On today's episode, we get to speak with the communication manager and business, liaison librarian for the Meridian library district. That's Meridian, Idaho and Yuki and Alison operate basically out of the business and technology location of the library supporting local business owners and entrepreneurs, and the Treasure Valley and then Allison, oversees, all the marketing and public relations for the Meridian library district. And so, we are going to talk all about the
Arie and Unbound and what it does for the community. There's so many wonderful things that you're going to learn about Unbound. I have no idea that all of these resources and 3D printers and resin, printers are all available to be able to use pretty much at cost and it's just a phenomenal. So you're going to learn about that. But before we do that, I want to talk to you about Nadine West. It's basically awesome, affordable outfits that are delivered.
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Moment, the basics that you need to help you continue to build your brand and your bottom line. And today, I wanted to talk about Clubhouse. It's this amazing social media audio only app that's really kind of exploded over the pandemic. The social audio app that you can bounce around in the hallways, on the app of the internet and meet some incredible people. And we have been doing the marketing Expedition Club on clubhouse. Every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard Time.
Time or that would be 12 p.m. Eastern time. It's been really great. You can go in, you can put in what types of interests and likes you have, you can explore what they call the hallways of courses inside the app and you can discover millions of rooms. Those are rooms that are happening within each of those clubs within Clubhouse. Like the marketing Expedition club that we've created and you can go and listen, or come to our club and listen to what we say. Every Wednesday. You can listen in, you can
Go and raise your hand in the app and go on what they call this stage or you can stay back in the audience. But if you go on stage, you're going to get on stage and immediately your mic is hot. So you always have to remember to mute yourself, if you don't want to speak right away, but the moderator will call on you. They'll ask you questions, or contributions that you may have to add to the conversation that's happening. And, of course, there's something for everyone. I mean, there are so many different clubs and topics and rooms.
And moderators hosting these things and you can, like I said, listen in or share your thoughts. Ask your questions asked their, give your contributions. Maybe you've got some ideas that you want to share, you can drop in those rooms and you're communicating, you could do it while you're walking your poodle or running in the park, right? You can raise your hand in the app to chime in if you want. And then, of course, you can always go back into the audience when you're done being on the stage, but you can meet amazing people. There's what they call the back Channel. Where
Message people by sending them a message or you can also link your Instagram account or your Twitter account, and then you can direct message people there. So it's a way to meet new people from all over the world. I have spoke to so many people from all over the world. I just hosted a clubhouse room today and I was able to speak with somebody from Israel to Germany to, I mean everywhere and even in my own backyard,
People that know me who are in my club on clubhouse, the marketing Expedition club, and of course you can get on it. You can even host a room of your own. It's just everyday people who are willing to you know, give ideas and inspiration and information and insights, and people who tell her they're telling jokes there. Maybe they're reading them Morning News. Maybe they're singing to you. Maybe they're playing a song for you. Maybe they're just sharing their deep thoughts or maybe they're just getting silly and talking about random things. There is something on there for everyone. Every topic.
And, like I said, you could put the different interests that you have. And, you know, the, the Clubhouse app was really designed was the belief that people are at the center of every moment. And when you get on, I recommend First Learning how it works. And what you can do and where you can go and who you can follow, make sure you fill out your profile information because if you don't have your profile information, then people may not actually bring you up on stage and they may not, you know, take you seriously because it might just be like,
She who's, you know, fishing for information and not not participating and you want to put your profile picture on there as well, right? And so those are some tips I can tell you, when you join Clubhouse you will get this little party hat cymbal to say that you're new to the app. So people are very forgiving when you don't necessarily remember to turn your mic off when you don't want it to speak or you know, any of those types of things. Now it was originally just on the iPhone app store, but now it's for everyone. If you have anyone
You can use it to but it is definitely a place to go to meet amazing people. I have met, you know, in the text room. Let's say I've met people that now I'm having on my podcast. Who I've met in clubhouse, people who I've worked with that are service providers. That I otherwise may not have worked with before, right? And and so I mean, it's just a phenomenal way to get to know people be able to share. You know, what your value is that you have to give and that is the
The idea is to give first and then you're going to receive in abundance in because it's a reciprocal thing, right? And so every Wednesday 10:00 a.m. And Center time, 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. We, I just do an hour and we share in process goals and maybe some goals that are met or set or some things that you're working on in your marketing Journey that you want to process. And it's really kind of fun because it's kind of like you're in the hot seat and you get people providing information or ideas or
Things that they've tried our experiences that they've had and of course, it's always up to you to fill ter out, what it is that you want to, you know, retain for that advice, right, you know, know your audience know who's giving that advice and what kind of experience they have. That's why it's so important for your profile to be filled out, but it is certainly growing. And every week, we have more and more people joining us on clubhouse in the marketing Expedition club. And I highly recommend that you do that as well. And of course, if you enjoyed this podcast, it's just an extension of what we're doing here.
Here and talking to business owners leaders marketing professionals. Entrepreneurs solopreneurs, Mama premieres. I mean, you name it. We have talked and worked with different variety of people who are getting on clubhouse and wanting to participate. And it's great because you can still wear your pandemic pajamas and not have to worry about it because it's Audio Only I guess that's what's nice about this podcast to you right now, but that's the point. So if you're not on clubhouse, I highly recommend checking it.
Out. Go to Club house.com. You can download it from there on your phone. Yeah, it is only on your phone or you could put it on a mobile device, like an iPad that kind of thing. So that's enough about Clubhouse. And hopefully you join us in and if you want more information, or if you want to get on our email list, so that you can be reminded every week, when we do our clubhouse room. You can do that. Go to pepper, shock.com, actually the webinar to get on the email list to get reminded about Clubhouse. Go to Clubhouse.
MarketingExpedition.club So once again, it's Clubhouse.marketingExpedition.club. And then what you'll do is fill out that form and give us your email address and we will send you the link every week that you need to go to on your phone. In order to join that particular weeks room. Okay. It's a new link every every room that we do. So you'll always want to have the new link every time. Or you can go to pepper, shop.com events and we are updating the link weekly there as well.
Of course, in all of the events that we have coming up for pepper shock, you can go there and, you know, go on this marketing Journey with us. So pepper stock.com / events and then to get on the email list, Clubhouse. Stop marketing Expedition dot Club. Okay. Let's get into the interview with Yuki and Allison.
Welcome to the marketing Expedition podcast and auditory Journey Through the latest in marketing, branding, and advertising. Now. Here's your marketing Expedition guide, Rhea Allen.
Welcome to the marketing Expedition podcast. I'm your host Rhea Allen and the president and CEO of Peppershock media, and the founder of the marketing Expedition community. And today, I have Yuki and Allison with me. Welcome ladies. Thank you so much for having us here. So let's start with you Yuki. Share a little bit about what it is that you do and who you are, and then we'll go with Allison after that. Sure. So yes, I am the business liaison librarian with the Meridian library district, I primarily
Out of our Unbound business and Tech location, which is located in downtown Meridian, Idaho, and we focus all of our services on supporting business owners, entrepreneurs Tech Learners across our area and my job is to help people locate navigate locate and navigate. Local resources, get connected with other business owners. Figure out the ins and outs of all things to do with business. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of relationship building and its that's the best part of my job, excellent, and Allison, share.
About you and your role. Yeah. So I'm the communications manager for the Meridian, library district. So it's a district-wide position. So, all the communications and marketing across all of our locations. We have four locations right now, and some new locations, on the way. And I work a lot with Yuki in particular, on reaching the business Community. Excellent. And okay, let's talk a little bit about your background. What got you to where you are in this position now?
Yuki. Go ahead for me, you know, my career has always been centered on relationship, building and information. I just didn't realize it. It just kind of. It started out organically. I took the first job available to me, out of college, which was content marketing for a tech startup in San Francisco. And that was all about information. I was in charge of, you know, writing all the blogs and articles that were going to empower renters who were in cities where rent was just way too high to afford, which I think a lot of us can relate to fill these days and then from
There I moved into running my own life coaching business, which is again using information to empower individuals to live their best lives with full confidence and eventually made my way to the Meridian library district, which once I stepped into working here. I was like, oh, oh, of course, I'm working here, but I wouldn't have necessarily plan that for myself, but it is all about taking information and building relationships with the people who live in the area that I grew up in.
And boosting us all higher as a result of what I've learned and learning alongside people, and helping them. Learn how to figure out information for themselves. Excellent, and Allison. Tell me about your background. What got you into this role that you're in? Now, I think similar to Yuki, it was sort of a natural progression that I realized kind of late. Like as I was applying for this job. I started my career in journalism. I worked for newspapers and then kind of transitioned into Communications role.
As for some nonprofits locally. I'm in my last job. I was working for a non-profit, the focuses a lot on early learning and early literacy. And so that focus on information and education is really Central to my work here and even though my my title involves a lot of marketing, I see it as a lot of community engagement, which is what my whole career has really been up to this point. Allison. Tell me one of the most memorable moments of your career at the
So far. Well, I have to say I mean, I know that you Keys here also, but opening Unbound was huge and exciting. I started my job kind of right before the pandemic. So most of my position has been in response to covid and shifting operations. And then in the middle of all of it, we were opening this new location in downtown Meridian and seeing those Renovations working with the Architects and seeing it all come together.
