Quick Fixes for a New Marketing Plan - Webinar (05/19/20)

A Checklist for Bringing In and Keeping Library Customers Before You Write Your Big Marketing Plan

Marketing is about the relationships you have with your library’s potential and active customers. Typically, what people call a marketing campaign is actually an advertising campaign, communicating to your audiences how your library can serve them. But marketing begins with your being able to see, hear, and understand the world from their point of view, which includes how they see, hear, and understand your library. It’s about the whole experience of interacting with your library: visiting the physical facility, using the website, searching for materials, attending events, availing themselves of services, and seeking assistance from library personnel. Those encounters will define your brand more than a fancy logo or catchy slogan.

You are happy with the materials in your collections, your computer-based services, your programming, your customer service standards, and your special services. Your library’s regular customers have nothing but praise. But what would a stranger notice driving into the parking lot, walking up to the front door, spending time in the front lobby, the stairs, or within the the stacks? What do they think of your signs, the rules they need to follow at the circulation desk? The messy pile of brochures at the reference desk? The smell in the basement that everyone else is used to? Do you have to wait to ensure that the contact information on the website is up-to-date?

Can you look at your library workplace with fresh eyes and find ways to make it shine, even on a limited budget? While you are planning to send out the postcards and social media blasts, you can start to address the basics.

Topics include the basics of communicating with library customers first impressions, decluttering private spaces and public common areas, the importance of light and color, improving signs, and keeping the library safe for the elderly, the infirmed, and children. And how the physical environment can impact staff morale and library customer behavior.

Virtual Trainer: Pat Wagner

Pat Wagner is a trainer and consultant who has worked with libraries, universities, and allied institutions since 1978 and has been a frequent visitor to Florida libraries. 

This is an online class. Access information will be emailed one week ahead.

Cost: NEFLIN classes are free of charge for Florida library staff. Registration is required for all classes and NEFLIN members get priority.