When Ben Bizzle joined the Craighead County (Ark.) Jonesboro Public Library in 2008, he helped introduce the staff to a culture of creativity where people were not afraid to fail. That philosophy has remained key for staff members as they have increased the library’s profile within the community by using technology, social media, and a targeted marketing strategy. Bizzle talked at the Masters Series at the 2015 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Chicago about what he and his team did to push out a successful campaign and then offered advice about how attendees can do something similar at their libraries.
Bizzle said their first foray into marketing was using billboards to increase public awareness of the library. They imitated the popular and humorous SomeEcards design. The library’s early marketing designs included lines like, “Spoiler Alert! Dumbledore dies on page 596” and “Romance novels—cheaper than cats.” The strategy worked.
But he admits that there was also some pushback. “Not every idea is a good idea,” he said. “We don’t always hit a home run when we swing the bat.” As an example, he told of a speed-dating program at the library that he and his colleagues spent time and effort marketing, only to have “four little old ladies and one creepy guy” show up.
Bizzle provided several suggestions on how to create a marketing campaign for your library:
- Don’t cross the line, but do “try things that are a little risky.” One idea that crossed the line for their library, he said, was a design for the library’s concert series that stated, “Concerts on the Lawn: We’ve got the best grass in town.”
- Incorporate cats into your social media. He and his colleagues tend to post many of these more lighthearted posts in the evenings, when he says they notice more social media traction.
- Collaborate. Find others who are doing good work and turn to groups like ALA Think Tank for assistance or to bounce around ideas.
- Create a responsive website. “I believe your website is another branch of your library,” Bizzle said, noting that in an increasingly digital world, how people perceive your site matters a great deal. “They’re passing judgment,” he said. His library spent $18,000 to have a developer revamp their website. While a lot of people balk at that figure, he said, the value is worth the money because of the flexibility it provides a library to reach its patrons.
- Use entertaining promotion to bring people in. “Sell them on the sweet stuff and you can deliver the meat once they get there.”
- Provide quality programming. “Sell the sizzle, not the steak, but you better deliver a damn good steak.”
Buy Facebook ads. While Bizzle said that the library won’t make money from its marketing, it will build value. “You’re not being good stewards of your library’s money if you’re not promoting the things that you do.” He said that a library may have the most robust collection, but if no one is checking out a book, the value of that book ceases to exist.- Don’t turn to standard excuses. He said that when people tell him that their library doesn’t have marketing budget, he replies by reminding them the value of promoting the library. “Otherwise you’re limiting yourself to your buildings as your main point of contact” with patrons and the public.
Video from Bizzle’s presentation:
