balancing the books (august 2013)

BAL ANCING BOOKSthe

a social action schema for Ontario’s public libraries

twinf i sh product ion s - AUGUST 2013

twinfish productions

PART Iexecutive summary

2

BAL ANCING BOOKSth e

The objective is to position Ontario’s libraries as vibrant, vital public assets such that they are viewed as an essential public service for all Ontarians. This perception incites stakeholder action to grow libraries as data-driven ‘social-cultural businesses.’

The strategy reinforces libraries as:

• “social businesses” whose outputs and outcomes are key driver/determinants of hyperlocal economic growth as community hubs of culture

• as innovators and first-responders (key service factors attracting in-migration of first-class talent to a community)

• as change agents for small business/entrepreneurial development, (key to establishing libraries’ value proposition)

• and as trusted repositories of community data*

*key to collaboration with 63 small enterprise Industry-Canada-funded economic development entities province-wide

NB: This is a collaborative program to be shaped and strategized in consultation with FOPL-OLA stakeholders throughout the strategy process.

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“Positioning libraries as

mission-critical

resources for shared

community prosperity”


Value Proposition

Data-driven, intimate, authentic brand storytelling as change agents and incitement to political action, targeting December 2014 but initiating sustainable influence networks to 2015 and beyond the end of funding for BALANCING THE BOOKS.

StrategicNetworks

OpenNewsDesk and trust networks as cornerstones of sustainable, library-positive media trust networks across the province, create ‘open news desk,’ a digital customer relations/storytelling/data-intelligence hub for libraries province-wide.

The CONNECTION

TheRationale

Data acquisition is the predicate for assembling, targeting and syndicating effective brand communications- storytellling which incites political and community action.

The STORY

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The

WHY?

The HOW

BAL ANCING BOOKSth e 5

Stakeholder Takeaway‘My public library is a treasure-trove of community value co-creation-and it’s worth fighting for!’

Metrics & ROIPhase One (months 1-7) data acquisition

Phase Two (months 8-12) community growth and media bandwidth

Phase Three (months 13-18) ‘social business’ awareness migrates to pro-library social action metrics

• Stakeholder personas• Network analysis• Scenario mapping• Mapping communities of

interest and intersections of known/unknown brand storytelling opportunities

FIRST Steps

twinfish productions6

Brand Audit

Media Audit

Content Audit

SWOT Analysis


OutcomeObjective-based, data-driven marketing communications plan/strategy

NEXT Steps

• Including Google and Facebook advertisements

• Learning-based, transparent brand

Media Plan

• Timeline • Budget • Outcomes

Strategic Media Communications Plan

• Capitalizing on the collective power of shared story

Branded Content Plan

+ Staffing Plan

• Right talent, right place, right time


“Editorial calendar/media

integration across stakeholder

ecosystem, from Queens Park

to Atikokan to Cornwall to

Timmins”(Addresses regional disparities

as opportunity, not liability).

TechnologyData

AcquisitionSocialAction

Realtime and cumulative (project-long, evolving successfully to ongoing) measurement tools.

Database outputs/outcomes as predicate for hyperlocal library value co-creation.

(eg. collaboration with community enterprise entities (Federal, provincial, county, municipal): if we don’t have the networks, we’ll never have the advocates.

Measurement of ‘top of mind,’ ‘early adopters,’ ‘influencers,’ and cultivation/mobilization of ‘activists.’


Big, Hairy (Audacious) Goals

TheMetrics

How to create and nurture ‘communities of interest’ beyond 2014.

“Big hairy audacious goals”: where we want Ontario libraries to be in 2020.

What does success look like?

Sustain-ability


PART IIstrategic

communications workplan for

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• Drive stakeholder awareness of untapped value of Ontario’s public libraries, the politics of community data/small business development and how public libraries are at once thought leaders and chief stakeholders in reshaping Ontario’s economic and cultural life- thereby ‘balancing the books.”

• Refresh stakeholder memories of the benefits of public libraries by reflecting back to Ontarians their own stories of the measurable ROI value of the public library as community change-engines.

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“Libraries as community

change-engines”


The Power of Story

12

The

BACKGROUND

• Capitalize on fresh social and influencer networks to advocate for public libraries

• Build community/FOPL-OLA communications infrastructure/capacity via an ‘open news desk,’ the ‘life insurance’ piece for the Ontario library system

• A permanent ‘branded news’ source to ensure continuous branded media around the future of Ontario’s libraries

• Create reusable media assets (video and interactive) for the ‘open news desk,’ to ensure ‘Balancing the Books’ is a sustainable long-term advocacy campaign

The Potential

Ontario’s public libraries suffer from low brand storytelling profile (inability to market themselves vibrantly and compellingly) but, contrariwise- also boast tremendous pent-up brand value lying dormant in the trust networks of stakeholders in the library ecosystem.

Ontario’s public libraries’ dormant brand storytelling value will be mobilized via ‘Balancing the Books’ to revive the public library brand on the bedrock of measurable return on investment(ROI)


Stakeholder views and interests elicited by multiple stakeholder interviews and backgrounders on politics of public libraries and their value proposition and ‘return on investment’ (ROI). Two completed projects conceived and sucessfully executed by the ‘Balancing the Books’ team provide provide cutting-edge ‘proof of concept.’

The 2011 CSIF project for Stratford Public Library (methodology slideshow URL at right) libraries’ roles and responsibilities in deep-dive library stakeholder interviews/shared storytelling to identify issues/narratives critical to mobilizing advocacy and ‘moving the needle’ politically.

http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/comments/when_the_axe_man_cometh_6_ways_to_save_your_program_with_story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEwdzz7YDGg#at=10

The

RESEARCHPrimary Research

& ExperienceRelevant

Links

http://www.slideshare.net/Brenda-nHowley/csifdatareportv3fopl?utm_source=slideshow&utm_medium=ssemail&utm_








http://www.slideshare.net/BrendanHowley/csifdatareportv3fopl?utm_source=slideshow&utm_medium=ssemail&utm_campaign=post_upload




http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/comments/when_the_axe_man_cometh_6_ways_to_save_your_program_with_story%20

http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DpEwdzz7YDGg%23at%3D10


Create measurable allegiance to sustainable

funding for public libraries and effectively

influence political leaders through

• branded community action• thought leadership around community data • small business development • media mentions/mindshare

Strategic

GOALS

Communications Objectives for Each Targeted

Audience


AUDIENCEIdentification

All citizens of ontario

if they trust us, they’ll share their data

...and we can grow the ‘Balancing the Books’ networks via email and mobile advocacy networks.

Three Salient Outcomes:

• Drive major media mentions of Bal-ancing the Books from zero to six per month over next 18 months

• Increase Facebook and Twitter followers and website visits by 50x over next 18 months

• Increase accurate and actionable stake-holder data acquisition for personal email, personal mobile and personal landline coordinates

Media Mentions

Facebook/Twitter Followers

Data Acquisition Accuracy

2013: nilDecember 2014 (target): 6/month

2013: >300 (average) each library, each channel December 2014 (target): 5000 each channel

2013: n/aDecember 2014 (target): +5,000 (all ‘Balancing the Books’ participant members captured + updating stale data + growing valid data advocacy database)

Key

MESSAGE

Key

MESSAGE


FOPL-OLA is facilitating an extraordinary campaign to establish the value of libraries as critical to the future of both Ontario culture and small business meanwhile co-creating a knowledge sharing system that brings measurable, sustainable value to communities across the province


PART IIIexecution strateg y

& timelines

18


This is a collaborative program to be shaped and strategized in

consultation with FOPL-OLA stakeholders throughout the

strategy process


Communications

PROGRAMCritical Path


Communications Program/Vehicle

Target Audience(s)

Information Needs

Format Deadline for Completion

Budget

creative brief/knowledge article

timeline deliverables

media plan

content plan

prototype content for all platforms,communications vehicles

launch

measure

audit + final report (first draft)

Responsibility1 2

3 4

stakeholders

stakeholders

stakeholders

stakeholders

stakeholders

stakeholders

stakeholders

stakeholders

document

document

document

document

document

e/blasts, bimonthly newsletters, video ‘shorts’ website, posters, flyers, digital/live union boards, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, longform documentary

mission-critical communications

mission-critical milestones

15 October 2013 n/a Brendan/team/stakeholders

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

define media targets & strategic approach

Brendan/team/stakeholders



18 October 2013

20 October 2013

22 October 2013

25 October 2013

28 October 2013- December 15 2014***

15 October/ 15 November/ 15 December/2013; 15 January 2014-15

n/a

n/a

blow out content strategy vs timeline across all channels

design/build content for all channels

as designed in collaboration w/stakeholders + team





vet/analyze/contex-tualize data across all channels

benchmark end-states vs start-states

Google analytics, Heardable, eCairn, archived clippings (print); volume ‘in-the-hand’ collat-eral given away at branded live events; volume curated contributions to ‘open news desk’

all data categories 15 February 2015 n/a


TheChannels

The communication vehicles to be utilized to convey messages and mobilize audiences to fulfill communication objectives are as follows:

DigitalCollateral

• Google Ads, Facebook ads driving traffic to ‘Balancing the Books’ website off FOPL-OLA Facebook page and website

• Public Library’s ‘hero’s journey’ portrayed in video interviews posted to ‘Balancing the Books’ website, Facebook, Twitter and mobile

• Blog Posts

• Media placements in local, regional and provincial venues

Print Collateral

• Print/PDF flyers distributed by hand or email @branded live events

• Unit posters, targeting specific occupations/special attitudes

• Annual program calendar (for 2014/2015 featuring ‘Balancing the Books’ messaging (October 2013, October 2014)

• E-mail blasts to stakeholder personal addresses

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Communication

VEHICLES


TheStrategy

The strategy revolves around the “story” of Public Libraries, presenting anecdotes of the human, authentic, moving stories of Public Libraries and their staff, their interactions with the patrons, their families and their communities, mediated by FOPL-OLA events (community arts and culture events, ‘Balancing the Books’-branded ‘town hall events’).

Content strategy to emphasize need to capture current e-mail addresses, Twitter handles and mobile numbers of Public Libraries advocates to support successful implementation of ‘Balancing the Books’ communications plan longterm.

Event planning/execution dependent on FOPL-OLA live events resources.

Content

STRATEGYbrand storytelling angles


PART IVcontent strateg y implementation

24


A ‘big picture’ communications

timeline

TWINFISH Productions12

Communications

PLAN


Line Item Cost Notes

long-form documentary

print collateral materials (flyers, brochures, calendars, posters)

“proud supporter”

website + microsites

staff: lead; core team comprises web developer/graphic designer and project manager/graphic designer; social media community manager

TOTAL COST

$30,000

$20,000 @$2,000 per month x 10 months

$10,000 @$2,000 per month x 5 months

$15,000

$145,000 @$8500/month for 10 months (implementation) + @$12,000/month for 5 months (startup)

$292,000

one broadcast half-hour (22 minutes) documentary

tracks three (3) to five (5) Public Libraries,

emphasizing the ‘why’ of a Public Library; offered for

local TV broadcast and webcast off ‘Balancing the

Books’ website

support ground campaign and events with “in-the-

hand” materials

launch/manage open appeal to communities to

participate in ‘Balancing the Books’ as volunteer or

advocate or activist w/FOPL-OLA

4 contract positions for 10 months

(implementation); 6 contract positions for

5 months (startup)

September 2013-February 2015

design/implement highly interactive (‘Brita’

-inspired) ‘join the movement’ website, including

multiple data acquisition ‘touchpoints,’ with

emphasis on mobile and mobile-responsive design

Brendan Howley (team lead) core team web developer/graphic

designer and project manager/graphic

designer; social media community manager;

videographer/branded digital events

www.brita.com/filter-for-good/

www.brita.com/filter-for-good/

http://www.nonprofitmarketingblog.com/comments/when_the_axe_man_cometh_6_ways_to_save_your_program_with_story%20


Long form storytelling

“Hero’s Journey”

TheNarrative

The long form storytelling ‘arc’ is ‘hero’s journey,’ supported across all media and media channels (web, mobile, social, print, radio/TV broadcast).

The series depicts Public Libraries staff/advocates/clients from all FOPL-OLA catchment areas interacting with libraries and their stakeholders (local entrepreneurs/artists/families).

Six “chapters” of the “hero’s journey” story “break out” over a twelve month period (November 2013-December 2014)

• Reaching the bottom (‘the impossible dream’)

• Personal transformation (‘I can try’)

• Considering the adjacent possible (‘here’s how I’ll try’)

• Merge with possible futures (‘feeling my way to success’

• Presenting ideas to stakeholders (‘building networks/alliances’)

• Living the experiments (‘learning by failing/trying again’) -Sets up next cycle of challenges in the next 6 month media cycle

TheSubject


“Public libraries are the future of community

data... an untapped engine of

provincial prosperity”

• Public libraries as future of community data (small business intelligence, ‘under the radar’ data/demographics, untapped engine of provincial prosperity)

• Public libraries as ‘first responders’ during life crises

• Public librarians as undervalued ‘knowledge workers’ (skillsets devalued by ‘commodity economy’)

• Public libraries as cutting edge media labs (collaborative workspaces for media production)

• Public libraries as members of ‘gift economy’ (give far more than they receive in commercial market economy)

• FOPL-OLA as thought leader ‘closest to the work’, with ‘lock’ on understanding how libraries actually operate

• Measuring public library ROI and libraries’ roles in hyperlocal community prosperity: libraries as prime ‘social business’ investment

CoreTopics

Situational Analysis

1. What do we already have that helps us tell this story (e.g., an existing website, blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, corporate materials, article marketing effort, etc.)?

2. What must change in order for us to tell the ‘Balancing the Books’ story (e.g., do we need to add a blog, develop a separate blog, create or revisit our social web strategy)?

3. What must stop (if anything) for us to tell this aspect of the ‘Balancing the Books’ story (e.g., do we need to stop using Facebookand divert our energy to an “Balancing the Books’ blog)

Content

STRATEGYchannel plan

The content strategy defines the channel strategy — not the other way around

Action Plan:

Out of this situational analysis comes prioritization, budget allocations, and tactical approaches to emerging stories: eg hyperlocal vs province-wide ‘Balancing the Books’ storytelling content strategies as both local and province-wide storylines evolve simultaneously)



Channel Objectives

Map objectives of the channel to the engagement cycle: where are we in the hero’s journey and which channels best serve this sequence of storytelling?

Example: Does Facebook community need new direction at this point in the brand storytelling? If yes: how can blog content drive renewed interest in Facebook page?

Content Plan

• Map the media channel to the larger story structure by outlining or “beating out” story turning points as the Public Library’s ‘hero’s journey’ evolves;

• These turning points will be surveys, contests (‘tell us your best Public Library story’), mark a milestone or campaign goal (‘first 1000 Facebook followers’)

• And FOPL-OLA strategic goals as defined by emerging stories and leadership guidance

Metrics

Pure data acquisition target fulfillment: define the data objectives that align with the emerging story. Example: “with this contest we’re running on Facebook, our goal is to get 1,000 subscribers over the next two months to share their email and mobile phone numbers before we move into the second phase of our story.”

Action Plan: Action Plan:

“Pure data acquisition

target fulfillment:

define the data

objectives that align

with the emerging

story”

Action Plan:


Personas addressed

Constantly identify and reidentify which personas will be addressed by brand storytelling:

• Rural, remote, urban public libraries?

• Political influencers?

• Government policy works? News media?

If personas aren’t being targeted efficiently by single channel, split the channel: drive to Facebook event page or new Twitter stream.

Content manage-ment process

‘Managing editor’ ensures method/process manages content and conversation for each channel.

