This is a 'how to' for creating a basic marketing plan for a library with each step broken down and explained. I found it was easier to explain if we pretended we were a farm and actually wrote a marketing plan from that perspective. I serve the 8 county libraries on the Eastern Shore of Maryland so the resources section will not apply to everyone.

2. What are we doing here?
1. Talk Marketing,
definitions, what it
means to you
2. Parts of a Marketing
Plan, with some extra
tips and tricks
3. How to make your
Marketing Plan YOURS,
ways to customize and
resources to help
I’m going to give you lots of info to help you out so lets get started!

3. ‘Selling’ or Product terms
Even though terms like ‘selling’, ‘purchase’, or ‘buying’
maybe used – they still make sense even if no money
exchanges hands directly.

4. What is your definition of
Marketing?

5. Definition of Marketing and
other terms
mar·ket·ing ˈmärkədiNG/ noun

6. Marketing…
-the action or business of
promoting and selling
products or services,
including market research
and advertising.
Oxford Dictionary
-the activity, set of
institutions, and
processes for creating,
communicating,
delivering, and exchanging
offerings that have value
for customers, clients,
partners, and society at
large.
American Marketing
Association

7. Wikipedia
Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a
product to customers, for the purpose of selling that product,
goods or services. Another simple definition of "marketing" is
"managing profitable customer relationships”. Marketing
can be looked at as an organizational function and a set of
processes for creating, delivering and communicating value to
customers, and customer relationship management that also
benefits the organization. Marketing is the science of
choosing target markets through market analysis and market
segmentation, as well as understanding consumer behavior
and providing superior customer value. From a societal
point of view, marketing is the link between a society's
material requirements and its economic patterns of response.
Marketing satisfies these needs and wants through
exchange processes and building long term relationships.

8. Types of Marketing
Alliance Marketing - Here two or more entities come
together to pool in their resources to promote and sell a
product or service, which will not only benefit their
stakeholders, but also have a greater impact on the
market.
http://www.allbusiness.com/wild-crazy-marketing-ideas/
15677076-9.html

9. Call to Action (CTA) Marketing - CTA is a part of
inbound marketing used on websites in the form of a
banner, text or graphic, where it is meant to prompt a
person to click it and move into the conversion funnel,
that is, from searching to navigating an online store to
converting to a sale.
Community Marketing (Evangelism Marketing) -
This technique caters to the needs and requirements of
the existing customers, as opposed to using resources
to gather new consumers. This promotes loyalty and
product satisfaction and also gives rise to word of
mouth marketing among the community.

10. Content Marketing - In this case, content is created
and published on various platforms to give information
about a certain product or service to potential
customers and to influence them, without making a
direct sales pitch.
http://gizmodo.com/watch-this-haunted-poster-
come-to-life-and-scare-the-he-
1652707324?utm_campaign=socialflow_giz
modo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_faceb
ook&utm_medium=socialflow

13. Cross-media Marketing - As the name suggests,
multiple channels like emails, letters, web pages etc are
used to give information about products and services to
customers in the form of cross promotion. Use multiple
forms of communication to get a marketing point
across.

14. Database Marketing - This utilizes and information
from database of customers or potential consumers to
create customized communication strategies through
any media in order to promote products and services.
Casting a wide net, using pre-collected information to
target a specific audience.

15. Digital Marketing - This strategy uses various digital
devices like smartphones, computers, tablets or digital
billboards to inform customers and business partners
about its products. Internet Marketing is a key element
in Digital Marketing. This is like casting a wide net but
geared towards internet users. (Social Media)

16. Direct Marketing - This is a wide term which refers to
the technique where organizations communicate
directly with the consumer through mail, email, texts,
fliers and various promotional materials.

17. Diversity Marketing - The aim of this strategy is to
take into account the different diversities in a culture in
terms of beliefs, expectations, tastes and needs and then
create a customized marketing plan to target those
consumers effectively.
(In most cases, openly targeting a particular race sets you up for more
pitfalls than benefits. So be careful)

18. This is good
This is bad

19. Freebie Marketing - Here a particular item is sold at low rates,
or is given away free, to boost the sales of another
complimentary item or service.
Free Sample Marketing - Unlike Freebie Marketing, this is not
dependent on complimentary marketing, but rather consists of
giving away a free sample of the product to influence the
consumer to make the purchase.

20. Guerrilla Marketing - Unconventional and inexpensive
techniques with imagination, big crowds and a surprise
element are used for marketing something, a popular
example being flash mobs.

23. Parts of a Marketing Plan
1. SWOT
2. Target Audience Worksheet
3. Goals
4. Strategies and Tactics
5. Budget

24. Getting Ready for the Meeting:
1. The team can include leadership, department heads and
anyone else that wants to help.
2. Have your mission and vision statements on hand.
3. Remind everyone that this is not a personal attack.

25. STOP, Collaborate and Listen

26. Today we are not a library…
Sometimes you are a little too
close to a project to get the full
picture, so we are going to
start fresh as another business
We are from so many different
counties that we would not
make a unique plan for one
but a hodge-podge on for all –
that does not work
Gets you in the practice of
Alliance Marketing…

27. Today we are a farm!

28. Parts of a Marketing Plan
1. SWOT
2. Target Audience Worksheet
3. Goals
4. Strategies and Tactics
5. Budget

29. SWOT
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
A nonprofit SWOT analysis may seem simple, but it
packs a powerful punch that can help you take your
strategic plan or marketing plan to the next level. Don’t
avoid SWOT analysis because it requires you to ask the
hard questions and face problems within your
organization. It will make your operations and
marketing more effective and arm you with the next
steps you need to take.

30. List Internal Strengths
A few things to consider:
Age of organization
Tenure of staff
Staff education and experience
Ease of purchase/donation
Financial stability
Transparency
Reputation

31. Lets pretend we are a farm…
List some strengths
We are local
Organic
Family owned for 30 years
Lots of growing knowledge

32. Compile Internal Weaknesses
A few examples:
Lack of education and experience
Cash flow
Short-staffed
Poor website
No public awareness
Board inefficiency

33. Back to the farm…
Short staffed
Smaller farm
Have some veggies
that are not so popular
No website or social media

34. What Are Your Opportunities?
Opportunities are the thing your organization has no control over, but
could potentially take advantage of
New grants available
Possible partnerships
Demographic trends
Companies looking for
cause marketing opportunities
Influential connections
Recent good press
*Partners/ Connections pg 81 MYL

35. And at the farm…
Educational Grants
Farmers Markets
Organic grocery stores
Organic Partners
‘Green’ very popular

36. What Are the Threats to Your
Organization?
What external threats exist that could harm your nonprofit?
Economic downturn
Elimination of funding
An advocate leaving
government office
Recent bad press
Demographic trends
Rising vendor costs

37. The farm…
Other larger farms in the area with more product
Not as popular as some farms
Seasonal

38. And remember…
That your weaknesses and threats can be converted
into strengths and opportunities by looking at them
differently.
Can you frame your loss of government funding as an
opportunity for major donors to step up? Or maybe you
can take your bad website and make it into something
you’re truly proud of and that the community, your
volunteers and donors enjoy visiting.

39. You can use the SWOT analysis as a reference during
each step of creating your marketing plan or strategic
plan. As you move forward, look at your strengths and
opportunities and try to match them up so your
organization is taking the path of least resistance in
your marketing.

40. Target Audience

41. A target audience is the person or group of people
whom writing is intended to reach. In other words, it is
important for a writer to know who will be reading his
or her writing.
This audience is the person or group of people the
writer is aiming for or trying to reach. When a writer
knows the target audience, he or she will shape both
the purpose and tone of the writing to match the
audience's needs and, sometimes, expectations. Make
PERSONAS to help you visualize the target audience.

42. There is no such thing as
‘everyone’
Even though your library welcomes everyone and might
have something for everyone, you can not market to
everyone.
That would make your marketing plan way too broad
and it would turn into a ‘cross your fingers and hope it
works’ campaign.

43. How to narrow down your target audience
1. What is the desired action of you
target audience?
2. What demographic groups are
most likely to take the desired action?
3. How do they think?
4. What needs, challenges, and
frustrations do they have?
5. How does your idea, service, or
product help your target audience?
6. What drives them to make
purchasing decisions?
7. Do they currently use (or support)
a product or service of your organization
or that of a similar organization?
8. What media do they currently use?
9. How can you best reach your
target audience?

