Education Resources

A well-defined and executed brand strategy affects all aspects of a business and is directly connected to consumer needs, emotions, and competitive environments. We will discuss how active brand management takes a valuable asset that may be largely underused and turns it into a powerful competitive advantage. It will be most productive if you come to the session with the attached documents filled out. However, it is not a requirement.

Marketing strategy refers to a business’ overall plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of your products or services. We will help you learn how to identify your ideal target market and the appropriate marketing mix to drive growth. It will be most productive if you come to the session with the attached documents filled out. However, it is not a requirement.

While 2020 and 2021 were arguably the toughest years in recent memory for stores, 2022 continues to bring challenges. Upheavals in society produced a number of short-term temporary changes for businesses, as well as some lasting ones. What short-term changes have become permanent fixtures in your approach to your business and to bookselling? Come to this roundtable to share your experiences and hear from your colleagues.

This roundtable is your opportunity to socialize, network, and learn from booksellers who run mobile and pop-up operations. Whether you represent a mobile or pop-up store or are new to this model, this conversation will provide you with valuable insights and new connections.

This roundtable is your opportunity to socialize, network, and learn from booksellers who run microstore operations. Whether you represent a microstore or are new to this model, this conversation will provide you with valuable insights and new connections.

This roundtable is your opportunity to socialize, network, and learn from booksellers who run nonprofits and employee owned co-ops. Whether you currently represent a nonprofit and employee owned co-op or are new to this model, this conversation will provide you with valuable insights and new connections.

Led by author and expert Jason Thompson, this session will help stores be effective in their commitment to representation, equity, and access. A DEI audit checklist will help stores look at every aspect of their business — from hiring and training to signage, social media, and inventory — through a DEI lens, and a discussion of goals and metrics will help ensure measurable success. Jason Thompson is a successful and experienced diversity officer that has developed and led diversity programs in higher education, sports, healthcare, and tech. He has been quoted by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, USA Today, and CNN. His education session for the ABA Board was extremely well received with some directors calling it the best session on this topic they’ve participated in.

Download the handouts for the session here.

NPD BookScan™ reporting retailers receive complimentary access to our Title & Bestseller service. Learn all about NPD BookScan and our flexible, intuitive web-based dashboard by attending the February 10th ABA Technology Meetup. In this one-hour session, you get an introduction to our tools, such as Basic Search, Bestsellers, Collections, and Graphing, to help you measure, predict, and improve performance.

Session Follow-up:

During this session, a question about how to report your online sales, specifically if you're using the IndieCommerce service came up.  The answer is yes, you should be reporting your online sales, from IC or any other ecommerce system.The IndieCommerce team has created a facility for exporting online sales data for IndieCommerce and IndieLite stores. Booksellers can find instructions for combining online and in-store sales here. IndieCommerce and IndieLite members will find the new option in the Admin menu under Store > Reports > New York Times Bestseller Report (this works for both BookWeb and New York Times). Detailed instructions for reporting all sales can be found here. 

Cosed captioning is available for this session. Please note that it is machine-generated and is not reviewed for accuracy.

This Technology Meetup will not have any specific guest speakers. Instead, booksellers are invited to partake in an open conversation about the results of the feedback survey, the technologies that improve their business operations on a daily basis, and what they might look into during 2022.

A full transcription and closed captioning are available for this session. Please note that both are machine-generated and are not reviewed for accuracy.

During this session, ABA IndieCommerce Director Phil Davies and Marketing Manager Courtney Wallace will share tips, tricks, and best practices for creating better product photography.

A full transcription is available for this session. Please note that it is machine-generated and not reviewed for accuracy.