> So, how can we make librarydom an entity on the Web that could really
> make inroads into the collective subconscious? It is hard to name the
> number one category it would be known for and turned to for
> instinctively. "Searching", in the widest possible sense that Google
> has usurped that category and then branded itself on it, cannot be it.
> Libraries had always been in that category but failed to establish
> a brand in it, so as to really establish a presence in the public mind.
> Marketing teaches that in this kind of situation the best way out is to
> create a new category first if you cannot challenge the powers that be.
I certainly don't think "marketing" or "branding" is the answer.
Google didn't establish itself through marketing. And, absent
marketing, the web site with a silly name ought to have been at a
disadvantage to the massively-financed government institution with a
branch in every town, school and college. There are ten times as many
libraries as Starbucks in this country.
Every time libraries talk about the "powers that be" they should
remember *they* are the powers that be. Their combined financial and
mindshare power is enormous. They don't need to make money, but only
provide a service people want. Something else is to blame for Google's
success than bad branding.
Tim
Received on Fri May 08 2009 - 11:51:06 EDT