Transcript Grassroots Strategies for Connecting with your Community Instructor: Penny Hummel [email protected] An Infopeople Workshop Summer 2004 This Workshop Is Brought to You By the Infopeople Project Infopeople is a.

Grassroots Strategies
for Connecting with
your Community
Instructor:
Penny Hummel
[email protected]
An Infopeople Workshop
Summer 2004
This Workshop Is Brought to You By the
Infopeople Project
Infopeople is a federally-funded grant project
supported by the California State Library. It
provides a wide variety of training to California
libraries. Infopeople workshops are offered
around the state and are open registration on a
first-come,
first-served basis.
For a complete list of workshops, and for other
information about the Project, go to the
Infopeople Web site at infopeople.org.
Today’s Agenda
 What is grassroots promotion?
 Identifying audiences
 Developing a message
 Working with internal audiences
 Tools and partners for promotional success
 Implementing your promotional plan
Who Am I?
 Public Relations Manager at Multnomah
County Library
 Past lives:
 Public relations consultant
 Foundation and humanities council staffer
 Library volunteer: FOL president, foundation trustee,
advocate
 Passionate promoter of libraries!
Introductions
 Name
 Library
 Position
 One thing that’s happening at your
library that you feel really good about
Unleash your ferocity upon an
unsuspecting world!
-Bette Midler
What is Grassroots Promotion?
 Economical
 using the resources you have
 Entrepreneurial
 creative and ingenious
 Engaging
 connecting with people and organizations
 Evangelical
 involving everyone you can think of!
Why Grassroots Promotion?
 Starts from the ground up
 Emphasis on partnership
 Huge budget not necessary
 Homegrown and practical
Why is Grassroots Promotion
Essential?
 There will never be enough...
 staffing
 funding
 resources
 There will always be too many…
 other things going on outside the library
 competing priorities within the library
 Nothing’s more important than
connecting people with your library!
Components of Effective Grassroots
Promotion
 Connecting with your audience
 Building relationships with
individuals and organizations
 Small steps (taken by many people)
make a big difference
PR and Marketing -What’s the Difference?
 Relatives, not identical twins!
 PR: communication designed to
deliver a message
 Marketing: activities designed to
inspire an action
• Peter Persic, Melissa Richardson Banks,
2004 PLA Presentation
Questions for the Group
 Why is it important to encourage more
people to use, attend or support your
library’s services, activities or events?
 What are some of the common pitfalls
of promotion in “Library Land”?
Services and Activities to Promote





Summer Reading
Story times
Book discussions
Homework help
Volunteering





Reference
Outreach
Computer classes
Online databases
Reader’s Advisory
Events to Promote
 Author visits
 Celebrations and anniversaries
 Opening of new/renovated buildings
 Community forums
 National Library Week
Your Audience
 Who are you trying to reach?
 Finding out about their priorities
 Creating a tailor-made strategy
Who’s Your Audience?
 Age
 Neighborhood
 Gender
 Language
 Race/Ethnicity
 Interests
 Socioeconomic
status
 Other
characteristics
Secondary Audiences
 Library users (in
general)
 Voters
 News media
 Elected officials
 Volunteers
 Friends
 Donors
 Trustees
 Staff
How to Find Out Your Audience’s
Priorities
 Staff reports
 Comments (cards, e-mail, letters)
 Focus groups
 Surveys
 Research and analysis
Staff: The Internal Audience
 Your eyes and ears in the
community
 Your mouth in the community
 Ensuring that their contributions
are for good (not evil)
Question for the Group
How have library staff helped or hindered
your efforts to promote what’s
happening at your library?
Engaging Library Staff
 Include them in planning
 Keep them informed
 Provide training and tools
 Keep asking for their input
 Encourage those who “catch the
fire”
Key Messages
 A call to action
 Short, clear and to the point
 Offer what your audience wants
 Library-positive
Examples of Library Messages
 Have fun playing the Summer
Reading game!
 Join the library’s community reading
project.
 Learn new computer skills by
attending free classes at your library.
Good message or bad?
 With 63 online databases available to its
customers (some of these can be
accessed from a computer at home or at
work, for others, the library user would
need to visit a library location), the Smith
library is ready to serve the information
needs of the Bedford community…
Promotional Tools
 Newsletter
 E-mail lists
 Checkout
receipts
 Displays
 Web site






Events
Signs
Billboards
Banners
Advertising
Publications
Project-Specific Materials
 Brochures
 Flyers
 Bookmarks
 Graphics




Stationery
Pins
Giveaways
Web pages
Tools and How They Complement Each
Other
 Print publications
 traditional format that can be distributed where
the people are
 Web pages
 top choice of younger users
 E-mails and listservs
 easy to share the latest developments
What Makes a Tool Successful?
 Tells people what they need to know
 Easy to figure out
 Uses appropriately clear language
 Visually pleasing
 Consistent with messaging for the
project and the library
Examine Your Examples
1. What works about this promotional
piece?
2. What doesn’t work?
3. How would you improve it?
Community Partners
 Multiply your ability to reach out
throughout your community
 Contribute expertise and tools that focus
on specific audiences
 Leverage support from other partners
 Give credibility to library projects
How Your Partners Can Help
 Distribution of library materials
 Web site links and articles
 E-mail lists
 Donated programming
 Related materials
 Donate: Supplies, food, graphics,
exposure
Engaging Community Partners
 Include them in planning
 Utilize their expertise
 Keep them informed
 Provide tools that work for their needs
 Keep asking for their input
 Encourage those who “catch the fire”
What About Sponsors?
 Offer a major cash, media or (major)
in-kind contribution
 Participate to meet their own
promotional and marketing goals
 Need to be acknowledged appropriate
to their level of support
Identifying Partners & Sponsors
 Brainstorm to identify connections
 Involve other staff, library supporters,
existing partners
 Clarify why their participation is a
win/win
 Create a timeline and work plan
Implementing Your Plan
 Keep listening to your audience,
partners and staff
 Use your tools wherever you can
 Work effectively with the media
 Stay on message
 Evaluate
The Rules of Engagement
 Communicate frequently and emphasize
success
 Make course corrections if needed
 Do what you say you’ll do
 Move towards “the tipping point”
 Acknowledge contributions!
Working With the Media
 It’s a reciprocal relationship
 Libraries have an important story to tell
 We need to understand their needs in
order to get ours met
The Reporter’s World
 Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines
 A glut of information about too many
things
 Constant shifts to new and unfamiliar
topics
Media Magnets: Examples
 Positive
 making a dent in big social problems
 bringing the community together
 an individual’s triumph over adversity
 Negative
 conflict
 good guy vs. bad guy
 disaster and destruction
How to Engage a Reporter
 Be accurate, succinct and clear
 Focus on your key messages
 State conclusion, then demonstrate it
 Tailor your message to the recipient
 Use stories, not statistics
 Avoid library jargon
Questions to Ask Yourself
 Why should people care about this project?
 What makes it interesting, unique or
particularly timely?
 Do the partnerships you’ve created make it
more newsworthy?
Tools for Media Outreach
 News releases and media kits
 Pitch letters or e-mails
 Phone or personal contact
Questions for the Group
What’s been your most challenging
experience working with the media in the
effort to promote a library project?
Evaluating Your Success
 Document
 usage
 attendance
 exposure
 Analyze
 what worked
 what didn’t
 Emphasize the positive in final report
Find out who you are and
do it on purpose.
- Dolly Parton