As librarians, how do we create effective communication campaigns that achieve our goals and craft messages that encourage people to engage with all we have to offer? On this show, Dr. Stevie Munz, Co-Owner and Consultant at Summit Communication Consulting, discusses how libraries are well-positioned to achieve strategic and effective messages.
Transcript
This is Adriane Herrick Juarez. You’re listening to Library Leadership Podcast where we talk about libraries and leadership, and speak with guests who share their ideas, innovations, and strategic insights in the profession.
As librarians, how do we create effective communication campaigns that achieve our goals and craft messages that encourage people to engage with all we have to offer? On this show, Dr. Stevie Munz, Co-Owner and Consultant at Summit Communication Consulting, discusses how libraries are well-positioned to achieve strategic and effective messages. Enjoy the show!
Hello, Dr. Stevie Munz, welcome to the show.
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Hi. How are you?
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #1: I am great, how are you? 00:53
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Really well, I am so excited to be here today.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #2: And I’m so excited to have you. Today we are talking about creating a communication campaign in your library. As we begin, could you please share with us what a communication campaign entails, and its importance? 00:58
Dr. Stevie Munz:
A lot of you, probably unknowingly or knowingly, have done some communication campaign work. But broadly, the term communication campaign refers to all the little specific messages that you’re putting out to target your audience or audiences. For example, it might be messaging to attract patrons into the library for summer reading, or to advertise, or to communicate, about a certain activity or resource project, or service project that the library is participating in—maybe even fundraising. You might have strategic messaging that you’re going to push out that’s going to be connected to this broader campaign
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #3: Absolutely. We understand the importance of this in communicating our message to our patrons so they know how to use and engage with our services effectively. As we proceed, how do we define campaign goals? 01:58
Dr. Stevie Munz:
This is a really great question, and probably one of the most important parts of a communication campaign, because a communication campaign is strategic and it has strategic messages that are targeted and directed in a particular way to particular audiences. You could also think of stakeholders here too. I think sometimes folks forget that our stakeholders in our community are also a part of our audience, right? So we might want to be thinking about how to reach them.
When we’re thinking about the goals for our campaign, we want to do a few things. We want to think about what the need is. Why are we doing a communication campaign? Resources are finite everywhere, so really thinking about, How am I using those resources? Is there a need for this campaign? What does that look like? Generally within all of that too, folks are thinking about what challenges or opportunities the campaign is going to address. You want to think about how your campaign aligns with your greater library mission as well, and how does that campaign, even more so, fit into your library mission or add to your library mission? You also want to think about metrics. How are you going to assess that your campaign was effective or ineffective? How are you going to track what you’re doing?
Then the final thing you want to think about, also, is to set what’s called smart objectives. Smart objectives are measurable. They’re specific. They are achievable, relevant and time bound. And all together, that’s how you’re going to start shaping what the goals of your campaign are. As folks are listening you’re probably thinking, Oh, my gosh, that’s so much to do. It is a lot to do, but if you do all of this work in the background—pre-work first. It’s just going to help your campaign be that much more effective, or hopefully effective—that’s our goal here.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #4: And speaking of being effective, what are the benefits of a successful communication campaign? 04:07
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Oh, man, that’s a great question too—so many benefits. Think about what challenges or opportunities your library is facing. Maybe it’s fundraising. Maybe it’s patrons coming into your library. Maybe you’re facing staffing challenges, resource challenges. Maybe there’s also been changes to policies. And, there’s trust issues with the community, or a certain group of patrons, even, that is in your service region. All of that taken together is going to speak to how effective your campaign is going to be and what your campaign could do, possibly, to change the perspectives, the values, the behaviors, the people who are going to get those messages. Because, really stepping back—what we want to always, in the back of our mind, remember and keep in mind is that our campaigns are trying to change the behavior, or the values, the beliefs of people who are getting our message. So, if we do that, then really we can almost do anything. We can send messaging out about anything. Maybe you’re looking at your social media right now and you’re thinking, We have ten followers, but our service area has hundreds of thousands of patrons. You could start with a goal that’s going to help attract more patrons to your social media, and by doing that highlight how fantastic the resources are at your library. There’s an infinite number of possibilities.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #5: And part of that is crafting compelling messages as part of communication campaigns. Can you talk about that? 05:48
Dr. Stevie Munz:
This is where I think librarians have a real leg up, I’ll be honest, because librarians are intellectual. They’re knowledgeable. They’re resource-driven researchers, data information. I think this is where, honestly, you all can shine. The critical part about the messages that we put out is they need to articulate what we’re hoping to achieve and what we want to achieve, so they have to be intentional. They have to be well written with all of the rules from our folks in the English fields that have taught us well. It has to be doing all those things. But, those messages that we’re sending have to feel crafted to the people who are receiving the message.
I always tell people here, one of my golden nugget tips, or tricks is get your messages proofed by other people, other stakeholders who might have another perspective. See if that reel that you’re going to do is going to hit. See if that message on the newsletter that is a part of your campaign—if that’s appropriate. Get that second opinion or third opinion out there, because it really matters.
All of this also is a part of your credibility for your organization. If you think about all the messaging that goes out for your campaign and for your library, you want all of that to be super high-quality. So of course, no typos, right? That’s obvious. But I think the less obvious part is, How do I communicate that I care about you—audience member receiving our message. How do I communicate that I’ve taken the time to understand your needs, your values, your beliefs? How do I do that? I do that by writing messages that are compelling and that are audience-centered. That takes time, right? It takes energy. We want to be, I think, really mindful about that when we’re also setting out to do any campaign work.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #6: And being mindful of crafting our communication messages—there’s another layer of where those go. How do you choose communication channels for campaigns? 08:00
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Oh, that’s a really good question too, especially right today, where as you all are listening, there’s literally a million different areas where our messages could go. I think here what’s really critical is that we as the producers of the message, we understand where or how our audience is getting the message—how are they receiving it? There’s a lot of really great research out there about how different demographics access media and information. We see different trends right across social media platforms. Some of our older generations are more on Facebook. You’re younger—especially teenagers are going to be on Instagram, TikTok. They’re going to be in that space. Here, what to me is really critical is understanding how—who I’m trying to reach receives those messages.
Another really golden nugget ticket is: make the most out of the platforms that you’re using. If you are on social media but you’re like, Man, I’m not doing it a ton because it’s only one element of my job that has ten other things in my job. All of the social media platforms are connected to the Meta Suite, right? So, if you go into the Meta Suite, you can actually look at some of the analytic data for Instagram and for Facebook and see who is watching, who is following. I think making the most out of data that’s available to you is really critical. Knowing your audience is really critical to make that decision.
I think also listening to your audience is really critical too, and understanding how to navigate that, because sometimes we get information from our patrons where they’re like, I don’t understand why you’re doing Instagram Reels, or you’re doing these funny things. But, you should be able to articulate that we’re doing that to reach a particular demographic. You should understand strategically why you’re doing it.
I think the other part about this that’s really important, and probably isn’t talked about enough when we’re thinking about channels, is your print channels. And, I don’t mean old-school Gutenberg press style here, [laughter] but I mean your newsletter, your email blast, your print that’s happening. How is that happening? What does it look like? How is it digested? So all of it really comes down to knowing your audience and how they digest the information. If you’re thinking about even accessible information like paper, I think, it also goes unnoticed, or isn’t talked about enough. But, like little paper flyers—still people pick those up. Especially libraries are a great place for this because it can be used as a bookmark. Thinking about it strategically too, how you can pass the information to your audience.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #7: And given all this, there can be challenges when it comes to crafting effective communication campaigns. Do you have any tips for avoiding common challenges? 11:05
Dr. Stevie Munz:
There always can be challenges. [laughter] Even the best laid plan there can be challenges. I think my best advice here is to anticipate a crisis. Anticipate that there will be a problem. I don’t mean like major, you know, calamity, but there will be a problem. There’s going to be a typo on Instagram, on a post. There’s going to be the wrong address used for someone’s title, right? There’s going to be the problems. Thinking before, though, the problem happens, how are we going to handle it? And, even more specifically, who handles it. Does the communication manager handle it or does the assistant handle it? Like really thinking about how.
