Do You Make Reporters Jump Through Hoops?

Publicity Hound Joan Stewart's latest tips of the week include some good advice on what not to do if you hope to ever get publicity and how to keep your message clear when talking to reporters.

Check out the first story for some great tips on how not to treat reporters or anyone looking for information about your library or organization. Joan's tips include (go read her article for complete details):

1. Make sure your front-line employees understand the importance of media inquiries.
   
   
2. When you get a fabulous media hit, include it at your website.
   
   
3. Put contact information--including a shipping address, phone number and email address--in an easy-to-find place on your homepage.

As well as making sure front-line employees understand the importance of media inquiries, make sure everyone has a list of the events and programs going on in the library that day easily accessible. It's frustrating for patron, the media or anyone to ask about an event they saw listed in the newspaper, or your newsletter, only to be greeted with a blank stare from someone who hasn't been informed of the day's events.

Joan's tips bring up another point. Do you have an online newsroom? Most of the library Web sites I visit don't, but probably should. Online newsrooms aren't just for big corporations, they're something most libraries will probably benefit from as well. Online newsrooms should contain quick and easy access to your news releases, fast facts, statistics, testimonials, historical and contact information, and anything else the media might need or want to know when doing a story on you. And online newsrooms aren't just for the media. Library staff and customers will visit them for facts and stats as well. If you do have an online newsroom, make sure it's up-to-date and is easy to find from your home page.

Brochure Design: Creating a Winner

I spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a good brochure while re-designing OhioLINK's brochures. Some of the tips I found really resonated with me, in fact they resonated enough that I was able to see our current brochure with fresh eyes and give it the overhaul it desperately needed.

So here's a compendium of some of the tips that helped me.

First, the ever-insightful Seth Godin reminded us that people won't read your brochure. His tips (go to the post for more):

• Use less copy. Half as much.
• Use testimonials. With photos. Short captions. It's hard to have too many of the good ones.
• Make it funny enough or interesting enough or, hey, remarkable enough that people will want to show it to their friends.
• Show, don't tell.

Another helpful article is "Effective Brochure Design":

• Use white space
• Stick to two typefaces, and strictly limit your use of bold, capitalization, underline, etc.

These key tips from SouthlandNZ.com are also good:

• Make the cover as POWERFUL as possible.
  
• Use a single quality image on the cover. Research suggests that one large image is more effective then several small ones.
  
• Be easy to identify – use your logo effectively. Develop a consistent theme for your printed material.
  

And, because you can never have too many tips, here are a few from me:

• Focus on the reader. It's not about what you offer. It's about what you can do for them. Which of their problems can you solve?
  
• Looks matter. If you don't have the design skills to create a killer brochure, hire someone, talk to your campus marketing office, or find a design student to help you.
  
• Don't use a template. You want to stand out from the crowd, using a common template does just the opposite.
  
• Avoid jargon at all costs. And some of the things you think aren't jargon, are. Instead of talking about the databases you have, tell me how they can help me.
  
• Just say no to clip art. I don't know about you, but clip art screams amateur to me. If you need good graphics on a budget try iStockphoto.com. It's awesome.
  
• Get a second opinion. Have someone outside the library look at the brochure and give you a frank opinion.
• Include all your contact information. That means your address, e-mail, IM, phone, URL, etc. These should be on everything you produce.

So what does a good library brochure look like? Here are a few I found:

• University of Saskatchewan
  
• Kennesaw University Library brochure

What brochures would you add to the list?

Good Resource: Get to the Po!nt

I keep meaning to post something about Get to the Po!nt, Marketing Prof's newish e-newsletter. Well, actually I keep meaning to post something period, but, I digress. Anyway, back to the Po!nt, ignore the tagline "small business secrets in 60 seconds," this e-newsletter has great tips for anyone who cares about marketing and promotion period.

Some of the particularly relevant issues include:

• Cut Down on Printing Costs
• Three Tips for Writing for the Web
  
• Don't Censor Online Feedback
• What Makes a Great Logo
• Five Tips for Effective Survey Design
• How to Drum Up Word of Mouth

Get to the Po!nt is also a great example of everything library e-newsletters should be: short, interesting, useful, attractively designed and relevant. It's on my wouldn't it be great list to have an e-newsletter of short research tips with everything from ways to search Google more effectively, to quick and helpful uses of that database no one without an MLS understands how to use anyway. Wouldn't it be better to stop telling people that X database has x,000 journals and articles and start telling people what they can actually do with it? Read Time magazine online, get the reports needed to make better business decisions, keep up to date with your industry news, etc.

