Elisabeth Doucett's presentation at the LYRASIS Public Library Symposium on December 4, 2009.

1. B RANDING FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES

2. W HAT IS BRANDING ?
Figuring out the story
Why your library matters to your community

3. W HAT IS BRANDING ?
Figuring out how to tell your story
So it will capture people’s attention

4. W HAT IS BRANDING ?
Figuring out how to tell your story the same
way over and over
Until people “get it” without thinking

5. F OR CLARITY
 Branding IS NOT the same thing as marketing
 One of the first steps in marketing
 Part of the “marketing mix”

6. 6
Marketing
Marketing Strategy
Objectives Segment Target Branding Market
Research
Marketing Tools/Tactics
Promotions Advertising Direct PR Publicity
Sales
marketing

7. W HAT MAKES A GOOD BRAND ?

8. 8 W HAT MAKES A GOOD BRAND ?
 The key elements of a good brand
 Clear, meaningful story
 Articulated in a short, compelling phrase (tagline)
 Logo that visually supports the story
 Consistent and repetitive use

9. 9 Y OUR STORY
 What is your story?
 Why does your library matter in your community?

10. 10 S TORY EXERCISE
 What role does your library play in the life of
your community?
(2-3 sentences max)
 Why does your library matter to your
community?

11. 11 Y OUR S TORY
 Your story
 Having a story ensures that you have thought
carefully about the role of your library in your
community
 A common direction
 Make sure you can deliver

12. 12 TAGLINE
 Tell your story quickly and make it compelling
 Grab attention
 Get across a lot of information
 Don’t make people work too hard

13. TAGLINE
13
EXAMPLES
Boston Public Library
What do you want to know?
West Palm Beach Public Library
An oasis of knowledge
Harris County Public Library
Your pathway to knowledge
Red Cross
Together we can save a life
United Way
What matters
Quaker Oats
Warms you heart and soul
The Library of Congress
More than a library

14. TAGLINE EXERCISE
 Using the story that you developed in our first
exercise
 Write a tagline – quick, to-the-point, reflect your
story
 My library is special because….
 My library provides me with …………. and I can’t
get that anywhere else.
 When I go to my library I feel ……..

15. T HE LOGO
 The logo is a visual representation of your library
story
 Must support the story
 Help convey the story quickly
 Be visually arresting

16. 16 T HE LOGO
 The logo is important
 As a jog to one’s memory
 As the repository of the feelings about the brand
 The brand’s logo becomes the users’
touchstone
 Every time the customer sees the brand (logo) -
reminded of the brand story
 A logo helps cut through the clutter – it “tells
the story” of the brand without having to be
explicit

17. R EPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT
 Tell your story over and over and over
 Be consistent in the story and the look
 Why? Your audience will eventually know your
story as soon as they see your brand – that’s
what you want
 They know why your library matters

18. 18 W HAT MAKES A GOOD BRAND ?
 The key elements of a good brand
 Clear, meaningful story
 Articulated in a short, compelling phrase (tagline)
 Logo that visually supports the story
 Consistent and repetitive use

19. 19
A RE THESE GOOD BRANDS ?
W HY OR WHY NOT ?

20. 20
Why does the story matter
so much?

21. 21 W HY DOES THE STORY MATTER ?
 1) Everyone used to understand what the library
was about
 Today?
 It’s a lot more complicated

22. 22 W HY DOES THE STORY MATTER ?
 Information is everywhere
 Libraries don’t “own” information anymore
 Need to define new message about our role in
the community
 If we can’t tell our story
 Why should we expect anyone to support or fund
or use the library?

23. 23 W HY DOES THE S TORY MATTER ?
 2) It’s a very noisy world
 Average American – 3,000 marketing messages a
day
 American newspapers - more than 10 million tons of
newsprint/year
 Average person consumes 94 pounds of newsprint a year
 The Internet
 In 1985 – 6 domain names registered
 Today – 63 million domain names registered
 Exponential increase in cell phone use
 1985 – 340,000 cell phone subscribers
 Today – 175 million!

