Transcript WAAL_2006 - MINDS@UW Home

Developing a Marketing and
Communication Plan:
A Case Study from the University of Wisconsin
Digital Collections Center
Vicki Tobias, Digital Services Librarian
[email protected] / 608.265.6381
Lisa Saywell, Digital Repository Librarian
[email protected] / 608.262.9470
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Who are we?
 Seven full time staff, approximately
15-20 student staff
 Two administrative bodies oversee
our activities
 UW System
 UW-Madison
 UW Digital Collections Center is
physically located in 431 Memorial
Library and is part of the UW
Madison Libraries
 UW Digital Collections are located
at http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
What are we?
University of Wisconsin Digital
Collections Center
 Contains:
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270 hours of audio
222,576 citations
1,595 finding aids
43,710 images
8,268 books and journals
comprised of 1,212,023
pages
 Serves:
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13 Four-year campuses
13 Two-year campuses
Highly decentralized
environment
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
What do we do?
 UWDCC develops, manages, and hosts digital
collections through collaborations with content
providers.
 Overview of UWDCC Services and Tools
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Consultation and Proposal Development
Project Management
Infrastructure Development
Metadata
Reformatting of Materials
Promotion / Assessment
Maintenance / Preservation
Digital Repository
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Why Market Library Tools and Services?
 To meet the information
needs of 21st century users
 To make our services and
tools more widely known to
and valued by information
seekers
 In order to remain essential
and esteemed in an age of
information excess
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Our Marketing Efforts to Date
 Minimal and “guerilla”, no
dedicated staff
 Brochures, bookmarks,
subject guides
 Conference presentations,
in-house presentations,
workshops
 Articles and press within
local and library media
 Site visits to UW campuses
 UWDCC Web site
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Why a Marketing Plan?
 Organize and coordinate
efforts
 More efficient use of staff
and resources
 Develop strategies and
activities to support each
broad marketing goal
 Ability to measure or assess
our success
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Our Challenges
 The UWDCC is both a service
provider (e.g. we create digital
resources) and we provide access
to digital resources.
 We serve the entire UW system multiple campuses.
 We must integrate our plan with
other larger marketing and
communication efforts:
 General Library System
 UW-Madison campus
 UW System
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Presentation Goals and Overview
 Present our process for developing a marketing and
communication plan for our services and
collections.
 Development Process:
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Vision and Mission Statement
Purpose and Scope of Plan
Understanding Users
Understanding Key Services and Tools
Develop Marketing and Communication Goals
Identify Broad Goals
Define Promotional Strategies
Plan and Schedule Activities
Assessment
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Vision and Mission Statement
 Marketing plan should complement institution’s
mission and or vision.
 Review and revise existing statements.
 Create new statements, if they don’t exist.
 Lesson learned: We’ve outgrown our mission
statement.
 “…providing quality digital resources from
libraries and archives for faculty, staff and
students, citizens of the state and scholars at
large.”
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Purpose and Scope of Marketing Plan
 A logical, organized and
manageable plan.
 Gather input from user groups and
all staff associated with your work.
 Have reasonable expectations and
measurable goals.
 Lesson learned: Strategic planning
within group needed, outside of
marketing efforts, in order to
develop a clear plan. You must
have direction!
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Understanding Users
 Brainstorming activity involving entire
staff
 List key user groups and define their
characteristics
 Prioritize users groups based on their
importance as stakeholders
 Create user profiles based on
brainstorming activity
 Define a message or theme to apply
to each user profile
 Validate assumptions through
assessment
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Understanding Users
 Lessons learned
 Focus on primary user groups to
create profiles
 Distinguish between a user audience
and marketing audience
 Keep it simple. Don’t attempt to
account for every potential user
group. Define primary and
secondary groups and prioritize
within these categories
 There will be overlap among some
groups (e.g. some users belong to
more than one user group)
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
User Profile – UW Faculty: Educators/Teachers
User Characteristics
 "just in time" users
 context/scope/resource discovery
important
 critical users
 potential “content providers” for UWDCC
 use material in classroom and reuse
materials
 sensitive to student needs
 specific needs: subject, format, technical,
level, searchability, browsability
User Message or Theme
The UWDCC provides free, easy-to-access, vetted and reusable digital
resources for instruction.
