Marketing is a challenge, we’ve developed a toolkit to help you develop strategies for your library.  We’ve used the word toolkit on purpose.  This kit has been designed to enable you and your team to develop the skills in your own library to develop your very own marketing strategy.

What does the marketing toolkit contain?
This 60 page workbook uses real examples from libraries around the world to develop your own strategies.  As you work through the manual, you score your library.  The aim is for you to identify your strengths and your weaknesses and then identify where the key opportunities lie in developing your own library service.

Plus: You will get access to an online databank of hundreds of images from Libraries around the world.

The manual encourages you to analyse both your internal and external marketing strategies by analysing 14 key marketing areas in your business.
  
What are the 14 key areas?
Effective overall marketing strategies and how you can develop an overall policy for your library:

1. Signage strategies
Signage is one of the most important communication tools for your library.  A well managed signage strategy is worth an extra team member.  A badly managed strategy can cost you a team member.

2. Stock management
Yes, we believe stock management is part of your marketing strategy.  Ask customers of a library that has a weak stock management policy and they will eagerly give you their perception of the library, an integral part of marketing.

3. Inspiring displays
Inspirational displays are a key area in your internal marketing.  Get your hot spots, power spots and end caps right and watch your borrowing rate increase through the roof!  This section of the marketing tool concentrates on these key areas.

4. New books strategy
”I don’t go to the library because it is full of old books.” A common comment from non-library users.  How do you change this perception?  By having a clear and precise new books marketing strategy.

5. Departmental Policies
Libraries are frequented by ‘hunter’ consumers and ‘gatherer’ consumers.  Your challenge is keeping both groups happy.  The positioning and signing of departments is a key marketing strategy.  This part of the tool kit provides ideas on how to satisfy both groups.

6. Favourites Policy
This is one of those great no-cost marketing strategies that is easy to implement and provides a real ‘word of mouth’ marketing opportunity for your library.

7. Entertainment Policy
I can hear some Librarians say we are a library, not a social club!  Bit libraries are meant to entertain their customers.  This section challenges you to look at existing entertainment techniques used in libraries and to question whether they are appropriate to your library.

8. Customer Care
We all care for customers, but customers of retailers keep saying that businesses care less about them everyday!  This section challenges you to think through your customer care policies.

9. Retail Strategies
More and more libraries are looking to retailing products as revenue earners to allow them to invest in library improvements.  This section of the workbook analyses the opportunities available and then leads into the next strategy….

10. Your refreshment offer
Some libraries have set up coffee shops within their libraries, whilst others still have signs saying ‘no food or drink!!”  The refreshment strategy is probably the one that is changing most rapidly.  Where do you sit in the refreshment debate?  This section of the manual will force you to make a decision.

11. Internal marketing
What else can you do to improve the internal marketing of your library?  The list is endless, in this section we explore some of the options.

12. External marketing
Again the list is endless and we again explore some of the opportunities open to you.

13. Partnership and Network marketing
More and more libraries are forming partnerships with other companies and organisations.  Is this he right approach for your library?  This section challenges your thinking. 

14. Merchandising

  
This package contains over 200 proven winning marketing ideas, plus when you purchase this toolkit, you automatically join up for our ‘Innovations Library Club’.  We will provide you with a password to give you entry, and you will gain access to the marketing databank on our website.  This databank features hundreds of real life examples of  libraries 'doing it' - it's just like going on a world tour of libraries right from your desktop! 

As Fiona and John visit libraries around the world and come across great marketing ideas, they will add them to the photo album.  This provides you with an evolving marketing portfolio, plus ensures you are constantly updated with the latest library trends from around the world.

The Library Marketing Toolkit is a fun way of involving your team in developing a marketing strategy for your library.

What are librarians saying
"One of the key tenets of marketing is to be innovative and its always a good sign when the people in the actual game of marketing get innovative in the material they produce.  It means they practice what they preach.

John Stanley's latest production "The Library Marketing Toolkit" clearly falls into this category.  It's a novel way of both presenting good ideas and giving libraries a means of measuring their ongoing performance in implementing marketing techniques.  And the icing on the cake is that it is totally based around libraries, which means its easy to see relevant and practical ways of implementing the concepts.

I expect it will once again prove very popular in the library world.  The added feature of the online accessible marketing updates is a great idea and an innovative bonus that is sure to add to the product's broad appeal".

Chris Jones, Great Lakes Library Service

Click here to download a 10 page sample (PDF 495KB), or click below for sample pages.