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Transportation Librarians Roundtable
Smart Marketing Strategies

Slide 1
Library Marketing & Promotions

OUTSELL

• Transportation Librarians Roundtable
• Thursday, July 10, 2008
• Roger Strouse
• Vice President & Lead Analyst
• rstrouse@outsellinc.com

Slide 2
Why Are We Here?

• Information environments are increasingly complex.
• Users are increasingly specific and segmented.
• Users’work settings are increasingly “noisy.”
• Users have information options.

Slide 3
It Used To Be Simple

Image of an oldfashioned card catalog

Source: Andrea Mercado: www.flickr.com

Slide 4
It’s Not Simple Anymore!

Note:
World colliding—rise of individualism, agile technology and processes, consumer-driven technology, changes in social and societal behaviors

Social Forces: Personalization, attention spans, social context, amateur Professionals, “I-habitants,” Bye-bye, Boomers!

Consumer model: Wireless, pervasive; rich media; XML, Web services; text mining and meta-search; Web 2.0

Also Outsourcing, Open access, “google-ocracy,” compliance

Slide 5
Users Are Moving Targets

• Personalization: 60% of us are VIPs
• Rise of amateur professionals
• Shrinking attention spans
• Reliance on peer networks
• Millennialsentering workforce, boomers exiting
• Content commoditization

Note:
The VIP thing is about a study that was done in the late 1940's and then repeated a few years ago. In the 40's 20% responded that they were very important, in the recent survey, 60% said they were VIPs--the gist is that we are getting more full of ourselves and expect to be treated accordingly

Content commoditization
   Casual indifference to intellectual property
   Authoritative sources lose relevance

Finding common themes in societal and market evolution is increasingly difficult as we move from the relatively monolithic “mass market” of yesteryear to the highly fragmented society we live in today. One theme that does stick out is that of the fractionation of everything from time to information to attention spans. Another key theme is that of individuals becoming content creators. A final key force is the changing of the workforce “guard” with the departure of boomers and the entrance of digital natives – perhaps the most distinctly different generation of workers ever.

Colleagues and peers: Colleagues are an increasingly important source of information for knowledge workers.

Blogs and other social publishing: Growing numbers of knowledge workers are reading blogs related to their work, led by IT and sales/marketing functions, which are among the most information-intensive roles. Citizen journalism, social networks, and other phenomena are all part of the same trend.

Open models: Open models of publishing in scientific publishing are speeding up the cycle of traditional peer review-processes.

Instant verification.The combination of blogs, RSS feeds, and link tracking is making it possible to quickly identify not only new information, obtain an instant read on how peers and authorities are reacting to that information.

The new credibility: Credibility is increasingly understood to mean not just that new information comes from an authoritative source, but that it can pass instant scrutiny from peers and experts.

Youth’s propensity to share. Studies of younger information users, including the Pew Internet & American Life Project, reveal how the Internet and related technologies are viewed not just as a content medium, but also as a communications medium. That generation is hard-wired to spontaneously share and distribute information in ways that defy the expectations of the information industry, and they reap psychic rewards from being in their peers’ information loops.

Relief from the glut. After years of being on their own in a do-it-yourself Internet, end users are ready for some relief from the glut. That can come in the form of intermediation and help from information managers in selecting relevant, qualified sources, bigger budgets for fee-based services, and better ways to access information held by peers and experts.

Slide 6
No Title

“...the user, or, in other words, the master, of the house will be even a better judge than the builder, just as the pilot will judge better of a rudder than the carpenter, and the guest will judge better of a feast than the cook.”

Aristotle, Politics

Slide 7
The State of Library Promotions

Government Libraries

• E-mail/newsletter campaigns (21%)
• One-on-one (18%)
• Web site optimization (16%)
• Word-of-mouth (user) (15%)
• Training sessions (13%)
• Staff orientation (10%)
• Other presentations (10%)

Slide 8
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

• Be targeted. Don’t promote everything to everyone.
• Create a visual brand that sticks.
• Make the logo persistent.
• Brand = identity.
• Make packaging consistent, professional, and attractive.
• Tell them “so what?”
• Cross sell.

Slide 9
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

Don’t promote everything to everyone.

• Remember, it’s about personalization.
• Tailor promotions to specific user segments.
• Use examples that resonate with specificusers.
• Think of your user personas.

Slide 10
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

Create a visual brand that sticks.

• Make sure it means something.
• Make it memorable.
• Let it reflect your identity.

Images: Fed Ex logo and H&R Block logo

Slide 11
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

Make the logo persistent.

• Use it on everything, including emails.
• Make sure it appears on every Web page.
• Provide deliverables in PDF for integrity.

Slide 12
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

Decide on an explicit identity.

• Draw on your mission statement.
• Define yourself as Target or Nordstrom's.
• Agree on an identity that everyone buys in to.

Slide 13
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

Make packaging consistent, professional, and attractive.

• Packaging is often overlooked.
• Packaging is your public face.
• Use templates for all deliverables.
• People can spot a Tiffany’s box from 100 yards.

Slide 14
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

Tell them “so what?”

• Not: The library has a new and improved Web site.
• Instead: The library’s new Web site makes it easier and quicker to find regulatory filings and analysis.


-or-


• Not: The reference desk phone number is 800-555-1212.
• Instead: You can get immediate answers to your questions by calling 800-555-1212.

Slide 15
Fundamentals of Promoting Services

Cross sell.

• Make agreements with other departments to link to each other’s sites.
• Formalize the referral process with other units.
• Maintain relationships with related functions.

Slide 16
Crafting the Elevator Speech

• Ask a question first. Understand the persona.
• Speak to the listener’s values, not yours.
• Make it pithy: you have one minute.
• Don’t focus on logistics here.
• Communicate two or three bullet points.
• Pique their interest.

Slide 17
Crafting the Elevator Speech

Worksheet

List top two or three stakeholder groups

• Engineers
• Administrators
• The public

List top goals for each stakeholder group

• Reduce project costs
• Identify suppliers
• Secure agency funding
• Improve safety and security

List top information pain-points or gaps for each group

• Difficulty tracking proposed regulations
• Too hard to find demographic information

Craft a paragraph speaking to the library’s solution

• Address stakeholders’ goals and pain-points

Slide 18
Communicating in Web Environments

• Leverage hypertext; link from snippets to full text.
• Create personalization through portals.
• Consider interactive publishing (blogs, wikis).
• Include multi-media where possible.
• Present information graphically.

Web communication is not simply text on the screen. Make full use of the virtual environment.

Slide 19
Three Imperatives and a Principle

• Know who you are.
• Value and communicate your brand.
• Be persistent and consistent.

Marketing is not a luxury.

Slide 20
Supporting Outsell Reports

• The Third “P”: Promoting Your Information Center
• Defining Target User Markets
• End-User Update 2008: New Findings From Outsell’s User Profile Research

Slide 21
Come By and Visit Us

Outsell, Inc.

330 Primrose Road, Suite 510
Burlingame, CA 94010
Tel. 650.342.6060 Fax 650.342.7135

7-15 Rosebery Avenue
London, EC1R 4SP
Tel. +44 (0)20 7837 3345 Fax +44 (0)20 7837 8901

http://www.outsellinc.com

Slide 22
No Title

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