It was hugely exciting. And then, you know, I haven't been able to do as much community outreach in person as I've wanted to do, since I started this role. And so, when we opened on Bound in April, and I and people came out and I started meeting more people in the downtown community and our Community Partners that has been really exciting and continues to be. Yeah. And Yuki you stepped in. What point did you come to work for Unbound? Was it already open? Was it in?
Grass, where were you in the picture? It had been open for three months. So it was brand new renovated and I stepped in and risk a business liaison librarian and it's been a lot of ongoing learning and self training and that's been kind of the most fun part. I think about working at Unbound. I think that the unique thing about Unbound is that it is all about creativity, Innovation testing out your new big idea, and I think, you know, we talked about that a lot in theory.
But actually having a place where you have the equipment and the tools and the access to be able to actually test out your new ideas, not just talk about it, but actually do it. That has been the most fun part about working at, on down for me. Okay. So tell me, maybe success story or something that occurred or something that was built or created or made at Unbound. Totally one of my most fun stories, is we had an entrepreneur come in one day and he said, I want to prototype some new equipment for EMDR, which is a treatment that is commonly.
Used for treating PTSD individuals, specifically veteran. It can be used for anyone but it started out with treating Veterans for PTSD which is really neat. And this entrepreneur was saying, you know, this is something that I have studied for years and I've really benefited from and the equipment that I use right now is really bulky and it's not very comfortable for me to use when I'm getting this treatment to someone else. So I want to prototype a new piece of equipment that people can use that easily transportable, super easy to use and super comfortable.
Bill to use. And we said great, that sounds awesome. Why not? Let's do it. So then he pulls out this little lump of clay from his pocket and says, okay. This is the Prototype that I have so far. And we said, okay, that's awesome. We'll see what we can do with that. And what's really cool is, he took this little piece of clay and worked with our staff members, to learn how to 3D model, what he was looking to make and using our 3D printers. He printed probably five or six iterations before he got to what he actually really.
It to be, he was taking his little prototype and testing it with other people in our library saying does this fit your thumb? Does this fit your thumb can everybody use this, you know, just really basic crowdsourcing but working together with the staff. He was able to use our 3D printers to print several iterations of what he wanted until he had the final product that he liked and then he was able to print that on our resin printer. And he came out with a really beautiful model of the exact look of the equipment that he wanted as well as a case that it can be carried in.
In and just seeing that process of, you know, I've got this great idea and this tiny little lump of clay. So all the sudden. Wow, I have a workable case and these gorgeous pieces of equipment that I can actually. Now use to talk with manufacturers about, you know, programming it for actual use. Like, that was so exciting. And my favorite part about it was just how enthusiastic staff were along the way as well, you know, I think it's easy when someone comes in with a new idea to go. And look at all the reasons why something couldn't work.
And here at Unbound, I feel like we really take the attitude of, oh, great. Well, we've never seen this before. We're not exactly sure how to do it. But here's a couple of ways that we could get started. Let's just try and see what happens. So, for me, that's a story that's near and dear to me that, you know, in under two to three weeks. He was able to get that all done and all under like 20 bucks. And so it really was a great example of him, being able to easily access the technology, and the services, and the support that he needed to learn in order to be able to
A prototype this new piece of correct, I guess absolutely. What a, what a cool story to tell right. Allison. Yeah. What I love about that too. Is it really is very much the spirit of Unbound. Like, anytime you walk in there. There's always some projects going on and a real openness to just experimenting and creativity. Which is why we definitely want to spread the word to people who maybe don't know exactly what they're even, what route to take. They just have an idea. It's a good place to just start and you're right that a lot of
We'll have this opportunity right at their fingertips, right to just come in and play and do and learn. And you said so you've got this 3D printer, the resin machine. And what does it cost people to be able to do this? You said 20 bucks, right? So, tell me a little bit more. What is it aside from time? What is it, that? It's good? What's an investment for them? Well, the best part about Unbound, is that all of our machine use is completely free. So that person was just paying for the actual material that was being used.
So we charge five cents per gram for General pla that were using in our 3D printers. We charge 20 cents for specialty, filament like PE t, g or nylon, if you're doing resin, I think it's around 20 cents per gram. I'd have to double-check that, but that's kind of the purpose of unbowed because we understand, there's nothing worse than having some big idea that you really excited about. And then not knowing where to take that next or not having the equipment or tools necessary to take your idea forward. So,
The biggest aim is reducing or completely cutting out any barrier to somebody really being able to pursue their ideas. So, you know, depending on the service, depending on the room that you're using the cost can vary. But people can rest assured that we are keeping that as low to the ground, if not zero cost as possible because our entire aim is let's get people in. Let's start testing our ideas. Why not do it. So how does this whole program get funded? Where does it come from? How did it begin? What was the impetus to make this all happen?
Happen. There was a period of time when makerspaces started to become really popular in libraries. And what's interesting is they primarily started out as teenage programs. So there were a lot of teenagers who are really interested across the country and learning various Technologies and 3D printers were a big one. So we have 3D printers. We had invested in for our teenage program users. And then as I understand it, one day, our our manager, and our director got together and started talking and thinking, well, why don't we make this technology accessible to everyone?
This doesn't need to be just for the teenagers. The teenagers are absolutely welcome, of course, but also how can this support ongoing tackle learning and business growth efforts across the Treasure Valley. So as I understand it, that's really what the impetus for Unbound was and it was all coming down to this question of, what would it look like if we made this accessible to everyone? And what would it look like if we dedicated specific resources and a specific location to this type of learning, and really made this a center and a hub on this topic and this Niche area,
Via Allison, did you have anything that I've missed on that or anything that needs to be added? Maybe one thing to mention is that so Unbound initially was a pilot location in downtown Meridian. And so, you know, the evolution is really from that first 3D printer, which was funded by a grant in 2012, I think, and then it sort of evolved. And this was before Yuki and I were at the library, but the, the idea was to try this out in downtown Meridian. And so from
Fault 2015, too early. 2019 it sort of operating as a pilot and really became a fixture of the downtown community and there were a lot of lessons learned that we then applied to this new location. And so the idea when the space that that original Unbound was using was no longer available, which was always sort of known that it was going to be a temporary space plans were already kind of underway to start looking for a permanent location and Unbound as one of the projects that
Was part of our plant facility Levy which is funding a few other new locations coming up. Our new Orchard Park Ranch in North Meridian, a new South Meridian, branch in a renovation of Cherry Lane, but we were able to really fund the Unbound project mostly through operating funds to kind of save some of those facility or plant facility Levy funds. And I will mention to a lot of the equipment in that space has been funded through grants. We have a foundation that has been able to I think it was
Almost 40,000 dollars. That helps. Wow. That's awesome. And my understanding is during the pandemic. It was on, lockdown shut down, but what could people do? They could help make masks right? Or Shields? Right? So tell me tell it, tell us about the story because I think it's a great story to here and we actually got to interview and be a part of that but tell us more. Yeah, this was our are Unbound manager, Nick Grove. And yeah, we were that way.
Was pretty early on, in the pandemic to where a lot of people were working still from home and Nick had all of the 3D printers in his garage and was helping create the like the headbands for face Shields and then also like the ear Savers so that for people wearing masks all day and, and was able to provide a lot to a number of different organizations and also collaborated with a lot of other libraries to coordinate that effort may as well put it to good use.
Eight, there's some pretty cute pictures of his kids in the garage watching that process. Nice. Yeah. Well, it was very helpful and to be able to do something right to you know, working from home. You got to you got to keep yourself busy and me as well. So I'm glad that happened. Okay. So since we're going on a marketing journey in the marketing Expedition podcast, I'm curious how it is that you are getting the word out. What kinds of marketing tactics and tools.
Is and and Tech, are you using to help spread the word about Unbound and the libraries? I should say to right Allison? Yes. I think it gets back to a lot of I think the trend in marketing, which is that it's very targeted to sort of think about, especially in the library. We have a lot of different audiences and a lot of different segments of the community. We're trying to reach for different things. So our strategy for early literacy is very different from our strategy for marketing on
Round. But it's similar. And that there is a big element of Outreach and Community Partnerships in all of that. So I work really, we have an Outreach team that I work very closely with to sort of, think about okay for this particular program. This is our audience and these are the partners that serve a similar audience that maybe can help connect people with these resources. And with Unbound, to a lot of Yuki's position, which she can talk about a little bit is to really be embedded in the business community in Meridian.
So that we have those relationships in addition to doing email newsletters, social media, the website, building those Partnerships and promoting through through those networks which which kind of results in more word of mouth, which we're seeing more of, I think, an Unbound as people will hear from someone else that we have a podcast studio and then they'll stop. That's but that's where you key is right now, in the podcast Studio, I love it. Sounds great solutely tells trying it out, testing it out. It's all so Yuki. Your Role is
Kind of the business liaison to you work a lot with employers that then, you know, have people invent things at Unbound or you know, what is your role and how do you make it work for people to get to know about Unbound? And all of the wonderful things that you're doing? My role is very fluid and that's kind of the fun part about it. And that also is, what makes it really hard for me to just say, in one single sentence, you know, other than always support business, owners, entrepreneurs and Tech Learners, you know, that can look like so many things. And I certainly do work with
Employers more commonly if I'm working with employers of a group usually were looking at on Pitch meetings were looking at startup meetings were looking at board meetings. If I'm working with someone specifically on our equipment use usually it is an entrepreneur or it's a small start-up owner. So I would say I probably work with more solopreneurs and entrepreneurs when it comes to prototyping equipment and like Alison, she put it so beautifully, we follow the embedded, business librarianship model.
Which is a little bit different. It's kind of like Outreach but it's a little bit different, but I think really what it all boils down to is showing up and giving service. That's really, I mean, that's the top value for any Library staff member you have her speak with, but it's also, it's also, what really drives the way that we build our relationships and the way that we get the word out about Unbound. So, we figure, you know, we're showing up, we're trying to add value. We're trying to help as much as we can, and hopefully that does bring word about Unbound, to be.
People and makes them excited to come and see what they can do. Okay, I have to ask Librarians. What's your favorite book? And I know you're not necessarily the librarian but you work for a library. What's your favorite book? Alison? This is such an impossible question. I this is the hardest question. So I'm a big fan of short stories. I do a lot of writing in my spare time and it's a lot of fictional short story. So I return.
A lot to some of my favorite short story writers. So Kelly Link is somebody I love Miranda July clairee Watkins. This is sort of a non-committal answer but I'm throwing these names out. Even once short story recommendations. Those are some of my favorites. Excellent. And Yuki, what about you? It is the impossible question. I'm convinced. If someone can tell you right off the bat with their favorite book is either. They are a superhuman or they're just making it up on the spot. Because for me, it's always. Okay. What is my favorite book of the moment, but probably a book that
I really enjoyed and made a huge impact on me. Is Jane Eyre which I know is such a basic. I mean it's, you know, British classic but I love British literature. It is totally up my alley and the way that she paints, those Landscapes are gorgeous. Fantastic. I'm gonna have to. Yeah, get involved with that too. I love it. Okay, so talking about resources in the business community in marketing. What are what are some go to resources that you rely on? You get your information from that.
You would share with others to say. Yes, you need to read this or see this or go to this website, or listen to this podcast or whatever. It is Yuki, what about you? What's some go to resources that you rely on religiously? One of the resources that I love the most is called Data, axle research and it's a database where you can research consumer Trends in well, wherever you are. So within the Treasure Valley, Porsche or so if people are looking for hard data, that's going to inform their marketing efforts on there.
Business efforts. That is a huge go to that. I automatically say, yes, definitely go there. Another resource that I really love is called Idaho business Wizard and it can be found at business dot Idaho, dot-gov and that is basically a step-by-step checklist for any kind of business that you're looking to build. So, you know, you want to start a charcuterie board business and you've got to figure out the food licensing. You can go in, you can find your category and it's going to tell you, exactly, here's the license, you need. Here's the office that you need to talk to. Those are probably my
Top two in terms of, in terms of hard information. That's really going to get people started shokudo reboard. You just made me hungry, but you're right. Okay, excellent. Excellent resources. Thank you Yuki. And what about you Allison? What's your absolute? Go to place to find out what's going on? Well, I wanted to, before I forget to mention it, so you can mention data axle, which is a library database also. So, if anyone else is interested in accessing that information that is one of the databases that the library can link.
Q with and and I would also throw in their Foundation directory online. I'm coming from a non-profit background. So these things that stand out to me, if you're looking for Grant fundraising opportunities and kind of exploring fundraising opportunities in this area. I wanted to point those out to people because I think that a lot of marketing roles also include some development work as well and it's funny that you as I was thinking through that question. I feel like so much of my work is now, like, very
On a very specific segment of communication. So, the government social Community social media Community has been very helpful for me in my role because communication as a government entity is a little bit different than other marketing. So that even though it's focused a lot on social media. It's been really helpful for broader, marketing ideas and Community engagement ideas. And then I follow a few very Library specific newsletters that have been helpful in thinking about.
Trends for adapting sort of larger National trends for libraries in particular. Right? Right. So do you listen to any podcasts at all out of curiosity, Allison? I have to say, don't listen to me marketing. Just, okay, that's okay. Thank you, but I don't know if I have additional recommendations. I would love your recommendations actually for marketing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, marketing over coffee. I just actually had the host on.
So not too long ago, which is kind of fun. So it was like a, some people say swap, cast or pod swap right where we do both of each other show and there's lots of different marketing ones that I love to pick up on and, you know, listen to. But what about you Yuki. Do you have any favorite podcasts that you like to listen to aside from the marketing Expedition podcast, of course, I was gonna say marketing Expedition podcast is our number one for marketing. I don't specifically
Into any podcast other than yours, but in terms of just general interest, I love the we can do hard things podcast by Glennon Doyle. I love Netflix has a daily joke. I do improv and stand-up comedy on in my spare time. And so getting to listen to those short little clips that the give me that boost of Serotonin to get through the day, you know, yeah, and then there's a great podcast. I don't remember what it's called. I want to say it's called something like what's in your fridge. But anyway the host he asks different celebrities to come on and
They'll take a picture of their open fridge before they start their episode and then we'll talk through all the different foods that are in there, in their fridge. And, as a food lover, that is my jam. You are, you must have
Mine, so that's the coutry boards and what's in your fridge and great. Honestly, when am I not thinking about it? That's the question. That's good. I was just looking at my podcast list to see which ones I, you know, I I've recently been, I had taken golf lessons. And and so, I have been listening to some golf podcast lately, just so that I can keep my game going during the winter months. Right. And it's funny because I am taking lessons now and it's basically in a big huge garage.
That you can open the doors and then you can hit your ball out to the driving range. And so on my way to golf lessons, right? I was listening to the golf podcast and just kind of getting into it more and more and getting excited about it. And because of the pandemic Gulf has extremely, you know, more people are doing it and just like podcasts. And listening to podcast is to becoming more and more popular to. But anyway, so that's the guy. Yeah, I like golf podcast. It's a marketing, but, you know, it could be you.
Um, do you can do business on the golf course for sure. So another question, what's been a really big surprise in the last few months and why what's something that's happened? That's like oh that was unexpected or just different or you know, surprising to you who wants to take this one? First who can unmute themselves first. I don't know if this is really kosher to say, well, I guess I can always edit, you do edit this little right as a newcomer to
I have been pleasantly surprised by how well received. It's been in the downtown Meridian area. And I promise I'm not just saying that to make a sound good, really. I, when I was working in the other Branch. I worked in our main Cherry Lane location and we would send people to Unbound and I was aware of the resources, but I wasn't, you know, super connected and in with it, so I was excited to come to Unbound in to learn. And then once I started working here, it really hit me. Wow. There is a need for this. This is not just cool business resources, that are nice to have. If you want them or cool, 3D printers that are
a cool to see if you want to go. See, I was so amazed at the genuine level of Interest, as well as just how much it contributes to Workforce Development and people's business growth. People are really taking our machines and using them, people are really taking our resources and making the most of them. And I have been floored by the amount of growth that I have watched people experience as a result of using these resources that are available to them. So I've been really pleasantly surprised at how
Tactful this has been and it's really it's really driven home. For me. Just how important this is. It's not just libraries, aren't just like a feel-good QC. Place to take your kid. I mean, it can be, you know, but for this business in Tech Library, I'm I've been impressed at. Wow. This is this is robust. This is actually making a difference. This is a real thing. Excellent. I love it. Alison. What about you? What's been something? That's a big surprise to you lately, you know, one thing that I was actually just thinking about the other day we
You know, one of the challenges of this year's thinking about what what community engagement can look like, if it can't always be in person and what are some virtual opportunities we can offer to kind of get that more direct Community feedback. And so we this past year a trend that we've kind of developed in our own Communications plans is hosting virtual focus groups on different topics. It really started with thinking about our budget because we want feedback on our budget.
And some of what was used in the past, I think was a little bit hard for people to really know what to do with. Like a budget is a complicated topic and we didn't always get a lot of Engagement and feedback. And so we started hosting focus groups on sort of smaller budget topics with more specific questions to make it a bit more accessible and then we started doing it for other things, as well, as we've been designing new locations, inviting residents in those areas and fighting Community Partners.
Yes, and I have been pleasantly surprised that people show up to zoom, focus groups and they are very engaged and we've gotten really, really good feedback to the point that I am planning on continuing them always is an option. I think there's there's been some benefit in the fact that people can just jump on after work. They don't have to commute over to the library. So that has been a pleasant surprise and it's really helped me shape my communications plans going forward. Right, right, okay.
So if you had an unlimited budget and somebody just waved a magic wand and said, I'm going to give you x amount of dollars to do whatever it is that you feel like you need to do. What would you spend that money on Yuki, I would give everyone a huge Grant to come and see your conference. To be honest. I think it's going to be such a huge. It's going to be chock-full of so much, good, insight and advice, and instruction for people. So, I would love to be able to give more people access to
To high-end meetings and conferences like that. I mean, you know, it's it's so important for people to be sitting at the table and I think at libraries, that's what we're trying to do. But, you know, we can only provide so much access to the things that that we are able to invest in them that we are experts. And so I think that's probably the first thing I would think of is I would buy people tickets to high access events, you know, that might normally be cost prohibitive or and and I'm not. I'm not saying that the that
Our conferences cost prohibited by any means. I just mean, you know, generally specialized information. I would want to break down a good answer. Yuki might, what she's talking about is coming up in January, January, 19, 20 22. So if you're listening to this beforehand, yeah, we have the new marketing trends for the new year coming up and Yuki is going to be there presenting as well as several other speakers talking about marketing Trends and things that are happening for the new year and Allison. I hope you hear that. You'll be there too. And so I'll just
Do a little plug, its pepper, shop.com / events and you can sign up to attend either in person or virtually since we were talking about Zoom Allison. And so yeah, it's coming up. And then for those of you who are listening to this podcast, after the fact, you can go to the marketing Expedition.com and become a member and all of the speaker videos will be inside our community. So you're able to watch them later. If you can't make it to the person in person or online streaming events. Yeah there.
What about you Allison? If you had unlimited budget, what would you spend it on in your in your budget in a marketing? It's so hard. Because of course like my first that just goes to more resources resources for patrons that we would love to offer and we're always so much of my job is kind of like keeping an eye to on like what the foundation and fundraising are doing. So, I think that that is my first thought immediately goes to what other resources. Can we add to these new locations were opening.
We're fundraising for actively. Now. I'll put in a plug for that as well. Yeah, support nation and help fill those buildings with more materials and and even just thinking about, you know, like Unbound is this very unique location because it's very focused on meeting space and then this Tech Focus. But libraries in general like to focus on Tech and emerging Technologies, and how can we put more of those in our buildings? So that's certainly something that's always in my mind.
92 is, how do we, how do we make that happen at all of these and other locations? You know, it's really interesting. I remember when, you know, social media and all the it was digital media was called New Media and people were freaking out about well, now, no one's going to go to the library because we can just get everything we need online. And it's so not true. So to hear you're growing and expanding and adding new locations. I mean, proves them wrong, right? It totally doesn't, I think it really proves that people are craving a place for community.
I mean, Beyond just information. Here's the thing. If you are looking for the answer to something, you can Google it, but super easy, we do it all the time. But if you come into a library with a really Niche, research question or you start out with your surface-level, Google question, then figure out. Oh, actually, that, that runs me into this topic or this topic, or this barrier. And I actually don't know that if you have someone there who is an experience that's literally their profession to navigate information, and they're helping you walk through that and they're co-learning with you. I mean, how incredibly empowering an effective is that?
And then furthermore, I think that libraries. Yeah, we're proving to be centers of connection for people. Whether that's, you know, business resources are networking or it's, you know, making friends and connections with people who are in your area that you wouldn't have met otherwise. So I think there is tremendous value that libraries offer that is unique to ourselves. Just how, you know, Google offers things that are unique to them. Absolutely. Yeah. Allison, what do you say to those who say? Well, you can just go online for everything. We don't need.
Library, I know. I mean, it will, they I think you Keys said it so beautifully, like that community building is so Central to our mission as a library. And we we want to let people know. Like, if you don't know where else to go, we can help you. We can help you answer the hard questions. We might not be the experts all the time, but we're really good at. Connecting you with expert resources or for connecting you with other people in the community that might be working on a similar project and might be good partners for that kind of work. Yeah.
Yeah, libraries are fun. They're not like the old where you have to be super quiet. And you know, they're just not like that anymore and you go and it's welcoming and warm and like you said, there's community space. Like I don't know how many meetings and events we've had at the library because they have these Open Spaces that you can sign up to use. And, you know, in our case, you just pay a deposit for food deposit and then you get it back. If you don't make a big giant mess, right? So, I mean it's very much the community-oriented and you're right. I mean I
To go to the library. I love the smell of books. You just can't get that when you're online. I'm glad you mentioned books because here's the thing to like, I think there's been this sort of larger Trend in marketing to say Alert, in library marketing to say, like libraries are more than books, which is true. We do a lot of other things and we offer people access to technology. We do all of these things, but we also still have books and books are huge part of our focus and what we've learned even from this past.
Year with the pant or the past two years. Now, if the pandemic is that is hugely important for people, access to books and access to materials for their children. And and also that that connection of of our staff that can help you find the right books and can answer questions and that's something through Googling that's going to be a little bit harder. If you have like a specific homeschool question and you need help connect you to the right resources. That's something we can help. Yeah. I think if I were to say,
The smell of a book. People would have immediate reaction. But if I asked, what's the smell of Google?
Nothing, there's a big difference. All the senses are alerted and I think it's great. And and you've mentioned, you know, children and youth programs and you know, them getting to do things that maybe they otherwise wouldn't have access to or, you know, having Story Time ordered movie time or any of those things. I think, you know, it's just it's a great place like you said for early childhood education, to get a good start and then carry them all the way through and continue to keep them at the library doing.
Who's that with the programs and all the things incentives that, you know, youth get to be able to continue to learn to read, and grow and educate their brains, right? They're growing their brains just as much as they are their bodies. So, yeah, totally. And if I can add a little additional plug here, too. I think that libraries are one of the only places that are there to serve you and give you information and help you without asking for anything in return. You're using Google for free, but they're trying to sell you things, right? There's Google Apps, there's there are reasons.
That they're trying to help you. And I think one of the beautiful things about libraries is yes, we have access to a wealth of information that we are happy to help you with people are genuinely excited to tell you about their, what they're reading or what local resource, you can access and you can exist without having to pay for anything. You don't have to buy anything. We're just here to help. I love it. I love it. Okay. So since we're mentioning plugs go ahead and share if people are interested in learning more and wanting to get in touch with you or just, you know, make an appointment.
What can they just walk in? What do they do? You keep the? Do they make an appointment with you guys? How does that work? It really depends on the service that you're looking to do. So since it is a public library, you can walk in anytime our hours are open and those are listed on www.omf.co.nz bound and you can research, all you need to know before coming in, or you can give us a call if you're unsure if you're wanting to meet with me personally. You're welcome to contact me through the website and book and
Appointment request if you're wanting to learn our machines, how to use them. You can book an appointment request. If you have a specific research or business topic, you want to have staff help you with, you can book that appointment request. Otherwise, it's all walk in and available. We do offer reservation options for our podcasting studio, and for our meeting spaces, so those can be submitted online. 24 hours in advance. Honestly, we have such a wide array of services. I always tell people just go check the website first or give us a call first.
Walk you through it, depending on what you're looking for, but guaranteed will make time for you will make sure we get you in here and get you. What you need. Excellent Allison. I what were you going to say? Go ahead and I'll throw one more thing in there too. We have live chat on our website tutoring or opening hours. So if you go on our website, you'll see a little pop-up. And so if you have a question, you can ask it there too. And then I'll throw in a plug for our social media. Just these still follow us at Meridian library on Facebook Instagram or Twitter, okay?
Thank you. Excellent. And yeah, so, coming up, January 19th, will have a wonderful, wonderful bits of information from you. Ladies and the it will be January. 19th, 8 a.m. I'm Standard Time to 11:45 p.m. We decided to keep it safe and not serve lunch. And we're just going to have you know, packaged Goods. So that way, no spreading of anything anywhere and it'll be at the Silverstone, amenities Plaza or it'll be on zoom and you can go to pepper stock.com.
Events to register for the big event and or go to the marketing expedition.com to watch the replays later. If you can't, make it, but hopefully, we'll have a room full of people and a zoom room full of people to be so excited. We cannot wait, Ray. This has been such a pleasure. Just getting to talk about. It has already made me so excited so I can't wait till the conference. It's going to be a party. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Excellent. All right. Well ladies. Thank you so much. And of course, we'll put this out there and for those of you listening,
You can subscribe to the podcast on pretty much any channel, you get your podcast. So Spotify Apple all of the places. I think we're on Amazon music to anyway, go ahead and do that. And then the biggest thing that you could ever do for us is give us a review share this out to those that you know, that needs to hear this message today and others that we've done. Of course, we're over 100 episodes into this now and it's a top 10 most popular podcasts. Globally. Now just from Idaho, right wing. So lots of
Things happening here on the podcast and and going on. So until next time, everybody just enjoy the new year and enjoy your journey.
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Arie and Unbound and what it does for the community. There's so many wonderful things that you're going to learn about Unbound. I have no idea that all of these resources and 3D printers and resin, printers are all available to be able to use pretty much at cost and it's just a phenomenal. So you're going to learn about that. But before we do that, I want to talk to you about Nadine West. It's basically awesome, affordable outfits that are delivered.
Your doorstep every month. Well, you could do it every week if you wanted to. But every month, you have this no risk shopping, secret to make your friends jealous. And you have, even if you have zero time to shop, right? These basically send you clothes every month. You keep what you want? You try on what you want and then you send back what you don't and it is risk-free. There's all kinds of surprising wonderful Styles and it's affordable. That's the key here and they send you jewelry. They send you leggings.
They send you scarves. They send you sweaters and jackets and pants and all the fun things and it has been a treat. Every time I get my Nadine West package and the pink little package, and you receive the shipment without paying anything. And then once you do decide to keep what you want, then you keep it and then you send back what you don't, and it's all kinds of unique affordable items and they have sent over 1.3 shipments.
To their happy customers and they have amazing, Google reviews and I get phone calls directly from Nadine. Asking me how things are going, what I could, what they could do to make it even better or not or whatever. The case might be, when I'm happy about I just really love it and it's subscription-based. Obviously, you can pause it when you need to where you can set up the frequency as often as you like or as little as you like and it is pretty pretty spectacular. So go to pepper shock.com offers.
And select my link and then you'll get a special treat just because you used my link and you can use the discount that you are getting because you used my like and I get rewarded to. So that's awesome. You can take a style quiz online and then you get your happiness delivered in a pink package every month and then you just keep what you love. So pepper, shop.com offers select the link and you will get a special offer from me to you. And now it's time for the marketing Essentials.
Moment, the basics that you need to help you continue to build your brand and your bottom line. And today, I wanted to talk about Clubhouse. It's this amazing social media audio only app that's really kind of exploded over the pandemic. The social audio app that you can bounce around in the hallways, on the app of the internet and meet some incredible people. And we have been doing the marketing Expedition Club on clubhouse. Every Wednesday at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard Time.
Time or that would be 12 p.m. Eastern time. It's been really great. You can go in, you can put in what types of interests and likes you have, you can explore what they call the hallways of courses inside the app and you can discover millions of rooms. Those are rooms that are happening within each of those clubs within Clubhouse. Like the marketing Expedition club that we've created and you can go and listen, or come to our club and listen to what we say. Every Wednesday. You can listen in, you can
Go and raise your hand in the app and go on what they call this stage or you can stay back in the audience. But if you go on stage, you're going to get on stage and immediately your mic is hot. So you always have to remember to mute yourself, if you don't want to speak right away, but the moderator will call on you. They'll ask you questions, or contributions that you may have to add to the conversation that's happening. And, of course, there's something for everyone. I mean, there are so many different clubs and topics and rooms.
And moderators hosting these things and you can, like I said, listen in or share your thoughts. Ask your questions asked their, give your contributions. Maybe you've got some ideas that you want to share, you can drop in those rooms and you're communicating, you could do it while you're walking your poodle or running in the park, right? You can raise your hand in the app to chime in if you want. And then, of course, you can always go back into the audience when you're done being on the stage, but you can meet amazing people. There's what they call the back Channel. Where
Message people by sending them a message or you can also link your Instagram account or your Twitter account, and then you can direct message people there. So it's a way to meet new people from all over the world. I have spoke to so many people from all over the world. I just hosted a clubhouse room today and I was able to speak with somebody from Israel to Germany to, I mean everywhere and even in my own backyard,
People that know me who are in my club on clubhouse, the marketing Expedition club, and of course you can get on it. You can even host a room of your own. It's just everyday people who are willing to you know, give ideas and inspiration and information and insights, and people who tell her they're telling jokes there. Maybe they're reading them Morning News. Maybe they're singing to you. Maybe they're playing a song for you. Maybe they're just sharing their deep thoughts or maybe they're just getting silly and talking about random things. There is something on there for everyone. Every topic.
And, like I said, you could put the different interests that you have. And, you know, the, the Clubhouse app was really designed was the belief that people are at the center of every moment. And when you get on, I recommend First Learning how it works. And what you can do and where you can go and who you can follow, make sure you fill out your profile information because if you don't have your profile information, then people may not actually bring you up on stage and they may not, you know, take you seriously because it might just be like,
She who's, you know, fishing for information and not not participating and you want to put your profile picture on there as well, right? And so those are some tips I can tell you, when you join Clubhouse you will get this little party hat cymbal to say that you're new to the app. So people are very forgiving when you don't necessarily remember to turn your mic off when you don't want it to speak or you know, any of those types of things. Now it was originally just on the iPhone app store, but now it's for everyone. If you have anyone
You can use it to but it is definitely a place to go to meet amazing people. I have met, you know, in the text room. Let's say I've met people that now I'm having on my podcast. Who I've met in clubhouse, people who I've worked with that are service providers. That I otherwise may not have worked with before, right? And and so I mean, it's just a phenomenal way to get to know people be able to share. You know, what your value is that you have to give and that is the
The idea is to give first and then you're going to receive in abundance in because it's a reciprocal thing, right? And so every Wednesday 10:00 a.m. And Center time, 12:00 p.m. Eastern time. We, I just do an hour and we share in process goals and maybe some goals that are met or set or some things that you're working on in your marketing Journey that you want to process. And it's really kind of fun because it's kind of like you're in the hot seat and you get people providing information or ideas or
Things that they've tried our experiences that they've had and of course, it's always up to you to fill ter out, what it is that you want to, you know, retain for that advice, right, you know, know your audience know who's giving that advice and what kind of experience they have. That's why it's so important for your profile to be filled out, but it is certainly growing. And every week, we have more and more people joining us on clubhouse in the marketing Expedition club. And I highly recommend that you do that as well. And of course, if you enjoyed this podcast, it's just an extension of what we're doing here.
Here and talking to business owners leaders marketing professionals. Entrepreneurs solopreneurs, Mama premieres. I mean, you name it. We have talked and worked with different variety of people who are getting on clubhouse and wanting to participate. And it's great because you can still wear your pandemic pajamas and not have to worry about it because it's Audio Only I guess that's what's nice about this podcast to you right now, but that's the point. So if you're not on clubhouse, I highly recommend checking it.
Out. Go to Club house.com. You can download it from there on your phone. Yeah, it is only on your phone or you could put it on a mobile device, like an iPad that kind of thing. So that's enough about Clubhouse. And hopefully you join us in and if you want more information, or if you want to get on our email list, so that you can be reminded every week, when we do our clubhouse room. You can do that. Go to pepper, shock.com, actually the webinar to get on the email list to get reminded about Clubhouse. Go to Clubhouse.
MarketingExpedition.club So once again, it's Clubhouse.marketingExpedition.club. And then what you'll do is fill out that form and give us your email address and we will send you the link every week that you need to go to on your phone. In order to join that particular weeks room. Okay. It's a new link every every room that we do. So you'll always want to have the new link every time. Or you can go to pepper, shop.com events and we are updating the link weekly there as well.
Of course, in all of the events that we have coming up for pepper shock, you can go there and, you know, go on this marketing Journey with us. So pepper stock.com / events and then to get on the email list, Clubhouse. Stop marketing Expedition dot Club. Okay. Let's get into the interview with Yuki and Allison.
Welcome to the marketing Expedition podcast and auditory Journey Through the latest in marketing, branding, and advertising. Now. Here's your marketing Expedition guide, Rhea Allen.
Welcome to the marketing Expedition podcast. I'm your host Rhea Allen and the president and CEO of Peppershock media, and the founder of the marketing Expedition community. And today, I have Yuki and Allison with me. Welcome ladies. Thank you so much for having us here. So let's start with you Yuki. Share a little bit about what it is that you do and who you are, and then we'll go with Allison after that. Sure. So yes, I am the business liaison librarian with the Meridian library district, I primarily
Out of our Unbound business and Tech location, which is located in downtown Meridian, Idaho, and we focus all of our services on supporting business owners, entrepreneurs Tech Learners across our area and my job is to help people locate navigate locate and navigate. Local resources, get connected with other business owners. Figure out the ins and outs of all things to do with business. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of relationship building and its that's the best part of my job, excellent, and Allison, share.
About you and your role. Yeah. So I'm the communications manager for the Meridian, library district. So it's a district-wide position. So, all the communications and marketing across all of our locations. We have four locations right now, and some new locations, on the way. And I work a lot with Yuki in particular, on reaching the business Community. Excellent. And okay, let's talk a little bit about your background. What got you to where you are in this position now?
Yuki. Go ahead for me, you know, my career has always been centered on relationship, building and information. I just didn't realize it. It just kind of. It started out organically. I took the first job available to me, out of college, which was content marketing for a tech startup in San Francisco. And that was all about information. I was in charge of, you know, writing all the blogs and articles that were going to empower renters who were in cities where rent was just way too high to afford, which I think a lot of us can relate to fill these days and then from
There I moved into running my own life coaching business, which is again using information to empower individuals to live their best lives with full confidence and eventually made my way to the Meridian library district, which once I stepped into working here. I was like, oh, oh, of course, I'm working here, but I wouldn't have necessarily plan that for myself, but it is all about taking information and building relationships with the people who live in the area that I grew up in.
And boosting us all higher as a result of what I've learned and learning alongside people, and helping them. Learn how to figure out information for themselves. Excellent, and Allison. Tell me about your background. What got you into this role that you're in? Now, I think similar to Yuki, it was sort of a natural progression that I realized kind of late. Like as I was applying for this job. I started my career in journalism. I worked for newspapers and then kind of transitioned into Communications role.
As for some nonprofits locally. I'm in my last job. I was working for a non-profit, the focuses a lot on early learning and early literacy. And so that focus on information and education is really Central to my work here and even though my my title involves a lot of marketing, I see it as a lot of community engagement, which is what my whole career has really been up to this point. Allison. Tell me one of the most memorable moments of your career at the
So far. Well, I have to say I mean, I know that you Keys here also, but opening Unbound was huge and exciting. I started my job kind of right before the pandemic. So most of my position has been in response to covid and shifting operations. And then in the middle of all of it, we were opening this new location in downtown Meridian and seeing those Renovations working with the Architects and seeing it all come together.
It was hugely exciting. And then, you know, I haven't been able to do as much community outreach in person as I've wanted to do, since I started this role. And so, when we opened on Bound in April, and I and people came out and I started meeting more people in the downtown community and our Community Partners that has been really exciting and continues to be. Yeah. And Yuki you stepped in. What point did you come to work for Unbound? Was it already open? Was it in?
Grass, where were you in the picture? It had been open for three months. So it was brand new renovated and I stepped in and risk a business liaison librarian and it's been a lot of ongoing learning and self training and that's been kind of the most fun part. I think about working at Unbound. I think that the unique thing about Unbound is that it is all about creativity, Innovation testing out your new big idea, and I think, you know, we talked about that a lot in theory.
But actually having a place where you have the equipment and the tools and the access to be able to actually test out your new ideas, not just talk about it, but actually do it. That has been the most fun part about working at, on down for me. Okay. So tell me, maybe success story or something that occurred or something that was built or created or made at Unbound. Totally one of my most fun stories, is we had an entrepreneur come in one day and he said, I want to prototype some new equipment for EMDR, which is a treatment that is commonly.
Used for treating PTSD individuals, specifically veteran. It can be used for anyone but it started out with treating Veterans for PTSD which is really neat. And this entrepreneur was saying, you know, this is something that I have studied for years and I've really benefited from and the equipment that I use right now is really bulky and it's not very comfortable for me to use when I'm getting this treatment to someone else. So I want to prototype a new piece of equipment that people can use that easily transportable, super easy to use and super comfortable.
Bill to use. And we said great, that sounds awesome. Why not? Let's do it. So then he pulls out this little lump of clay from his pocket and says, okay. This is the Prototype that I have so far. And we said, okay, that's awesome. We'll see what we can do with that. And what's really cool is, he took this little piece of clay and worked with our staff members, to learn how to 3D model, what he was looking to make and using our 3D printers. He printed probably five or six iterations before he got to what he actually really.
It to be, he was taking his little prototype and testing it with other people in our library saying does this fit your thumb? Does this fit your thumb can everybody use this, you know, just really basic crowdsourcing but working together with the staff. He was able to use our 3D printers to print several iterations of what he wanted until he had the final product that he liked and then he was able to print that on our resin printer. And he came out with a really beautiful model of the exact look of the equipment that he wanted as well as a case that it can be carried in.
In and just seeing that process of, you know, I've got this great idea and this tiny little lump of clay. So all the sudden. Wow, I have a workable case and these gorgeous pieces of equipment that I can actually. Now use to talk with manufacturers about, you know, programming it for actual use. Like, that was so exciting. And my favorite part about it was just how enthusiastic staff were along the way as well, you know, I think it's easy when someone comes in with a new idea to go. And look at all the reasons why something couldn't work.
And here at Unbound, I feel like we really take the attitude of, oh, great. Well, we've never seen this before. We're not exactly sure how to do it. But here's a couple of ways that we could get started. Let's just try and see what happens. So, for me, that's a story that's near and dear to me that, you know, in under two to three weeks. He was able to get that all done and all under like 20 bucks. And so it really was a great example of him, being able to easily access the technology, and the services, and the support that he needed to learn in order to be able to
A prototype this new piece of correct, I guess absolutely. What a, what a cool story to tell right. Allison. Yeah. What I love about that too. Is it really is very much the spirit of Unbound. Like, anytime you walk in there. There's always some projects going on and a real openness to just experimenting and creativity. Which is why we definitely want to spread the word to people who maybe don't know exactly what they're even, what route to take. They just have an idea. It's a good place to just start and you're right that a lot of
We'll have this opportunity right at their fingertips, right to just come in and play and do and learn. And you said so you've got this 3D printer, the resin machine. And what does it cost people to be able to do this? You said 20 bucks, right? So, tell me a little bit more. What is it aside from time? What is it, that? It's good? What's an investment for them? Well, the best part about Unbound, is that all of our machine use is completely free. So that person was just paying for the actual material that was being used.
So we charge five cents per gram for General pla that were using in our 3D printers. We charge 20 cents for specialty, filament like PE t, g or nylon, if you're doing resin, I think it's around 20 cents per gram. I'd have to double-check that, but that's kind of the purpose of unbowed because we understand, there's nothing worse than having some big idea that you really excited about. And then not knowing where to take that next or not having the equipment or tools necessary to take your idea forward. So,
The biggest aim is reducing or completely cutting out any barrier to somebody really being able to pursue their ideas. So, you know, depending on the service, depending on the room that you're using the cost can vary. But people can rest assured that we are keeping that as low to the ground, if not zero cost as possible because our entire aim is let's get people in. Let's start testing our ideas. Why not do it. So how does this whole program get funded? Where does it come from? How did it begin? What was the impetus to make this all happen?
Happen. There was a period of time when makerspaces started to become really popular in libraries. And what's interesting is they primarily started out as teenage programs. So there were a lot of teenagers who are really interested across the country and learning various Technologies and 3D printers were a big one. So we have 3D printers. We had invested in for our teenage program users. And then as I understand it, one day, our our manager, and our director got together and started talking and thinking, well, why don't we make this technology accessible to everyone?
This doesn't need to be just for the teenagers. The teenagers are absolutely welcome, of course, but also how can this support ongoing tackle learning and business growth efforts across the Treasure Valley. So as I understand it, that's really what the impetus for Unbound was and it was all coming down to this question of, what would it look like if we made this accessible to everyone? And what would it look like if we dedicated specific resources and a specific location to this type of learning, and really made this a center and a hub on this topic and this Niche area,
Via Allison, did you have anything that I've missed on that or anything that needs to be added? Maybe one thing to mention is that so Unbound initially was a pilot location in downtown Meridian. And so, you know, the evolution is really from that first 3D printer, which was funded by a grant in 2012, I think, and then it sort of evolved. And this was before Yuki and I were at the library, but the, the idea was to try this out in downtown Meridian. And so from
Fault 2015, too early. 2019 it sort of operating as a pilot and really became a fixture of the downtown community and there were a lot of lessons learned that we then applied to this new location. And so the idea when the space that that original Unbound was using was no longer available, which was always sort of known that it was going to be a temporary space plans were already kind of underway to start looking for a permanent location and Unbound as one of the projects that
Was part of our plant facility Levy which is funding a few other new locations coming up. Our new Orchard Park Ranch in North Meridian, a new South Meridian, branch in a renovation of Cherry Lane, but we were able to really fund the Unbound project mostly through operating funds to kind of save some of those facility or plant facility Levy funds. And I will mention to a lot of the equipment in that space has been funded through grants. We have a foundation that has been able to I think it was
Almost 40,000 dollars. That helps. Wow. That's awesome. And my understanding is during the pandemic. It was on, lockdown shut down, but what could people do? They could help make masks right? Or Shields? Right? So tell me tell it, tell us about the story because I think it's a great story to here and we actually got to interview and be a part of that but tell us more. Yeah, this was our are Unbound manager, Nick Grove. And yeah, we were that way.
Was pretty early on, in the pandemic to where a lot of people were working still from home and Nick had all of the 3D printers in his garage and was helping create the like the headbands for face Shields and then also like the ear Savers so that for people wearing masks all day and, and was able to provide a lot to a number of different organizations and also collaborated with a lot of other libraries to coordinate that effort may as well put it to good use.
Eight, there's some pretty cute pictures of his kids in the garage watching that process. Nice. Yeah. Well, it was very helpful and to be able to do something right to you know, working from home. You got to you got to keep yourself busy and me as well. So I'm glad that happened. Okay. So since we're going on a marketing journey in the marketing Expedition podcast, I'm curious how it is that you are getting the word out. What kinds of marketing tactics and tools.
Is and and Tech, are you using to help spread the word about Unbound and the libraries? I should say to right Allison? Yes. I think it gets back to a lot of I think the trend in marketing, which is that it's very targeted to sort of think about, especially in the library. We have a lot of different audiences and a lot of different segments of the community. We're trying to reach for different things. So our strategy for early literacy is very different from our strategy for marketing on
Round. But it's similar. And that there is a big element of Outreach and Community Partnerships in all of that. So I work really, we have an Outreach team that I work very closely with to sort of, think about okay for this particular program. This is our audience and these are the partners that serve a similar audience that maybe can help connect people with these resources. And with Unbound, to a lot of Yuki's position, which she can talk about a little bit is to really be embedded in the business community in Meridian.