24. 24 W HY DOES THE MESSAGE MATTER ?
 All brand and market themselves and talk about
what they provide
 Sadly, if libraries aren’t part of the “conversation”
 We get forgotten

25. 25 W HY DOES THE STORY MATTER ?
 3) Puts everyone on the same page in your
library
 Clear message
 Clear direction
 A plan of action that everyone can understand

26. 26 W HY DOES THE STORY MATTER ?
 4) Most importantly – good branding (and
marketing) leads to increased usage of your
library as people understand what your library
can provide to them
Clear message
Increased
awareness
Increased usage

27. W HAT CAN BRANDING DO FOR YOUR
27
LIBRARY ?
 Cuts through the clutter
 Gets everyone working in the same direction
 Greater awareness of resources/services/programs
 Helps with funding
 Everyone understands the library’s role in the
community
 More than just a “nice to have” – instead a “have
to have”
 Builds opportunities for partnerships

28. C ONCERNS
28

29. 29 I SN ’ T BRANDING ANNOYING ?

30.  Branding can be intrusive and annoying
30

31. 31
 But your branding doesn’t have to be obnoxious
 Keep in mind – when you brand your library –
YOU have control
 Story
 How you tell the story

32. 32
 You can develop smart and interesting branding,
appropriate for your library
 More and more nonprofits are doing branding –
and doing it well

33. 33 B RANDING / MARKETING IS TOO EXPENSIVE
 Do it yourself
 Design work for free (or almost)
 Local high school or college art class or business
class project
 Do it yourself (http://www.logoyes.com/,
http://www.logoease.com/,
http://www.logomaker.com/)
 Use web options (not free but cheap)
http://www.logoworks.com/,
http://thelogocompany.net/
 Find pro-bono expertise through your Board

34. 34 I DON ’ T KNOW ENOUGH
 Get together with other library people and work
together – make this a project for the group
 Share ideas, solve problems together
 Branding is:
 Common sense
 Focus on the message
 The first step? Jump in
 Have some fun

35. 35 I DON ’ T HAVE ENOUGH STAFF
 What would it be worth to have your
patrons, your Board, your community
 Know what you provide?
 Value what you provide?
 Fund what you provide?
 A good brand and marketing can help you
achieve all of this
 One person can do it

36. H OW TO GET STARTED
36

37. 37 H OW TO GET STARTED
 Do a marketing audit
 Collect a representative sample of your marketing
materials
 Pin them all on one wall where you can review

38. 38 H OW TO GET STARTED
 Ask yourself these questions:
 Can I tell by looking at these materials what role
my library takes in its community? What is my
story?
 Am I telling that story in a compelling way?
 Based on the look of the materials, am I telling
the story the same way over and over so people
can get it quickly?

39. 39 H OW TO GET STARTED
 Talk to your key stakeholders - patrons, Board,
staff
 What can they tell you about:
 Your story
 Logo
 Confirm or deny
 Your own impressions from an audit

40. 40 H OW TO GET STARTED
 An audit & stakeholder discussion will help you
start to understand where you need to focus
 The story
 How the story is presented – Logo and tagline
 Consistency in repetition

41. 41 H OW TO GET STARTED
 Once you understand the issues
 Put together a team to find the answers
 Just make sure you get the story right!!!

42. C ASE STUDY

43. 43
1. Majority of community members could not tell us what our
logo looked like.
2. Majority of community members couldn’t reiterate our
“message”
3. Feedback was logo/brand was “dated”

44. 44
No clear message
No clear visual connection

45. C ASE
45
STUDY
 We needed to:
 Clarify our message
 Update our logo
 Find a better way of visually connecting the library
with its partners

46. C ASE
46
STUDY
 Spent a lot of time reading/considering OCLC study
“From Awareness to Funding”
ttp://www.oclc.org/reports/funding/default.htm
 Determined that we wanted our library to move
from informational to transformational
 Didn’t want to lose touch completely with our
community history
 New tagline “A world of possibility”

47. W HAT DOES “ POSSIBILITY ” LOOK
LIKE ?

48. W HAT DOES “ POSSIBILITY ”
LOOK LIKE ?

49. W HAT DOES “A WORLD OF POSSIBILITY ”
LOOK LIKE ?

50. W HAT DOES “A WORLD OF POSSIBILITY ”
LOOK LIKE ?

51. W HAT DOES “A WORLD OF POSSIBILITY ”
LOOK LIKE ?

52. W HAT DOES “A WORLD OF
POSSIBILITY ” LOOK LIKE ?

53. 53

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60. 60

61. 61
 Thank you
 Questions?