January 26th, 2010 Brian Herzog
A patron asked for help finding books on Taoism, so we walked over to the Religion section. As we were flipping through the index of books in the 294’s and 299.514, I noticed something odd - many of the books we picked up all had bookmarks in them.
It’s not uncommon for people to leave bookmarks in library books. But in this case, all of the bookmarks were identical - they were all business cards for a local yoga studio. Interesting. After I finished helping the patron, I went to the 613.7’s, and sure enough - all our yoga how-to books also had these business cards tucked in them.
I dislike businesses targeting patrons, and in fact it’s against our library policies, but I did think this approach was clever (although I shudder to think whose business card would end up in the 613.96’s).
It also reminded me of a library tactic I fail to use effectively: put promotional bookmarks in books. It’s a great way to drive traffic to your subscription databases, online subject guides, special programs, or general announcements, but it’s also tough to maintain.
But too, this book-based advertising could be used as a fundraiser for libraries. Local business could donate money to purchase books on a certain topic, and in exchange they’d get a label on the book saying it was donated by them. Libraries would be able to expand collections, and perhaps also charge these businesses a fee on top of that.
This last idea is of course a terrible one. But the one before that is legitimate, really. And for another interesting library/business idea, check out Brett’s idea for “Amazon Libraries.”
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September 17th, 2009 Brian Herzog
My cousin saw the ad below in the Las Vegas airport:
I like seeing a library with a sense of humor, but it’s also a smart place for them to advertise (and it’s big, too: 5′ x 7′). Good job, Las Vegas-Clark County Library District.
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July 28th, 2009 Brian Herzog
I feel bad following up yesterday’s fun Library Day in the Life project with a sort-of negative post, but I found the image below on another library’s website and it bothered me:
The information is important, but the headline and image are very off-putting - and this message is prominently displayed on the library’s homepage, above the fold.
Marketing is important to me, 1) because information and image are vital to an organization, and 2) it is something libraries have complete control over. There must be a way to convey Sunday hours to patrons with a positive spin, or at least a neutral one. “Never on Sunday” is a song, but probably not everyone gets that. And the red circle-slash on a book image should just never appear on a library website.
I know this sort of thing gets abused in the business and political worlds, but marketing isn’t lying - it’s telling people what you want them to know, and why it’s important they know it. Libraries are all about serving the public, so almost everything we do is marketing - and since we depend on public perception for our survival, it is important to get it right.
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March 10th, 2009 Brian Herzog
I use a couple Google Alerts to try to keep on top of websites that mentioned the Chelmsford Library or just Chelmsford, MA in general.
I set these up in the hopes of connecting to people in the community, or people talking about Chelmsford. I thought if someone mentioned the town, a local event, or the library on their blog or website, I might be able to comment and contribute on behalf of the library (but it’s also an interesting way to find out what’s happening in town - example).
A recent alert led me to the website of the New England Real Estate Team where I saw, big as day right on the top of their website, a photo of the library. I was kind of surprised at first, but then I was happy that a realtor is using the library as a selling point for the town. It certainly is, and it’s also a nice looking building.
I think this is great, and I wonder if it would be worth it to encourage other local businesses to use the library’s image to promote their services or Chelmsford. It certainly wouldn’t make sense for every business, but it’s nice to know that at least one feels we’re worth showing off.
Now they just need to link to our website, in addition to the local schools.
Tags: advertising, building, business, businesses, libraries, Library, local, Marketing, promote, promotion, public, realtor, realtors See Also
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January 17th, 2008 Brian Herzog
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners has just launched mass.gov/libraries, to go along with a new public awareness campaign for Massachusetts libraries.
Sometimes “top-down” efforts like this end up being a waste of time and resources, but I actually do think I will use this new website. For one thing, it is simple and clean, which makes it easy to see what information is available. I like that.
Also, it is very limited in scope: it is information about the public libraries in Massachusetts and the services those libraries offer. So even though their slogan is “There’s something for everyone,” they don’t try to be “everything to everyone” - no subject listings, no web search boxes, etc.
The target of this website is Massachusetts residents, and the focus is to connect those people with their local library - or better yet, its online resources - and to maybe answer a few library questions along the way.
Here’s what this site offers:
They even included an article about why using library resources is better than Google for homework and student research.
I can see a lot of librarians using this, simply to find the contact information of other libraries, but I also like the single login box for database searching.
I also think patrons could easily use this website, too, but the key there is in the patrons finding it. This is the first year of a three-year marketing campaign, but aside from emails sent directly to librarians, I haven’t seen anything.
awareness, campaign, libraries, library, ma, marketing, mass, massachusetts, mblc, public
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