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    November 4, 2008 by Diana  
    Filed under News & Announcements

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    We are working on the Ask a Librarian Marketing Plan for 2008-2009 and I would like your help.

    To bring you up to speed on recent AaL marketing efforts, here is what we have been up to:

    - The Director’s Chair YouTube Contest
    - We mailed info packets containing information about AaL, posters, bookmarks, lanyards and The Director’s Chair flyers to every high school in Florida
    - Posters, bookmarks, lanyards, The Director’s Chair flyers, post-it pads available for libraries in the toolbox at http://info.askalibrarian.org
    - Movie theater ad is playing before every movie in two Gainesville theaters through Nov. 20 (check out the ad here: http://www.tblc.org/theaterad)
    - MySpace (www.myspace.com/askalibrarianfl) and Facebook pages
    - Business flyers (promoting to business community)
    - Speaking at various statewide events
    - In the process of developing next year’s brand new and FRESH back-to-school campaign geared toward high school and college students

    What would you like to see AaL do to promote Ask a Librarian to your users?

    Please send me your suggestions at sachsd at tblc.org or add a comment to the blog.

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    6 Comments on "Ask a Librarian Marketing Plan"

    1. Andrea Carter on Tue, 4th Nov 2008 3:58 pm 

      I read that the thrust of the marketing is on schools but I do think it would be worthwhile to leave info-flyers, bookmarks etc. at the FedEx/Kinkos and copy centers. Many small businesses are often in these places amd they might like to use us as well.

    2. Jill Simser on Tue, 4th Nov 2008 4:08 pm 

      When we have events on campus, it might be nice to have balloons on display with the AAL logo on them to promote the service.

    3. be astengo on Tue, 4th Nov 2008 4:10 pm 

      Radio and TV ads may make a difference. An ad on Google may work. We seem to get a lot of traffic from the college crowd from looking at the stats, perhaps an ad in some of the local college newspapers may be worth it. What does Orange County do to promote AAL? They have the highest user numbers.

    4. Clayton Duhl on Wed, 5th Nov 2008 1:17 am 

      I like the idea of promoting to businesses. Information Literacy is a major need in businesses and much time is wasted in carrying out research. We could deploy librarians in various areas to give presentations (perhaps a canned presentation) to Chamber meetings to explain how by using this service, their employees can find better information faster and increase their company’s productivity.

    5. Lisa on Fri, 7th Nov 2008 4:26 pm 

      I really like the movie theater ad. Can you expand that to other cities in Florida? I think university towns like Gainesville are a great place to start.

      What about promoting the service to groups in the community such as Rotary, women’s clubs, etc? There are probably a number of business people in such meetings who could stand to benefit.

      You’re doing a great job otherwise. The new software is really user friendly.

    6. Chad Mairn on Wed, 19th Nov 2008 4:36 pm 

      The movie ad looks great! I too would like to know if there are any plans to play the ad in Pinellas county theaters? I still see the original AaL commercial on St. Petersburg College’s TV channel and I get excited every time. :)

      I agree with the other comments that we should provide promotional materials to places other than libraries and schools. Businesses, I think, would use this service often if they knew it existed. They know libraries exist obviously, but I don’t think they know about AaL. And since many people go to, for example, Panera Bread for free wi-fi I’m sure that those people have questions. We could be there for them at their point-of-need.

      Lastly, has there been any word on when the mobile chat feature will be activated?

      Take care,

      Chad Mairn

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