Grass Roots Marketing

I love reading all about the larger world of marketing and the trends that are having the biggest impact. For libraries, perhaps this world seems too big or complicated, but here is an article from a major advertising publication about a different kind of marketing. Read it and enjoy - you don;t have to play with the big kids to get your message out there. IF t-shirts are the new billboards, I think we can manage that!

Shout Out - Public Speaking

This post is not about marketing - in the usual sense. But in marketing yourself when you stand up to speak. This link will take you to a great piece on how to speak to an audience. And guess what - it says to focus on what your audience needs. What does that sound like?? Marketing!

Niche Marketing

Just attended a continuing education session where we talked about Harley Davidson Marketing and I come into work and look at what I find from the Grateful Dead. Wow - and considering one of their founding members is deceased, this is even more amazing. Corporations that tend to focus their marketing around one individual in the corporation (think spokesperson)always face the conundrum of what to do when that person 1. dies, 2. gets fired 3. leaves the corporation. Even if that person did a great job of marketing, thus branding the corporation, at some point they will need to be replaced, except for in the case of Orville Redenbacher. Don't put all of your marketing efforts on the shoulders of one person or one thing. Look at your community and base your marketing on what they need, not on what you think they want.

Bad Ad of the Month

Well it's time to pick my favorite bad ad of the month. This month I had to make a tough choice between three or four ads. There are always those ads that are blissfully unaware of the needs of their core demographic, and of course there are some ads that are so bad I don't even want to think about them or write about them. But this month I want to focus on misleading ads. Just imagine you have a program where you try to verify myths and legends, and you can never prove or disprove anything by the end of the show. Now imagine the ads for this show..."we are tracking the mysterious goat headed stalker of New Jersey" show close up of a hairy head lurking in a bush and in the background very scary music is playing. Now you get the idea...it's all pretend. There are specialists in animal headed species from the University of Biloxi who always say "hmm, I can't quite tell what this is" as they look at blurry pictures. To be quite honest, the ads are the best part of the show. As misleading as they are, they certainly prime your interest and if you manage so sit through the show you are left wondering what the heck happened. My suggestion - cut the show down to a 30 second spot and you have a winner. And please if you see the goat headed stalker of New Jersey while you're in Cape May, let us know.

When Do You Listen and When Do You Talk?

I remember one early class I had on marketing when the Professor declared "Advertising is talking - marketing is listening!" At the time I wasn't sure what he meant, but when I look at ad campaigns that seem to have no idea who their target audience is, it becomes clear. Advertising is only one component of marketing - it's part of the mix. Many times people think that advertising is marketing. It's not. By the time an advertisement is running, there is a lot of ground work that should have taken place before hand - it's like buying a pack of seeds, throwing it on the ground and expecting it to grow. It won't. Any first step in marketing should consist of listening and learning. That can be done via surveys, studying competitors and looking at trends. If you're deciding to market your library you need to know who you are marketing to and why. A lot to think about, but with information both your time and money will not be wasted. This article will give you more to think about!

E-Mail Mistakes - No Way!

With all the ways we marketers have of "reaching out and touching" people, it's amazing the mistakes we make over and over again. This blog lists top 10 email mistakes. I am sure at some point I have made every one of them - but I hope I've learned from those mistakes. The one I think is the most appropriate for library marketing is "empathy." If there's one thing we know, it's that people love their libraries. So while we're making appeals to our citizen advocates, let's make sure that we connect our appeal to their needs and that we connect with people on an emotional level.

Oh and here's an update on the Snuggie...not only have I been proven wrong about the popularity of this item, but now there's a competitor.

The Art of Listening

This morning when I was getting ready for work, an advertisement for a car dealership caught my ear! In an earlier post I ranted about the disconnect between the automobile market and consumers, and this is just an example of what I was talking about. The ad went on to talk about all the great cars they had on the lot, zero percent financing (if you meet certain criteria) and rebates. The item that put them over the top - they were giving out free balloons and cookies. Yes, for taking on probably about $20,000 in debt, you'd get a free balloon and cookie. What is wrong with this picture. One thing that our libraries have been doing with their communities is listening.As our economy contracts, our libraries have been helping people with resumes, job searches, and locating resources for food, housing and help in paying utilities. They are doing this because that is what people need. Advertising is talking - marketing is listening. Right now anyone working with the public knows, it's time to listen.