporating these findings in the strategies for Solving Life's Problems campaign. More on that very soon!

Odiogo transforms you blog into an audiocast

Our M Word Blog has a new gadget on our website to enable you to listen to our posts. It's done through a free program called Odiogo. This is not a replacement for podcasting, since it has that synthetic voice, but a great tool with zero time input on our side. Would love to hear some feedback on this one. Are you using other programs that give a similar result?

Here's their pitch:

Turn readers into listeners, and transform your blog into a high quality, ad-supporting broadcast that can vastly expand your audience reach!

Automatic podcast generation
“Near-human” quality text-to-speech
Listen Button feature deployed in next to no time for WordPress, Blogger, TypePad,BlogEngine.NET and Terapad platforms
Detailed download statistics
Make money from embedded ads

The Real Value of Your Library

You know that using a library saves people money. It's one thing to tell customers that; it's another to prove it to them--or better yet, let them prove it to themselves.

Here in NJ, Joanne Roukens (executive director of the Highlands Regional Library Cooperative) created a little thing called "Valuing Libraries." It includes a "value calculator" for libraries and she's also done various presentations and made them available. Amazing stuff.

I just found another value calculator this morning, this one from the Franklin Park (IL) Public Library. See how easy it is to use? And how the explanation of the values are right there? I love it! See also their special front page--what a simple and wonderful idea.
(I learned of this one from Michael Stephens' blog, Tame the Web. If you don't already read it, you should; it's always got all kinds of cool and innovative stuff.)

How many of you have made these calculators available? They are very powerful tools!

Are You Using Library Photos Legally?

Lots of you out there take photographs at your library events. Some of you go on to use them in your newsletters, on your websites, on Flickr pages, in press releases, etc. Seems like using pictures of events to celebrate your success or to promote other events is a good idea. But not so fast...

Did you know that using pictures that include recognizable people can be illegal?

Do you think you're covered if you get signed consent forms?

To set the record straight, I commissioned an article that just came out in the latest issue of Marketing Library Services. Called "Laws for Using Photos You Take at Your Library," it was written by Bryan Carson, who's a librarian and a lawyer.

This is an article that all librarians should read right away to make sure they're working within the law. (I'd say this even if someone else published it, really!) I won't try to summarize it here because you really need to see all of Carson's legal details. Here's one important statement from it, though:

"It is clearly a violation of the right of publicity to use photographs from library programs in order to market or advertise the library or to call attention to future programming."

Run, don't walk to my publisher's website to read this one! Then let me know what you think. I hope you find it useful.

Marketing 101 - Creating a demand

Now that you've seen that wonderful movie on the Power of Marketing, I'd like to spend a few posts talking about some basics for marketing that are essential for anyone interesting in marketing their library, non-profit or small company. Let's start with defining marketing.

It all begins with a product or an idea or service that will fill a need for a person.

Chris Penn, Financial Aid Podcast, described the process perfectly when he said, "Marketing is the creation of demand for a product."

I'm always hearing people in "libraryland" say that libraries need to market more or that the problem with libraries is that people don't know what we do. I really struggle with that thinking because ii is often the product, not the marketing, which is the real problem. In marketing we look to find the people who will use our product and then create that demand. But if that audience doesn't want, need or like the product, then no amount of ethical marketing is going to work. The classic example of this was the downloadable audio books so many libraries offered.


Sounds great. audio books, There's a big market there, right? Sure. but the glitch was that iPod users couldn't use it. So right there we took away about 90% of our audience.

But wait, instead of admitting that we were going to purchase a product that 90% of the public couldn't use, we start figuring out ways to make the product work for them. We buy MP3's and offer to lend the player with the books.


Did we really expect someone to put away his or her iPod and carry a cheap MP3? It was pretty doubtful especially since at the very same time Microsoft was trying to launch a competitive MP3, the Zune, and was failing miserably. Chances are if a company with millions of dollars can’t break into that market to change users that is a pretty good indicator that people are not going to want to borrow a MP3 player to listen to a free book.



Meanwhile the usage for most libraries was fairly low and people started thinking that we need to market them so people know we have these audiobooks available. Because if people only knew we had this great product, they’d come to the library for sure.

But marketing doesn't work that that way. It isn't just about letting people know about what we have, marketing is about creating a demand for what we have. We could have done some surveys to find out who in our libraries were using MP3s and started to create profiles that we could have used to develop collections that appealed to those people then market to them. And we could have probably extended that to the community as well. There were lots of possibilities for reactive marketing but the real problem started when we purchased the downloadable audiobook contract because we didn't connect why we were buying them with our audience. We didn't know our target audience and in turn didn't know whether the product was going to meet their needs.

The first steps in marketing is defining the target audience, finding out what their needs are and then developing a good product that works. Is your organization stating there or are they stating with a product then trying to find an audience for it?

As an experiment, think about the one product that you would like more people to use in your library.

Then answer these two questions:

1. Who is going to use this product?
2. What need is it filling?

My next post will help you with the next step from there.

Meanwhile help me find out where most people are on this. Answer this quick survey: