Exposure=Imapact: Library Marketing, Promotion and Branding

Editor's Notes

• #2: Who are we?Rene Erlandson is a librarian. She has worked in a variety of academic/research libraries since 1987, including Iowa State University, Library of Congress, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.Teonne Wright is a graphic designer with a bachelors degree inFine Art and Graphic Design and a masters degree in journalism and mass communications, advertising.
• #3: Bit of info about UNO:Metropolitan university of the Nebraska University systemAbout 10,000 FTE studentsUndergrad & graduate programs including a few PhD programs.Bit of info about the UNO Library:About 40 full-time staff (which includes faculty)Myriad of students that are the equivalent of about 15 FTEWe have 2 locations: main campus and satellite collection/meeting space in the Old Market area of downtown Omaha
• #4: Over the past 4 years we have used social media and mobile development to connect with the UNO community and bring the library in to their virtual lives.FlickrFacebookYouTubeTwitterBlogMobile siteFour SquareMost recent social media add-on: Pinterest
• #6: Brand – A ‘brand’ is an organization, service or product with a ‘personality’ that is shaped by the perceptions of the audience. It is the perceived emotional corporate image as a whole. A designer forms the foundation of the brand but cannot “make” a brand – only the audience can do this. Identity – The identity or ‘image’ of a company is based around the visual aspects used within a company, usually assembled within a set of guidelines. The style guidelines usually administer how the identity is applied throughout a variety of mediums, using approved color palettes, fonts, layouts, measurements and so forth. These guidelines ensure that the identity of the company is kept coherent, which in turn, allows the brand as a whole, to be recognizable.Logo – A logo identifies a company or product in its simplest form via the use of a mark, flag, symbol or signature. A logo does not sell the company directly nor rarely does it describe a business. A logo should not literally describe what the business does but rather, identify the business in a way that is recognizable and memorable.
• #7: Your brand image makes people think in a certain way about you or your business. Having a clearly defined brand image is essential to your long-term success. Your Unique Gifts, Talents & Passions (Doing the inventory)Define some ways in which you can be uniquely valuable to your patrons and then communicating that unique benefit in a way that’s easy to remember and clearly understandable. The bottom line is that perceived value is what creates loyal customers who will choose your library services.Your WHY: The Hero’s Story (Mission, Vision, Values)Learn how to define and declare your WHY (it’s much more important than your WHAT), and then put that why into language that shows off your superpowers.Crafting Your Core Message (Unique Selling Proposition/Emotional Selling Proposition)This where we put the pieces together and find the unique angle that hooks your audience and makes them want to know more. You’ll learn how to deliver this message verbally, visually and in writing. Ideally this should consist in a single idea, which will become the focus of all your external communications. All your marketing tools should revolve around this central theme.Expressing Your Brand (Your logo, name and other identity pieces)1. Your business/product name, also called the logotype or wordmark.A distinct text-only typographic treatment of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding. A signature font and/or a special type treatment of your name will aid public recognition of your business. Some companies use a logotype as their primary form of brand identity. 2. Your icon, the graphic image or symbol that often accompanies the name. It’s not always necessary for a brand identity to include an icon, but it’s another recognizable element that distinguishes your brand, so I recommend it for new and small businesses. Once a brand is well-established, an icon can sometimes stand-alone without a business name. 3. Your tagline, the phrase that explains your library’s mission. It can be a couple of words or a full sentence, as long as it’s descriptive. Use it with your name and icon as much as possible. Tell your audience what you do at first glance.After your logo is designed and tagline is created, your brand has a solid foundation on which to build both your online and offline identity.Implementing the Plan (What you need to cover in a brand rollout)Set priorities and outline next steps that will work for your library (and the budget). Brand is about creating and meeting expectations.
• #8: Repetition helps potential and current patrons remember and relate to who you are and what you do. Consistent use of your logo, tagline, and materials and what you say about your library. Create brand memorability through consistency, repetition, and uniqueness of your graphics and materials. Meaningful graphics make your message come to life through symbolic graphics, colors, and type choices in all of your marketing materials.Clear graphics and text communicate your message in an understandable way. Make sure that your graphics are crisp, clean, simple, and meaningful. And make sure that your text expresses your point and is not confusing — that it explains your point well. Professionalism in all things, from the quality of your graphics to the way your text is written (proofreading is essential!)If you include all of the above elements in your brand identity, you'll have a business look and feel that will really help your marketing messages to be taken seriously: one that will enhance your overall brand.
• #9: An effective logo is distinctive, appropriate, practical, graphic, simple in form and conveys an intended message. In its simplest form, a logo is there to identify but to do this effectively it must follow the basic principles of logo design:A logo must be simple. A simple logo design allows for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile and memorable. Effective logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn.A logo must be memorable. Following closely behind the principle of simplicity is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable and this is achieved by having a simple yet appropriate logo. The subject matter of a logo is of relatively little importance. Ultimately, the only mandate in the design of logos, it seems, is that they be distinctive, memorable, and clear.A logo must be enduring. An effective logo should endure the test of time. The logo should be ‘future proof’, meaning that it should still be effective in 10, 20, 50+ years time.A logo must be versatile. An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications. The logo should be functional. For this reason a logo should be designed in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. Once you’ve got a good vector image (.eps or .ai file types), you can export them to any other format you might need. The logo should be able to work both in horizontal and vertical formats. Providing a spot-color file, a pure CMYK file, a pure black file, a pure white knockout file and a RGB file. As a guide, these should generally be in EPS, TIFF (1500x1500@ 300DPI), and JPEG / PNG (800x800@72DPI) formatsalso provide a favicon (16x16@72DPI)A logo must be appropriate.How you position the logo should be appropriate for its intended purpose. You wouldn’t use a childish font & color scheme for a law firm.