I think the other big part about this that’s really critical is be really strategic about how you visibly handle it as well. When we’re thinking about that social media space, sometimes we have folks who say things on our social media platforms that are just not appropriate, and they are just not okay to be on our page. Thinking about who’s managing that is really critical because it’s managing your credibility for your organization. Also, thinking about when someone brings a dispute to that public space that maybe has nothing to do with what your post is, How am I going to address that? Here, my best tip is to advocate that the person who has messaged on the social media platform messages you privately, but I would really put that right on the post. I would say with a person-centered message that you understand that they’re upset. You would love to chat with them more. Here’s your contact information, because that helps communicate that trust that other people are watching—otherwise known as social media lurkers.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #8: Great advice. That’s helpful because it will happen. 13:20
Renee Grassi:
It will happen. It always happens. There’s always a crisis—not waiting for the crisis to happen, but be prepared for it. We can’t prepare for every single thing, that’s not possible. But, having a best laid-out plan that you can execute and that you also know who’s going to execute it. I think that really becomes important when there’s other people mingling in the communication campaign space, which is the truth in the case for most organizations. Yeah, I think that’s really a critical part.
Trying to avoid the obvious things—getting defensive, or name-calling or things like that, I think are really important. This is also where, honestly, you want to, again, have everything proofed, double-check—be really sure that what you’re saying is accurate. We are in a day and age where it’s one Google click away to double-checking information too. So, just be really certain that the information you’re putting out is as factually accurate as possible, and then it’s not something that you’re going to have to retract or redact.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #9: Thank you Stevie. Is there anything else you’d like to share? 14:43
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Man, I love communication. I could share so many things. [laughter] I could share so many things. I think for libraries—libraries are so well suited to do this work. You are so well suited to do it because you have folks who have a great knowledge base, have generally a growth mindset about knowledge, who are intellectually curious, have a lot of interest. All of that provides this great foundation and great malleability to craft compelling messages that meet the needs of your organization. So, whether that’s advertising or marketing about the summer library program, or about changes to policies, or maybe fundraising needs, I think libraries are in this beautiful sweet spot to do this really, really well and honestly, to knock the socks off of people because there’s just such a wealth of information and such a wealth of possibility there.
So, wrapping it up, thinking about how we do our campaigns is really critical. Don’t feel like you have to do everything. You don’t have to be the next social media influencer with 3.4 million followers. I don’t think that that’s got to be the goal for everybody, but maybe the goal for your social media platform is accurate information, broadening the demographic that we are reaching—having some like set goals with our social media. I think the other part too, that libraries are really well suited for because of the way they’re structured and organized, is thinking about how the different messaging throughout your library is connected and threaded together. Because it’s like a web, the more your messaging is threaded and complementary, you’re increasing that likelihood of people seeing the message, hearing the message, understanding whatever is happening if you want to change their values, their beliefs, or their behaviors. But I think libraries are in such a good spot to do this really well. And honestly, at a high level too—that a lot of people don’t appreciate.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #10: Yeah, let’s knock their socks off. [laughter] 17:06
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Knock your socks straight off—no socks on anymore.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #11: Absolutely. Stevie, do you have any books or resources you’d like to share and why? 17:14
Dr. Stevie Munz:
That’s a great question. I am a wide reader of a lot of stuff, as I think we all should be, but I love—I love to read everything from the Harvard Business Review. I love to read leadership posts and articles from LinkedIn. I love reading, also, The New Yorker, The New York Times. I love to read the news. I’m an avid news reader, too—I think professionally, when we’re thinking about this kind of space as well, and we’re thinking about communication. I am also a researcher, so I read a lot of research. I publish a lot of research, so I read a lot of different stuff that helps inform my thinking and helps connect to what I am most interested in.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #12: You’re speaking the language of librarians when you talk about reading resources broadly. 18:11
