On a conference call at work today we discussed the progress of our marketing and branding efforts. With a potential clientele of over 100,000 people across six continents and consulting being a high-turnover business, you can imagine the challenges inherent in building awareness of us and the services we offer. Some of the steps we're taking:
- Developing templates for deliverables (consultant-speak for end-product, like presentations or reports) in Microsoft PowerPoint and Word, with our group's name and logo prominently displayed
- Seeking opportunities to promote our past work in existing communications
- Segmenting our customers and targeting key segments (i.e. influencers within the firm)
Do any of you face similar issues in building customer awareness? And what tips and techniques have you found helpful?
June 26, 2006 at 11:49 am
First, I want to thank you for starting this blog. I am the new Marketing Coordinator of a corporate library (worldwide pharma/health care company), and I am not a librarian by training. I have bookmarked your site!
Yes, I can imagine the challenges you’re facing — because I am trying to employ the same strategies you have already mentioned. I haven’t written a marketing plan yet, because I am still trying to get a handle on all the internal employee newsletters available here.
I am developing library branding guidelines that follow the parent company’s brand identity (which is relatively new). Are you developing your own, or are there corporate guidelines you have to follow?
Looking forward to our future conversations….
PS: Should I join the SLA B&F division instead of the Marketing Division?
July 5, 2006 at 4:21 am
Sorry for the delay in replying - I’ll see if we’re following corporate guidelines with respect to colors and what not, but I suspect we are. Certainly we use the corporate tag line on our presentations.
I’d say the Marketing Section of the Library Management Division makes the most sense, given your focus.
July 24, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Hi!
Just caught your blog and your posting about marketing. I suggest that both of you sign up to receive my free newsletter, Marketing Treasures. It will address some of your questions. There are 15 years of archives which should prove useful too. http://www.chrisolson.com/marketingtreasures/mtsignup.html
I just wrote a response to a branding question posted on the Academic PR forum. It touches on what you’re pondering here. You can read it at:
http://www.fearless-future.com/prforum/viewforum.php?f=1
Good advice about joining the SLA LMD/Marketing Section.
Thanks so much for starting this blog Steven! Information professionals in corporate settings need a place to get together, outside of SLA.
Chris Olson
March 14, 2007 at 9:12 am
corporate librarianship has been faced with the problem of information wxplosion on the Internet This has had a negative impact on service provision due to the problems associated with information that is retrieved online. Therefore there is a need to extensively market what the librarian has on offer and s/he has to be abreast of trends in the sector s/he is involved in so as to serve the best available information. To this end the librarian has to come up with comprehensive packages and programmes that will facilitate and promote the use of corporate libraries.
It is the duty of the librarian to make his/her presence felt by proving his/her worth through: extensive marketing
retrieving relevant, up to date infomation
sources of information must be authentic, reliable, and of the right scope.