BRAND MARKETING In The Academic Library

What is Brand Marketing The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name.

History of Brand Marketing Brands in the field of mass-marketing originated in the 19th century with the advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels used, extending the meaning of "brand" to that of trademark.

Brand Marketing in the Business World “The good hands people” Allstate Insurance United Auto Insurance “Protecting Chicago” Nike “swoosh” Apple “I______” “Harley Davidson”. A motorcycle not just a vehicle with two wheels.

Why Brand Marketing Brand Marketing combines services and emotion to the customer. People want to be part of an Ideology. Promoting something truly worthwhile. Branding attempts to associate a certain set of values, emotions and symbolic meaning to that product, giving it an identity.

What do we Brand How to market a service Who are the competitors of Academic libraries What are the differences between the competitor and the library. What can we market that is unique

The competitors Google Amazon Other research databases.

What to brand The Difference between Google, Amazon and other online research databases is the human Factor. The staff of the library is the unique difference. Academic libraries could focus on the staff to market their libraries. Academic libraries need to understand that librarians are the unique service that no other information outlet can offer.

Who are the academic libraries marketing too. Undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, administrators, and staff are some of the people to market to. Other people include alumni, donors and institutional funders, trustees, policymakers, parents, the general community, and media.

From the Business World The Five P’s Pitch Plan Platform Performance Payoff

The Five P’s Pitch Explain why the organization should care about and support the project. Persuade the target audience of the service being provided.

Plan -Come up with a plan to identify the goals. -Identify the personnel, the responsibilities. -Involve the community that the Library serves. -Make sure all staff understand the goals and are on board with it.

Platform Make an emotional as well as an intellectual connection get into the audiences hearts and heads by describing what is and why it matters to them.

Performance Competently deliver on the marketing promise. Demonstrate resilience in responding to unexpected events.

Payoff Celebrate the marketing strategy's success. Fine tune the marketing strategy.

Go the extra step Instead of simply giving your patrons the call numbers, they need to go into the stacks with them and show them where the resources are. Host social events in the library. Student orientations, faculty lectures, faculty parties. Make the library as visible as it can be.

Welcome patrons Use patrons names during all types of transactions to develop excellent community relations. Develop retreats or seminars that include the library and staff to help develop plans for the libraries future. Offer causal seating areas. Comfortable chairs grouped into individual islands, so that library users can sit back with a cup of coffee and read the days paper or participate in impromptu discussions.

Feedback Provide a year-round feedback mechanism to develop the continued ideas, input, and creativity needed to ensure that libraries provide the very best service possible.

References: Brown, Karen A., Richard Ettenson and Nancy Lea Hyer. "Why Every Project Needs a Brand (and How to Create One)." MIT Sloan Management Review 52, no. 4 (Summer 2011) Fisher, Charles "The Library's Living Brand." AALL Spectrum 11, no. 3: Stuhlman, Daniel. "Think Like a Business, Act Like a Library: Library Public Relations." Information Outlook 7, no. 9 (September 2003): 10-12, 15. OmniFile Full Text Mega, WilsonWeb (accessed October 19, 2011).