Editorial plan

Map all content and each channel to global editorial calendar plan. The purpose of the editorial plan is to define velocity, tone, desired action, and structure for the content for a given channel (eg email versus blog)

Example: planning to define ‘Balancing the Books’ Facebook channel characteristics in support of ‘hero’s journey’ overall brand storytelling

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Action Plan: Action Plan: Action Plan: VELOCITY:Three posts per day

TONE: Authentic, emotional ‘working library’/‘here’s the value’ calls-to-action

DESIRED ACTION: We want audience to click through to the ‘Balancing the Books’ blog

STRUCTURE:10 to 20-word Facebook post, plus pictures (if applicable) and a “conversion link.”

SampleFacebook process

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as detailed in grid above: hard metrics

against

• Audience awareness (relevant mentions of ‘Balancing the Books’ in monitored online conversations: print, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr)

• Media mentions (relevant mentions in unearned media: print, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr)

• Growth social media mentions, interactivity and social media mentions of community action (surveys, polls, fundraising, volunteer tracking)

• Community action (grow FOPL-OLA/’Balancing the Books’ volunteer and “proud supporter” base)

• Data acquisition: growth of FOPL-OLA email/mobile smartphone database

• Audience attendance at live events

• Audit collateral given away at live events

• ‘Balancing the Books’ enquiries from members regarding any/all aspects ‘Balancing the Books’ events/initiatives/media

Evaluation

GUIDEPOSTS


Dan Bowman


Dan Bowman has been producing video, live events and interactive media for Fortune 500 companies for longer than he cares to admit. Bilingually educated in Montreal and Paris, he has a degree in Communications from Concordia.

Dan’s passion is travel photography; he’s trekked through dozens of countries, each more remote than the last. He lives in a warren-like Victorian house in Toronto with his opera-director wife. www.danielbowman.com

Maureen distills the brand essence,designs and executes superb websitecontent, plans marketing campaigns,and creates and curates social mediacontent and provides training on usingsocial media effectively.

An award-winning writer/editor inprint, radio and social media, Maureenhelps brands effectively communicatewho they are, their values, their goalsand their stories through social, digitaland traditional media.

Maureen’s media experience spans more than 20 years in (The Globeand Mail, Maclean’s Magazine andbranded content magazines) andnational broadcast media (CBCRadio), where she produced CBC Radio programming in Canada’s threebiggest media markets: Montréal,Toronto and Vancouver.

MaureenArgon

The

TEAM

Andrea is a multidisciplinary design & branding strategist rooted in fostering authenticity through design. She is a typographer and graphic designer striving to engage the disengaged. With experience in design and creative direction for a variety of high-profile events and clients including TEDxRyersonU, Ryerson Rams Athletics and Town Shoes, she believes in the catalytic power of design to change the way we perceive our world.

Hailing from the heart of Toronto, Canada, she is a lover of fashion, art, and culture, and received her education at Ryerson University where she earned a Bachelor of Design (BDes.) & minor in entrepreneurship.

AndreaCrofts

Brendan Howley

A multiaward-winning branded content strategist/creator, data journalist/technologist Brendan Howley specializes in marketing communications that incite social action.

Recent projects include raising $425,000 via social media marketing to microfinance an artisanal dairy, preserving funding for a trio of rural libraries, and has co-inventing a new discovery engine, CHO7R, in partnership with the San Francisco startup Square Zero, in development with Thomson-Reuters’ Zurich media lab.

A thrice-published novelist, Brendan grew up in the shadow of a Carnegie library as an IBM brat in Poughkeepsie NY; today he lives, together with his Russian-Canadian wife, three children and six cats, just down the hill from Stratford, Ontario’s Carnegie library.

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EmiliaDallman

Emilia prides herself on her capability to see the vision for the final aesthetic product in complete tandem with a rock solid strategic plan for implementation.

She excels at organization and has insatiable appetite for storytelling in all its forms, including short films, photography and digital marketing.

Originally from Stratford, Ontario, Emilia knows the power a small-town library has to provide solace, culture and perspective to a young mind.

Currently residing in Toronto, she is completing her final year at Ryerson University where she will graduate with a Bachelor of Design.

The

TEAM



THANK YOU.

@brendanhowley226.880.1449

[email protected]

balancing the books (august 2013)

Business

open news desk

project manager graphic designer

public library

action plan

facebook page

public libraries

twinfish productions

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