Marketing as a Team Sport
(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011 – Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and Infopeople Partners, $150 for all others.
Course Instructors: Peggy Barber and Linda Wallace
Despite your best attempts, are you and your staff still missing opportunities to market the value of your library? In a time of limited budgets, and unlimited need to increase support, marketing is even more important to keep your library front and center in the hearts and minds of its community.
Most discussions of library marketing tend to focus on external audiences when, in fact, the most important audiences are your internal ones. While marketing must start at the top, everyone inside the library—all staff, trustees, Friends, and volunteers—has a critical role to play in creating its vital and valued presence in the community. That's why marketing is a team sport.
If you want to strengthen your frontline marketing power and get your staff engaged in turning customers into champions, this course is for you. You will gain:
- An understanding that marketing is about listening, learning, and building relationships in your community
- Easy, affordable strategies to build a buzz about your library
- Ways to deliver an effective message
- Tips and tools to mobilize and motivate your library's frontline marketing team
You'll hear stories of libraries that have successfully engaged their staff as marketing teams. When you complete the course you'll have a better understanding of how your library can benefit from frontline marketing and how to support staff in bringing your library's brand to life.
Course Description: During this four-week online course, readings and activities will focus on increasing your and your staff's skills and confidence in building public awareness of and support for your library through frontline marketing. The instructors will provide useful tips and techniques, best practices, and resources that can be applied immediately. Recorded interviews will provide opportunities to hear from those who have successfully engaged their staff in frontline marketing efforts.
Preliminary Course Outline: Using an Internet connection and web browser, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:
- Week 1: What You and Your Staff Need to Know About Marketing
- What is it? Why is it important? Where does the library's mission fit in?
- Importance of internal audiences
- What marketing is—and isn't
- Lessons from Starbucks
- Week 2: What's Your Library's Personality?
- What is branding/positioning and why is it important?
- Your brand is more than a logo.
- How staff personify your brand
- Week 3: Turning Customers into Champions
- Why good service isn't enough
- Building relationships
- The most powerful strategy of all: Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)
- Success stories: Practical, affordable strategies for listening and delivering your message
- How to respond to negative feedback
- Week 4: Mobilizing Your Marketing Team
- Importance of good, respectful internal communication
- How to recruit and motivate an enthusiastic and effective team
- What it takes: Planning, policies, accountability, tools, and training
- What next?
Time required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2½ hours per week, for a total of ten course hours. Each week's module contains readings and various options for assignments, discussions, and interviews. You can choose the options most relevant to your work and interests. Although you can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night, it is recommended that you complete each week's work within that week to stay in sync with other learners.
Who Should Take This Course: Middle managers; front-line supervisors; and team, department, and group leaders; anyone with an interest in learning how marketing and communications can build awareness, usage, and support for the library.
Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at:
http://infopeople.org/learning_details.Course Start: This 4-week-long online learning course starts on Tuesday June 7, 2011.
After the official end date for the course, the instructor will be available for limited consultation and support for two more weeks, and the course material will stay up for an additional two weeks after that. These extra weeks give those who have fallen behind time to work independently to complete the course.
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