Good Stuff Worth Sharing

• Using jargon and putting more than four bullet points on a slide are just two of the 10 Dumb Things Smart Communicators Do read the complete list at Media Orchard.
  
  
• The Travelin' Librarian's notes on The Customer-Centered Library: How to Stop Tweaking and Start Doing It with New Steps for 2007 are a must read.
  
  
• Don't resort to oversize cardboard checks and scissors for that next photo op, get more creative ideas from Joan Stewart's April 10 edition of the Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week. Scroll down to Cardboard Checks and Scissors.
  
  
• James Oliver Cury, executive editor at CondéNet's Epicurious.com offers some good tips to keep in mind when pitching story ideas to the media in Recipe for Healthy Media Fare: Epicuious Editor Dishes on Patience, In-Person PR.
  

Clear and Simple Branding Basics

Are you confused about branding? Not sure branding is important for libraries? Then you definitely need to read Branding: How to Keep Your Practice from Being Plain Vanilla by Stewart Gandolf and Lonnie Hirsh. Yes, it's geared toward dentists, but the concepts are the same no matter what business you're in. This is a very clear and helpful article. They've stripped out the marketing jargon and added in a lot of good tips, such as:

Everything must tie together - from how your phone is answered, how long patients wait, and your choice of uniforms ... to your technology, your manner, your location (signage, building, entrance, furniture, colors of the walls), which services you promote, and much more. If you decide you want to be the “leading-edge dentist in town,” you can’t limp along with a 1970s Brady Bunch look-alike office.

All of that is so true for libraries too. If librarians and staff wish to be perceived as research and information professionals, then that image needs to be reinforced in everything, from the customer service you provide, to the publications you produce and yes, even down to the clothes you wear. When I was an intern at a credit union, the president explained that dress-down days and casual clothing weren't ever allowed because we were in the trust business. Who are you more likely to trust with your hard-earned cash, the uber-professional in a crisp suit and tie, or someone in jeans and a t-shirt? While I like to wear jeans to work as much as the next person (more probably), he was right.

The article also offers are some critical brand-building points to consider:

Start with the patient’s value system...Effective branding communicates to the tastes, attitudes, and sensibilities of the buyer, not the seller.

This is one we often miss. Talk about the benefits patrons will receive (save time, money, hassle), do research at home in your pjs, or get a better grade on your paper.

Identify a value-added edge over the competition. What is highly unique about your practice that delivers value to the patient over and above whatever else is available in the marketplace? Whatever issue you choose to compete upon, it needs to be the one thing that best characterizes the experience, and has to be the centerpiece for everything you do and say about the practice.

Be willing to offend someone. By definition, your positioning must be unique; therefore, you cannot be everything to everyone. The challenge will be to appeal to many, while recognizing that your positioning cannot be universal. Being everything to everyone is not unique, and that’s the same as vanilla.

Guard your brand zealously. Once you’ve created your brand, you should beware of the trap of carrying the message banner for others.

Deliver a consistent experience. People prefer consistent quality to nasty surprises, and a brand isn’t really a brand if the practice doesn’t deliver a consistent, high-quality experience. That’s why it’s easy to understand why budget-minded American students traveling through Europe often pass on local fare to eat at McDonald’s. Remember, just a few negative experiences can blow your brand credibility and betray the trust you’ve worked so hard to build.

Deliver consistent branded communications. In addition to delivering consistent in-office experiences, you must effectively communicate your brand message at every marketing opportunity. This means your Yellow Pages ad, Web site, brochures, etc. (Our next article will cover practice brochures, which should be the foundation of your marketing and branding communication.)

This is a tricky one, especially at libraries where there isn't a marketing or PR person who coordinates all the writing and design needs. When you have multiple people producing Web sites, brochures, fliers, presentations, etc., it's hard to be consistent. Especially in those kinds of situations it's important to have logo guidelines, a style guide and a point person or two to help you provide a consistent look.

(Hat tip to Jill Stover for pointing this article out.)

Good Stuff: Customer Service Tips

My customer service kick continues. Here are some links to other good stuff worth sharing:

1. We Don’t Like You Go Away - Seth Godin’s Blog:
“Hey, I know that your last customer was a jerk. I know that you get asked the same stupid questions over and over. I know that people don't appreciate you, they're boors, they're selfish, they're in a hurry.

But, here's the thing: I'm not those people. I've never been here before. I didn't do anything wrong! Don't blame me for them.”

2. Business Week’s “Rules for Making a Good First Impression” (via Library Voice):
Rule #1: Respond within 24 Hours
Rule #2: Greet People with Enthusiasm
Rule #3: Make Eye Contact
Rule #4: Leave Smart Voice Messages
Rule #5: Respect Contacts
Rule #6: Mind Your E-Mail
Rule #7: Remember Small Touches

3. Guy Kawaski's The Art of Customer Service & Doug Hanna's The Art of Customer Service II

I just loooove Seth's post. Get your fix of more customer service articles here.

Turning to the Hospitality Industry for Customer Service Tips

After reading my Determinants of Delight post, Patrick Graham, director of the Pitts Theology Library at Emory University, wrote to share his positive experience of turning to the hospitality industry for customer service advice. Graham invited Stuart Newmark, Sr. VP of Operations for the Kessler Collection (a group of about 10 boutique hotels), to come talk to his librarians and staff about what they refer to as “customer care.”

Mr. Newmark, did a four hour workshop for all of our staff--catalogers to IT to reference staff. It was a big hit and we continue to work through what we learned that day and look for appropriate application/translation from the hospitality industry to that of academic libraries. He left us a copy of a book that had been critical for the culture that they aim for in their hotels, Positively Outrageous Service, and I've found it both inspirational and helpful.

I asked Pat if he would share the memorable points from that talk and he graciously did.

• It's important to make an emotional connection with customers
• Need to be passionate about customer service
• Service culture is not just a technique, and it comes much easier for some than others.
• Important comments regarding hiring of the right staff; he talked about the importance of hiring people who really care about others and see service as an honor or privilege; if you make a mistake in hiring and cannot cultivate the employee into the type of person needed, you need to do both of yourselves a favor and send the person on his/her way.
• The customer is NOT always right, but is always the customer. Allow the customer to be wrong with dignity.
• Continuously evaluate & seek feedback; aim for a zero defect policy.
• Celebrate the successes of your staff--via public recognition, small gifts, etc.
• Aim to create WOW moments.
• Always try to answer Yes--unless the request is immoral, unethical or unsafe.
• Empower your staff to make decisions to respond to unusual circumstances (and train them so that they can do this well).
• Discussion of core values
  
  

Graham shared more tips about the talk:

We had our staff develop of list of almost 20 questions that we'd like him to address--many relate to challenges we face in our library work--and enjoyed having him work through them with us.

We created a Client Care task force and blog back in the fall and have now instituted a Positively Outrageous Service button so that our staff can commend one another for examples of positively outrageous service. I think we'll share the contributions at our monthly staff meetings and draw one for a complimentary $5 Starbucks gift card. We'll see how that works.

The Pitts Library also created the Client Care at Pitts blog to support their discussions. Check it out for more resource links.

Thanks, Pat, for sharing this great idea. I often think libraries can learn from other industries, it's great to have this positive example to share. On a personal note, I really appreciate every comment and e-mail I receive here, they inspire me to keep blogging (see this is two posts in one month! A record as of late). So if you feel the slightest twinge of desire to leave feedback, please do so.

E-Mail Pitch Tips: What Not to Do

*updated 4/10/07

Sooner or later everyone has to ask for a favor or pitch a complete stranger via e-mail. I’m sure no one does this with the intention of doing it badly, but lately I’ve been on the receiving end of some less than stellar examples of e-mail pitches. So I'm taking this opportunity to jot down some tips to keep in mind when writing a pitch e-mail, or any e-mail really.

