“Marketing is not a poster; marketing is understanding your customers and creating products and services for them – that only you can uniquely provide.”
The Library Marketing Toolkit
As an experiment, think about the one product/service that you would like more people to use in your library.
Then answer these two questions:
1. Who is going to use this product/service?2. What need is it filling?
How would you set up the library if you would get $1 in your personal bank account for every item borrowed? What would change?
Ask!• Surveys/Focus Groups• What do they want their library to be?• What type of services do they wish to have available?
My Starbucks – idea, view ideas, ideas in action
Communicate!• Social media
• Convenient location• Hours of operation• Make location appealing• Overcome psychological barriers • Leverage place design to better serve all customers
Big Picture • Who is the target market?• What is the lifestyle of the target market?• Can you describe your library’s style in three words or
less?• What kind of atmosphere does the building and surrounding area convey?
What is the appeal?• Location• Welcome!• Layout & signage• Food, drink and entertainment
What can we learn?
• Readability• Color/Contrast • Font/Shape• Pictograms• Finish• Industry Standards• ADA standards
Nova Scotia, Canada
Have a meeting with those decision makers. Limit the fonts used on signs. Limit the colors used on signs. Weed your collections (a lot). Provide comfortable seating for patrons. Carve out spaces with rugs. Get those books on displays or on face out
shelving.
Encourage staff to get out from behind the desk.
Wear “I can help you.” buttons. Weed your flower beds. Replace burnt out lightbulbs. Install small lamps on tables. Allow food and drink in some areas. Paint a wall (or two).
Consistency matters. Get rid of clutter on desks. Don’t cover those windows (consider films). Plants? Are they comforting or messy? Suggestion Cards and Responses What three words describe your library?
Would all your staff agree? How can you get to that place?
Suzanne WalkerProfessional Development OfficeIndiana State [email protected]
Cooper, Julia. “How to Evaluate Your Library’s Physical Environment.” Marketing Library Services 21.2 (2007) http://www.infotoday.com/MLS/may07/Cooper.shtml
Potter, Ned. The Library Marketing Toolkit. London: Facet Publishing, 2012.
Rippel, Chris. “What libraries can learn from bookstores: Applying bookstore design to public libraries.” (2003) http://goo.gl/Llt7BU
South Jersey Regional Library Cooperative. “Trading Spaces Project” http://www.sjrlc.org/tradingspaces/
Walters, Suzanne and Kent Jackson. Breakthrough Branding: Positioning your library to survive and thrive. Chicago: Neal-Schuman, 2013.
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