Tips for bringing marketing and development together in your library

Part Two of a guest post by Essraa Nawar.

Essraa Nawar is the inaugural recipient of the United for Libraries/SAGE Academic Friend Conference Grant and will be joining us at ALA Annual this year as a result. This is her first time at the conference, and thanks to this grant, she will have the opportunity to present at a poster session titled “Library Annual Reports made easy.” Wanting to learn more about her successful work, we’ve asked her to share some insights. Catch up on part one first — In the Library, Marketing and Development go Hand in Hand.

Four Tips for library development officers and marketing professionals to partner to keep loyal library donors and attract even more: 

1.    Early Communication 

Development officers: 
Do not wait until the last minute to ask for your marketing materials to be produced. Plan ahead and give your marketing team enough time. Marketing professionals need this time to provide you with the materials that will best represent you and your organization. 

Marketing professionals: 
Be proactive and take that extra step to reach out to your development peers. It will serve you more than you think. 

2.    Be flexible 

Development officers: 

We understand that you are an expert in your field, but please be flexible and listen to the marketing experts. What you might see as a brilliant idea might not really be the best option out there. 

Marketing professionals: 
By monitoring the materials you have produced for your development professionals, you can see what is working and what is not. When you do this, please be sure to acknowledge that and be flexible in the way you are thinking. 

3.    Be patient 

Development officers: 

Marketing professionals are just as busy as you are. Do not anticipate that your materials will be produced within 24 hours. It takes time to be creative and remember that everybody has their own priorities. 

Marketing professionals: 

Even though you have always created those award-winning marketing materials, please understand that it is not only one person who decides the content; it has to go through a cycle of approvals and editing which can take a longer time than expected to get a proof approved for production. 

4.    Focus on the end goal 

In the end, the goal is the same for development officers and marketing professionals: the success of your organization. Whether it is those materials that win the best in show at a national conference or a gift that you have just closed, it is all shared success. So please, work hand in hand. 

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Essraa Nawar

Essraa Nawar is the Development Coordinator at the Leatherby Libraries and the chair of the Arts, Exhibits, and Events Committee at the library. She received a bachelor’s degree in commerce with an emphasis in accounting from Alexandria University, Egypt. She also holds an MBA from the American Management & Business Administration Institute. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in organizational leadership at Brandman University. Prior to moving to California, Nawar served in the new library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) for four years. She was actively involved in the solicitation of rare and unique gifts and has also helped create the library’s Duplicate Materials Exchange Program. Her professional interests include developing and implementing marketing, branding, and communications practices to support the Leatherby Libraries’ strategic plan in attracting faculty, staff, students, and other entities on and off-campus, as well as maintaining an integrated external relations model targeting prospective donors, current donors, board members, and external partners in order to identify, cultivate, solicit and track fundraising prospects and proposals consistent with fundraising goals. Nawar is also very interested and active in the topics of interfaith dialogue, empowering Muslim women and diversity. In her free time, Essraa enjoys reading; traveling, listening to music, and watching her three kids play sports in which they all excel.

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