First, a quick note on the jargon. I’m using the word pitch to cover a lot of possibilities: the sales pitch, the media pitch (where you try to interest a reporter or editor in a story), even the idea pitch. Then there is the favor pitch, for lack of a better term, where you ask someone to do you a favor, pass along some information, provide information to you, etc. There are oodles of tips for media pitches online and they’re worth reading, but many of those tips should apply to ANY e-mail you send.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Just say no to attachments! Some people may not mind them, but it's best to play it safe. Don’t send an attachment to someone who doesn’t know you. Attachments take time to download, take time to open in another program, and are used to transmit viruses. Today I received a sales pitch e-mail, but all it had was an attached PDF file and contact information. Now I’m nosy, so I did open it. The PDF was just a list of the company's services. These could have easily been incorporated into the body of the e-mail.
   
   
2. State the desired action. A good pitch should include a specific call to action. Are you sending information that you hope this person forward to an e-mail list, publish in their newsletter, or just as an FYI? Include a polite, but specific request. I receive press releases in both my work and personal e-mail accounts that do not include context or introductory information and I'm not sure why I'm receiving them in the first place. These get deleted because I don't have time to figure it out. But if someone sends me relevant information and asks me to pass it along I'll always do so.
   
   
3. Get the right information to the right person. Sending unsolicited information to someone who doesn’t want it is spamming them. No one likes spam, so don’t send it. Not everyone will be interested in everything you send, that’s ok, but don’t send things that are completely irrelevant.
   
   
4. Be wary of HTML and graphics. This may just be a personal pet peeve, but I feel strongly that HTML e-mails that use multiple typefaces, type sizes, bold, italics, and colors just end up distracting from your message. Any one of these techniques can be used rarely and tastefully to help enhance your message, but remember that less is definitely more in this area.
   
   I’m sure you’ve all heard the warnings about how different e-mail software displays these things differently, and some people and organizations have settings turned to not display HTML or images. A nicely designed, well-formatted HTML e-mail is fine, but these are rare. If you must use these techniques, be sure to include a link so recipients can view it online.
   
   
5. Keep it simple! If completing your call to action is too complicated or confusing, then your message will be ignored. For example, I recently received an audio card. Usually I won’t open these things, but this one had a good headline on some information I wanted to know and since there was no text, I had no choice but to listen. I clicked and was taken to a Web site. I had to search for the appropriate link and click again, which I did. I was then taken to a page with no clear direction of where to find the audio message, so I grew frustrated and gave up. If you must send your message by audio, I’d recommend keeping the steps needed to access it down to one or two, tops and including the text transcript or summary where people can easily access it instead of the audio if they prefer.
   
   
6. Be professional. There is a time and a place to be cute, but that time rarely happens while you're on the clock. Please carefully reconsider those graphics e-mail backgrounds that can’t be turned off, the hilarious quote you just love, and decorating your signature in a lavender-colored script. Not everyone is going to find it as cute as you do, and it may detract from the message you want to send.
   
   
7. Avoid meaningless words or acronyms. If the first sentence of your e-mail is filled with alphabet soup, or words that are used so often they've become meaningless (quality, value, best fastest, etc.) you're going to lose readers. The MarketingProf's article I read today, Want Better Copy? Take a Tip from Zig Ziglar, reminded me of this point. If you've read to the end of a vendor's description of software or a new product and still wondered what the heck the product actually does, you've experienced this phenomenon. Rather than relying on overused words that have lost any meaning (and trigger our BS detectors), use specific example of why, for example, library resources are better or more trustworthy than those on the Web. Also beware of creating an e-mail that looks like alphabet soup. If you use acronyms be sure to identify what they mean quickly, and too many acronyms, even defined ones, become too confusing. (added 4/10/07)

I’ll be adding to this list as the mood strikes. What am I missing?

The Determinants of Delight

I went to a marketing research workshop this week. The presenter said many things that stuck with me, but I keep thinking about two of them:

1. The determinants of delight are different than the determinants of expectation.
2. Satisfaction = Performance - Expectation

Some of this builds on something I've been mulling over and wanting to post about for some time. How do we get customers/users/patrons to get excited about libraries? To recommend us? How do we go beyond satisfying people and really delight them? What are the determinants of delight?

Sadly, it doesn't seem very hard to satisfy people these days. And yet it happens rarely. Satisfactory service is practically delightful because current service expectations are so low.