44. 1. What is the desired action
of your target audience?
(This is a good time to look back at the SWOT Analysis)
Buying your product or service?
Donating to your organization?
Volunteer for an event?
Advocate by spreading the word and educating others?

45. So, at the farm…
I want the Target(s) to buy and advocate for my product.

46. 2. What demographic groups
are most likely to take the
desired action?
Figure out not only
who has a need for
your product or
service, but also who
is most likely to take
action (buy, donate,
volunteer).

47. Some things to consider…
Age Group
Gender (M, F, both)
Location (local, regional,
national &/or urban,
suburban, rural)
Marital/Family Status
Income Level
Education Level
Occupation

48. 3. How do they think?
Personality types
Attitudes
Values
Interest/Hobbies
Lifestyles
Behaviors

49. 4. What needs, challenges,
and frustrations do they
have?
Understanding where
your audience’s needs
and frustrations are,
helps to shift the
conversation from
how they can help you
(“buy my product”) to
how you can help
them. Often times this
is communicated very
subtly.

50. 5. How does your idea,
service, or product help your
target audience?
What problem does
it solve? How does
it make their lives
easier? better?
What would
motivate them to
pay for it?

51. 6. What drives them to make
purchasing decisions? (or
donating, volunteering,
sharing, etc)
What influences them to take that final step? What
obstacles might be in their way? One product I worked
with did an amazing job at marketing to potential users
of our product and generated tons of interest and
excitement on an advertising budget of virtually $0.

52. 7. Do they currently use (or
support) a product or service
of your organization or that of
a similar organization?
If so, this means that
they have shown an
active interest in your
type of service (good)
but may be open to
new opportunities or
may be satisfied with
the way things are. e.
If they don’t, it might
prove

53. 8. What media do they
currently use?
Consider the magazines
they read, tv & movies they
watch, websites they visit,
social media sites they
frequent. For social media,
consider the times they are
most active and what types
of content they engage
with (follows, clicks,
comments, mentions, likes,
and shares)

54. 9. How can you best reach
your target audience?

57. http://gizmodo.com/this-ad-has-a-secret-anti-abuse-
message-that-only-kids-493108460

58. Helpful Hints!
With a little persistence Google can prove quite helpful
in helping track down research that others have already
compiled on your target. Search for blog posts,
magazine articles and survey results (or databases) that
talk about your target market.

59. You also might want to consider creating a
survey of your own where you can ask your
current customers for feedback.

60. Defining the market is the tough part.
Now that you know who you
are targeting, you should find
it much easier to figure out
what marketing messages will
resonate with them and which
media channels will be most
effective at reaching them.

61. Goals!

62. Typically you only want 3-5
goals, but you can start with
just 1…

63. SMART Goals
Specific
Measureable
Achievable
Realistic
Time Bound

64. Identify a SPECIFIC audience
being addressed
(from your Target Audiences)

65. State a MEASURABLE
outcome, check your SWOT
Analysis sheet.

66. Set an attainment level you
want to ACHIEVE – how much
do you want the situation to
improve?

67. Think REALISTICALLY – does
the audience match the
situation and the
achievement?

68. Set a TIMEFRAME
– declare when
you would like
everything to be
done or when you
will check the
progress

69. Draw connections between
your SWOT Analysis, Target
Audiences, and Goals.

70. Strategy
How you intend to reach the intended audience.
This might be the hardest part.

71. Unfortunately, there is no
magic equation for strategy
making.

72. This is where you have to get
creative, how will the target
audience hear about your
service/program?

73. Where is your target audience
already going? Where do they
get their news? Are they
regulars at a church, local
sport, or chamber of
commerce?

74. Survey
If you decide to do a survey, these are some of the
questions you should ask.

75. Here are a few Library ads to
check out!

76. Budget
Brief breakdown of what the strategies will cost

77. Some budget
questions to ask
What resources do you
need?
How much time will this
take away from the staff?
Who will be doing what?
Printing costs of marketing
materials?

