1. Go where it is
   
2. Corollary: Who Cares?
3. The answer depends on the question
   
4. Research is a multi-stage process
   
5. Ask a Librarian
   
6. Information is meaningless until queried by human intelligence
7. Information can be true and still wrong
8. Pay attention to the jokes

1. Tara Calishain
2. Jenny Levine, part I
3. Jenny Levine, Part II
4. Reva Basch
5. Sue Feldman
6. Jessamyn West
7. Debbie Abilock
8. Kathy Schrock
9. Greg Notess
10. William Hann
11. Chris Sherman
12. Gary Price
13. Barbara Quint
14. Rory Litwin
15. John Guscott
16. Brian Smith
17. Darlene Fichter
18. Brenda Bailey-Hainer
19. Walt Crawford
20. Molly Williams
21. Genie Tyburski
22. Patrice McDermott
23. Carrie Bickner
24. Karen G. Schneider
25. Roddy MacLeod, Part I
26. Roddy MacLeod, Part II
27. John Hubbard
28. Micki McIntyre
29. Péter Jacsó
30. the "It's All Good" bloggers
31. the "It's All Good" bloggers, part 2

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: A MARKETING STRATEGY

by Marylaine Block

No matter how many summer reading programs and Harry Potter parties libraries sponsor, how many children we help with homework, how many programs we offer, or how many audio books people can download from our web sites, the prevailing image Americans still have of libraries is a building full of books. It seems that even our best marketing campaigns are not powerful enough to overcome long-standing cultural images.

So, what might we do differently? What kinds of venues have we not considered for our marketing?

Every morning when I go to my fitness center, one of the TVs is showing an advertising channel that combines trivia questions with ads - the same sort of filler material that keeps your eyes occupied when you arrive early for a movie. And I thought, what do those two venues have in common that makes them unusually effective for advertisers?

Captive audiences.

Ads on TV or radio compete with our real lives for our attention, and it's easy to tune them out. But pedaling away on an exercise bike or sweating on a treadmill is boring, so you can't help looking at whatever screen is in front of you. And if you're in a movie theater, you're conditioned to stare at the screen. Yes, you could go get popcorn instead, but by and large, once you've plopped your fanny into the seat, you sit and stare at the screen. So it strikes me that that's a good place to advertise our library's wares, and make people aware of all the other things we do.

Who are the people in these audiences? Movie audiences are primarily composed of 18-49 year-olds (76%); 47% of them are between 18 and 34. The largest segment of fitness center users is people between 18 and 24; the next largest segment is between 25 and 34.

Are these people you'd like to reach out to?

If so, the next question is, what services that we offer would interest them if they only knew about them? And how would we frame these services? What would the marketing campaign be?

My thought is this: GetABetterFuture@YourLibrary.

Think of all the things we do that fit into this rubric. How might we dramatize them? Maybe with quick scenes like these:

• Businessman in front of his shop: I learned how to start my small business at the library.
• Student on a pretty campus: I found financial aid for college at my library.
• Youth organization leader with a bunch of kids: I learned how to apply for grants at my library
• Young couple building a deck for their house: We learned how to improve our new home at the library.
• College grad in cap and gown: I learned how to polish my resume at the library - AND I found an internship in my ideal career!
• Young person with a foreign accent: I I got a better job after my library helped me improve my English.
• Young mother: Since my children learned to love reading at the library, they're doing really well in school.

  I'm sure you can think of a number of other services and programs you're offering that would fit into that theme.

  It seems to me worth trying, anyway. What do you think? If you do try it, please let me know how it works.

  * * * * *

  COOL QUOTE:

  Do you know what the "comma-stupid" phrase is for your product or service? In other words, do you know what is most meaningful for your users? Because whatever that word or phrase is (i.e. the part that comes before the ", stupid!"), it should be driving everything from product development to documentation to support and marketing.

  Kathy Sierra. "It's the [? Stupid!"]." Creating Passionate Users, February 1, 2006, http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/02/its_the_stupid.html

  * * *

  You are welcome to copy and forward any of my own articles (but not those by my guest writers) for noncommercial purposes as long as you credit ExLibris and cite the permanent URL for the article. Please do NOT copy and post my articles to your own web sites, however. Instead, please copy a brief excerpt and link to the URL for the remainder of the article.

  Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies.
  http://marylaine.com/exlibris/
  Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2007.

  [Publishers may license the content for a reasonable fee.]