Presentation given by Jo Cornish from Hertfordshire County Council Libraries at the PPRG seminar in Birmingham on 8 November 2013.

1. CILIP PPRG Marketing Excellence Event:
Targeted marketing strategies that work
Bases Loaded: setting up for success
Jo Cornish
Stock & Reader Development Librarian
www.hertsdirect.org

2. Baseball basics:
•
A player moving around all 4 bases
scores a run. 1 run = 1 point
•
You can work round the 4 bases
gradually in a series of plays to
score
•
You can hit the ball hard and sprint
round the 4 bases in one go –
Home run
•
It is really hard to score a run
www.hertsdirect.org

3. Oakland Athletics’ Coliseum ballpark –
Home of the Moneyball theory:
www.hertsdirect.org

4. Youth Consultants Projects
Developed to address several challenges:
•
Bridge the gap between teenage and adult
collections
•
Create a specific collection to be promoted to
the hard to reach group of 16-25 year olds
•
Allow the library to engage with volunteer and
community led stock selection
www.hertsdirect.org

5. Hertfordshire Youth Consultants Projects:
•
2009/2010 pilots at Hemel Hempstead and St
Albans
•
•
2011/2012 Berkhamsted
2012/2013 Oxhey, Watford and Bishops
Stortford
www.hertsdirect.org

6. Two targeted marketing elements
associated with the project:
•
Promoting the volunteering opportunity to
young people aged 16-25
•
Promoting the resulting collection and any
associated launch event to young people in the
library and in the community
www.hertsdirect.org

7. Oxhey Project November
Heading
2012:
• 5 volunteers
Sub heading
• Aged 16 - 23
Body text
• 1 male 4 female
• 200 books. 80% adult,
20% teenage titles
•
•
•
Predominantly fiction
Launch author event
330 issues in the first 8
weeks
www.hertsdirect.org

8. Oxhey Project launch
Heading 2013:
event May
• Booker nominated author
Sub heading
Stephen Kelman
Body text
• Delivered by 4 of the
volunteers
•
Volunteers conducted a
panel interview
•
•
27 attendees
Books recommended
from the collection and
borrowed by the
audience
www.hertsdirect.org

9. Covering all the bases
Four key elements of the marketing strategy:
•
Materials, professional resources and time
planning
•
•
•
Partnership working
Social media and online promotion
Role of the ambassador
www.hertsdirect.org

10. Materials, professional resources and time
planning:
•
•
Find your target audience
•
Create a marketing database as a shared
resource with colleagues
Time allowed to utilise available professional
resources
www.hertsdirect.org

11. Partnership working:
•
•
•
Direct, targeted referral is powerful
Enthuse your partners to promote your event
Prioritise key partners
www.hertsdirect.org

12. Key partners for targeted promotion of the
Oxhey Project:
•
•
•
•
Volunteer Centre
School librarians
Local library staff
Youth Connexions
www.hertsdirect.org

13. Social media and online promotion:
•
•
•
•
Free
Accessible
Need to make your promotion stand out
Personal endorsement
www.hertsdirect.org

14. Role of the ambassador:
•
•
Sustained professional relationships
•
•
Make partners aware of what libraries are “for”
Find where your organisational objectives
match
If they understand your project and enthusiasm
they can promote it to the target group on your
behalf
www.hertsdirect.org

15. Bringing in the runs to score
Contribution of the “big hitters”, the young volunteers:
•
•
•
•
•
Distribution of promotional materials to targeted venues
Direct promotion using personal email and social media
Use of “VIP” invites
Invitation to councillors and senior managers
Outstanding delivery of the event
www.hertsdirect.org

16. Capturing the success
How the volunteers see the library:
•
[libraries] are extremely important because they
encourage free information and they offer everyone a
chance to learn, no matter their financial background”
•
I love using libraries, they are an amazing resource that
benefit the community
•
Libraries are so important for a variety of reasons. It’s:
free the hub of the community, welcoming, informative,
fun, educational
www.hertsdirect.org

17. Capturing the success
Feedback from the event audience:
•
Very inspiring and gave encouragement to people
feeling proud and positive about the youth of today
•
I would like to see a similar event in my local library and
I would like to be a youth consultant
•
Really impressed with the Youth Consultants, their
enthusiasm and dedication. Would love to see this in
every library. Great to see people browsing the books
www.hertsdirect.org

18. Capturing the success
Feedback from other customers about the
collection:
•
•
•
What good use of library resources!
•
I love it as there is a great selection to choose
from
What a surprising and erudite collection
Nice to know young people are being involved
in library choices
www.hertsdirect.org

19. Capturing the success:
•
•
•
Remember to ask for feedback and record it
Sound bites for future marketing
Valuable data for future bids
www.hertsdirect.org

20. In conclusion
Our approach to targeted promotion relies upon
careful preparation, time planning and utilising all
available resources.
We work hard to set up for success, we load the
bases. This careful preparation maximises the
impact of the “hit” of the campaign, despite our
limited budget
www.hertsdirect.org

21. Thank you very much
Jo Cornish
Stock & Reader Development Librarian
Hertfordshire Libraries
Based at Hemel Hempstead Library
jo.cornish@hertfordshire.gov.uk
www.hertsdirect.org