Marketing Plans [3:45]

https://players.brightcove.net/2566261579001/HyuWsfFhb_default/index.html?videoId=5833162133001

About

Learn how to effectively structure a school library marketing plan, including how to set actionable goals and objectives to improve awareness of your library's offerings.

Transcript

A marketing plan describes how you will build awareness around all of the wonderful programs, services, and media your library has to offer. It's the foundation of any marketing process. In this lesson, we'll focus on the first four components of a marketing plan: goals and objectives, action steps, budget, and executive summary.

Goals and objectives are your road map on how you will be successful. They are the "what" and "how."

Let's explore this in more detail. A marketing goal is what you want to accomplish in terms of increasing awareness or use of the library. Do you want more participation in your lunch book club? Are you looking to collaborate with more teachers in your school? Perhaps you want to increase circulation of nonfiction materials in the library. The goals will be specific to your library and should tie into the larger goals of your school and district. But whatever they are, articulate them at the start.

The objectives will follow the goal and are the steps for how you accomplish each goal. In the example goal of increased use of nonfiction materials, your objectives might include featuring nonfiction in more places in the library's physical and digital spaces.

Make sure that your goals are achievable and measurable. For example, answering what percentage you want to increase nonfiction circulation by allows you to determine if you've met the goal at the end of the campaign.

The action plan is your "to do" List. It includes specific tasks and describes what, who, and how they will be done. It also discusses the resources needed to accomplish them. This is a key section to the marketing plan. As you continue watching the lessons in this workshop, you'll gain ideas for what types of actions will fit in here.

Remember to consider the costs. You can have some great goals and objectives, but the costs could make them prohibitive. For example, if you are working on marketing your nonfiction collection, it might include arranging for an author visit from a nonfiction author. If in it's an in-person visit, the costs will be high. Maybe you can arrange for a Skype session instead to keep costs down.

This brings us to the budget section of the marketing plan. This is a list of the cost of the marketing activities and resources you are describing in the plan. Remember to include the cost of staff time, printing and copying, and any other expense areas.

Once you have the goals and objectives, action items, and budget mapped out, write up an executive summary that provides an overview of the plan. This will go at the beginning of the document and helps the reader to gather a basic understanding of the plan as a whole. It can be used to present goals to stakeholders like teachers, administrators, parents, and students.

The summary will often include the following: Introduction to Library, Library Mission Statement, Marketing Goals and Objectives, Key Stakeholders, Summary of Recommended Strategies.

You can start creating your own marketing plan, including goals and objectives, action items, budget, and the executive summary, by using the planning template provided in the this lesson's activity.

Activities

A Marketing Plan for Your Library

A marketing plan helps you strategize and create an effective roadmap to market your library and measure its success over time. Learn more about effective goal setting by reading "How Smart Are Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals?" by Mary Frances Zilonis and Chris Swerling in the Resources below, then complete the Reflect & Practice activity.

RESOURCES:

Template

On Common Ground. How Smart Are Your S.M.A.R.T. Goals?

Article

REFLECT & PRACTICE:

Thinking about the particulars of your library, then use what you learned from the video and the Zilonis and Swerling article to fill out pages 3–5 in the Marketing Plan Template.

Entry ID: 2174947

Additional Resources

Supporting Resources from Libraries Unlimited.

About the Authors

Rebecca J. Morris, MLIS, PhD, is teaching associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. She earned her master's degree and doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh and her undergraduate degree in elementary education at Pennsylvania State University. Rebecca has published articles in journals including School Library Research, Knowledge Quest, School Libraries Worldwide, Teacher Librarian and the Journal of Research on Young Adults in Libraries. She is the author of School Libraries and Student Learning: A Guide for School Leaders (Harvard Education Publishing Group, 2015). Rebecca is a former elementary classroom teacher and middle school librarian.

Email: rmorris@schoollibraryconnection.com

Twitter: @rebeccajm87.

Stony Evans, MS, is an adjunct instructor at McDaniel College in Westminster, MD. He earned his master's in library science from the University of North Texas and a master's in library media and information technologies from the University of Central Arkansas. He served as a teacher-librarian for 12 years. Stony received the Arkansas Library Association's Retta Patrick Award in 2017. He was a finalist for the AASL's 2017 Sensational Student Voice – Social Media Superstar award. He was selected as the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media's Library Media Specialist of the Year in 2013. Visit his blog at librarymediatechtalk.blogspot.com, email him at stony12270@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter @stony12270.

Jane Cullina, MSEd, is the professional development manager for School Library Connection and ABC-CLIO. A former children's librarian and humanities teacher, Jane earned her master's degree from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City and has taught in Boston, New York, Maine, California, and South Africa.

Jennifer Gibson, MA, earned a teaching credential and master's in technology from Chapman University, where she was an adjust faculty member for over seven years. With over 20 years of education experience, Jennifer fuels her vision, innovation and leadership by blending educational experience with professional development, educational policy, eLearning, and standards-based design to support educators in professional learning.

Select Citation Style:

MLA Citation

Editorial Team, SLC. "Marketing the Library. Marketing Plans [3:45]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, October 2018, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2174897?learningModuleId=2174884&topicCenterId=2247902.

Chicago Citation

Editorial Team, SLC. "Marketing the Library. Marketing Plans [3:45]." School Library Connection video. October 2018. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2174897?learningModuleId=2174884&topicCenterId=2247902.

APA Citation

Editorial Team, S. (2018, October). Marketing the library. Marketing plans [3:45] [Video]. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2174897?learningModuleId=2174884&topicCenterId=2247902

https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2174897?learningModuleId=2174884&topicCenterId=2247902

Entry ID: 2174897