I recently experienced delight. The workshop I went to was held at the Cincinnati Convention Center. It was recommended that we stay in the Cincinnati Marriott at RiverBend. So I did. Generally, I just hope a hotel won't suck. That is won't be dirty, that the bed won't hurt my back, etc. But this hotel, well it was great from the moment I arrived until the moment I left.

First, it's impressive and spotless when you walk into the hotel. My room was spotless. The bed was a dream complete with a down-filled duvet comforter (the only way to sleep in my opinion). The bathroom was stocked with products from Bath&Body. When I called the front desk they greeted me by name before asking how they could help me. If you passed a hotel employee they would smile and greet you. I was impressed.

Then, on the morning of my last day there, a hotel employee went above and beyond by helping me find my car in the parking garage. Yes, you read that right. I'm one of those. And it was very embarrassing. Telling you about it is embarrassing. But I was lost and panicked because I was running late for the last day of the workshop. And even more amazingly, he didn't show the slightest hint of what he had to be thinking (which had to be what an idiot. Even I was thinking it). This last bit of my stay bumped me up to delighted.

Which once again got me thinking about how we can delight library customers?

• Smile. Yes I know you do. All the time. But some of those other people, well they don't, I've seen them.
  
• Be really nice, all the time. Yes, we all have bad days. But it's intimidating to ask anyone for help. We don't like to admit we don't know something. And that is what most libraries do, wait for people to ask for help. So if they ask, and then have a bad experience, guess what? They aren't coming back. Ever.
  
• Get back to them as soon as possible. Answer e-mails and voice mails ASAP. Especially if you have a generic address (info@library.org, etc.), because expectations that you'll even answer are probably pretty low.
• Limit the times you say no. Rules are made to be broken, and maybe it was a bad rule in the first place. Once I noticed two books still listed on my public library account that I had returned. I called the library to ask about it. I expected a problem because how could I prove I returned them. The staff member I talked to apologized and took them off my account without question. She could have easily said no. I was delighted.
• Emphasize the positive, not the negative, in signage, announcements, etc.
• Speak their language. No one like to feel stupid and when you don't understand the words someone is using you tend to feel stupid. (says she who spent three days hearing the term cross-tabs and multivariate analysis with no clue what they were).
  
• Go above and beyond. I received an e-mail from a patron about a corrupt PDF of an article in our Electronic Journal Center. As per usual, we asked the publisher to resupply the file and told the customer we couldn’t guarantee when or if it will be delivered. I recommend he contact his library to get the article via ILL. He wrote back to ask if we could notify him when the article is delivered. We don’t have an automatic way to do this, so I explained that and repeated the please contact your library bit. But it occurred to me that just because there wasn't an automatic way to notify someone of this, didn't mean I couldn't do it. So I kept checking our journal center to see if the PDF was delivered and a day later it was. When I e-mailed the article to him, he was delighted. It only cost me a few extra minutes, but I bet that person has a much better opinion of OhioLINK after that.
• Listen to what they want and give it to them. Look, I know you’re afraid of food and drink spills on books, keyboards and the carpet, but what if you had to work all day without a drink or a snack? Would that be a comfortable environment you'd want to visit again and again? Making the library comfortable makes a big difference. See Coffee's On, Dusty Books Are Out at UMass Library.

That's my working list so far. I hope to add to it with your help. So tell me, what are the other determinants of delight and how can we meet them?

Winning the Battle Against Library Jargon

Anyone writing copy for library newsletters, Web sites or other publications should read "Start Making Sense" by Ann Wylie (Public Relations Tactics, October 2004, vol. 11, issue 10, p. 17). You can read the print version or read the full text online in Business Source Premier (Ohioans can read the full text of Tactics and thousands of other magazines and journals through their school, public or academic library. I fear that few Ohioans know this or realize how cool it is).

Most librarians and library staff realize that there is a ton of jargon in library-land which we need to avoid using. I think there are also a lot of terms that we think users understand, which they really don't. The real harm with jargon is that it alienates your audience. According to Wylie it also:

* Makes your copy longer.
* Forces the reader to work harder.
* Makes it harder for the media to use your information.
* Illustrates that your organization may be in trouble.
* Demonstrates your ignorance.

Wylie offers three steps to clear communication:

* Define your audience

You can get away with using industry-specific jargon in trade publications and with insiders, but not with your outside audiences.

