If your November, December, and January (so far) was anything like mine you got an influx of emails encouraging you to buy. These emails appealed to your better nature to be healthier, more environmentally conscious, more fashionable (or comfortable), a better cook, a better knitter, etc. And the emails don’t seem to have slowed down.
Here’s my tip to those of you who do email marketing – each time a subject heading captures your attention, write it down and see if you can make it work for your library. Ask your coworkers to do the same to help you get a variety of ideas and inspiration around a variety of topics that you can use to entice your community to use all the resources your library offers.
Some examples that caught my attention:
New Year, New You
This one is probably obvious and will work for almost every library. I’m thinking this is an email you send with links to books on home organizing and healthy eating, LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator, and maybe some of your Flipster magazines like Real Simple.
Customers spill the tea [on the library]
If you’ve been collecting stories from your patrons (like the ones Angela recommends in her blog post on the 3 stories your library should be telling right now), this would be a great subject heading. It appeals to most people’s desire for a little gossip, to hear that other people are using and liking a resource, and the simple fact that people love stories.
Hey! I got you a discount code :-)
Everything at the library comes with a discount code. I’m one of those librarians who think that libraries shouldn’t use the word free but should emphasize that everything available at the library is taxpayer dollars at work. But that doesn’t mean you can’t point out that the library is a fabulous deal!
We've restocked your favorites
This would be a great one to use after a big weeding project when you’ve repurchased some popular items that see a lot of wear, like any of the Harry Potter books, classic cookbooks that come back with tomato sauce on them, and almost any picture book.
Email marketing and seem and feel hard sometimes, especially if you’re new to marketing or don’t have training in it. Fortunately, ideas and resources are all around you, including in your email every morning. If you’re looking for more ideas, check out some of our webinar recordings featuring libraries and their email marketing and newsletters. We’ve also got ideas for connecting with your community through email in our Idea Center.
Jennifer Lohmann is the Director of Sales and Marketing for NoveList. She’s currently listening to Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
