Everything is Marketing & Grassroots Advocacy Presenter: Amy Gustavson (Central Carolina Community College)

1. Everything is Marketing &
Grassroots Advocacy
Amy Gustavson
Reference, Instruction, & Emerging Technologies Librarian
Central Carolina Community College
NCCCLA District 4 Meeting
July 24, 2014

2. Outcomes
• As a result of this presentation, attendees will be able to:
• Apply Marketing Theories & Techniques
• Create new Promotional Objects
• Develop a Grassroots Advocacy Campaign @ Your Library

3. Part I: Marketing is
Everything!

4. Marketing happens everywhere.
We market through:
 Personal Interactions
 the Library Website
 Signage
 Public Relations Plan

5. What’s Marketing?
Marketing is the cycle of
moving goods from
producers to consumers.
#1 - Determine
What Patrons
Want
#2 - Deliver it!
#3 - Evaluate
Customer
Satisfaction
#4 - Update
Process!
Dempsey, Kathy. The Accidental Library Marketer.
Medford, N.J.: Information Today, 2009.

6. Marketing Terms
Type Definition Example
Public
Relations
- Planned, long term
communication program via
multiple media sources
- See below
Publicity - Sending messages via official
channels to share information
- Newsletters
- Press Releases
Promotion - Growing a service or product
- Encouraging people to use a
service or product by telling
them how it will benefit them
- Facebook
- E-mail Campaigns
- Personal Interactions
Advertising - Paid media space in newspapers,
radio, etc.
- Paid print & media Ads
Branding - The process of identifying a
company and its logo with the
product
- Library Brand/Logo
Dempsey, Kathy. The Accidental Library Marketer.
Medford, N.J.: Information Today, 2009.

7. CCCC Library’s
Public Relations Plan
 Each Semester:
Library Newsletter
Campus Newsletter
Emails
Monthly:
Spotlight on Success
Bulletin Board
Displays
 Weekly:
Displays
Interactive Programs
Facebook
Ongoing:
Signage
Webpage Updates
Advocacy

8. Newsletter

9. Spotlight on Success
Monthly spotlight on all academic programs & student services.
• Monthly Themes
• Example: Save Time. Save Money. Use the Library!
• Bulletin Boards Highlighting:
• Librarians
• Instructors
• Resources
• LibGuides
• Promotional Materials
• Student Displays
• Events

10. Interactive Programs

11. Share your People!

12. Share other People!

13. Make it Stick.

14. What Sticks?
1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Credibility
5. Emotions
6. Stories
S.U.C.C.E.S.(s)

15. Simple
You’ve got to pack a lot of meaning into a concise message.
1. Find the core
2. Don’t bury the lead
3. Use the inverted pyramid

16. Unexpected
Get people to pay & keep their attention on your message.
1. Identify the central message
2. Figure out what is unusual about that message
3. Break your audience’s guessing machine
4. Share the rebuilt message

17. Concrete
Concrete ideas are easy to remember.
Curse of Knowledge = Enemy of being Concrete
The main difference between an expert and novice is that
the expert is able to see things abstractly.

18. Credible
Get people to believe your idea!
• Details
• Statistics

19. Emotional
Emotion = Caring = Action
• Power of Associations
• Self-Interest: You

20. Stories
Stories encourage an internal reenactment on the part of the
listener which burns the idea into their mind.

21. Ideas are Everywhere!

22. Borrowing Sign Ideas

23. Borrowing Display Ideas

24. Find Ideas
Library Marketing and Outreach (Group)

25. Part II: Grassroots Advocacy

26. What’s Library Advocacy?
“Advocacy can be a way to counter the view of the library as a
nonessential service to the college. Advocacy is more than
public relations… Instead, advocacy is an ongoing process that
involves professionalism across the organization from the dean
or director to the work-study student at the front desk.”
Crumpton, Michael A., and Nora J. Bird. Handbook for
Community College Librarians. Santa Barbara, CA.:
Libraries Unlimited, 2013.

27. CCCC Advocacy
• SWOT Weaknesses & Threats:
• Weak faculty relations
• President feels that the library is not necessary
• Fewer library users
• Lack of buy-in for the library on-campus

28. CCCC Advocacy Goal
• Change the perception of the library from warehouse of
books to a dynamic resource that supports our 21st century
learners and instructors.

29. How can I be an Advocate?
• Planned Outreach & Advocacy
• Sharing the Library’s Story
• Elevator Speeches for students, faculty, staff, & administration
• Talking Points on common misperceptions
• Remember: Audience Interests + Library Interests = Happiness
• Get out of the Library
Always be Prepared.
You never know who you’re going to meet!

30. Step 1: Prep Questions
1. List misperceptions about the library.
2. List 3 talking points for each group:
1. Administrators
2. Faculty
3. Staff
4. Students
3. Bonus: What’s happening at the library?

31. Step 2: Planning
• Identify your Target Audiences
• Develop 3 SMART Goals
• Finalize talking points

32. Step 3: Sharing your
Elevator Speeches!

33. Step 4: Meet SMART Goals

34. The Future?

35. Marketing & Advocacy
Resources

36. Thank you for coming!
Amy Gustavson,
Reference, Instruction,
& Emerging Technologies Librarian