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Marketing our First 6-hour Big Sale – Old Ways and New

by Robin Schoettler Fox on March 3, 2010

Spreading Sale News in 2010 takes more than one Microphone

pole with 4-megaphonesWe’re having our first blow-out sale on Saturday, March 6.

All 25,000 titles will be half-off our already low used book prices of 50 cents to about $3 a book.

That’s pushed us into a whole new marketing mode. We’d been working on expanding the reach of our Book Shop message. Now our energy is on altering — temporarily — that message. That’s because our sale isn’t just about lowering prices. Saturday’s sale also involves one-day-only expanded hours.

Gone are the days would we could just tell the Friends of the Library Board, put up signs around town, alert the newspaper and put in a quarter page ad in our membership newsletter.

Screen shot of an emailThanks to social media and the internet, as well as an increasing number of community alliances with organizations who communicate with their stakeholders via email, we’ve had to move quickly from our traditional choices to additional new ones.

So, we’ve been doing some fast keyboard clicking.

The list is longer than you might think, and includes the following:

  • Alert Volunteers and ask for help with Word of Mouth Marketing (both in person & email)
  • Twitter – Tweet news with #Book #Sale hashtags
  • Facebook Page – Post and ask people to Share
  • Friends Corner Book Shop Website (friendscornerbookshop.com)
  • The Lafayette Library Website (lafayettelib.com) – Use Book Shop website link
  • The Lafayette Library & Learning Center Foundation (March e-newsletter)
  • Friends of the Library (Notify Constant Contact e-mail list)
  • School bulletins – Submit Ads
  • Local Newspapers – Calendars
  • Adjust Google Local Profile – use status update function
  • Alert Lafayette Chamber of Commerce (e-newsletter; poster on bulletin board)
  • Update Online Directories like BookSaleFinder.com (plus their weekly Sale Mail newsletter)

Did we miss anything you usually do?

Sale Poster Stapled to Bathroom Bulletin BoardOf course, just so we’re clear… we’re not stupid.

We didn’t ignore the obvious.

In addition to putting signs in the Book Shop and at the Library, stapling a sign to the Chamber of Commerice Bulletin Board and taping one to the window of the Seniors Center…

…we posted one in each of the public bathrooms at the Community Center.

No need to give up on the things that have worked in the past!

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