Week 15 Prompt Response: Marketing a Fiction Collection
One thing I've been gradually learning about marketing is that it involves finding a balance between several things. First, there's the balance between marketing less used (or lesser known) materials and services, and increasing awareness and accessibility of materials/services that are already popular. Then there is the balance between marketing to already active users of the library, and groups that are not active users. Since it's not usually feasible to try to reach all of these goals at once, it can be tricky to decide how best to spend the time and resources required for marketing.
Keeping this in mind, two of my three strategies for marketing my library's fiction collection would probably be focused on reaching active library users, and making them more aware of books that are lesser-known but likely to be popular. The library where I currently work has quite a big collection, but very low circulation, and most of our patrons are young adults, teens, and children, who mainly become aware of what the library has to offer by physically coming to the building after school, and wandering around. We have a decent collection of Manga and graphic novels, but these are located in the back of the library and are not easy to find without doing some exploring. So, first, I would probably work with my coworkers to create a manga/graphic novel display that is near the entrance to the library, where the majority of our patrons would see it instantly when they walk in. Second (and this is definitely dreaming a bit bigger), I would love to create a Teen Book Club that the library could host once a month. Our patronage mainly uses our library as a social gathering place, and I think this would be a great way to keep providing that for them, while also highlighting certain books in our collection, and providing a space for teens to discuss those books.
My third strategy would be focused on reaching a group that does not use the library as much, by marketing a part of the fiction collection that seems specifically appealing to them. In this case, since my library has fewer adult patrons, I might want to market a genre like romance, which is hugely popular currently. Because our adult patrons do not actually come to the library in person as often, I would probably suggest putting some kind of fun graphic on our website/social media. The first theme to come to my mind is "romance through the ages," which could highlight the way romance has changed over the last century or so, displaying popular novels that are available in the library. This might not be the best theme, but as long as the infographic is attractive and fun, I imagine it would catch people's attention.
Keeping this in mind, two of my three strategies for marketing my library's fiction collection would probably be focused on reaching active library users, and making them more aware of books that are lesser-known but likely to be popular. The library where I currently work has quite a big collection, but very low circulation, and most of our patrons are young adults, teens, and children, who mainly become aware of what the library has to offer by physically coming to the building after school, and wandering around. We have a decent collection of Manga and graphic novels, but these are located in the back of the library and are not easy to find without doing some exploring. So, first, I would probably work with my coworkers to create a manga/graphic novel display that is near the entrance to the library, where the majority of our patrons would see it instantly when they walk in. Second (and this is definitely dreaming a bit bigger), I would love to create a Teen Book Club that the library could host once a month. Our patronage mainly uses our library as a social gathering place, and I think this would be a great way to keep providing that for them, while also highlighting certain books in our collection, and providing a space for teens to discuss those books.
My third strategy would be focused on reaching a group that does not use the library as much, by marketing a part of the fiction collection that seems specifically appealing to them. In this case, since my library has fewer adult patrons, I might want to market a genre like romance, which is hugely popular currently. Because our adult patrons do not actually come to the library in person as often, I would probably suggest putting some kind of fun graphic on our website/social media. The first theme to come to my mind is "romance through the ages," which could highlight the way romance has changed over the last century or so, displaying popular novels that are available in the library. This might not be the best theme, but as long as the infographic is attractive and fun, I imagine it would catch people's attention.
Dallin,
ReplyDeleteMy library has several book clubs (tween, teen, and two different adult clubs) and the problem we've run into for the tweens and teens is that the group of young people who can easily come to the library on their own and the group of young people who might be interested in discussing a book don't overlap much.
We're currently considering the option of doing the tween book club as an outreach program at the schools instead of having the participants come to the library. Another option might be to offer a virtual book club, either with a live Zoom meeting, or with some kind of chat forum.
I totally agree with your observations about the teens and young people who come to the library. I've noticed that most of the teens I encounter who would be interested in a book club are the ones that are involved in a million different extracurriculars. I floated the idea of a virtual book club to them, but they said it sounded like homework, so I've gone back to the drawing board a bit.
DeleteI think your marketing idea sounds good. Romance through the ages is an interesting topic and I could see it being fun. Courtship definitely has changed over time. But you're right, an eye-catching graphic and fun blurb can be a draw.
ReplyDeleteI actually love your idea for a Romance Through the Ages program! I am not a Romance reader, but I am a historian, so learning and discussing the history of something, always wins out over whether or not I find the base topic appealing. I think it would be a way to catch both fans of Romance novels, but also people who just enjoy learning about history! And I think it could become a running theme because the other staple genres have changed a lot too! Science fiction in particular took a drastic new direction after the World Wars, and it could generate a lot of interesting discussions!
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