So that we have those relationships in addition to doing email newsletters, social media, the website, building those Partnerships and promoting through through those networks which which kind of results in more word of mouth, which we're seeing more of, I think, an Unbound as people will hear from someone else that we have a podcast studio and then they'll stop. That's but that's where you key is right now, in the podcast Studio, I love it. Sounds great solutely tells trying it out, testing it out. It's all so Yuki. Your Role is
Kind of the business liaison to you work a lot with employers that then, you know, have people invent things at Unbound or you know, what is your role and how do you make it work for people to get to know about Unbound? And all of the wonderful things that you're doing? My role is very fluid and that's kind of the fun part about it. And that also is, what makes it really hard for me to just say, in one single sentence, you know, other than always support business, owners, entrepreneurs and Tech Learners, you know, that can look like so many things. And I certainly do work with
Employers more commonly if I'm working with employers of a group usually were looking at on Pitch meetings were looking at startup meetings were looking at board meetings. If I'm working with someone specifically on our equipment use usually it is an entrepreneur or it's a small start-up owner. So I would say I probably work with more solopreneurs and entrepreneurs when it comes to prototyping equipment and like Alison, she put it so beautifully, we follow the embedded, business librarianship model.
Which is a little bit different. It's kind of like Outreach but it's a little bit different, but I think really what it all boils down to is showing up and giving service. That's really, I mean, that's the top value for any Library staff member you have her speak with, but it's also, it's also, what really drives the way that we build our relationships and the way that we get the word out about Unbound. So, we figure, you know, we're showing up, we're trying to add value. We're trying to help as much as we can, and hopefully that does bring word about Unbound, to be.
People and makes them excited to come and see what they can do. Okay, I have to ask Librarians. What's your favorite book? And I know you're not necessarily the librarian but you work for a library. What's your favorite book? Alison? This is such an impossible question. I this is the hardest question. So I'm a big fan of short stories. I do a lot of writing in my spare time and it's a lot of fictional short story. So I return.
A lot to some of my favorite short story writers. So Kelly Link is somebody I love Miranda July clairee Watkins. This is sort of a non-committal answer but I'm throwing these names out. Even once short story recommendations. Those are some of my favorites. Excellent. And Yuki, what about you? It is the impossible question. I'm convinced. If someone can tell you right off the bat with their favorite book is either. They are a superhuman or they're just making it up on the spot. Because for me, it's always. Okay. What is my favorite book of the moment, but probably a book that
I really enjoyed and made a huge impact on me. Is Jane Eyre which I know is such a basic. I mean it's, you know, British classic but I love British literature. It is totally up my alley and the way that she paints, those Landscapes are gorgeous. Fantastic. I'm gonna have to. Yeah, get involved with that too. I love it. Okay, so talking about resources in the business community in marketing. What are what are some go to resources that you rely on? You get your information from that.
You would share with others to say. Yes, you need to read this or see this or go to this website, or listen to this podcast or whatever. It is Yuki, what about you? What's some go to resources that you rely on religiously? One of the resources that I love the most is called Data, axle research and it's a database where you can research consumer Trends in well, wherever you are. So within the Treasure Valley, Porsche or so if people are looking for hard data, that's going to inform their marketing efforts on there.
Business efforts. That is a huge go to that. I automatically say, yes, definitely go there. Another resource that I really love is called Idaho business Wizard and it can be found at business dot Idaho, dot-gov and that is basically a step-by-step checklist for any kind of business that you're looking to build. So, you know, you want to start a charcuterie board business and you've got to figure out the food licensing. You can go in, you can find your category and it's going to tell you, exactly, here's the license, you need. Here's the office that you need to talk to. Those are probably my
Top two in terms of, in terms of hard information. That's really going to get people started shokudo reboard. You just made me hungry, but you're right. Okay, excellent. Excellent resources. Thank you Yuki. And what about you Allison? What's your absolute? Go to place to find out what's going on? Well, I wanted to, before I forget to mention it, so you can mention data axle, which is a library database also. So, if anyone else is interested in accessing that information that is one of the databases that the library can link.
Q with and and I would also throw in their Foundation directory online. I'm coming from a non-profit background. So these things that stand out to me, if you're looking for Grant fundraising opportunities and kind of exploring fundraising opportunities in this area. I wanted to point those out to people because I think that a lot of marketing roles also include some development work as well and it's funny that you as I was thinking through that question. I feel like so much of my work is now, like, very
On a very specific segment of communication. So, the government social Community social media Community has been very helpful for me in my role because communication as a government entity is a little bit different than other marketing. So that even though it's focused a lot on social media. It's been really helpful for broader, marketing ideas and Community engagement ideas. And then I follow a few very Library specific newsletters that have been helpful in thinking about.
Trends for adapting sort of larger National trends for libraries in particular. Right? Right. So do you listen to any podcasts at all out of curiosity, Allison? I have to say, don't listen to me marketing. Just, okay, that's okay. Thank you, but I don't know if I have additional recommendations. I would love your recommendations actually for marketing. Oh, yeah. Yeah, marketing over coffee. I just actually had the host on.
So not too long ago, which is kind of fun. So it was like a, some people say swap, cast or pod swap right where we do both of each other show and there's lots of different marketing ones that I love to pick up on and, you know, listen to. But what about you Yuki. Do you have any favorite podcasts that you like to listen to aside from the marketing Expedition podcast, of course, I was gonna say marketing Expedition podcast is our number one for marketing. I don't specifically
Into any podcast other than yours, but in terms of just general interest, I love the we can do hard things podcast by Glennon Doyle. I love Netflix has a daily joke. I do improv and stand-up comedy on in my spare time. And so getting to listen to those short little clips that the give me that boost of Serotonin to get through the day, you know, yeah, and then there's a great podcast. I don't remember what it's called. I want to say it's called something like what's in your fridge. But anyway the host he asks different celebrities to come on and
They'll take a picture of their open fridge before they start their episode and then we'll talk through all the different foods that are in there, in their fridge. And, as a food lover, that is my jam. You are, you must have
Mine, so that's the coutry boards and what's in your fridge and great. Honestly, when am I not thinking about it? That's the question. That's good. I was just looking at my podcast list to see which ones I, you know, I I've recently been, I had taken golf lessons. And and so, I have been listening to some golf podcast lately, just so that I can keep my game going during the winter months. Right. And it's funny because I am taking lessons now and it's basically in a big huge garage.
That you can open the doors and then you can hit your ball out to the driving range. And so on my way to golf lessons, right? I was listening to the golf podcast and just kind of getting into it more and more and getting excited about it. And because of the pandemic Gulf has extremely, you know, more people are doing it and just like podcasts. And listening to podcast is to becoming more and more popular to. But anyway, so that's the guy. Yeah, I like golf podcast. It's a marketing, but, you know, it could be you.
Um, do you can do business on the golf course for sure. So another question, what's been a really big surprise in the last few months and why what's something that's happened? That's like oh that was unexpected or just different or you know, surprising to you who wants to take this one? First who can unmute themselves first. I don't know if this is really kosher to say, well, I guess I can always edit, you do edit this little right as a newcomer to
I have been pleasantly surprised by how well received. It's been in the downtown Meridian area. And I promise I'm not just saying that to make a sound good, really. I, when I was working in the other Branch. I worked in our main Cherry Lane location and we would send people to Unbound and I was aware of the resources, but I wasn't, you know, super connected and in with it, so I was excited to come to Unbound in to learn. And then once I started working here, it really hit me. Wow. There is a need for this. This is not just cool business resources, that are nice to have. If you want them or cool, 3D printers that are
a cool to see if you want to go. See, I was so amazed at the genuine level of Interest, as well as just how much it contributes to Workforce Development and people's business growth. People are really taking our machines and using them, people are really taking our resources and making the most of them. And I have been floored by the amount of growth that I have watched people experience as a result of using these resources that are available to them. So I've been really pleasantly surprised at how
Tactful this has been and it's really it's really driven home. For me. Just how important this is. It's not just libraries, aren't just like a feel-good QC. Place to take your kid. I mean, it can be, you know, but for this business in Tech Library, I'm I've been impressed at. Wow. This is this is robust. This is actually making a difference. This is a real thing. Excellent. I love it. Alison. What about you? What's been something? That's a big surprise to you lately, you know, one thing that I was actually just thinking about the other day we
You know, one of the challenges of this year's thinking about what what community engagement can look like, if it can't always be in person and what are some virtual opportunities we can offer to kind of get that more direct Community feedback. And so we this past year a trend that we've kind of developed in our own Communications plans is hosting virtual focus groups on different topics. It really started with thinking about our budget because we want feedback on our budget.
And some of what was used in the past, I think was a little bit hard for people to really know what to do with. Like a budget is a complicated topic and we didn't always get a lot of Engagement and feedback. And so we started hosting focus groups on sort of smaller budget topics with more specific questions to make it a bit more accessible and then we started doing it for other things, as well, as we've been designing new locations, inviting residents in those areas and fighting Community Partners.