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Define Key Services and Tools
 Brainstorming activity involving
entire staff
 Define specific services and tools
related to each user profile
 Identify strengths and weaknesses
 Identify “competition”
 Focus on current services and
tools, future developments not
included
 For each user profile, list their
method(s) for discovering services
and tools
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Define Key Services and Tools
 Lessons learned
 Define key services first and
then associate them with user
profiles
 Realized distinction between
UWDCC as a service provider
and as an information resource
 There is overlap among
services and tools, e.g. some
services and tools are “key” for
multiple user groups
 Focus on current services and
tools, not future endeavors
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
User Profile – UW Faculty: Educators/Teachers
Our Services and Tools of Interest
 Breadth of resources
 Create and provide digital resources of interest
 Create meaningful metadata and context
 Provide instruction on how to use our collections (e.g.
presentations, workshops)
 Digital resources are open access, publicly available
 Offer a repository: a self-archiving & publishing
service
 Support their use of technology in the classroom
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
User Profile – UW Faculty: Educators/Teachers
“Discovery” of Our Services
and Tools
 Campus presentations and
campus-wide media
 Departmental newsletters
and presentations
 Google and other federated
databases (e.g. ARL, Merlot)
 Learn@UW, online or distant
learning pages
 Librarians and/or library
course pages
 Word of mouth – colleagues
and students
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Develop Marketing and Communication Goals
Create“SMART” Goals
 Specific
 Measurable
 Action-oriented
 Responsibilities
stated
 Timed—scheduled
appropriately
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Develop Marketing and Communication Goals
Marketing Goals for UWDCC
 Increase use of our collections for instructional
purposes.
 Solicit more and diverse content for our collections.
 Increase research use of our collections.
 Promote the idea that UWDCC and its services and
tools are an integral part of the library system and
can help achieve larger library goals.
 Increase awareness of UWDCC itself, as a valued
campus-based entity.
 Promote the idea that UWDCC staff are experts in
digital content creation and management.
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Develop Marketing and Communication Goals
 Lessons Learned
 Identify broad goals
first then focus on
goals related to
specific audiences
and services
 Overlaps with
strategic planning
 Marketing goals
should be in support of
your organization’s
larger goals
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Define Promotional Strategies
 Inventory and evaluate
current promotional
strategies
 Itemize and prioritize
promotional strategies
 Identify factors guiding
strategies (e.g. resources,
other marketing efforts,
competition, cluttered
info space, and unified
expectations)
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Define Promotional Strategies--Example
 Goal: Increase awareness of UWDCC as a
“valued” campus-based entity.
 Strategy: Increase visibility of digital resources (our
collections).
 Activities: Press, articles, and presentations
 Theme/Message: Following current developments
in librarianship, we actively and aggressively
create unique and useful digital resources, from
locally-held collections, and make them
accessible to the public via the World Wide Web.
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Define Promotional Strategies
 Lessons Learned
 Decide if strategies
should be
audience-focused
or service-focused
 Create themes and
messages based
on the marketing
goals you
developed
 Overlap between
activities for
multiple strategies
and goals
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Plan and Schedule Activities
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http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Who
What
When
Where
How
How well
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Plan and Schedule Activities--Examples
 Submit articles to local
media
 Create departmental
newsletter articles
 Conduct campus visits and
presentations
 Organize presentations to
public service librarians
 Email announcements
 Tours and information
sessions about UWDCC
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Assessing the Plan
 Monitor results
 Define success
 Redefine plan—trial
and error
 Be persistent and
repeat activities
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Current Marketing Efforts
 Minimal and “guerilla”, no dedicated staff
 Brochures, bookmarks, subject guides
 Conference presentations, in-house
presentations, workshops
 Articles and press within local and library
media
 Site visits to UW campuses
 UWDCC Web site
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Integrating Current Efforts into to Our Plan
 Coordinate marketing efforts within UWDCC and
assign particular activities
 Create brochures, bookmarks and subject guides
with a particular goal and audience in mind
 Participate in conferences, presentations and
workshops that support specific marketing goals
 Coordinate our campus visits with other marketing
activities
 Analyze our Web site to determine how well our
current site meets our marketing goals and
audiences and make changes when these are not
aligned
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Conclusion
 Marketing is an
ongoing effort
 Marketing must be
an institution and
department priority
to be successful
 Learn and adjust as
you go
 Group participation
encourages support
 Planning can be a
positive experience
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu
Resources
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“How to Write a Marketing Plan.” Kassel, Amelia.
Marketing Library Services. June 1999
http://www.infotoday.com/mls/jun99/how-to.htm
“Public relations, Marketing, Advocacy: A
Marketing Plan Worksheet.” Cavill, Pat. Wired
West, Vol. 1, No. 3.
http://www.sla.org/chapter/cwcn/wwest/v1n3/c
avilb13.htm
Marketing Your Library. University of Kentucky
Libraries.
http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/Marketing/Welcom
e.htm
OhioLINK Marketing Toolkit. Idea Gallery.
http://www.ohiolink.edu/ostaff/marketing/gallery
“Marketing the Worth of your Library.” Sass,
Rivkah K. Library Journal. June 2002.
http://www.libraryjournal.com
http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu