We are on a mission to make sure every school
who wants to access the services of an SLS is able to have the option.
And that every school in the UK understands the unique benefits of School Library Services.
HIGH PROFILE, HYPER LOCAL
NEW FOR 2025-26
We're doing things differently:
Following a review by all SLSs and a report from ASCEL, we've introduced a new focus to maintain the national profile and bridge the gap with local SLS marketing.
High Profile
Maintain the strength of a national website, able to reach beyond local bubbles:
- Retain the enviable organic search profile (59% of all traffic comes from organic search)
- Maintain the national coverage to maximise reach
- Continue the central enquiry tracking to measure the impact of the campaign
Hyper Local
New for 2025-26, we want to help individual SLSs benefit at a local level:
- Increasing the profile of individual SLSs
- Making it easier to contribute content - individual news, updates, announcements, case studies, testimonials etc
- Include printed items (i.e. bookmarks) that are customisable to local SLSs
Edited Video Blogs
An experiment to see if video content creates engagement:
- Members can submit content using our template
- Our video editor will create a polished version
- Available for the campaign and individual SLS use
Ghost-Writing
Continue the Ghost-Writing Offer:
- An SLS submits notes or books an online call
- Our writer then turns it into a finished article
- Used by the campaign and available for the individual SLS (like all content)
The previous of the campaign was paid for by:
Campaign Results
(Autumn 2024 & Spring 2025)
SNAPSHOT
Generated 60 referrals to 30 different SLSs
The SLS UK campaign became a national campaign five years ago. While we can't control where the enquiries come from (wouldn't that be nice), we do use advertising and sophisticated campaign planning to ensure the broadest reach.
781% of referrals 'Useful or Very Useful'
After every referral to an SLS, we send out a quick follow up questionnaire. According to this year's results, over 80% of SLSs are rating referrals as useful or very useful. So we must be doing something right.
Poor responsiveness reduced
Every enquiry is now qualified, which means we have been abe to improve the quality and reduce poor responsive rates with 62% of SLSs saying schools are very or fairly responsive.
5.9k new users visited the website
This year we saw a drop in the traffic visiting the website by 21%, this is likely to be due to a drop in content overall. Despite the drop all other indicators are strong.
Organic search (SEO) is at 59%
This is a highly enviable statistic - with almost every other campaign and the national average well below 15%. This shows the website is favoured highly by search engines and is something worth protecting.
Most popular content
Drum roll please...the most popular post this year was BIG Book List: Discovering Disabled or Neurodiverse Characters - a real testament to the expertise a librarian-led service can offer schools.
VALUE FOR MONEY
Low cost referral rate
The cost of the campaign divided by the volume of referrals works out at c.£216 per referral. We think this is good value for money, as you'd probably spend more if you were doing it on your own from scratch.
Enquiries cover a national picture
The campaign is focused on building awareness, engagement and action across the whole of the country. And enquiries match this reality - they come from everywhere and no one county or borough dominates.
Content is open to all
Many SLSs regularly thank us for producing content that they can share on social media or send directly to their schools. With limited budgets and even more limited resources, this offers everyone value.
Fair system for referrals
We have developed a sophisticated automated matching process (with a little bit of human help). When a referral comes in we'll always match it, in the first instance, to the SLS in the Local Authority area.
Gaining marketing knowledge
Every SLS who has been actively involved in the campaign has said they gained marketing knowledge, useful insights and felt more motivated as a result. We think this definitely represents value for money.
Subject to demand
If we had a magic wand, we'd use it to sprinkle fairy dust across the country. Alas...we don't and nor do we have much influence on where enquiries come from. However, we do keep try new ideas every year.
Find out about the 2025-26 Campaign Plans:
Watch Presentation
Other Information
Find out what we've got planned for this year:
Look back at last year's campaign:
Key dates:
- Partnership Confirmed - w/c 28 July 2025
- Campaign Contributions - from early August 2025
- PO's Raised (not paid) - by end of August 2025
- Campaign Launch - mid September 2025
Campaign Member Benefits
Content Credits for ALL
All SLSs will receive 3 x free Content Credits to upload updates, news, articles etc. Simply register your involvement via the form below.
Free to all who register
Pay As You Go / Termly
We want access to the campaign to remain easy - if you can only afford to dip your toe in, you're still very welcome. Simply fill in the form below.
Termly £500 per term - receive 5 x Content Credits, 1 x Ghost-Writen Article, and 1 x term of printed items (100)
PAYG £75 per content credit, £200 per term of printed items, £350 per ghost-writen article and £400 per video.
Members / Hero Members
SLSs that have the budget help the campaign run for everyone and in return have access to a few extra content service perks.
Member £850 - 8 x Content Credits, 1 x 30 second video, 1 x Ghost-Writen article, Printed Items for every term
Hero Member £1,250 - 10 x Content Credits, 1 x 2 min video, 2 x Ghost-Written articles, Printed items for every term
To access any of these benefits - please register via the Join the Campaign form - it's not all about money!
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN
Deadline: Friday 25 July 2025
If you have a question, please email our campaign suppliers:
West Creative
james@westcreative.co
