Smartest Card: Talking the Talk
June 30th, 2005 by Andrea Mercado
Peggy Barber and Linda Wallace, founders of the Library Communication Strategies, Inc. consulting firm, gave an excellent presentation on the beauty and brilliance of word-of-marketing for libraries.
When Peggy asked the crowd a few questions to start (there were about 66 people in attendence):
How many people in the room have done media interviews for their library?
10 people or so.
How many people in the room have made presentations to groups?
Way more, about 25 or so.
How many people in the room talk to other people in the library?
*Everyone*.
The point? Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing is for everyone, because we all talk to people. And Peggy said, “If we get our acts together, we will truly rock the library world as we know it”. Call it advocacy, marketing, whatever, this is a “team sport, and we just can’t be passive anymore”. We compete with other agencies who want library money, Tivo, Xboxes, you name it. So we all need to talk the talk as a unified force, the entire staff, all the time, even off the job.
When asked how many people had training in marketing in library school, only 2 raised their hands, and that’s “two more than usual”. So really, the Smartest Card program really is innovative and encouraging, but schools really need to step up and teach marketing of services, too.
WOM is actually becoming more important and influential in our society. While the benefits of this type of marketing may be obvious, especially since it’s been so successful for the likes of Amazon, The Body Shop, and Ebay (they started out with WOM at the beginning, with paid advertising coming much later), Peggy and Linda outlined the main upsides:
- WE CAN AFFORD IT. Who can’t pay to talk to people to chat about libraries in line at the grocery store? At some point, someone actually recommended that ALA “spend the entire ALA endowment on ads” to get libraries back in the forefront and thought of as just as essential as a hospital, or a fire station, or the police. Libraries aren’t just a civil good, libraries are a civil necessity.
- WOM marketing is active, not passive, not reactive. You ask people to spread your word, don’t just tell them about it and walk away. As libraries, we’re not getting paid to do it, we’re not trying to hustle a commission, and, well, if we do it well enough, other people will catch on, too. Using WOM marketing, we can work together virally to combat the bain of the spread of the “bad experience story” with the awesomeness of sharing a good experience story.
- WOM is viral. Tell your patrons that the most wonderful thing they could do, other than offering their time and their money, is to offer their recommendation. “If you like this service, tell your friends!” should be something every library worker says to every patron who has a wonderful comment to share with the library, and every handout and evaluation form for classes should include a note that says, “Did you enjoy this class? Tell your friends!”
WOM Marketing must haves from the experts, Peggy and Linda:
- A good product… GREAT customer service!
- A clear and memorable message
- A prepared and committed sales force
- People willing to testify
- A plan
Also remember that you should always have an “elevator pitch”, a 3-minute schpiel about your library that you could present in the time you might be in an elevator. Then, be prepared to give you pitch no matter where you are, whether or not you’re on the clock.
Linda had an excellent story about being tagged by TSA agents in the airport. While her things were being examined quite carefully, she had opportunity to ask one of the agents, “Do you have a library card?” And the agent was very proud and excited to pull out his library card, and to have the other agents show her their library cards, too. Just an example of how a library card, how library services, can come up in everyday conversation, helping WOM marketing work for libraries.
WOM marketing has worked for some of the most successful businesses of recent commercial history. Use WOM marketin at your library, and show Microsoft that their slogan “Your Success, Our Passion” should have been stolen from librarians.
Tags: ALA2005, conferences, PLA, Smartest Card
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