I want to provide ideas and a framework for you to market your library service more successfully, so everything I do is based on interactive training.
The aim of the workshops is to break something very complicated into as simple a process as possible without losing the meaning or nuance. The training is tailored for your specific organisation and involves a lot hands-on work in small groups, and / or using PCs or laptops for aspects of the Social Media Training. If face-to-face training isn't possible due to location or costs, I have also designed and run online versions of all my workshops, which usually run for 3 hours.
“Totally awesome. Would recommend the training to anyone.”
“One of the most useful training sessions I have attended - everything targeted to the audience, professional, knowledgeable facilitator”
“Superb course, presenter and slides. Really helpful + practical session.”
“I will be applying several tools to communicate messages suitably and in an engaging way. So much out there! Today was an open window!”
“Lots of useful information presented in a fun and clear away. I came away with my head buzzing with ideas for things I wanted to do, learn more about, or information I wanted to pass on to colleagues.”
“Excellent! Engaging, informative and full of useful hints and tips. Ned is a relaxed and personable presenter who really knows his stuff. A thoroughly enjoyable day from start to finish. ”
“I’ll be bringing loads of new things back to teach others. I’m bursting with ideas. Great content, all legitimately relevant. Lots of good tips. I agree that everything Ned taught us can be used immediately as opposed to just talking about future trends like a lot of presenters do. Super practical!!”
I run two main types of workshop, which can be combined in different ways according to what you want to focus on.
1. Strategic Marketing
This day focuses on both the principles and actions of library marketing. Typically we'll cover the three main types of library communication, identifying key messages and simplifying them, segmenting your audience and tailoring your communications, the relationship between social media and other marketing tools, and then pulling it together into a strategic marketing plan. A campaign document will be provided to help plan a new path forward for marketing for your service.
2. Better Social Media for libraries
This workshop is aimed at those already using social media for their organisations. There's usually a focus on Twitter, Instagram and Blogs as they're often the most useful tools for libraries, but we can talk about other platforms too. The emphasis is on building an engaged network, finding inspiration on what to posts, making the most of the platforms and using analytics and statistics to inform better decision making.
I have also run introductory level workshops for those who have never used these tools before, or are very new to them. Just let me know the level at which you'd like the training to be pitched.
I have also adapted these workshops and run them online via Webinar software.
There is a separate page where you can find more detailed information on the Social Media workshops including timings, technical specification, and a full description, here.
Feedback from previous
STRATEGIC marketing / Digital marketing
and social media training
““Enthusiasm and expertise made the session, lively, relevant and enjoyable”
”Excellent pace, clear structure and linked to practical action”
”Explained marketing concepts very clearly and was very inspiring in sparking new things to do in campaigns”
”Communicated the essesentials of effective marketing for health libraries”
”Very interactive and opportunities for collaboration amongst the group”
”Great deal of practical, actionable information.”
”The exercises meant it could be contexualised for each participant. Good opportunities to share learning and ideas.”
”Cannot be improved! Perfect and I am leaving with loads and loads of food for thought.””
““Very, very worthy use of my time, and enjoyable too! This will spur me and my colleagues on to continue improving our social media practices. Excellently organised and delivered course. Thank you.”
”Excellent presentation - very inspiring - Thank you.”
”Totally awesome. Would recommend the training to anyone.”
”Very enjoyable and built confidence.”
”Thanks, really useful and pitched at a very good level with good practical advice.””
““Ned Potter was a very engaging speaker and structured the session perfectly, taking us through the best practice for each social media tool. I have now discovered new analytical tools that will be useful in improving our library’s social media engagement. He also offered very useful advice in terms of what content is purposeful to put out on social media.”
”It was perfectly paced, professionally delivered, with relevant examples to work through and the opportunity to talk to library colleagues in the same position (and knick ideas!)”
”Lots of insights and signposting towards useful tools in Social Media content creation”
”Really enjoyed learning about the free tools available for things like creating videos.”
”Ned was a really interesting speaker. I loved his use of humour and showing how to get your personality across in library social media while remaining professional.”
”This training offered guidance on how we can take proactive steps to improve the output of our social media channels and grow engagement... the content of this training will provide us with an informed approach to content we post to social media as opposed to stabbing in the dark.”
”The session he delivered was engaging and provided a wealth of useful information that I believe will lead to positive change for us... It also changed my perspective of social media for the better.”
”One of the most useful training sessions I have attended - everything targeted to the audience, professional, knowledgeable facilitator””
““Brilliant course, has given me lots of ideas”
”Brilliant, thank you! Very engaging”
”Very interesting speaker”
”Covered all aspects I was hoping for. Ned is a great speaker with an easy style” ”
““Ned Potter was great: articulate, very knowledageble of the subject, and very responsive to questions and feedback in the session.”
”Great trainer and great course!”
”Ned was an excellent instructor - good presentation style, thoughtfully and helpfully answered questions, engaging throughout the day.”
”I thought it was excellent. I believe this course will be useful to all library staff trying to communicate with reader’s, management and academics about their services and resources.”
”Excellent explanation of marketing basics, really good library based conext and examples. Overall very useful and much more tailored then a general ‘marketing’ talk.”
”Very helpful, clear, interesting and motivating.””
““Fantastic day again with Ned Potter. Lots of ideas, really knows his stuff. Really helps you choose what will work best for your library.”
”All of it was useful – it was excellent and lots of useful tips”
”Really practical and interesting.”
”Great course - thanks. More of the same please.””
““Lots of insights! Tips and techniques too. Ned is a very warm and engaging presenter. Excellent slides.”
”Practical ideas, really useful”
”Lots of ideas, will now be more strategic in marketing”
”Brilliant. So many ideas to take back.””
““Lots of useful information presented in a fun and clear away. I came away with my head buzzing with ideas for things I wanted to do, learn more about, or information I wanted to pass on to colleagues.”
”The trainer was excellent. He was talking about a topic he was obviously passionate and knowledgeable about but the important factor was he also worked in an academic library and so the material was relevant to us.”
”Thank you. please invite Ned Potter back again! I have two colleagues I would encourage to attend and he will keep us up to date”
”Attending this course has already changed how we market our library. Ned advised us that library marketing needs to be targetted - readers switch off if they sense that marketing is aimed at everybody rather than at them as an individual. As well as this kind of broader tactical advice, we learnt about specific tools and techniques we can use to help us get our messages across”
”The trainer was excellent and obviously knew his stuff. The materials, structure, etc. were very good. The way the day was set out meant that the whole day was engaging and interesting.”
”Very engaging and useful in providing planning document for use after course, at work.”
”Ned had a very good manner, clear, accessible and it was great to have someone with library experience / examples.”
”I would definitely recommend that you run this course again so other library staff can benefit from it, as it contained such a lot of useful information and was extremely well presented.””
““Superb course, presenter and slides. Really helpful + practical session.”
”Really useful and interesting.”
”Really useful, engaging, good activities, really enjoyed. Thanks.”
”Good coverage, good pace, very good speaker, would definitely recommend session and would see again.”
”The activities were excellent to enable one to practice skills. Excellent trainer, very knowledgable.”
”Really useful session with good usable advice and info.””
““Make the speaker come more often for different subjects. Ned Potter was super!”
”It was a great event from which I take home a lot of ideas.”
”Ned Potter is an interesting speaker who is very easy to listen to and who has a lot to tell us”
”It was great. Ned Potter is a fabulous speaker.”
”Great speaker, I learnt a lot!”
”It was a great event from which I take home a lot of ideas.” ”
““The sheer breadth of the tools and resources available to use, and Ned’s expert guidance around the pros and cons really helped me to hone in on what might work for us.”
”Practical, hands on experience of tools - good examples of how other libraries utilise digital marketing - loads of useful tips/insights to take away and think about.”
”Really well structured, excellent examples of free resources. Hands-on session very valuable. Pros and cons of resources were very useful ‘lessons learned’. Handout and presentation were great!”
”Pace was really good and the variety of activities. The presenter’s knowledge was tailored to what I needed to learn without adding on extra to distract from focus. Very pleased with the amount of information I am leaving with. Thank you very much!”
”Range of tools, variety, just the right amount of time on each. Fun approach which kept my attention.”
”The chance to see so many new (to me) and more importantly FREE resources that could be of huge benefit to the way I deliver our digital marketing is invaluable.”