* Rethink definitions. The most common way to define terms on first reference is: "Unfamiliar term, familiar term ...." This is not the most friendly way.

*Use the B2B test.

Wylie describes the B2B (is it just me, or is this one of the most annoying examples of business jargon in existence?) test as going to trade publications' Web sites and searching for questionable terms to determine if they are jargon or not. You can adapt this test by searching local media sites for terms you use in your press releases. You can also search sites relevant to perspective audiences, or simply question audience members if they understand your terms are not. If not, don't use them!

JibJab's Second Spoof a Hit

Good To Be In DC!, the second political parody by JibJab Media Inc., makers of This Land!, is a hit. Good To Be In DC! debuted on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 7 and was also shown on the Today Show on October 8. The Today Show reported that more people have watched Good To Be In DC! than have visited both Kerry and Bush's Web sites. B. L. Ochman's site has the details.

I like this site for several reasons. First, it's hilarious. I watched it again while sitting here and suffering through the presidential debate. Which shows how timely the release date is. I also think it's a great tactic. The brothers who created this parody, Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, are honest about their efforts. They unabashedly plugged their DVD during their interview with Matt Lauer this morning.

I did have one complaint after my first visit to the JibJab site. I couldn't find a link to more information about the creators or contact information. I made a second visit this evening and after clicking on every link possible I did eventually find contact information and a blog (albeit an outdated one) hiding on the copyright statement page.

So why did the Spiridellis brothers create a second parody?

Jay Leno asked if we'’d be interested in making another one to debut on The Tonight Show, we said, “YES! YES! TAKE US, JAY! TAKE US!”

...We set specific goals for the sequel. We wanted to make you laugh (obviously). We wanted to stamp our brand on your brain again (JibJab! JibJab!). But most of all we wanted to make you say to yourself, “Dang! Those guys busted my gut! I’d pay ten bucks to see their movie!”

What does this have to do with library marketing and communications? A lot. If you want media attention, or the attention of users, non-users, etc. you need to be:
*relevant
*timely
*honest
*informative

You also need to keep communicating in order to reach new users, inform potential users and stakeholders, and remind current users why you exist and how your resources and services benefit them.

Gregg and Evan Spiridellis' experiences also demonstrate another important lesson. If you can't reach the audience you want to, maybe you can get your advocates to do it for you. I'm not saying trick them into cheering for you (you can't), but give them something so great they can't wait to spread the good news for you. Gregg and Evan couldn't interest film and television companies into talking to them until after they posted This Land!, it spread rapidly through the Internet and into the mainstream media, and was viewed by millions. This lesson applies not just when you're trying to reach the media, but also when you're trying to reach legislators and other influencers, and even users (maybe students will listen to faculty more than librarians?).

What's in a Name?

While surfing from Weblog to Weblog tonight, I ran across a post about "The 9 Keys to Naming Success" on the Origins of Brands Blog.

I've been thinking about names a lot lately. It started when I was reading Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing by Harry Beckwith (which, by the way you should check out if you haven't already). Harry's chapter on names is aptly titled "Monogram Your Shirts, Not Your Company: Naming and Branding." This chapter really struck a chord with me in reference to libraries. When I first started working for a public library (my first library gig) I was constantly asking or trying to figure out what one acronym after another meant. There's ALA, OLC, ACRL, iii, YBP, etc. I won't even go into all the OhioLINK-specific acronyms that exist. If people in the library world have trouble keeping all these acronyms straight, how can users possibly cope?

Getting the Word Out By Bus

If you missed The Bay Area's Best Value By Ronnie Davis in the September 14, 2004 issue of Library Journal, be sure to check it out. The article details how nine library systems in the San Francisco Bay area publicized themselves in a joint campaign, using ads on busses and other tactics.

I love the idea of using bus ads, and other innovative means (innovative for libraries anyway) to promote libraries and their services. In a similar vein, Kent State University Libraries, an OhioLINK member, promoted the consortium's online chat service by posting banners on campus busses. We definitely need to spend more time promoting the library outside of our buildings and Web sites. Unfortunately, current practice seems to be just the opposite.

PR Mistakes You Don't Want to Make

Why you shouldn't send Word documents to journalists, or anyone else for that matter.

For more information on similar problems see the original post about this topic on PR Opinions.