Get out of your office and practice in-your-face marketing

Information Outlook, Feb, 2005 by Jim Harrington

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Read and Share

I spend time each day reading news items about my industry and scanning various print publications as they arrive. If I find something that I know will be of particular interest (remember those brown bag lunches I mentioned earlier?), I send it to the appropriate individuals. This may be a sales manager for a particular customer, our competitive intelligence group if the item is about a competitor, or a product manager who's working on a particular technology. I find being proactive in this manner is another way to market library services. Often, these items appear in one of my weekly newsletters; but the early notice is appreciated.

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Marketing isn't just for special occasions. Brochures, library newsletters, and open houses are tasks that take a lot of time to prepare. Unless you have some gimmick that elicits a response from your users, you may not have any idea if the brochure or newsletter is even read. You need to engage your users as often as you can by finding ways to be constantly in their faces. I know my efforts have had a positive effect when I walk down the hall and someone says, "Hi, Jim," and I reply with a friendly, "Hey, how's it going?" even though I have no idea who the person is.

Jim Harrington is the corporate librarian for Fujitsu Network Communications in Richardson, Texas. He can be contacted at jharrin2000@yahoo.com.