One to Watch: Mark Lives in IKEA

As a major IKEA fan (try the Daim chocolate. Go on. It's impossible not to love it.), I have to say that Mark Malkoff is living my dream. This is just brilliant publicity for IKEA, but how many other stores would have said yes to this? (though I can't help wondering if it was really completely Malkoff's idea in the first place. It's just such great publicity!)

I'm not sure spending the night in the library would have the same appeal, but would you say yes if someone wanted to pull a similar stunt in your library? Before you say no to a wild idea, spend some time thinking about why you should say yes. As Seth Godin reminds us, you can't be remarkable without taking risks and trying something new.

Are You Raking In the Compliments?

Since many librarians prefer not to toot their own horns, why not let your customers sing your praises for you? Last week’s Get to the Po!nt e-newsletter was a great reminder that we need to make it easy for happy customers to compliment us. The newsletter referenced a post at Andy Sernovitz’s interesting Damn! I Wish I’d Thought of That! blog (subscribed!) and included Sernvitz’s tips for opening the door to positive feedback:

• Let customers leave compliments on an "Employee Thank You" wall stocked with paper, pencils and thumbtacks.
• Ask your customers to vote in the Employee of the Month contest.
• Put your Web site's feedback form in a prominent location.
• Invite free-form comments on post-purchase surveys. "You're not going to get praise from a multiple-choice question," writes Sernovitz.

Not only does this let customers easily give you kudos, the testimonials you receive may provide great tools to help you tell your story in newsletters, annual reports, board reports and more. Testimonials also show staff that their good work and service is noticed and appreciated, so be sure to share them.

At OhioLINK, we post stories from our users on our news site as well as our testimonials page. This idea was highly inspired by Google's Press Center. There is also a form to submit stories online and once a year we encourage our member libraries to help us find great testimonials for our annual report. Having these testimonials easily accessible and available to all makes them much more useful for us and our members.

New OCLC Report: Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World

OCLC just published another must-read report, Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World. This report summarizes the findings from an international study on online social spaces, including social networking attitudes and habits of both end users and librarians. It explores social participation and cooperation on the Internet and how it may impact the library’s role, including:

• The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web
• How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues
• Opinions on privacy online
• Libraries’ current and future roles in social networking

One interesting tidbit from the report: Internet activity keeps going up. Search engine use increased from 71% to 90%. E-mail use grew from 73% to 97%. And the use of blogs, went from 16% to 46% in 18 months. While all those activities keep going up, up up, use of library Web sites dropped from 30% in 2005 to 20% in 2007. Sure different populations and even a few different nationalities were surveyed in the two reports, but still that stat is worth some thought.

Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World follows on the heels of another must-read OCLC report, College Students’ Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources.

New Use for the Trusty Lemonade Stand

I love this idea. Denison University Library hosts a lemonade stand at their welcome back reception for students and staff. Peggy Rector, from the Denison University Library, was kind enough to share all the details.

This past fall, the event was held on the third day of classes and “went over much better than when it was held on the first day of classes.” Thirty-seven gallons of lemonade and almost 20 dozen cookies were served during the three hour event. Librarians and staff from throughout the library were invited to volunteer to staff the event for 30 minute shifts.

Giveaways included magnets with library hours, ID wallets, water bottles, library newsletters, and the Library 101 information booklet. They also had 300 glow ice cubes which were a BIG hit and there was a drawing at the end of the day for an iPod Shuffle.

To get the word out, a flyer (PDF) was posted around the academic quad and on the campus calendar. They also use a big sidewalk sign out in front of the building to invite students inside.

*photo courtesy of Denison University Library

Good Stuff Worth Sharing

Marketing-ish Think piece: Harry Beckwith's 40 tidbits on what motivates people. Beckwith is the author of the great Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing (a must-read) and other marketing books.

Inspiration: Randy Pausch's Lecture of a Lifetime and Jeff Zaslow's article and video about it.

Media relations tip: Publicity Hound Joan Stewart says you should pitch your Halloween stories now. Did you give local reporters your list of library activities?

