chat prep branding 101

Chat prep: Branding 101

Tomorrow (Thursday, June 14th), I'll be hanging out in the Library

Marketing Exchange chat room from 12-1pm EST to say hello, talk

library marketing, and get to know what you're up to. To get the ball

rolling, I'm making the theme of the chat Branding 101. If you have a

different topic in mind (or no topic) that's fine, but I figured

having a theme would help get the conversation moving.

In my recent branding talk, I distilled some of the lessons I'm

learning into a few Branding 101 points, which are:

1. Know your customers: Understand what makes your customers tick by

finding out what's important to them and what they hope to

achieve.

2. Know yourself: Come to grips with who you are as an organization

and who you aren't. By doing so, you'll see where you and your

patrons meet, and where you may need to make some changes to

better accommodate their needs. Remember, you can't be all things

to all people, but you can do a better job of being yourself

3. Find your inspiration: Great brands stand for something big. What

gets you up in the morning? How can you get patrons excited too?

If you don't care about something, you have nothing to build your

brand on.

4. Find your aspiration: What, ultimately, do you hope to become?

Great brands connect their aspirations with those of their

patrons. Think beyond today to the possibilities of tomorrow.

Develop your vision with patrons and involve them in getting

there.

5. Write it down: Everyone inside and outside of your library should

know what you stand for. Communicate it every chance you get.

6. Live it: Here's where brand-building happens. Some ways you can

live your brand include maximizing every point of contact you have

with patrons and becoming their advocate in everything you do.

Let's talk more tomorrow about how we can practice what we preach!

How can you participate in tomorrow's chat? Very easily! Just go to

this address: http://www.meebo.com/room/librarymarketingexchange/ or

the Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book homepage (you'll see

the chat box in the sidebar) and type away! If you can't make it this

time around, leave a message anytime about questions or comments you

have, projects you'd like to get feedback on, or other topics you'd

like to see addressed in future chats. Your message will be available

in the chat room for a while, so don't hesitate to leave a note!

P.S. You don't have to stay in the chat room for the entire hour, of

course. Drop in, drop out, stop by in the middle, it's all good! :-D

Posted by Jill at 11:00 AM