Library Marketing: Beyond Bookmarks and Brochures
Format: Online
Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and Infopeople Partners, $150 for all others.
(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)
Tuesday March 2, 2010 – Monday March 29, 2010
Is your library mainstream or marginal in the community it serves? A destination or a last resort? Are you at the table when the community is dealing with problems, challenges, and planning?
How you position and communicate about your library is essential to how your library is used, perceived, and supported. This course will show you how to market your library effectively whether you're concerned about increasing awareness and support, introducing new services, or reaching out to specific audiences such as teens or seniors. Experienced library marketers Peggy Barber and Linda Wallace emphasize the value of a marketing/communication plan and the importance of involving all staff. Strategies such as publicity, promotion, partnerships, use of online media, and word-of-mouth marketing will be explored.
As a result of this course, you will be able to:
- Understand and apply marketing basics that are essential for libraries to survive and thrive.
- Explore ideas and strategies that do the job at little cost.
- Motivate staff, trustees, and Friends of the Library to engage in effective two-way communication with the community.
When you complete the course you'll have a practical, doable, affordable marketing/communication plan, unique to your library and your community.
Course Description: In this online course you will learn the basics of marketing, how these business techniques can work for libraries, and why they must be part of a management package. The instructors will provide a simple, practical introduction to marketing, give you an outline for an eight-step marketing/communication plan, and share creative ideas they have gathered from libraries throughout the country. They will serve as your coaches, providing feedback as you develop a plan for your library, including message and strategies. In an online meeting, you will hear Carolynn Muci, Marketing/Public Relations Director, Mount Prospect (Illinois) Public Library, share her experiences with developing and using a marketing/communication plan for her library.
Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:
- Week 1: Marketing and Libraries
- Marketing vs. mission
- Key elements: research, planning, communication and evaluation
- Marketing as a team sport
- The importance of a plan plus communication/PR and customer service policies
- Week 2: Marketing Is Two-Way Communication
- The importance of listening: how to establish goals based on community needs and interests
- How and when to use primary and secondary research tools, from census data to surveys and focus groups
- Developing measurable objectives
- Week 3: Positioning/Branding, Message and Target Audiences
- The rationale for positioning
- Developing, testing and using consistent messages
- Identifying target audiences: internal and external
- Week 4: How Will It Get Done? Tools and Strategies
- Affordable strategies and ideas from partnerships to word-of-mouth marketing
- Developing budget, timeline and evaluation measures
- Turning the plan into action
Time required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 4 hours per week. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. However, it is recommended that you complete each week's assignments within that week to stay in sync with other learners.
Who Should Take This Course: This course is relevant for library managers at all levels, and for any staff members responsible for marketing or interested in learning basic marketing principles and how to apply them to their work. It is also appropriate for library trustees, commissioners and Friends. Although the course is targeted to public libraries, it will be of benefit to any library wanting to develop a marketing/communication plan and build stronger awareness, use, and support for its services.
Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at
http://www.infopeople.org/training/learning_details.html.
Enrollment for this course is limited to 50. Please enroll promptly to avoid disappointment.
Course Start: This 4-week-long online learning course starts on Tuesday March 2, 2010.
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