• #11: Create a compelling landing page with a clear call to action. You get only a few seconds of the user’s attention and you have to work hard to retain the user and make him/her do the desired action (subscribing to a list, trying your product etc). Have only one call to action and make that action very prominent. Navigation: Do not try to be too creative in menu design. Put the menu items where people expect it to be. Common items like about, contact, product features could be featured in the menu. If you are a small business stick to less than five items in the main menu. Use a consistent color scheme. Pick two colors that best reflect your brand and stick to them. Don’t have three or more colors in a page. Use your logo as a starting point (color-wise) and build on that. Colors should always complement each other, never clash. And keep background pages on the muted side. You want your logo to stand out more than the overall page colors.Keep appropriate amounts of white space. Too many options and a cluttered website will only distract your visitor from the path you want them to take. Plus, you don’t want your brand to be associated with feelings of confusion and frustration. Make sure there are enough places for your visitors’ eyes to rest while they’re reading.Pay attention to typography. The fonts used on your site can make or break your website. Do not use more than two font styles in your pages. Use quality images. They help break up all that text and can extend your brand in ways that words alone can not. Just don’t settle for crap — it will reflect on your brand (and not in a positive way). Include an attractive, relevant profile image in every page. When people share your page in Pinterest or Facebook, the tools try to pick a thumbnail from the page and if there is no good image, there is less chance that the share will be successful.Work on fast loading times. Your users are impatient and so is Google. They can’t wait ten seconds for your page to load. Slow websites are punished by Google with poorer search rankings and can irritate whatever remaining visitors coming to the site. Your pages must load instantly and you have to work on optimizing it if your page is too slow. Create a sitemap for your site and link it in your website. A sitemap organizes the list of all pages in your website. Once you have a created your sitemap, take care to test out all the links. Validate your code to stay close to the standards will help you provide a consistent experience across all browsers.Test your website for browser compatibility
• #13: Your Facebook Fan Page:Use the full real estate available for your Page’s image (180 px wide x 540 px tall). Change the default URL to something more appropriate for your brand. (You need to have 25 fans before doing this.)Make sure your website’s URL is the first thing listed in your page’s About space. Be sure to include the http:// so that the link will be clickable.Your Twitter Profile:Customize your profile’s background. Hubspot’s got a great video tutorial (http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/27216/How-to-Create-a-Custom-Twitter-Background-With-Video.aspx) on how to do this.Incorporate your tagline or mission statement into your bio. And make sure you include the URL to your website (with the http://) so folks have easy access to more about you.Your LinkedIn Profile:In the professional headline field, instead of a job title, use your business’ tagline.Use the same photo you used for your Twitter profile.Take advantage of 3rd party apps that allow you to link up your blog, slideshare accounts, and more. These are all ways to tell your brand story.
• #14: Use your own domain. Your email address is a great place to build your brand. Use a branded signature. Every time you send out an email, it should include information about your brand. At the very least you should have a signature that includes your website address, your contact information, and your company tagline.Smart typography, formatting and attention to detail are all crucial ingredients to elicit from your readers the response that you are looking for.Avoid using too many type colors. Try sticking to a simple color scheme—a strong, easily read color for headlines and a secondary highlight color for your call to action. Using contrasting colors will give your readers a sense of hierarchy, allowing them to easily parse the information you want them to read.Limit the number of typefaces, sizes, styles and weights. Consistency is the key to presentation, and a good template can work wonders for your bottom line.Captivate and close. Lure readers in with an eye-catching visual and use the messaging to persuade them to act.Use a “1-2-3-Go” method for structuring content. An engaging headline, a supporting subhead, a short instructional piece of body copy and a clear call to action should be all you need to get them to act.Embrace white space, and kill the clutter. Control eye flow by breaking your content down into digestible chunks. The proximity and alignment of the elements within the space will help guide customers where to look.Make it scannable. Using elements such as line spacing, bullet points and indentation can help distinguish between messaging and improve legibility.
• #16: Take part in campus-wide student activities (Welcome Week, Finals Week)Welcome WeekSpin-to-WinQR code scavenger huntSocial Media BingoFortune cookiesHalloweenEarly Childhood Center costume paradeHappy Halloween to the studentsFinals WeekFree coffeeGive away stress ballsHave library representatives on campus committees—like social media, technology planning, distance education etc
• #17: Post to social mediaBe consistentStart slow 2-3x/week build to 1-3x/dayUse HootSuite or another tool to post across platforms (blog, FB, Twitter)Respond to comments
• #18: No one person has time to do it all. Ask others in the Library to assist with social media initiatives. ACQ: readers advisor who comes up with the free eBooks we give away each month. This same person posts to the new books, new media and some of the other pinterest boards.Circ: Director of Circulation posts new Kindle titles to the Kindle Pinterest boardReference: Embedded librarians post to the UNO Library FB wall when and where they will be working each week/dayACQ: another tech services person posts to FB and is developing group boards on PinteresteResources: our electronic resource licensing manager posts regularly to FB and maintains the “Around the O” board on PinterestOur social media team is an informal group of people who are interested in engaging with students.During the summer we meet to decide what initiatives worked last year that we want to continue and brain-storm about new things we want to try.Create the trivia questions/answers togetherDecide who is going to spearhead specific initiatives throughout the academic yearIf a business or group donates prizes for an event, be sure to give them a shout-out on your social media venues and the Library website.
• #23: Make branding easy for everyone to do:Develop “stock” images for logos, banners, buttons etcCreate templates for things like videos Store all templates and images in a central location, so anyone can get them whenever they need them