Creative library opening idea: Taking pictures of patrons and their favorite books is a fabulous way to celebrate a library grand opening. Especially if the photos look as fantastic as the black and white photos taken by photojournalist Todd Mizener at the Moline (Illinois) Public Library's opening

SPARC's Mind Mashup Video Contest

Speaking of videos, during some video contest research (cough *stay tuned* cough) I stumbled upon the SPARC Discovery Awards Competition. Videos should "demonstrate or illustrate what you see as the value of sharing information, ideas and knowledge." The winner will receive $1,000 and a "fabulous Sparky Award statuette." Two runners up will each get $500.

Videos must be two minutes or shorter and are due by December 2, 2007. The contest is open to anyone not working SPARC or ARL (or living with someone who works at either organization).

The winning videos will be publicly screened at the ALA Midwinter. That just clinched it right? I see you running off to start filming.

Another Interesting Library Video

I just stumbled upon this intro to the library video on the Ohio University Libraries news blog. Good stuff.


Related posts: UD's Funny Library Video

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.

Good Stuff: Elizabeth Leonard on Libraries

I found Elizabeth's blog, Elizabeth Leonard on Libraries, yesterday. It's definitely worth a visit. She has a lot of good marketing points and tips.

I also updated the list of blogs I read to reflect my current habits (finally).

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.)

‘I Love My Library’ Video Contest Offers $10,000 Prize

I just read about Gale's 'I Love My Library' video contest in the Library Hotline. The contest is open to both librarians and library users. This seems like a good thing to tell library users about. I wish I had seen it earlier (you'd think $10 grand would generate some buzz) but there's still two weeks left to enter.

Here's the scoop:

Post a video that describes what you love about your library and how it serves your community and you could win the $10,000.00 grand prize in Thompson Gale’s ‘I Love My Library” video contest to split with the library you designate.

Load your video on librareo, Thomson Gale's YouTube channel, before midnight on Friday, May 25, 2007 to enter. By June 1, 2007, Thompson Gale judges will determine the top five finalists based on creativity, unique portrayal of love of libraries and the services they provide, and overall appeal. The top five videos will be featured on www.gale.com/librareo for a nationwide vote that will be held June 1-11. The video with the most votes wins the grand prize.

Find the complete contest rules, downloadable video releases and sample videos on Gale’s Web site.

Any Luck with GoodSearch?

Have any libraries or library organizations been successful in raising funds via GoodSearch?

GoodSearch, which is powered by Yahoo!, is a search engine which donates approximately $0.01 per search to the charity of the searcher’s choice. Get more info here. Charities and non-profits will receive an annual check from GoodSearch providing they earn more than $20/year.

There are quite a few libraries on the list of participants, but so far I’ve only seen a few that have generated the minimum $20/year. The Friends of the New Orleans Public Library has raised $34.44 so far this year. I wonder if most organizations signed up, but aren’t promoting it much. Other total donations raised so far in 2007: ALA - $1.55; Ohioana Library Association - $21.61; and Rawson Memorial Library - $15.10.

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?

Articles Worth Reading In C&RL

I know I'm (at least) a month behind, but if you haven't looked at the February 2007 issue of College & Research Libraries News, there are several articles that may be of interest. And this is news to me, but now you can get the full-text articles online! Cool. When did that happen?!

• Creating the Academic Library Folksonomy: Put Social Tagging to Work at Your Institution by Xan Arch
• Building Your Value Story and Business Case: Observations From a Marketing Faculty and (Former) Librarian Perspective by Leslie Simmel
• Developing a Ling-Range and Outreach Plan for Your Academic Library: The Need for a Marketing Outreach Plan by Elizabeth Kennedy Hallmark, Laura Schwartz and Loriene Roy
• Using Technology in Teaching and Learning: Resources to Help You Navigate a Digital World by Bryan Alexander
  

If you are embarking on creating a marketing plan, you may find the resources in the OhioLINK Marketing Toolkit useful, especially the communication plan workbook and the additional resources.

Do You Believe In Public Access to Public Research?

Excuse me while I stray from the marketing topic, but since I haven't been around to be on or off topic, I figure anything is better than nothing. ;)

I'll be the first to admit I'm far from an expert on open access, but not requiring public access to research funded by public funds just seems silly. If you agree, considering signing the Petition for Public Access to Publicly Funded Research in the United States.

It's open to individuals and organizations of all types. If you are a researcher whose work is funded by the federal government, your signature is especially important since it shows that you want your work to be shared and used.