Marketing notes
From PLN
Marketing notes
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Various notes and resources on marketing, provided by Leslie Dillon (Leader's Digest).
Marketing your library from the patrons' point of view
People don’t automatically assume that libraries are intrinsically good. So how do we get patrons (and non-patrons) to take advantage of some of our services some of the time?
Jill Stover at Virginia Commonwealth University believes we need to communicate with our customers in terms of things they care about. In other words, what are the benefits to them of using the library? “Patrons probably don’t care about your interlibrary loan service, but they do care about getting that tough-to-find book in time to finish their report. Saving time and writing top-notch reports is a benefit; offering interlibrary loan is a service or feature.” In marketing our services, it’s important to focus on the benefits instead of the features.
An Initial Benefit Statement (IBS) tells customers why they should care. In sales it’s used as an opener in sales presentations and sales calls. Developing an IBS is useful because it forces us to think from the patron’s point of view.
Here’s how to create an IBS:
- Think about a service you offer. List the reasons your patrons should care about the service. Ask patrons who use the service why they use it.
- Develop a statement that briefly explains the most important benefits, such as, “Gives you the ability to,” “Saves you [time, stress, hassle],” “Increases your [productivity, profits, marketability],” etc. You know you’re on the wrong track if your IBS says things like, “Our library features…,” “We provide access to…,” “We house X number of…,” you get the idea. A good IBS emphasizes the you (customer); a bad IBS emphasizes the we/us (librarians/libraries).
- Use your competitive advantage. E.g., “Devise sound business plans and save money with Great Local Library--the only local organization to provide you free one-to-one research assistance with highly-trained information professionals who use the latest market research tools.”
(Jill Stover, Library Marketing--Outside the Book, May 15, 2007.)
Worlds apart? The relationship between teaching and marketing and what it means to academic librarians
Virginia Commonwealth’s Jill Stover argues convincingly that “marketing techniques [are] compatible with the missions and values of libraries, [and] they also offer a practical—-and increasingly necessary-—means of connecting our work to users’ needs.” Marketers and librarians engage in “strikingly similar activities,” and we need to take advantage of the useful ideas marketers can offer us.
Here are some similarities:
- Both groups aim to modify behaviors and thinking. But, instead of tests, marketers “measure their success in terms of sales, which indicate whether customers adopted the desired behavior.”
- Both teachers and marketers tailor their strategies to specific groups. Marketers call this market segmentation.
- Both groups are skilled at using motivation. While teachers give extra credit, etc., marketers “adjust prices, devise reward programs for repeat purchases and attach prestigious logos to products like clothing.”
- Teaching and marketing seem to have evolved along similar paths; both are more participatory now. Marketers know that today’s customers are “savvy and empowered, demanding greater involvement with the products they consume.” “Open source marketing” encourages customers to “generate new product ideas, create advertising campaigns, participate in customer-driven communities and share their opinions...with corporate decision-makers.”
- Teaching and marketing empower people; both give them what they need to achieve their goals.
The point of this comparison is to emphasize just how similar certain aspects of librarianship are to marketing and to urge that librarians note what can be borrowed from good marketing. “Just imagine what librarians could accomplish if they matched their knowledge of information and their local communities with the abilities of marketers to communicate how their products and services solve customers’ problems.”
(Jill S. Stover, “Worlds apart? The relationship between teaching and marketing and what it means to academic librarians,” The Readex Report, Fall 2007.)
Related articles
- Brands offers notes on brands and branding for libraries and in general (including sections previously part of this article)
- The storied library considers a different approach to library marketing.
- Presentations - Notes on presentation techniques.
