Earlier in the year I got to head over to Denmark, to deliver a keynote at the Danish Academic and Research Library group's annual conference. The subject of the conference was marketing, and I was specifically asked to talk about the academic library brand.
Here are my slides:
Branding the Academic Library from Ned Potter
There were a couple of key points I wanted to get across - one is that the brand is everything your users experience! Colours and logos are branding, and they are part of a wider attempt to positively influence the brand - but we can't control the brand. The voice we use in our communications, the experiences people have at the front desk, the collections and services we offer: all of this makes the brand.
We also can't influence the brand on a national or global level - at least not without a great deal of difficulty. It's a lot more realistic for each specific University library to try and build a better brand; rather than to try and change the overall perception of the academic library as a concept.
I also stressed, as I always do, that the key to marketing libraries well is to do so in campaigns. Any questions or comments, let me know below!
There were a couple of key points I wanted to get across - one is that the brand is everything your users experience! Colours and logos are branding, and they are part of a wider attempt to positively influence the brand - but we can't control the brand. The voice we use in our communications, the experiences people have at the front desk, the collections and services we offer: all of this makes the brand.
We also can't influence the brand on a national or global level - at least not without a great deal of difficulty. It's a lot more realistic for each specific University library to try and build a better brand; rather than to try and change the overall perception of the academic library as a concept.
I also stressed, as I always do, that the key to marketing libraries well is to do so in campaigns. Any questions or comments, let me know below!