It’s tough to market your library programs and services successfully if you can’t match what you are marketing with the appropriate audience. We often do library marketing in an upside-down way—we engage in marketing activities but don't conduct market research before doing so. Every library is tasked with marketing their programs and services to their communities. It can be challenging to identify the best methods for reaching your audience, but deliberate market research can uncover new and effective ways of increasing awareness of your library’s offerings.
In this workshop, library marketing and communication expert Mark Aaron Polger will show you how to increase the reach and success of your marketing through targeting. You’ll learn techniques for conducting assessment and effective ways to make a marketing plan before you engage in marketing activity. Polger will also discuss the important connection between library advocacy and marketing and how you can be an advocate for both your community and for libraries.
By participating in this workshop, you will learn how to:
- Understand the differences between the terms "marketing," "promotion," "public relations," "communications," "outreach," and "advocacy"
- Identify the steps to conduct market research to learn about your different target audiences
- Develop a marketing plan for the next fiscal year
- Divide your library users into different segments for targeted marketing
- Compose a compelling "elevator speech" that you can use when communicating with stakeholders, the media, and legislators.
Mark Aaron Polger is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Library Outreach at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York (CUNY). His responsibilities include promoting library services to targeted groups on campus, working with admissions and recruitment with library tours, new student orientation, and liaising with high schools and public library branches in the community. Polger's research interests include library marketing, outreach, and user experience design. He has written and presented on topics such as library marketing strategies, faculty outreach, Information Literacy outreach, library jargon, and library signage. In early 2019, Polger authored the book Library Marketing Basics, a beginner's guide to marketing libraries (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers). He is currently finishing another book with ALA Publishing on library signage and wayfinding. Polger holds a BA in Sociology from Concordia University, an MA in Sociology from the University of Waterloo, a B.Ed. in adult education from Brock University, and an MLIS from the University of Western Ontario. He is currently in his fifth year of doctoral studies at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, where he is completing his final year of coursework for his Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction, and the Science of Learning. He has been working in libraries for over 30 years and obtained his MLIS degree 20 years ago. He is originally from Montreal, Canada and moved to New York City in 2008.
