Another special guest in the Bubble Room, this time it’s Patrick Losinski, our executive director. As a marketing person who has just entered the library world in the last four years, I have no real perspective on where libraries have stood on understanding and utilizing the basic premises of marketing. That’s where Pat comes in.
As he says in this video, he was hired by our Board of Trustees to change our organization. Among many steps he has taken to implement that change, was to hire outside professionals in a number of areas traditionally filled by librarian: HR, IT and, lastly, marketing.
Here I ask him to assess the impact of many of the marketing steps we have taken such as: rebranding, customer segmentation and research, key message development and consistent delivery of that message.
As he is out in our community and talking with stakeholders as well as staff, he says the most powerful result of our marketing efforts is a consistent and clear message. He shares that in 2004, when we did a brand inventory, we were a sea of logos.
It was hard to understand what the library was about and where we are headed. Today, with the alignment of our strategic plan (driven by our market research), a one-CML approach to branding, alignment of our affinity groups (Friends and Foundation) and dedication to our single focus, he finds that staff, stakeholders, community members … by and large are able to articulate our key message. That is the point of marketing!
About Alison Circle
Wow – I found my people! In 4 minutes you identified the issues faced by those of us working in libraries – but not of the library world. So excited to hear this – and hope to see this level of “outside” expertise reflected at state and national library gatherings. As the Development Director for a small urban city library system, I’m hungry for this level of conversation.