Target Your Brand
Build an identity that works in the age of the superstore
By Beth Dempsey -- Library Journal, 8/15/2004
As bookstores and the Internet march forward, the library community continues to question and forecast its role in society. Innovative libraries nationwide have seized the opportunity to reinvent themselves, bringing a new level of excitement to the industry. Yet puzzlement remains on what strategies, what roles will work in communities where alternatives are so readily available.
A cue from corporate America is to deal with a changing competitive structure by more effectively managing the brand the library holds in the community. A slippery concept that's often confused and misused, a brand is the definition of your institution that exists in the mind of the customer, says Chris Pulleyn, chief executive officer of Buck & Pulleyn, a Rochester, NY–based agency specializing in brand strategy. Your library's brand is the space you've captured in the minds of customers—it's all the things that come to mind, all the expectations they have, when they hear the word library.
The Borders lesson
"There's home, office, and a third place," says Jenie Dahlmann, the Borders' corporate communications manager. Borders wants to be that third place. "It's a place where you can relax and explore…where you can stay in a comfortable, community atmosphere. Everything we do in the store fosters that."
Borders excels in creating what could be anyone's third place; everything about the environment says, "Stay awhile." The light is flattering, the colors are warm and modern, and the merchandise mix is interesting and stimulating, without being overwhelming. Customers are invited to sit on benches in the store's wide aisles, examining media of all ...