Mary and I are so excited!!! We are going to start doing some pro-bono work for the Adams County SPCA in Pennsylvania soon. Which means we get to work with the awesome Lisa Conklin, their director of development.
We will keep you updated on what we come up with. This is really exciting for us since we are both huge animal lovers:
A great day in Texas. Mary and I gave our presentation/workshop to the Amigos folks in Dallas this past week. The workshop, “Can Libraries be Sold Like Soap?,” was similar to our CARL presentation but we did make a few adjustments. What’s great about the way we have structured the workshop is that we can easily tailor it to fit any size group. We’ve worked with groups as small as ten and as large as fifty. We can also easily cut or add activities to accommodate for time constraints. One hour workshops work, but they’re not as effective as the three hour workshops we have given.
“Can Libraries Be Sold Like Soap?” is constantly evolving. At the core is our commitment to offering a workshop that is engaging, practical, entertaining, and of course, educational. Still, we are always updating it with analyses of new social marketing campaigns and new activities that really allow participants to come out of the workshop with the beginnings of a campaign. The folks at Amigos came out of the workshop with some great ideas including the “Take One for You and One for a Friend” school library campaign and the public library campaign “Steal Music for Free at Your Library.”
We got to meet some great folks from the area including Nancy Hill from UTEP and Betty Long from the New Mexico State Library. We hope to see these folks again and develop workshops aimed at their particular staff and needs. Only regret is that we had to leave so early. Mary to Chicago for another workshop and me back to Tucson for work and three-year old play.
Thanks to Eddy and Laura at Amigos for all the help behind the scenes. Presentation and travel went off without a hitch thanks to their support. And again thanks to our guru, Katya Andresen, for continued inspiration via her book and blog.
One last thing. If you doubt Mary’s presence and stardom, just click here: http://genneaux.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/i-am-a-tool-of-engagement/
The gal’s a rising star!!!
This week Mary is presenting at two conferences. Woah Mama!
Keep an eye out for her if you are attending either of these conferences!
A Brand You World: Amigos Member Conference 2008
Breakout Session with Yvonne Mery
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Can Libraries Be Sold like Soap?
When: Wednesday, May 7 – 1:00 p.m. – 3:10 p.m. (Breakout Session)
Speakers: Mary Evangeliste Director of User Services & Outreach, Gettysburg College and Co-Founder, Fearless Future: Marketing for Things That Matter; Yvonne Mery, Assistant Librarian, Undergraduate Services Team, University of Arizona Library
Audience: Branding and Marketing
Traditionally, many librarians have had little faith in commercial marketing, perceiving it as unnecessary and claiming, in effect, that you can’t sell libraries like you sell soap. This session will present an alternative perspective on commercial marketing: social marketing and its applicability to libraries.
Tools of Engagement: Attracting and Engaging Library Users
Library Challenges & Opportunities
Friday, May 9th, 2008
What are the most creative libraries doing to engage current and potential users of the library? Join us as we explore great new ideas for reaching and engaging users and look at some results of users’ involvement in shaping library services, programs, and spaces. This program will go beyond PR, to involving our various communities of users in shaping the libraries of the future. Panelists include an accomplished library social marketer and outreach librarian, a very successful public library director who has integrated her library with other public agencies, a leader in college student engagement programs, and a recent MLS graduate exploring new ideas. This teleconference is 90 minutes–Noon to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Mary and I are always haranguing anyone who will listen about the importance of a solid brand. So, in order to strengthen our own brand, we have launched a new logo.
In order to maintain a little of the old branding, we took the three circles of our old logo and turned them into the windows of the rocketship. By and large, the typography remained the same but our tagline has now changed to more accurately portray our company.
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| Old Logo | New Logo |
We were able to keep our “Retro-Futuristic” look that we love, but make it more eye catching and dynamic.
What do you think? Oh, and check out the new homepage design too…
Yvonne Mery and I will be presenting on Friday April 4th in Irvine California at the California Association of Research Libraries. We will be presenting with a wonderful colleague from UC Irvine, Pauline Manaka. We are presenting a shortened version of “Can Libraries be sold as soap?” Our interactive workshop that focuses on social marketing campaigns and its transferability to libraries.
Jonathan will be presenting with other awesome colleagues, Alex Hodges and Patricia West, on Tuesday, April 8th at Computers in Libraries in Arlington, Virginia. Jonathan and company will be talking about the amazing work done marketing IM service at American University Library. Finally our wonderful friend and co-author Nancy Dowd of The “M” Word is also presenting at Computers in Libraries. Nancy will be talking about how to survive tech exhaustion and instead find the best uses Web 2.0 technology in libraries.
As you may have noticed Jonathan has been posting up a storm with very little word from me; well that is because I am busy getting used to being back on the East Coast—which is awesome. I took the position of Director of User Services and Outreach at Musselman Library—Gettysburg College on January 7th. There are already doing so many amazing marketing and outreach activities at the library and I am honored to be part of their team.
I am now living in Gettysburg which is completely different than living in Tucson. But the nature is just as beautiful but totally unlike that of the Sonoran Desert. Last Sunday I took a hike and experienced the tall evergreens and babbling brooks. I can’t wait for spring to truly begin so that I can really experience what the outdoors are like here!
Early on, I noticed that everything in Gettysburg is named after the battlefield, there is a Battlefield Harley Davidson Shop, Battlefield Fries, Battlefield Holiday Inn, Battlefield anything and everything. When my friend Alex was here helping me move, we could not stop singing Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield.”
So I submit to you, for your approval, these wonderful fashions from the early 80′s.
Watching this video makes me remember how stoic singers always used to appeared in their videos.
Mary and I are testing out a new blog design. If you are reading this in a feed reader, come check out the new design and the new features.
Poke around and let us know what you think.
I just got done re-desiging Fearless Future. Mary and I wanted to go with a much cleaner design than before with the goal of making it much easier to navigate.
Welcome to the New and Improved™ Market the Future. All the same marketing and design information that you are used to just in a more readable and useful format.
You can find all of the navigational elements bundled under the “Control Panel.”
If you run into any issues, please drop me an email.
Market the Future has been switched over to a new server. This change will hopefully banish the downtime and this new server seems to be a little speedier.
Please e-mail me if you run into any problems.
