Now more than ever, libraries must find ways to engage with their communities in order to demonstrate the value they create and deliver. Engaging your Community through Active Strategic Marketing is a comprehensive resource that provides an overview of best practice strategic marketing, with advice on how to implement effective marketing activities in libraries and information services with the best chance of success. It takes each element of the strategic marketing domain and outlines both current marketing best practice and its detailed application in the library and information sector. It includes a set of tools and techniques to help reflection and progress towards effective marketing.

Whether it is raising awareness of resources, increasing library use or demonstrating value, this book will help libraries from all sectors achieve their goals, communicate their benefits and present a clear and consistent image.

Table of Contents:

Figures

Tables

Introduction

1. The need for a professional approach to engagement

Defining engagement and strategic marketing
Outline of this book

2. Strategic marketing planning for engagement

Identifying planning goals and processes to achieve them
The engagement story

3. Ambition: the basis for all activity

Vision, mission and values
How to write a statement of ambition for your library

4. Understanding users and potential users

Defining the marketplace
Understanding existing users
Understanding and engaging potential users
Profiling your potential library community
Survey research
Focus groups
Researching user experience and satisfaction
Understanding competition

5. Identifying value and segmentation

Creating segment-specific value propositions for stakeholders
Options for segmenting stakeholders
Effective segmentation is not easy...
Value propositions by segment

6. Managing stakeholder engagement

Three elements of a stakeholder management programme
Engaging employees

7. Making choices and creating engaging offers

Priorities
Engagement objectives
Engagement strategies
Creating offers for users, potential users and stakeholders
The marketing mix
Engagement and customer relationship management as a strategy
Finalising engaging offers for specific segments
Some other aspects of marketing strategy for engagement

8. Crafting engaging messages

How often should users be contacted?
Should library marketing communications be general or event driven?
Options for a communications mix
Communications strategies
The return on marketing communications investment
Do users and potential users respond to library communications?
Marketing communications at different stages of the user life cycle
Event-driven and segment-specific marketing communications messages
Media kits
Writing copy for marketing communications
Promotional activity

9. Effective marketing channels for engaging messages

Non-digital methods of marketing messages
Traditional media
In-library messaging

10. Digital channels and engagement

The pivotal role of the library website
Library blogging
The major social media
How social media platforms support libraries? engagement activities
Social media policies and guidelines
Practical hints for writing engaging social media posts
Digital support for engagement strategies

11. Evaluating the response to engagement activity

Evaluating engagement outcomes from social media presence and participation
Evaluating employee engagement
Reporting evaluations and assessments

12. How to give marketing and engagement the best chance of success

References

Recommended reading

Index

Reference works, dictionaries

Library and information science in general

Library and information management

Library and Information Services

Libraries and information centres

General economic, business books

Economics

Marketing, Communication, PR

Linguistics in general, dictionaries

Further readings in linguistics

Reference works, dictionaries (charity campaign)

Library and information science in general (charity campaign)

Library and information management (charity campaign)

Library and Information Services (charity campaign)

Libraries and information centres (charity campaign)

General economic, business books (charity campaign)

Economics (charity campaign)

Marketing, Communication, PR (charity campaign)

Linguistics in general, dictionaries (charity campaign)

Further readings in linguistics (charity campaign)

Engaging your Community through Active Strategic Marketing

Engaging your Community through Active Strategic Marketing is a comprehensive resource that provides an overview of best practice strategic marketing, with advice on how to implement effective marketing activities in libraries and information services with the best chance of success.