Word-of-Mouth Marketing for Libraries

Instructor:

Ann Millerannkenneymiller@yahoo.com

An Infopeople Workshop

Summer/Fall 2006

This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople Project

Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project supported by the California State Library. It provides a wide variety of training to California libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered around the state and are open registration on a first-come, first-served basis.

For a complete list of workshops, and for other information about the project, go to the Infopeople website at infopeople.org.

Workshop Overview What is word-of-marketing and why you

should care

Making the most of social networks

Electronic word-of-mouth marketing

Case studies

Action plans

Introductions

Name

Library

Position Burning desire that brought you to

this workshop

What does the word

“marketing”

mean to you?

Marketing - Textbook Definition:

The activities of listening to customer needs, assessing the competitive landscape and then designing and creating products and services accompanied by messages that shape audience perceptions, leading to opportunities for revenue.

Translation

Find out what they want

Give it to them at a reasonable cost

Tell them about it

Four P’s of the Marketing Mix

Product

Place

Price

Promotion

You ARE a marketer, now deal with it!

From the blog, creating passionate users http://headrush.typepad.com

Old School vs. Neo-Marketing

OLDMarketing department

NEWEveryone’s responsibility

Library controls Users have power

Library’s content Users’ content

Focus groups, surveys User feedback

Advertising Evangelizing

One way broadcast Two-way, iterative conversation

Exercise #1

Word-Of-Mouth Bingo

What is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?

Activities that generate personal

recommendations and referrals for your

library, its services, or “products”

Why Should I Care ?

Traditional marketing is becoming less

effective

information overload

skeptical public

“narrowcasting”

Potential for the exponential

Message is recorded (somewhere!), no longer ephemeral

Vital for “hard-to-reach” groups

Affordable for libraries!

Technology Pumps It Up!

It All Begins With One-to-One

One-to-one is: Trusted Timely Tailored

I Thought Viral Was a Bad Thing …?

Word-of-mouth – person to person

Viral – word-of-mouth enhanced by online interactions

Buzz – Everyone is talking about it – message is no longer moving linearly

Word-of-mouth Is Not Appropriate When:

Product is complicated

Forced, fake, or bought

Product is a dog

Creating a Buzz

Let’s give them something to talk about!

The Wow! factor

“Six Buttons of Buzz”

Taboo

Outrageous

Unusual

Hilarious

Remarkable

Secrets

(from Mark Hughes, Buzz Marketing)

From David McCusker and American River College Library’s Chimes newsletter:“In an attempt to minimize the inevitable confusion between JSTOR and J-Kwon, we’ve prepared this handy chart for quick reference for you and your students:”

•Librarians can help you and your students navigate JSTOR.

•Full-text articles in JSTOR are available only to students, faculty, and staff of participating institutions.

•JSTOR is a “scholarly tool of enormous potential.”•Issues of journals in JSTOR are never “out"; they are always available.

•Unfortunately, if you have any difficulties with J-Kwon, you are on your own.

•Full text J-Kwon lyrics are available to anyone with an Internet connection.

•It remains to be seen what potential this young mc may possess.

•Our fruitless attempts to contact J-Kwon suggest that he is frequently out and rarely available.

Exercise #2

Adapt a Case History

The People Who Make it Happen

“Influentials” Mavens Ambassadors Salespeople Connectors

(From Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point)

Exercise #3

Are You a Connector?

Tapping Into Social Networks

Who are three “connectors” you can use to

spread your message?

“Sales people”?

Mavens?

Ambassadors?

Spreading the Word

Listening not telling

Use the feedback loop- even if it hurts

Audience expectations

Customized

Content driven

Creative

Connected

Napa Valley Register – comment on a story

The Long Tail Distributing more of niche

market items

Santa Clara County Library on Wikipedia

Networking in Organizations

Staff

Library volunteers

Service organizations

Participate in your community

Introducing Yourself to a New Network

Your “elevator speech”

clear, concise, compelling

no mumbo jumbo

end with invitation for interaction

Exercise #4

Words to Avoid

You Can Only Go Up From Here…

http://www.elevatorspeech.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=videos

Not so good…

Hi, my name is Ann Miller and I am head of Collection Development for Boring Public Library. My job is to expedite the workflow of our catalogers and cataloging techs and to purchase digital and print collections that provide reciprocal and parallel functionality with the other partners in our consortium.

Sample “Hooks”• Americans go to the library 16% more often than they go to the

movies.

• There are more libraries in the U.S. than there are McDonalds.

• California libraries spent an average of $25 per capita for one year of public library service. That’s less than the cost of one book...

• Our library buys over 25,000 items every year. That’s over 2,000 new books, movies and music CDs that are on our shelves every month.

• Our library has 60 computers with high-speed Internet access. That’s $360,000 work of Internet access for free.

Your “Elevator Speech”: What can you say in the

time it takes for an elevator ride ?

Exercise #5

Electronic Word-of-Mouth

Email newsletters

Link building

Blogs

Email Newsletters Publish for pennies Opt in Privacy policy Measuring email

marketing good: Opened better: click-through best: forwarded

E-newsletter

Example of an E-newsletter Report

Writing for the Web Reading online is different than

print Users:

skip intros scan headings Register first words of headings Average 51 seconds reading an e-

newsletter

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/newsletters.html Eye-tracking heat map

Library Blog: Why? Build relationships

Listen, get feedback

Preview new services

Build communities

Solve problems Collaborate to create new and better library

services

Qualities of a Blogger

Time and commitment to blog

Well-informed

Opinionated

Truthful

Good writer

Authentic voice

Link Building The “usual suspects” – schools, newspapers,

& cities Unexpected links – blogs, hobbyist groups,

tourism sites, etc. “Link bait” – using the outrageous or

unexpected to drive people to your site

Writing a link request Write to a person not just a title (webmaster) Start a dialog, be helpful Reference something in their site that shows

you are an avid reader Be specific about how your site is relevant to

theirs Give an example of what the link might look

like

Hennepin County Library on MySpace

Individual Librarian on MySpace

Boston Public Library on Wikipedia

Libraryman on Flickr

St. Joseph County PL on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrtYdFV_Eak

Wikipedia Discussion about Boston PL

Second Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrtYdFV_Eak

Exercise #6

Write Your Action Plan

One thing you learned today?

Evaluations