Marketing As A Part of the Corporate Library

Value Proposition

Poster presented by Deb Rash and Kristine Spanier

B&F and DAM Divisions, Minnesota Chapter

SLA 2010 Annual Conference

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for

creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and

for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit

the organization and its stakeholders. (American Marketing Association)

Does this resonate within corporate libraries that are

forever focused on proving their value?

In January we conducted a survey to find out and our results were enlightening.

• 162 info pros/librarians submitted answers.

• From all sizes of corporations ranging from one to more than 1000 employees.

• Range of information center staff size - 40% have 2-5 employees, 19% have 1 and 21% have more than 10.

• Majority working in US or Canada but also from UK, Australia, France, India, Italy and more.

Survey Conducted January 2010

Over 85% of survey respondents do not have a written marketing plan.

Nearly 90% do not have a budget for marketing.

Email Alerts

Training

Intranet

Newsletters

Website

Brochures

Wall Postings

Blog

Twitter

Video

Other

0 38 75 113 150

107

8

11

23

52

61

64

71

108

110

118

What platforms do you use to communicate your value to clients?

“Other” Platforms Used To Communicate Value

• LinkedIn

• Yammer (corporate version of Twitter)

• Wikis

• Newsletters

• Presentations/Training

• Business cards

• Open Houses

• Town Hall meetings

How Do You Determine Your Competition?

• Maintaining awareness of where people go for information.

• Surveys and information audits.

• Keeping ears and eyes open.

• SWOT analyses.

• By identifying anyone who does the same work.

Determining Competition in Practice

• “On a case by case basis when we become aware information is obtained outside of our resources.”

• “Anecdotally, when our association members mention that they have submitted similar requests to their company information centers or other associations they belong to.”

• “No real competition. We are the only ones in the company with access to classified resources.”

An Ah - Hah Answer• “We communicate

regularly with business groups and divisions. If someone is doing something that we consider to be ‘competition’ we assess what our unique value is and determine if it is something we should continue to provide, or if it’s something we should ‘give up.’”

How Do You Define Your Target Audience?

• All employees.

• Those who specifically use information to do their work.

• Research staff.

• Professional staff.

• High level executives.

• Company clients and staff.

Defining Target Audience in Practice

• “We try not to eliminate anyone, but some groups are obvious - the ones who impact the bottom line and bring money for the firm!”

• “The users and the non-users, plus geographical, plus cultural ways of working.”

• “Segmented by business line and seniority so varies by resource and service.”

• “We focus on the most strategic groups in the company and the most strategic projects.”

What Goals Have You Set For Your Marketing Efforts?

• Build awareness.

• Communicate value to stakeholders.

• Contribute to success.

• Increase use.

• None.

• Survive.

Goal Setting in Practice• “To not be seen as the ‘best kept secret within our

organization.’”

• “Define more specifically our services to assist our stakeholders in understanding exactly what it is we can do for them. Build relationships with additional stakeholder groups.”

• “To remain in the forefront of our organization, to be a positive force in the organization’s success.”

• “We want to get more requests from our users.”

• “I have more work than time, so I don’t have set, formal marketing efforts. I market by being a valuable team player every day.”

• “Stayin’ alive.”

Goal Setting Word Map

What Tactics Do You Use To Reach Those Goals?

• Training sessions, events.

• Connecting with senior management/stakeholders.

• Providing constant value added.

• Give something to talk about.

• Being team players.

• Continuous evaluation of services and products.

• Develop relationships.

• Do compelling work.

Tactics in Practice• “We communicate compelling information, often, to

our clientele and to the whole corporation.”

• “Create buzz.”

• “Showing we are concerned about efficiencies as well as costs without sacrificing service.”

• “Develop relationships of trust.”

• “By providing comprehensive, timely, credible, and accurate research and resources.”

• “Provide excellent information formatted in a way that suits the requestor and can be used by others.”

Tactics Word Map

What Have Been the Results of Your Marketing Efforts?