”This will have a real impact in the way we approach our social media channels and I can’t wait to show my colleagues what tools are out there for us to use.”
”Have loads of ideas to take away and get cracking with. Hugely motivated to get started.””
““I found the day extremely informative, Ned delivered the content very well and in a jargon-free way, he instantly made one feel comfortable about speaking up. First thing on Monday morning I made a Sway of our library!”
”I really enjoyed the day, especially the content and learning about tools to enhance our marketing. I found Ned Potter to be very engaging and answered all the questions thrown at him. He seemed to enjoy the day too! It was good working in groups and finding out what other libraries are doing to promote and market their services.”
”I found that the day was informative, engaging and very useful towards the improvement of marketing here”
”Really enjoyed the day - I enjoyed the mixture of listening and hands-on practical work.
I liked the relaxed style of the day. I learnt a lot and came away filled with ideas for better/new usage of social media. Thanks very much - really beneficial day.”
”I thought it was excellent. I thought that both the marketing and social media sections were very useful. By lunch time I had a ‘to do’ list which was 12 items long. I am going to have a senior library team meeting for us to go through some of these ideas and principles and to draw up a service wide strategy and action plan. I also thought Ned was a very engaging speaker and one who spoke with authority and kept my interest over a long-ish day.”
”
““Comprehensive and useful, at a level that is readily understandable. Lots of useful tools to take away. Really, really valuable. Great presentation style. Relaxed and informative, lots of practical examples and visuals”
”Spot on - covered everything I anticipated and more. Great presenter - sharp, clear messages and outcomes.”
”Love the slides! Casual, conversational and interactive. Excellent and very relevant and useful.”
”Fabulous - just what was needed. Excellent speaker, very engaging.”
”The content was excellent and very useable and useful. Many good ideas but also providing a structured approach. I enjoyed the style of presentation, very knowledgeable presenter.”
”Very informative. Very well presented.”
”Excellent. Really useful. Great slides. Good breaks for conversation and activities.”
”Great workshop. Good mix of theory, examples, exercises and participant involvement.”
”Useful advice and focussed. Well-paced, confident and experienced presenter.””
““It was an excellent session, very well suited to the school library environment, very helpful. Thank you!”
”Excellent. Very pertinent. It was all relevant and I was engaged throughout.
”Very good. Extremely helpful!”
”Excellent. Lots of good tips.”
”Spot on! Everything was really interesting and useful.”
”Excellent. Content was very relevant and I am looking forward to putting it into practice. I also came away with what I wanted to get out of the course.””
““The workshop was extremely informative and offered a new approach when considering our services and our users and some very useful ways to market it to them. I found the whole day very useful and particularly the UX and Ethnography section. I have come away with a head full of ideas and I’m sure other attendees did too.”
”It was really useful to have practical tips to marketing that can actually be applied at work.”
”Absolutely brilliant”
”Excellent! Engaging, informative and full of useful hints and tips. Ned is a relaxed and personable presenter who really knows his stuff. A thoroughly enjoyable day from start to finish.””
““Ned Potter’s talk was useful and enjoyable. I really liked his delivery style and found the entire discussion very relevant to our frontline role. I especially liked what he said about trying to bring ‘personality’ into customer service and not being afraid to be yourself when interacting with students as it can actually result in a better service.”
”Ned Potter’s presentation was very professional, enjoyable and thought provoking”
”The presenter’s talk was very interesting and engaging.”
”
““Ned Potter is extremely knowledgable and a fantastic presenter - best webinar I have ever attended!”
”Thank you so much. Truly the best webinar I have attended in years!”
”This was fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your insights - great stuff!”
”Thank you it was fantastic!”
”Thank you so much! This was amazingly helpful.”
”Thank you. I learned a ton and will start using it immediately. So useful.” ”
““Very useful - well paced, felt the presenter had a real handle on the subjects but could also relate to individual issues that arise from being a library set within a large institution. Pitched at a good level too - not dumbed down but not over my head either. Thank you for coming out to us!”
”Informative, interesting, engaging. Useful insights into a wider range of tools, eg. issu and tmblr. Examples from actual libraries, and understanding of our situation that a marketing professional wouldn’t have eg. we can’t cut all the writing from our website. Thanks for coming to Oxford.”
