Referees and Librarians

Hi again, and welcome to my blog!

Have you ever thought about how unfair it is that both people and businesses pay taxes? No, I’m not talking about how some businesses don’t pay any taxes at all even if they’re profitable (as reported by ITEP), or the fact that the United States tax laws (including regulations) are more than 75,000 pages long (as reported by Forbes). No, instead I’m only focusing on the fact that both businesses and individuals are regulated by the IRS. Sure, businesses make a profit, and one could argue it is the government’s job to redistribute that wealth for the betterment of society, which gave the business its wealth. But can the same be said for people?

I think it comes down to the fact that people are their own business. For example, businesses advertise to attract new customers, employees, and investors. People advertise, mostly through social networking sites (SNS), to attract new friends/followers (i.e., customers), new employers, and investors (e.g., funding a Kickstarter or signing a Change.org campaign). Businesses have maintenance costs for regular upkeep. Individuals must regularly trim, shave, style, or otherwise regularly improve their appearance, which can be claimed as maintenance. There are more similarities, but what I am getting at is that if we consider a person is a business, then it makes more sense why people and businesses are taxed.

You’re probably wondering how this applies to libraries. Well, just like people must continually market themselves to co-workers, employers, friends/followers, and investors, so too must libraries market themselves to their communities. If we consider people as businesses, then libraries must engage in business-to-business (B2B) marketing. Narrowing down the type of marketing a library must engage in not only limits the number of variables a marketing plan must address, but also provides insight into how to find tools to ensure the marketing plan is successful. An excellent primer on B2B Marketing can be found at Entrepreneur.com.

I am a fan of marketing through blogging (which worked because you’re reading this) because it is easy, shares my thoughts and unique view of the world, and is overall fun. Therefore, I am comfortable with it. I also recommend sharing videos, online games (such as those recommended by KQED and TechRaptor), and SNS updates (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn) though I am not as comfortable with those and have very few suggestions for what makes “good” advertising.

Many libraries have blogs and websites devoted to their goings-on and local areas. But without a solid marketing strategy, primarily defining whom the library is marketing to, and what the library hopes to achieve with its marketing, then advertising fails which can be horribly comedic (as shown by PCMag.com) and turn an asset into a liability. A large part of that marketing plan should be “tooting your own horn” in a sensible way. By this I mean that while repeating the same message through various platforms has a place in advertising (as explained by Skyword), libraries can drive brand awareness more by promoting their community’s interests than just talking about themselves.

Two weeks ago I spent $5 and asked Google to survey 50 Android users across America with the question, “If your local library started a blog, and if the library could write about anything, what would make the blog interesting enough for you to read it?” Out of the 50 responses, 29 percent said they wanted information about the local area, local issues, local events, and local history. Another 21 percent wanted information about library programs, services, book reviews/recommendations, and how libraries open the world for others. Considering this was an open question with 50 possible unique answers, it is incredible that 50 percent of respondents asked for these two categories of information.

When it comes down to it, I’m comfortable “tooting my own horn” to promote my blog, and libraries should be comfortable with it too, but only in relation to tooting the community’s horn. I am good with computers, but I am not a genius. I can use analytics and metrics all day long to chart what is useful and what isn’t, but I cannot guarantee a fantastic blog post every time. Therefore, libraries should not be concerned with perfection, only with engagement, which is #2 on the marketing strategy requirements I listed above. Insofar as libraries and I stick to a commonsense marketing plan, and use a few of the sources I pointed out earlier, then we can overcome weaknesses in other areas. Much like a referee gets yelled at for making a bad call during a game, librarians can make bad calls in their advertising. The critical action is whether the librarian follows the referee’s example and gets back in the game until the very end.

Thanks again for stopping by and as always, safe travels my friends!