This document outlines the agenda and content for a presentation on branding libraries. The presentation covers defining what a brand is, why branding is important for libraries, the 5 disciplines of brand-building, determining a library's brand and target audience, identifying competition, developing branding signals, getting staff onboard, and reviewing a case study. Key aspects of branding discussed include differentiating the library's niche, collaborating, innovating, validating the brand message, and cultivating the brand over time. The presentation provides examples and questions to help libraries develop a brand statement, driver, and strategy.

1. Branding Your Library
Presented by Jean Ayers
Ayers Consulting Group
December 12, 2008

2. Introductions

3. Program Agenda
Topic Time
Session 1: 9:30 – 10:30 AM
What Is a Brand?
Why Is Branding Important to You & Your
Library?
5 Disciplines of Brand‐Building
Break 10:30 – 10:45 AM
Session 2: 10:45 – 12:30
What Is Your Library’s Brand?
Who Is Your Audience?
What Is Your Competition?
Branding Signals
Lunch 12:30 – 1:30 PM
Session 3: 1:30 – 3:00 PM
Case Study
Getting Your Staff on Board
What Next?
Review & Closing 3:00 – 3:30 PM

4. Ground Rules
1. Ask Questions (Give Answers)
2. Take Breaks
3. Have Fun

5. What Is a Brand?

6. The Brand Game

11. What Is a Brand?
It’s not a logo

12. It’s not an “identity”

13. It’s not a product

14. A Brand Is…
…a person’s gut feeling about an organization, product, or service.

15. Consider this…
A Brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off‐strategy. It is
defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is defined
by award‐winning advertising as well as by the god‐awful ads that
somehow slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly,
sank into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishments of your best
employee—the shining star in the company who can do no wrong—as
well as by the mishaps of the worst hire that you ever made. It is also
defined by your receptionist and the music your customers are subjected
to when placed on hold. For every grand and finely worded public
statement by the CEO, the brand is also defined by derisory consumer
comments overheard in the hallway or in a chat room on the Internet.
Brands are sponges for content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They
become psychological concepts held in the minds of the public, where
they may stay forever. As such you can’t entirely control a brand. At best
you only guide and influence it.
Bedbury, Scott. A New Brand World: 8 Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the
21st Century. New York: Penguin Group, 2002.

16. Brands that get it

17. Brand vs. Branding
Brand Branding
A brand exists in a person’s mind. It’s Branding is the tangible process of
a collection of feelings and creating the signals that generate
associations that at person has about these feelings.
your library.
Source: Adamson, Allen P. Brand Simple. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

18. Why Is Branding Important?
• People have too many choices and too little
time.
• Most offerings have similar quality and
features.
• We tend to base our choices on trust.

19. Why Is Branding Important
to Your Library?
• Many libraries are facing cutbacks and some are
even being closed because of bottom‐line
concerns.
• Libraries face increasing competition in the
information marketplace.
• Libraries are vital only if the community perceives
them as vital.
• Effective branding initiatives can raise awareness
and demonstrate the value of your library’s
brand.

20. Brand or Be Branded
Who are you now?
Who do you want to be?

21. The 5 Disciplines
of Brand‐building
Source: Neumeier, Marty. The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance
Between Business Strategy and Design. Berkeley, C.A.: New Riders, 2006.

22. 1. Differentiate
• By staying focused on your library’s niche – what
differentiates it from the competition – you are better able to
prove a valuable, indispensable asset to the university (or
community) of which it is a part.
• How do you differentiate your brand? FOCUS.
– Who are you?
– What do you do?
– Why does it matter?

23. 2. Collaborate

24. 3. Innovate
Zag when others zig.
Keep it simple.

25. 4. Validate
Sender Message
Receiver

26. 5. Cultivate
Brands are like people. If people can
change their clothes without changing
their fundamental character, why
can’t brands?
Old paradigm: Control the look and
feel of a brand.
New paradigm: Influence the
character of a brand.
If a brand looks like a duck and swims
like a dog, people will distrust it.

27. What Is Your Library’s Brand?
What differentiates you?
Is it unique and relevant to your audience?
Can you deliver on the promise of this brand
idea?

28. Your Brand Driver
• Create a simple statement of what your
brand stands for.
• Make it succinct, focused, and compelling.
• This is your brand recipe – make it easy to
remember and follow.
• Include: your audience and what
differentiates you that’s relevant to them.

29. Examples of Brand Drivers
• HBO:
– To astute TV viewers, HBO is the brand of television
network that provides programming you can’t see
anywhere else.
• Pixar:
– To parents with young children, Pixar is the brand of
animated move entertainment that appeals to audiences
of all ages.
• Target:
– To value‐conscious consumers of all income levels, Target
is the brand of discount retailer that delivers great design
at reasonable prices.
Source: Adamson, Allen P. Brand Simple. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

30. A Library = An “Experience Brand”
• The brand is experienced by all the senses.
• The customer is immersed in your library’s
brand, making it easy to break the promise to
them if a single element provides a conflicting
message.
• Every interaction with the customer is an
opportunity to seal or threaten the brand.

31. Who Is Your Audience?
What do you know about them?
What problem(s) do you help
them solve?
Do you know what they want from
you?
How often do you survey your
students and faculty?
How do you translate this
knowledge into action?

32. Who or What Is Your Competition?

33. Branding Signals
What are all the different touch
points that you have with your
audience? Create a customer journey
map.
What messages do you want to send
them that will support your brand?
How can you send these messages?
Start with the physical components of
the library.
Next, consider the intangible, the
experiences of those using the
library.

34. Getting Your Staff on Board

35. Case Study

36. 10 Questions
1. What’s your brand idea? (What makes you different and
relevant to your students/faculty?)
2. Does your brand idea align with why you exist? (Can you
deliver on the brand idea?)
3. What’s your brand driver? (What’s your key message?)
4. Who/what is your competition?
5. Who is your audience?
6. How does your audience interact with your library?
7. What areas will drive the biggest return on investment?
8. How will you get your staff on board?
9. Who do you need to work with to set your ideas in motion?
10. How will you measure success?

37. Next Steps: Where to Go from Here?

38. Review
• A brand exists in your mind
• 5 steps to brand‐building
1. Differentiate
2. Collaborate
3. Innovate
4. Validate
5. Cultivate
• Define your audience and competition
• Create your branding signals
• Get everyone on board
• Deliver on the promise of your brand

39. Bibliography
Adamson, Allen P. Brand Simple. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2007.
Bedbury, Scott. A New Brand World: 8 Principles for
Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century. New
York: Penguin Group, 2002.
Dempsey, Beth. “Target Your Brand.” Library Journal 129.13
(August 2004): 32‐5
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA443911.html
Neumeier, Marty. The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the
Distance Between Business Strategy and Design.
Berkeley, C.A.: New Riders, 2006.

40. Jean Ayers
jean.ayers@gmail.com