• Increased awareness.

• Increased usage.

• Increased budget.

• Increased staff.

• Increased respect.

• Higher profile.

• Higher integration in company and culture.

• Still here!

Results in Practice• “Increased service usage, more refined user requests,

increase in salaries.”

• “We’re still in business! Seriously, we are no longer an afterthought. We’re brought in right from the beginning. We’re valued and we add value!”

• “We are firmly entrenched in the corporate culture.”

• “I am increasingly invited into high-level meetings and am becoming more integrated into our planning and sales efforts.”

• “Good feedback.”

• “Greater visibility, greater trust, more business, higher profile.”

Results Word Map

Will you evaluate the results of your marketing plan?

No45% Yes

55%

Track Requests

Surveys

Interviews

Focus Groups

Not Applicable

Other

0 18 35 53 70

What Methods Do You Use to Evaluate Your Marketing Effort?

Do You Conduct An Information or Communications Audit Before

a New Marketing Effort?

• The answer is mixed - some do both, some do one and not the other and some do not conduct any type of audit at all.

The Audit In Practice• “One-on-one interviews, including project

debriefs.”

• “Surveys sent to one business segment.”

• “All deliverables reviewed and evaluated.”

• “Focus groups.”

• “Log research requests and analyze yearly trends.”

• “Track website usage and subscriptions.”

New Services As A Result of the Audit

• Specific intranet content pages.

• Current awareness.

• Designed custom solutions for individuals.

• More database content.

How Has Your Marketing Changed In Recent Years? • Some more.

• Some less.

• More virtual.

• More global.

• Less traditional.

• More web 2.0.

Changing Marketing Initiatives in Practice

• “Have tried to expand them beyond the physical headquarters.”

• “More time and effort spent on marketing. More use of online tools.”

• “Yes! Lots – no more paper communications, no more parties, less scattershot training. The frill is gone!”

• “Always changing.”

• “They have been reduced to basics due to staff and time constraints.”

• “Virtually everything is done digitally now.”

• “From conventional to e-based using social networking software.”

• “Changed with the availability of technology and growth of the company.”

• “We have grown and scaled back our efforts depending on where we are with our education effort of our new sponsors. Sometimes we need to coast and remain under the radar for a while to survive, then we re-emerge.”

Change Word Map

What Has Been Your Most Successful Recent Marketing Initiative?

• Newsletter/blogs

• Open house/ social events

• Relationships/ embedded

• Training/demos

• Intranet/portal/ internet

• Current awareness/alerts

• New product introductions

• Presentations

• Brand/tagline/ logo launch

• One-on-one meetings

What Has Not Lived Up To Your Expectations?

• Training/demos

• Open house/social events

• New service/product introductions

• Old school marketing

• Current awareness service/alerts

• Newsletter/blogs

• Presentations

What Are Your Biggest Challenges In Staying Visible?

• Access

• Acknowledgement

• Awareness

• Budget

• Global

• Google

• Relationships

• Remote Users

• Staff Reduction

• Support

• Time

• Turnover

• Value

Challenges In Practice• “Some of our best work is embedded in

projects, reports, etc. by requestors, with no acknowledgement that we participated/supported their work.”

• “Challenge is breaking through the clutter that our end users are constantly bombarded with.”

• “An extremely tight budget that prevents us from adding advanced services that would be very well-received by clients.”

• “Learning how to service global clients.”

More Challenges In Practice• “Competing with Google!”

• “Most people no longer leave their office. Everything is virtual and there is less face-to-face and, in the end, that’s what makes a relationship and keeps people thinking of you.”

• “With a reduced staff just staying ahead of the billable work so that we can continue to develop marketing materials.”

• “Demonstrating the value of our services.”

Make marketing a core part of your strategy so that the

connection between the services you provide and success for the

company will become an obvious part of everyday encounters and

your basic value proposition.

Thank you to all the Information Professionals who took time out of their busy days to answer our

questions.