”Most useful - the overall concept of white noise/peripheral vision/direct sight. Sorry, can’t think of a least useful aspect. Most excellent, thank you.””
I've run multiple marketing workshops for
I've run marketing workshops in South Africa, Latvia, Germany, New Zealand and Australia, and online for organisations in America
I've also run training for
““I’ll be bringing loads of new things back to teach others. I’m bursting with ideas. Great content, all legitimately relevant. Lots of good tips. I agree that everything Ned taught us can be used immediately as opposed to just talking about future trends like a lot of presenters do. Super practical!!”
”Very good - really liked the slide presentation! Well structured, just the right amount of detail. Really liked the emphasis on trying out the tools.”
”Really enjoyed the day. All very useful and interesting. Presentation very good - good mixture of information provided, practical exercises, chance to talk with people from around the country, etc.”
”Terrific. Best use of Prezi I’ve seen - and the first that didn’t make me sick! Enjoyed mix of activities, demos, sharing etc.”
”Very interesting and helpful - relevant to where we are at. Easy to follow - examples and hands on a very good way to learn.”
”Excellent, inspiring, highly relevant, informational, truly helpful for my work!””
““Fantastic! The hands-on exercises were useful - not only did they help the learning to sink in but they encouraged us to think about real workplace-based ways in which tools could be used. The content was all very relevant because you had investigated what we already do/use. It all felt new and exciting.”
”Excellent. Well thought out. Ned is very engaging and obviously thoroughly prepared. I learned a lot”
”Really good, enough talking and demonstrating then having a go yourself. Presenter had obviously done research about what we use and what is missing which we might want to investigate.”
”Very good, pertinent and helpful””
““My thanks for your wonderful workshop – it was more than useful, it made me think very hard about some of the preconceived ideas I didn’t even realise I had about Library marketing! I’ve had lots of very positive feedback from colleagues.””
““I loved the content. It made sense, it was practical, and gave me lots and lots to think about. Best thing: we’ll DO something with it!”
”Extremely interesting and useful. Very interactive, clear and stimulating. Excellent!”
”Extensive, well thought out to build all aspects to finish with the marketing plan. Very friendly and informative.”
”Very useful and relevant. Excellent.”
”Excellent, down to earth, and practical - thank you”
”Excellent content - all important. Ned is is knowledgable but also engaging.””
““Pitched at the perfect level, great content, level just right, plenty of time to try out, perfectly paced, engaging speaker, easy to follow presentation”
”Really valuable course - feeling inspired!”
”Exactly what I wanted, Ned was a great speaker, all info extremely relevant”
”Really relevant, lots of useful tips!”
”Really good speaker, really great day! Thanks!””
““Relevant and informative. Well-structured, timed, scaffolded very well. Very good.”
”Very informative, with a good mix of theory and practical exercises. Great facilitator.”
”Very interesting. Loved the concrete ideas. Very good presenter. Fun but helpful.”
”Very relevant. Speaker was interactive, professinonal, knowledgeable without being too formal.””
““The most interesting and enaging webinar I have ever been on. Considering it was 2.5-3 hours long it seemed to fly by. It’s given me lots of inspiration on how we can creatively engage with our users, especially the remote ones”
”All of it was very useful and interesting. Excellent.”
”So much of it was useful... really easy tools to use and could results in some quick wins for us. Tips on blogging were useful too and hopefully will inspire us to actually start one. Augmented reality bit was fascinating - lots of potential there”
”Wide range of useful applications given with practical tips on how to use them. Time flew by and was really productive.””
““I thought this course was excellent, one of the best courses I have attended at the BL... ALL the content was useful - Ned was excellent in really understanding the BL collections and needs and shaping the course appropriately. I have already recommended this course to colleagues!”
”Very good workshop and presenter, thanks”
”Very interesting course, has definitely widened my knowledge!”
”More of this, please””
““Thanks Ned! This was a great session.”
”Thank you, Ned. Inspiring info!”
”Thank you! Can’t wait to watch again. Maybe with my boss...”
”Wonderful thank you. Very useful.”
”Thank you. You are great and I am inspired.”
”Really useful, easily used ideas. Excellent session. Thank you very much indeed!”
