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What? You’ve never read Fitzgerald? You Gatsby kidding me.
As a purveyor of content, you hopefully find the joke as funny as I do.
If you don’t, it’s ok, because I know Angela Hursh will appreciate it. Angela is content team leader at The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. She regularly demonstrates a passion for content marketing, innovation, and reading.
A five-time Content Marketing World attendee, she singlehandedly led an effort to get more library marketers to the event. She is a speaker. Her blog serves as a resource for libraries that want to get people into their buildings. Plus, she attends the Jane Austen Festival in period dress — white gloves and all.
I’m impressed with Angela’s modern approach to library marketing. So, I was thrilled she agreed to answer a few of my questions. What follows are her content marketing tips for colleagues.
[I got started] totally by accident! I left my job as a TV news journalist after 20+ years in that business to work in marketing. When I came to the library, there were a lot of opportunities to improve on the work of my predecessor. I started researching for ideas to market the library to reach audiences in a way that went beyond the traditional poster/flyer/bookmark methods that many libraries use. That’s when I stumbled upon the CMI website. I listened to This Old Marketing and started attended free webinars. I realized the key to a new era of library marketing was content marketing. We’re perfectly positioned for it—we all work in a building that’s quite literally filled with stories.And I could use my journalism skills to interview people and write stories that promote the services, collections, and events at the library. And it worked! We’ve been named a Five-Star Library by Library Journal for each of the six years I’ve been here. We increased circulation and overall visits to branches. We increased participation in our summer reading programs. And we passed a levy to embark on a ten-year building plan to update all of our branches.
This is totally corny but it’s my two daughters. I have a 19-year-old who has worked for two years at a veterinary hospital, graduated high school with 33 hours of college credit, and is studying to be a veterinarian. My 15-year-old is a band geek, award-winning poet, and equestrian. She’s also a vocal activist for LBGTQ rights at her school. Both girls are strong, independent, empathetic, and able to take care of themselves. I’m just so darn proud of them!
Professionally, I credit Ann Handley’s Everybody Writes for changing the way I do written communication with everyone, professionally and personally. Her book really drives home the importance of clarity in writing. Personally, I read a lot of fiction as a way to unwind! There are a couple of books I can’t seem to stop thinking about, even years after I’ve read them. They are: The Underground Railroad, The Hate You Give, Small Great Things, and Maid. There are a ton of books I’ve loved. I’m on Goodreads, so if anyone wants to connect there and talk about books, I’m all for it!
Think you want to check out Content Marketing World? You’re in luck. There’s still time to book a trip. Reserve your spot with code SM100 to save $100, then let me and Angela know you’ll be there!
Have you heard? We’ve just launched the CMWorld Book Club! Like Angela, our team reads dozens of books every year. Professional development, fiction, classics: You’ll find them on our bookshelves. Let’s dust off our favorite titles, explore new ones, and gather by the virtual fire in the CMI Slack group.
For real, that joke is hilarious!! Love you guys. Thank you so much for this opportunity.