Marketing Plan

How to Write a Marketing Plan A simple, effective strategy for libraries “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” – Mark Twain What is marketing? Marketing is the management process by which goods and services move from concept to the customer It includes the coordination of four elements called the Ps of marketing: • identifying and developing a PRODUCT • determining its PRICE (the value of anything exchanged) • getting the product to the customer’s PLACE • developing and implementing a PROMOTION strategy (often called marketing communications) Four Ps | Four Cs Product Concept Place Channel Price Cost Promotion Communication The Four Ps are variables controlled by the organization Regardless of the forces at play in the market, these Four Ps are under your control Together, they are referred to as the MARKETING MIX You’ll apply the marketing mix to every goal you set Uncontrollable Variables • • • • • • • State of the economy Legislative Actions (budgeting) Changes in the competitive landscape Unemployment Technology Changes Operational Costs List is practically endless What is Marketing? Inputs • materials acquisition • mineral extracting Outputs Products ready to be delivered to customers and stores Everything but manufacturing What are a library’s products? – Information sources that not circulate – Products that circulate: books, CDs, DVDs, magazines, pamphlets – Services and programs you offer – Room rentals – Community events – Any others? What role does price play? • Fees for service (copying, printing, etc.) • Fines for late returns Is the concept of price important to you? Do you talk about it in meetings? How often you talk about income or revenue? Are you focused on making money? Likely to be a tiny percentage of your operating budget What about distribution or place? • • • • • • One location or main with branches? Do you community outreach? Bookmobile? Speakers bureau? Inter-library loan? Kiosks? Is promotion important? How you promote your products and services will be the guts of your marketing plan Promotion is likely to be the most important variable of your marketing mix because it is the most easily controlled 10 things you should when you get back to the library Set up Google Alerts for your library – Set an alert up for your library – Set one up for industry alerts – Anyone can this, but the marketing person should monitor this Why? Because marketing is always responsible for brand management 10 things you should when you get back to the library Find three competitors to track – Read their blogs – Follow them through Google Alerts – Follow them on Twitter – You will learn from these competitors! 10 things you should when you get back to the library Find relevant Twitter users – Search by topic, location, or subject using hashtags (#) and start following people – Do not mass follow numbers of people – Follow back followers you think make sense 10 things you should when you get back to the library Find bloggers who write about your topic area – Subscribe to their feed and read them regularly – Leave valuable comments NO spam NO fluff or self promotion! Remember, you’re building relationships here, not selling! 10 things you should when you get back to the library Start re-tweeting good articles – Helps people expand their Internet presence – Behavior is noticed – Attracts followers Social media is social, so be social (Can you handle these deep thoughts?) 10 things you should when you get back to the library 10 Make a list of the top people in your industry – Convert into a blog post: “14 library rock stars I’d like to have coffee with” – List them, write a couple sentences about why, link to their profile pages or website – This helps others and increases the chances that they will visit your blog – A similar post can talk about books, music, speakers, etc – just about anything! How to Hire a Marketer Traits you want your marketing staff person to have in today’s changing marketing environment D.A.R.C • • • • Hire Digital Citizens With Analytical Skills Who have some web Reach And can Create Content Hire Digital Citizens • Digital Citizens were born web savvy or got very familiar with the web They speak web fluently • Digital Tourists were born analog and not too familiar with the web They speak web with an accent • NEVER assume recent college grads are digital citizens They aren’t Questions and “Show me!” Ask your applicants to bring their laptop to the interview Sit side by side rather than across the desk Most applicants will claim to be web savvy Test them with these questions and ask them to show you • • • • • What RSS reader you use? Can I see it? What blogs you read? Can you show me? Do you have a blog? How many Twitter followers you have? When did you last update your Facebook or LinkedIn profile? Hire Analytical Skills • Should be very familiar with Excel or a statistical software package • Should know Google Analytics and how to use the tool • Should understand keyword strategies involving long-tail keyword research Hire for Web Reach • How many LinkedIn connections you have? • How many Twitter followers you have? Do you talk about our industry on your Twitter account? • How often you post to Facebook? • Do you have a blog? (True digital citizens will be part of online communities Look at their bookmarks and how organized their desktop is Don’t be afraid of gamers, unless they exhibit psychopathic behaviors ) Hire Content Creators • Your candidate should have GREAT writing skills • Be great if they could shoot and post a video on YouTube • Have they ever done a podcast or screencast? • They should be comfortable with blogging on a fixed schedule (2x a week minimum) Hiring Tips • You probably won’t find someone with all of these traits, but look for them anyway Make sure your candidate has either the coursework or experience to swim in the waters of online marketing • Being able to take a selfie and post it on Instagram doesn’t qualify you as a digital citizen Thank you! John Murphy The Murphy Agency, Inc 10 W Streetsboro St., Suite 205 Hudson, OH 44236 330-342-1255 www.themurphyagency.com