How to Market Your Library: A Toolkit of Proven Techniques

Marketing libraries has never been more important, but how do we do it well? This course will cover all aspects of marketing libraries and library services, including marketing strategically, using social media, and framing communication in campaigns. Learners will be provided with a toolkit of proven ideas, concepts, and techniques, which can be applied to their library communication right away. By the end of the course learners will be able to:

• Plan and run a marketing campaign for their library
• Understand different communication styles and where their own library fits into these
• Find useable, high quality images, fonts, videos and other marketing materials that don't cost any money and don't break any copyright laws
• Gain a better understanding of their library's users via User Experience techniques
• Understand social media tools and how they work with traditional marketing outputs
• Explore camera-free options for producing library marketing videos

Join instructor Ned Potter, author and library marketer, as he focuses in on the things that really matter to make promotions effective, and on making marketing not just fun but something it's possible to do well and efficiently.

Course Description: During the course, learners will participate in discussion forums, be invited to reflect on their own institution and its communication, and complete hands-on assignments which will provide them with solid next steps to take in their marketing. They will be provided with a marketing template, and over the four-week online course will develop the knowledge and understanding to fill it out, so that by the end of the course they will be in a position to launch a successful marketing campaign for your service.

Learners will be able to ask questions, share experiences, learn from peers, and take back resources and ideas to their own library.

Course Outline: When you log in to the Infopeople online learning site, you will see weekly modules with these topics:

• Week 1: Marketing, branding and strategy
  • Introduction to marketing
  • Brand, branding and what really matters to your users
  • Communication styles – including line of sight marketing
  • Marketing strategically: what this means and why it's worth doing
• Week 2: The CAPE Marketing Campaign Framework
  • The CAPE Campaign framework: Context, Aims, Promotion, and Evaluation
  • Understanding library users: feedback, UX and ethnography
  • Segmentation: dividing your audience into smaller but manageable groups
  • The power of WOMM: Word of Mouth Marketing
• Week 3: Delivering Key Messages
  • Simplifying and tailoring key messages
  • Useful digital tools, freely available online
  • Social Media strategy and management
  • Building your network on Twitter and Instagram
• Week 4:
  • Marketing with video
  • Evaluating your marketing, measuring impact
  • Completing the CAPE document
  • Pulling it all together

Time Required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2 1/2 hours per week, for a total of ten course hours. Each week's module contains readings and various options for assignments, discussions, or online meetings. 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: This course is aimed at anyone who wants to market and promote their library service (or indeed their entire library).

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at: infopeople.org/training/online_learning_details.

Learner Requirements: You don't need any specialist equipment to take this course. We will try out software as part of this but always using free, online options.

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.

Keywords: marketing