Toolkit

• Goals—What do you hope your message will accomplish? If everything
goes exactly as you hope, what will the outcome be? Are you willing to
compromise?
• Audience—Who are you trying to reach with your message(s) to
accomplish your goals? Users or potential users? Administrators or
colleagues? Community members? Some combination of the above?
• Media—What communication or marketing tools are at your disposal?
Which of these would be most effective in reaching your target audience?
Would a single, focused approach be best? Or should you employ a wide
array of media to reach your audience? Is the same medium appropriate for
all members of your target audience?
Each of these factors plays an important part in your marketing plan. As you
think through each of these elements, consider how you can maximize impact
through the wording or approach of your message. Always consider your goals,
audience, and media—but also consider how they interact with one another. Let
your goals dictate the target audience for your message, and let both your goals and
the audience influence your choice of media.
For example, one of your advocacy goals is to help your students understand
that the school library program can support their learning even outside of school
hours. Perhaps your library is a peer tutoring hub before and after school, so one
of your specific advocacy goals is to entice more students to visit the library during
those times to take advantage of this service.
In this situation, the target audience is students because they will be the ones
actually visiting the library for tutoring. Other possible target audiences might
include teachers (who could encourage students to take advantage of the tutoring)
and parents (who might encourage their children to visit or serve as a tutor).
The next step is to identify the best media for the task. If you know your
students are active on Twitter, try tweeting a message from the library’s Twitter
account. Or, if they visit the library website regularly, a banner on the homepage
might be effective. If you’re collaborating with their teachers on a lesson, consider
including the tutoring information on a class handout.
Overall, think consciously and intentionally about how your students take in
information. Media preferred by students, regardless of your own preferences, will
be the best vehicles for your message and prove to be effective additions to your
marketing plan. Remember that the media you use to reach your students need not
be the same tools employed to reach teachers or parents, even if the goal for the
communication is the same. Finally, spend time wordsmithing your message for
maximum impact with each audience and strive to make the message appropriate
to the medium.
Although creating a marketing plan for your school library program may seem
daunting, it’s important because a plan of action is needed to achieve any goal. You
26 Communication