Hoofdstuk 5

MARKETING, COMMUNICATION AND FUNDRAISING

The marketing and communication departments of the Kennemerwaard Public Library have been busy the past year with target group and market research. The focus this time was to support colleagues in further developing the policy plan. There were once again various successful national campaigns such as the Nationale Voorleesdagen and the Children’s Book Week, and the mini contribution of ten euros proved to be a great success. A selection of the highlights in the area of marketing, communication and fundraising is given in this section.

Market Research

The Mosaic customer survey was renewed in 2019. Mosaic, with whom we have worked since 2016, is a wide-range customer survey for all areas of the Kennemerwaard Public Library. A number of strategic groups of customers are highlighted, each with their own characteristics. We started to work with Mosaic per district level in 2019, and gave stakeholders a number of presentations, both within and external to the library. In addition, we also organized successful promotion months, each focused on a different Mosaic group, for the smaller branches. We also offered staff a number of other market surveys, focused on the neighborhood’s migration background, or the scope of members per age group and postcode, together with the Mosaic research. We were also a member of other marketing networks. Connecting and sharing knowledge were important items in 2019.

Online marketing and communication

The objective of the Kennemerwaard Public Library for 2019 was a new website that was launched in November. This totally new website is more in line with the needs of our target groups and due to this the landing page for the SEA campaigns has also been optimized. New SEA campaigns have been developed that focus on popular titles and authors and now we see an increase in the number of new visitors to the website. We can draw from this that contact is now being made with people who initially had not thought about the library before, and yet in this way are now in touch with the library. We are therefore going to further develop these campaigns. The Facebook page of each municipality and the Kennemerwaard Public Library’s Instagram account continue to become more popular. The atomized email welcome campaign is running well. Plans are ready to begin with another automated email campaign for different target groups in 2020. A newsletter will be further groomed to the needs of the receiver as well. We could conclude for 2019 that more than half the online visitors have become or will become members.

More visitors, more e-books and a successful mini subscription

Our e-book financials in 2019 further show a 9% increase in loans compared to 2018. The number of visitors to the library also increased in 2019. The number of visitors was 1.25% higher than in 2018. Membership unfortunately decreased slightly. In 2019, the number of members was 2% lower than in 2018 and that is why our priority for 2020 is the retention and recruitment of members. Nevertheless, the mini subscription of ten euros has proven to be a success. Specific target groups like the eighteen-year-old are really pleased about this.

Fundraising

Assistance from various funds, foundations and companies ensured that we were able to continue to implement interesting and special projects. In 2019, application was made for an amount of € 1,098,120.00, with € 641,022.00 granted. The municipality of Heerhugowaard has been awarded a number of project subsidies, as well as the regular subsidies. This resulted in a total project subsidy of € 720,021.55.

Sponsoring

Every year the proceeds from the Alkmaar Culinair Plaza are allocated to local charities or initiatives for financial support. Triple, a regular sponsor of the Kennemerwaard Public Library, also selected our library this year to receive donation proceeds from the Culinair Plaza. Our director, Erna Winters, received a cheque for € 2,500.00 on 29 November designated for our CoderDojos.

Friends

Friends of the Kennemerwaard Public Library help make it possible for the library to the continue its work. For € 110 per year you can become a Friend and in return you will receive a premium membership with added extras. The proceeds from Friends allows the library to do a little extra. In 2019, it was used for the Pakje Kunst project. This extremely successful project was co-financed by Friends, and as thanks every Friend received a Dopper (water bottle) and a ticket to one of the library’s activities.