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““Excellent speaker and very relevant topics”
“Will be trying out many of the suggestions, very relevant”
“Definitely likely to try Prezi... seriously considering a library blog”
“A very good day – got much more out of it than I’d anticipated””
“Your presentation was very inspiring – I like the fact that a lot of this stuff is relatively straightforward to set up and the benefits are easy to sell to colleagues.”
”A fabulous presentation”
”Ned really puts together a cracking presentation and always manages to cover a lot of content and ground without leaving you feeling overwhelmed.” ”
““Excellent presenter and course, would gladly attend any more of his courses.”
”Very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I liked the fact that he was a librarian and so good give relevant advice with examples that he had tested out himself, so he knew what worked and what didn’t.”
”A good course. Nice to have an outside speaker in, especially one who is so well known.”
”Very good presenter, good presentation skills and interesting content”
”Knowledgeable presenter with good presentation style, useful to actually have an action plan to work with at the end of the session and also helpful to have space for notes in the hand-outs given out.”
”An excellent presenter: knowledgeable, helpful and friendly.”
”Very useful information, presented effectively and without jargon”
”As a digital immigrant, adapting to current technological changes does require some new skills and it is great to make contact with someone so clearly at ease with these new ways of working. I found the session extremely helpful”
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““Very well delivered and paced. Ned was really engaging and the workshop was definitely useful and thought provoking. Really enjoyable session, I left with a lot of respect for Ned’s attitude and advice on communications and felt that it was really helpful to hear from someone who actually understands libraries and how librarians work!”
”A great mixture of strategic insight and practical tools to take us forwards. Good mixture of presentaion and opportunity to discuss and reflect”
”Helpful reflective process. Pitched at the right level”
”Excellent and inspiring.””
““Very up to date - thanks - very useful, practical and relevant course - I’m brimming with ideas”
”I really enjyed the day, opened my eyes to lots of new tools and made me realise that digital marketing doesn’t have to be Facebook”
”Brilliant - very informative”
”Just the right amount of interaction. Very engaging. I learned so much!””
““I really enjoyed the workshop. It’s given me lots of ideas and tools to get started on becoming more engaged with Twitter - and perhaps Tumblr! Thank you.”
”Excellent course. I learned a lot and look forward to putting it into practice.”
”Great - thanks!”
”Couldn’t fault it. Exactly what I hoped would be covered.”
”Great to have all topics emailed about in advance and covered”
”Perfect for me. Ned is great - very personable.””
““Very good speaker with excellent practical session”
”I really liked the mix of presentation and practical work... The handout was designed for us to note down the points of our discussion, and this was a great idea because I would’ve forgotten a lot otherwise. The workshop was designed to start us on the process of a marketing plan/campaign or changes to the way we might approach marketing currently, and this was an excellent thing to be able to say to my line manager on returning to work.”
”Useful, practical tips. Clear message. Good basic grounding in marketing principles with a Library focus which is hard to find.”
”The speaker was engaging and the content of the day was very relevant.”
”Excellent speaker, great to hear from someone on marketing who is a librarian! So many ‘marketing experts’ just suggest things we cannot do in libraries because they don’t understand the restrictions we work under.””
““Felt that it was a very valuable course to attend and that I learned a huge amount”
”Excellent course with plenty of hands-on time and very up to date content. Would certainly recommend.”
”Good coverage of the subject - learned a lot””
““Ned is an expert presenter whom I would recommend to any colleagues with an interest in this topic.”
”Ned is a fantastic presenter and has clear knowledge on the subjects”
”I really enjoyed this event and have learnt loads. What an excellent speaker Ned Potter was!”
”Engaging throughout and excellent links and activities”
”Loads of good examples and ideas to go away with.”
”The practical exercises were great and I really enjoyed hearing about the experiences of other attendees - very inspiring! I also liked the use of video / website examples”
”The presentation was so good!” ”
““Really useful, great delivery. Thanks!”
”Brilliant workshop, well done!”
”Perfect; taught me more about things I was using and also some new”
”Hugely useful””
““Really relevant and useful, felt like the presenter had knowledge really useful to Bodleian Libraries.”
”Very knowledgeable presenter with a good and clear presenting style. Went at a good pace. Very helpful to have slides provided online afterwards.”
”A really good course and very valuable to my work””