Dr. Stevie Munz:
It’s hard to nail down an absolute favorite source. They’re not my pets, so I don’t know that it’s a favorite, but I think there’s some that are definitely better than others. I also love Forbes. I love Harvard Business Review. I love Entrepreneurial Magazine. I love stuff like that, that just gives you those nuggets of information. Then you can take that and then find other information and triangulate with it. I think this is really, again, this is where libraries and librarians are well suited because you all are built to triangulate information. So, use your skills that you already have, and you’re just going to see such effective communication campaigns come out of that, because you’re already thinking about messaging and where the messaging is supposed to go and where it comes from in a way that I think, honestly, a lot of industries don’t think of, and are not attuned to either—they’re just not connected to.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #13: Libraries are attuned to that. So fortunately, we are a little ahead of the game in that regard. Given that, in closing, what do libraries mean to you personally? 19:16
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Oh, man, I feel like—I wouldn’t be here without libraries. I am someone who—I just, I love reading, and I love research, and I love thinking about knowledge. I just had this conversation with a friend of mine, and maybe this helps articulate and answer your question. I had this conversation with a friend of mine about the history of paper, and it was so fascinating that there’s a whole history of paper. And, the conversation got started because she had asked me if I knew why our paper in the US typically is eight and a half by 11. And, I was like, I don’t. At the same time, I’ve been watching a lot of Viking shows, [laughter] and I was thinking, That’s so interesting, our paper is a perfect eight and a half by 11. Who decided that? But there’s a whole history of how paper size has been decided. I think, for me, where libraries fit into it is: paper size fits into how we think about knowledge, and how knowledge is transferred, and how knowledge is captured.
I feel as far back as I can remember, libraries were always a place of possibility for me. I could go and read about anything. You could check out any kind of book you wanted. I feel really fortunate. I definitely grew up in a household where you were allowed to read whatever you wanted to read. You came home with the wildest—the wildest sci-fi book, but also some history book about Columbus, or about the Titanic. You could have anything in between that you wanted. So, I think that when I try to capture what libraries mean, it really comes down to infinite possibilities, infinite possibilities. There’s no limit. There’s no— the idea of a margin doesn’t exist in a library, because if the book isn’t on the shelf for you there, it’s on the shelf somewhere else. It’s somewhere. Somewhere you can get it. I love interlibrary loan. I could go on a tangent about interlibrary loan.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #14: I love that. So can I. 21:44
Dr. Stevie Munz:
I love interlibrary loan. [laughter] I could go on a whole bit about the importance of interlibrary loan and what it means. I also think libraries for me mean a space that’s safe and a space that people can go to, and I think it’s really important for kids and for communities. I have a lot of fond memories of libraries, and I feel really fortunate to live in an area where my son has access to so many really good libraries, and awesome libraries. Yeah, I think it’s a part of knowledge and a part of thinking about the world. Things that are close to you that you think you really know about, and things that are so far away that it’s hard to even have words to describe—I think that’s where libraries fit into. It’s very literally—libraries help us understand the space in between letters and a word. That’s just freaking awesome.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Question #15: It is freaking awesome. You know what else is freaking awesome? It’s that everything you’ve just talked about is what we are trying to promote in libraries. The information you shared today will help us create effective communication campaigns to share the limitless possibilities in libraries. So, thank you for being here today, and I’m looking forward to seeing all the fantastic communication plans that will come from this. 22:44
Dr. Stevie Munz:
Thank you.
Adriane Herrick Juarez:
Thank you. We’ll talk to you later.
You’ve been listening to Library Leadership Podcast. This is Adriane Herrick Juarez. For more episodes, tune into Library Leadership Podcast, where you can now subscribe to get episodes delivered right into your email inbox. Our producer is Nathan Sinclair Vineyard. Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time.
The opinions expressed on this show are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Library Leadership Podcast or our sponsors.
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