Boot Camp Prepares Librarians for Marketing Campaign
On December 4, the New Jersey State Library, New Jersey Library Association and Ocean County Library hosted The Ultimate Marketing Boot Camp at the Ocean County Library’s Toms River Branch. Over 70 librarians from across New Jersey attended the full-day training event which was packed with high-energy sessions. The workshop was the brainchild of NJSL’s Nancy Dowd and Ocean County Library PIO, Heather Andolsen.
Participants got to choose from marketing tracks covering two key areas: fundraising and word of mouth marketing. Professionals from these fields presented workshops designed to give the tools needed to achieve success.
In the word of mouth marketing track Jeff Greene, executive director of client services at Gold Group/Gold Mobile, discussed the newest communication tools, including mobile marketing, and how to create an action plan to get started using WOM right away. Li Evans, a search marketing guru, explained how search engines work and the best way to get a Website noticed by them. Kathy Dempsey, Editor of Marketing Libraries, and Nancy Dowd, Director of Marketing for the State Library helped librarians pull it all together with a workshop designed to develop an action plan using WOMM techniques.
In the fundraising track, special events planners Rachel Holland and Amy M. Feinstein showed how to plan a successful fundraising event, while events expert Kathi R. Evans explained when and why to use an events planner. Scott Rodas, Special Events Coordinator at Ocean County Library, shared insights from his years of booking top talent on a library budget.
The workshops gave valuable information and training, especially to those librarians who registered for the new statewide marketing campaign, Solving Life’s Problems, sponsored by the New Jersey State Library and the New Jersey Library Association. NJSL and NJLA are encouraging libraries to develop a video that tells a compelling story about their library. Those videos will then be entered into a statewide contest. More workshops are planned. For information on the statewide marketing campaign, go to solvinglifesproblems.org. Librarians can register and library users can submit their stories there.