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Posted by Alison Circle on November 18, 2009
Feeling comfortable before a microphone, camera or note-taking blogger can be unnerving,  especially for staff who don't do it everyday. And yet, we want to be sure our staff are positioned as experts in our community and are called on for interviews. What to do?Larger and well financed intitutions conduct media training. That can be challenging for libraries to pull off. Most people feel more comfortable with something in writing, so we provide our staff with a tip sheet prior to the interview and then do a little bit of coaching. I'm happy to share here what we use, and hope you can make use of it. ...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on November 11, 2009
Last Saturday morning, over a breakfast of eggs and grits (my husband, the
Posted by Alison Circle on November 9, 2009
Last Friday, I enjoyed lunch with a new aquaintance I met through my recent membership in the local chapter of the American Marketing Association. I confess. I'm not much of a joiner, but the AMA -- and my luncheon guest -- may have changed ...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on November 2, 2009
One of my favorite things I've heard over the last year is the quotation: "People are lazy and in a hurry." I consider myself no different, so when a list crosses my desk of "Top 10 Scary Things for Marketers to Try," it piques my interest: someone has made it quick and easy for me to digest some new ideas.The list comes from an e-newsletter I receive from American Marketing Association, called Marketing Matters. Here's ...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on October 26, 2009
One of the first requests I had at the library, when I arrived five years ago, was: "Please market our electronic resources." My reaction? What are electronic resources? Since then I've come to appreciate the value of these tools, but am puzzled by the industry's approach to promoting them -- notice I didn't say market them, which would be a different thing all together.Seems that the industry's approach is -- if the public can find them, they'll love them. That's like hiding a sale on milk in the middle of the grocery store and saying that if the customer can find it they'll love it.&nbs...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on October 22, 2009
Sometimes the concept of brand is confusing to the uninitiated. I hear people talk ab out a logo or color palette as the brand. But those things are just one representation of the brand. A kind of visual shorthand for the brand. But brand is way bigger than that. Like I always say: a brand is a promise to your customer. Well look who's talking brand. Maybe one of the best brand ambassadors today: Bono. In this past Sunday New York Times, he wrote an insightful article called ...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on October 20, 2009
For a while I've contemplated doing a series on marketing myths. I'm inspired today  to start the series by my new friend -- another Alison -- who runs a library marketing blog from New Zealand: Marketing Intelligence for Librarians. Alison Walbutton contacted me through my personal Facebook page, and we've been in correspondence since. Reading her blog, I found my first post related to marketing myths: ...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on October 16, 2009
Often in this space I've talked about market segmentation and how marketers use  this to target messages and raise impact. At my library this segmentation also drives our strategic plan and keeps our focus on three groups: Young Minds, Virtual Users and Power Users. Until you really get into it, I know these concepts can seem mysterious and illusive. Recently Library Journal hosted a webinar, titled ...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on October 12, 2009
One of my "DUH" moments working at a library is realizing that library staff like to read books in order to better understand a subject matter. With that in mind -- and because I don't really read marketing books -- I found this helpful recommended reading list that you might enjoy. Truthfully, all the titles are interesting enough to make me consider reading them!
Posted by Alison Circle on October 8, 2009
Here's an idea that we had great success with -- and that involved a powerful collaboration of 5 libraries in our county. Job Help Day. On Thursday, September 24, we simultaneously promoted our Job Help Centers with a unified day that brought tremendous focus on the work libraires are doing in this area. The media coverage was hot! hot! hot! Best of all, it was all about VALUE.Here's a deeper explanation. And here's one sample of the extraordinar...Read More
Posted by Alison Circle on October 5, 2009
Publishers Weekly has just issued its latest edition -- this one their viral issue -- and there's
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native New Yorker!) and the healthful alternative of oatmeal and craisins (me) I asked my husband for suggestions for Bubble Room subjects. His first idea: a discussion on media relations. After all, effective and strategic media relations is an essential part of any marketing plan. 
lots to provoke ideas about marketing in the viral world. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter -- the usual suspects are discussed and, as always with marketers, we are pushing these tools to new frontiers.