Library Marketing and Communications Conference 2015 (LMCC15)- Relationship Marketing and Libraries

1. Using Relationship Marketing to Develop a Successful First Year Library Workshop Program Mark Aaron Polger, Assistant Professor & First Year Experience Librarian College of Staten Island, City University of New York MarkAaron.Polger@csi.cuny.edu Tuesday November 3, 2015

2. Today’s talk • Relationship marketing? • Relationship Marketing and the Library • Our College • Our Instruction Program • Challenges • Marketing steps • Market research • Identifying target audience • Promotion • Assessment (measuring success) • Themes of Relationship Marketing • Relationship Marketing and Other Library Services • Lessons Learned

3. Relationship Marketing? “Relationship marketing is a strategy designed to foster customer loyalty, interaction and long-term engagement. It is designed to develop strong connections with customers by providing them with information directly suited to their needs and interests and by promoting open communication.” (Steve Olenski, Forbes Magazine, May 9, 2013)

4. Relationship Marketing?

5. Relationship Marketing?

6. Relationship Marketing?

7. Relationship Marketing?

8. Relationship Marketing Themes • Retention • Partnerships • Long term relationships • Loyalty • Advocacy

9. Relationship Marketing and the Library • Relationship marketing is about retention, not sales • Library services as memorable • We hope they refer our services to colleagues • We hope they become advocates • Investment in long term, meaningful partnerships

10. Our College • CSI is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) • 24 campuses in the New York City • Our College has 14,000 students • Our University system has 500,000 students • Our library has 14 full time librarians, 14 part-time librarians • Teach 300 classes per academic year

11. Our Instruction Program • Credit class (LIB 501- Beyond Google: Research for College Success) • First Year Library Workshops for Introduction to College Composition (ENG 111) • Library Instruction Sessions (beyond 100 level classes) • Credit-bearing “topic” workshops for First Year students (CLUE classes) • Faculty Workshops

12. Challenges • Too many requests • Not enough librarians to provide support to English 111 • Inconsistency in how we provide instruction to English 111 • Streamlining the process was a priority

13. Marketing Steps 1. Market Research • Met with English department and Director of the Writing Program • Asked questions • What are students learning? • Are they writing a paper? • What 4 things can we teach them? • What can they learn in 45 minutes? • How will they be assessed? • Evaluated the curriculum of the Introduction to College Composition Course • Addressed how we can develop a workshop to address learning outcomes • Collaboratively developed learning outcomes of 4 items

14. Marketing Steps 2. Identify Targets (Segments) • Targeting First Year Students • Trying to obtain buy-in with them through English faculty and other academic departments • Academic Advising • Academic Support • Writing Centre • New Student Programs/New Student Orientation Office

15. Marketing Steps 3. Promotion • Visited campus departments (academic advising, academic support, new student programs department, admissions) • Developed flyer, signage, brochure, web page • Developed self-registration system via Google forms and Google sheets • Developed schedule via Google calendar • Developed quiz via Google forms • Met with English faculty, attended meetings • Posted flyers in faculty mailboxes and sent targeted emails • Timed promotion on Social Media

34. Assessment (measuring success) • Number of students per workshop • Number of workshops taught • Number of evening/weekend workshops • Analysis of quiz results • Number of instructors who make workshop mandatory • Longitudinal assessment of student progress

35. Themes of Relationship Marketing • Engagement • Obtaining loyalty • Retention • Transparency • Open communication • Minimizing conflict • Long-term sustainability

36. Relationship Marketing and Other Library Services • NSO (New Student Orientation) • Library tours (partnership with College Admissions) • International Education Week Film Series with the College’s Center for International Service • LIB 501 (our credit course) • Library Instruction Program • Library Liaison Program

37. Lessons Learned • English department asked for more evening and weekend workshops • Revised quiz to reflect what English 111 faculty are teaching • Created certificate to prove attendance • English department asked about more online components

38. Lessons Learned • Quiz is reviewed after class • Re-visit promotional material and handout each semester • Re-visit workshop quiz each semester • Some instructors require students to take workshop • Currently developing online modules to supplement “face to face” classes

39. List of sources Doyle, C. (2011). Relationship marketing. A Dictionary of Marketing, A Dictionary of Marketing. Ehrlich, Evelyn, & Fanelli, Duke. (2012). Relationship Marketing. In The Financial Services Marketing Handbook (pp. 145-156). Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons. Kumar, V., & Reinartz, Werner J. (2012). Customer relationship management concept, strategy, and tools (Springer texts in business and economics). Berlin: Springer. Olenski, S. (2013). This is the most important word when it comes to relationship marketing. Forbes Magazine, May 9, 2013.

40. Contact me! MarkAaron.Polger@csi.cuny.edu Assistant Professor & First Year Experience Librarian Co-convener for 2015-2016ACRL National Library Marketing & Outreach Interest Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/acrl.lmao/ Chair, PR Xchange Committee, LLAMA PRMS http://www.ala.org/llama/sections/prms/prms_committees/pr-xchange