78. Constantly Evolving
Document
which is cascaded to the relevant people and monitored
regularly. Most action plans are relatively short term
documents which focus on the coming year, but longer
term implications should also be considered. Determine
who will complete each action point. Monitor the
progress of the plan and review regularly.

79. How to make it your own…
A few tips to help make your point look and sound like
its coming from you

80. Branding

81. Important to make the message consistent, not just in
graphics but in voice and tone, not just for the
consumers but for staff as well. Write like a smart
human , talk directly to the reader using ‘you’, and
yourself as ‘we’ or ‘I’.

82. Graphics

83. Campaign
Take position statement (from your goals) and the strategy to
form a campaign

84. What is a position statement?
For (target customers)
Who (have the following
problem)
Our product is a (describe the
product or solution)
That provides (cite the
breakthrough capability)
Unlike (reference competition),
Our product/solution (describe
the key point of competitive
differentiation)

85. The following positioning statement was used by
Amazon.com in 2001, when it sold books almost exclusively:
For World Wide Web users who enjoy books, Amazon.com is a
retail bookseller that provides instant access to over 1.1
million books. Unlike traditional book retailers, Amazon.com
provides a combination of extraordinary convenience, low
prices, and comprehensive selection.

86. Fictitious company, Underfoot Industries, has decided
to pursue two target markets: schools and light
commercial customers. These are distinct market
segments whose customers rate their needs differently,
so the company must develop two positioning
statements.

87. Underfoot Industries #1
For schools, the Underfoot Industries EverAwesome line
is the strongest, most durable carpet among all
commercial-grade carpets for organizations on a budget,
because it is made using our patented SteelTwist
technology. The EverAwesome line features Underfoot
Industries’ patented technology for producing high-strength,
low-wear carpets. Underfoot named its
production technology “SteelTwist” to appeal to
customers, such as schools, who place a very high value
on carpet strength.

88. Underfoot Industries #2
For today’s appearance-conscious business, the
Underfoot Industries EverAwesome line is the carpet that
stays new-looking longest among all commercial-grade
carpets. Our patented technology produces durable, low-wear
carpet whose lifetime cost is 40-80% lower than
other brands. The brand name “EverAwesome” tells
customers: “This carpet looks great, AND it will last a
long time.”

91. https://www.flickr.com/photos/geekthelib
rary/

97. Process
Have a process established for creating and approving
content/marketing materials. Hold a training session.

98. Social and other media help
1. Genuine, generous, grateful, not greedy,
grandstanding, or grabby.
2. Product, Price, Place
3. Think outside the box

99. Tools/Resources

100. ESRL!
1. We have a great professional collection!
tinyurl.com/regionalrainbow

101. Here are a few of the books I used…
The Nonprofit Marketing Guide by Kivi Leroux Miller
Marketing Your Library edited by Carol Smallwood, Vera
Gubnitskaia, and Kerol Harrod
Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin
Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz

102. Seth Godin
SETH GODIN is the author of 17 books
that have been bestsellers around the
world and have been translated into more
than 35 languages.
Writing and speaking, Seth is founder of
squidoo.com, a fast growing, easy to use
website. His blog (which you can find by
typing "seth" into Google) is one of the
most popular in the world. Before his
work as a writer and blogger, Godin was
Vice President of Direct Marketing at
Yahoo!, a job he got after selling them his
pioneering 1990s online startup,
Yoyodyne.
In 2013, Godin was inducted into the
Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, one of
three chosen for this honor.

103. ESRL
We can also help with printing
and graphic design!
For graphics please email
kacey@esrl.org and for any
printing questions just ask
dean@esrl.org!
We would love to help
you out!

104. Bigstock.com
ESRL has a stock photo account here. Browse the site
and email me (kacey@esrl.org) the link with what size
you would like and Ill email it back. Try give me 5-7
days before you need it, I only have a few downloads a
day.

105. Your community
Each community is unique and has its own hidden
treasures, use these and other assets in your area.
Various events, other companies
*partners/ connections MYL

106. Your Fans!
The people can be your biggest and best forms of
marketing.

107. Your SEO!
I know computer stuff can be intimidating, but Search
Engine Optimization can be your best friend, make sure
that you are getting the best search results for your site.