Yes, and I have been pleasantly surprised that people show up to zoom, focus groups and they are very engaged and we've gotten really, really good feedback to the point that I am planning on continuing them always is an option. I think there's there's been some benefit in the fact that people can just jump on after work. They don't have to commute over to the library. So that has been a pleasant surprise and it's really helped me shape my communications plans going forward. Right, right, okay.
So if you had an unlimited budget and somebody just waved a magic wand and said, I'm going to give you x amount of dollars to do whatever it is that you feel like you need to do. What would you spend that money on Yuki, I would give everyone a huge Grant to come and see your conference. To be honest. I think it's going to be such a huge. It's going to be chock-full of so much, good, insight and advice, and instruction for people. So, I would love to be able to give more people access to
To high-end meetings and conferences like that. I mean, you know, it's it's so important for people to be sitting at the table and I think at libraries, that's what we're trying to do. But, you know, we can only provide so much access to the things that that we are able to invest in them that we are experts. And so I think that's probably the first thing I would think of is I would buy people tickets to high access events, you know, that might normally be cost prohibitive or and and I'm not. I'm not saying that the that
Our conferences cost prohibited by any means. I just mean, you know, generally specialized information. I would want to break down a good answer. Yuki might, what she's talking about is coming up in January, January, 19, 20 22. So if you're listening to this beforehand, yeah, we have the new marketing trends for the new year coming up and Yuki is going to be there presenting as well as several other speakers talking about marketing Trends and things that are happening for the new year and Allison. I hope you hear that. You'll be there too. And so I'll just
Do a little plug, its pepper, shop.com / events and you can sign up to attend either in person or virtually since we were talking about Zoom Allison. And so yeah, it's coming up. And then for those of you who are listening to this podcast, after the fact, you can go to the marketing Expedition.com and become a member and all of the speaker videos will be inside our community. So you're able to watch them later. If you can't make it to the person in person or online streaming events. Yeah there.
What about you Allison? If you had unlimited budget, what would you spend it on in your in your budget in a marketing? It's so hard. Because of course like my first that just goes to more resources resources for patrons that we would love to offer and we're always so much of my job is kind of like keeping an eye to on like what the foundation and fundraising are doing. So, I think that that is my first thought immediately goes to what other resources. Can we add to these new locations were opening.
We're fundraising for actively. Now. I'll put in a plug for that as well. Yeah, support nation and help fill those buildings with more materials and and even just thinking about, you know, like Unbound is this very unique location because it's very focused on meeting space and then this Tech Focus. But libraries in general like to focus on Tech and emerging Technologies, and how can we put more of those in our buildings? So that's certainly something that's always in my mind.
92 is, how do we, how do we make that happen at all of these and other locations? You know, it's really interesting. I remember when, you know, social media and all the it was digital media was called New Media and people were freaking out about well, now, no one's going to go to the library because we can just get everything we need online. And it's so not true. So to hear you're growing and expanding and adding new locations. I mean, proves them wrong, right? It totally doesn't, I think it really proves that people are craving a place for community.
I mean, Beyond just information. Here's the thing. If you are looking for the answer to something, you can Google it, but super easy, we do it all the time. But if you come into a library with a really Niche, research question or you start out with your surface-level, Google question, then figure out. Oh, actually, that, that runs me into this topic or this topic, or this barrier. And I actually don't know that if you have someone there who is an experience that's literally their profession to navigate information, and they're helping you walk through that and they're co-learning with you. I mean, how incredibly empowering an effective is that?
And then furthermore, I think that libraries. Yeah, we're proving to be centers of connection for people. Whether that's, you know, business resources are networking or it's, you know, making friends and connections with people who are in your area that you wouldn't have met otherwise. So I think there is tremendous value that libraries offer that is unique to ourselves. Just how, you know, Google offers things that are unique to them. Absolutely. Yeah. Allison, what do you say to those who say? Well, you can just go online for everything. We don't need.
Library, I know. I mean, it will, they I think you Keys said it so beautifully, like that community building is so Central to our mission as a library. And we we want to let people know. Like, if you don't know where else to go, we can help you. We can help you answer the hard questions. We might not be the experts all the time, but we're really good at. Connecting you with expert resources or for connecting you with other people in the community that might be working on a similar project and might be good partners for that kind of work. Yeah.
Yeah, libraries are fun. They're not like the old where you have to be super quiet. And you know, they're just not like that anymore and you go and it's welcoming and warm and like you said, there's community space. Like I don't know how many meetings and events we've had at the library because they have these Open Spaces that you can sign up to use. And, you know, in our case, you just pay a deposit for food deposit and then you get it back. If you don't make a big giant mess, right? So, I mean it's very much the community-oriented and you're right. I mean I
To go to the library. I love the smell of books. You just can't get that when you're online. I'm glad you mentioned books because here's the thing to like, I think there's been this sort of larger Trend in marketing to say Alert, in library marketing to say, like libraries are more than books, which is true. We do a lot of other things and we offer people access to technology. We do all of these things, but we also still have books and books are huge part of our focus and what we've learned even from this past.
Year with the pant or the past two years. Now, if the pandemic is that is hugely important for people, access to books and access to materials for their children. And and also that that connection of of our staff that can help you find the right books and can answer questions and that's something through Googling that's going to be a little bit harder. If you have like a specific homeschool question and you need help connect you to the right resources. That's something we can help. Yeah. I think if I were to say,
The smell of a book. People would have immediate reaction. But if I asked, what's the smell of Google?
Nothing, there's a big difference. All the senses are alerted and I think it's great. And and you've mentioned, you know, children and youth programs and you know, them getting to do things that maybe they otherwise wouldn't have access to or, you know, having Story Time ordered movie time or any of those things. I think, you know, it's just it's a great place like you said for early childhood education, to get a good start and then carry them all the way through and continue to keep them at the library doing.
Who's that with the programs and all the things incentives that, you know, youth get to be able to continue to learn to read, and grow and educate their brains, right? They're growing their brains just as much as they are their bodies. So, yeah, totally. And if I can add a little additional plug here, too. I think that libraries are one of the only places that are there to serve you and give you information and help you without asking for anything in return. You're using Google for free, but they're trying to sell you things, right? There's Google Apps, there's there are reasons.
That they're trying to help you. And I think one of the beautiful things about libraries is yes, we have access to a wealth of information that we are happy to help you with people are genuinely excited to tell you about their, what they're reading or what local resource, you can access and you can exist without having to pay for anything. You don't have to buy anything. We're just here to help. I love it. I love it. Okay. So since we're mentioning plugs go ahead and share if people are interested in learning more and wanting to get in touch with you or just, you know, make an appointment.
What can they just walk in? What do they do? You keep the? Do they make an appointment with you guys? How does that work? It really depends on the service that you're looking to do. So since it is a public library, you can walk in anytime our hours are open and those are listed on www.omf.co.nz bound and you can research, all you need to know before coming in, or you can give us a call if you're unsure if you're wanting to meet with me personally. You're welcome to contact me through the website and book and
Appointment request if you're wanting to learn our machines, how to use them. You can book an appointment request. If you have a specific research or business topic, you want to have staff help you with, you can book that appointment request. Otherwise, it's all walk in and available. We do offer reservation options for our podcasting studio, and for our meeting spaces, so those can be submitted online. 24 hours in advance. Honestly, we have such a wide array of services. I always tell people just go check the website first or give us a call first.
Walk you through it, depending on what you're looking for, but guaranteed will make time for you will make sure we get you in here and get you. What you need. Excellent Allison. I what were you going to say? Go ahead and I'll throw one more thing in there too. We have live chat on our website tutoring or opening hours. So if you go on our website, you'll see a little pop-up. And so if you have a question, you can ask it there too. And then I'll throw in a plug for our social media. Just these still follow us at Meridian library on Facebook Instagram or Twitter, okay?
Thank you. Excellent. And yeah, so, coming up, January 19th, will have a wonderful, wonderful bits of information from you. Ladies and the it will be January. 19th, 8 a.m. I'm Standard Time to 11:45 p.m. We decided to keep it safe and not serve lunch. And we're just going to have you know, packaged Goods. So that way, no spreading of anything anywhere and it'll be at the Silverstone, amenities Plaza or it'll be on zoom and you can go to pepper stock.com.
Events to register for the big event and or go to the marketing expedition.com to watch the replays later. If you can't, make it, but hopefully, we'll have a room full of people and a zoom room full of people to be so excited. We cannot wait, Ray. This has been such a pleasure. Just getting to talk about. It has already made me so excited so I can't wait till the conference. It's going to be a party. Yeah, for sure, for sure. Excellent. All right. Well ladies. Thank you so much. And of course, we'll put this out there and for those of you listening,
You can subscribe to the podcast on pretty much any channel, you get your podcast. So Spotify Apple all of the places. I think we're on Amazon music to anyway, go ahead and do that. And then the biggest thing that you could ever do for us is give us a review share this out to those that you know, that needs to hear this message today and others that we've done. Of course, we're over 100 episodes into this now and it's a top 10 most popular podcasts. Globally. Now just from Idaho, right wing. So lots of
Things happening here on the podcast and and going on. So until next time, everybody just enjoy the new year and enjoy your journey.
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