communications conference seminar

Recognized Museums

Profiles Project:Marketing Museums

Online

Session Breakdown

1. Overview of AMA-Travel Alberta Profiles Project for Recognized Museums

2. Online Tools

3. General Introduction to Online Marketing

4. Tips and Resources

5. Discussion Tables

• Challenges your museum faces for online development

• Recognized Museum Profiles

• Topic of your choiceWWW.MUSEUMS.AB.CA

Recognized Museums

BENEFIT OF BEING A RECOGNIZED MUSEUM

Profile on the AMA tourism website

WWW.MUSEUMS.AB.CA

Recognized Museums Profiles Project

FALL 2009 to SPRING 2010

Photography Project: 20 museums from across the province selected to have a professional photographer take engaging images of the museum

Writer Project: 20 museums selected from across the province to have a professional writer prepare a narrative for profile content

Six museums (one from each Tourist Destination Region) selected to participate in both

Goal: increase the quality of the content on the AMA / Travel Alberta tourism website

Connecting visitors with quality

museum experiences

Narratives

1. Tell a story.

2. Engaging character, exhibit, or artifact from collection.

3. Make it true.

4. Reflect your organization and what you have to offer the public.

5. Fact: Getting website traffic is best generated using interesting stories about people. (Davis, Google Advertising Tools, 41)

WWW.MUSEUMS.AB.CA

Photographs•Visual Culture

•Communicate

•Engage

Other New Website Features

Amenities Listing

Google Maps

Share Function

Improved Navigation &

Site Map

New Banner Images

Goal: increase visibility, navigation, and functionality.

Amenities Listing

Visual Culture – icons

People look for quick, accessible information online.

Google Maps

• How people plan their vacations, weekend trips, and outings.

• Connects to mobile devices (the number of worldwide mobile subscribers is expected to reach 5.3 billion by 2013).

• Good place to put online ads.

Share Function

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Builds community

• Promotes your organization

• Creates easy, one-step access

Improved Navigation & Site Map

Provide a Site Map

Keep Navigation SIMPLE

Include a Search Function

New Banner Images

Images from Photography portion of the Profiles Project used to create more engaging banner images for the website as well as for publications and promotions.

Calendar of Events

Connect museum visitors with events around the province

Connect museum professionals with networking opportunities

Events submitted also make it into the AMA’s quarterly publication: INFOrm

METADATA

Most common Meta Tags:

- Keywords

- Description

- Robots

Provides information about a web page

Improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

RECOGNIZED MUSEUMS PROFILES PROJECT

HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

• Recognized Museum Profile Form: Upgraded with “How to Write an Effective Profile” to improve your online content on the AMA Website

• Keep your profile current: Update all contact and program information

• Calendar of Events: Send temporary exhibit and event information to the Communications Manager

Connecting visitors with quality

museum experiences

Contact the Communications Manager for a Profile Form, to update your information, or to submit to the Calendar of Events.

What does all this mean??

• The AMA has created a powerful marketing tool for Recognized Museums to take advantage of.

• Profiles serve a different purpose than a museum’s own website:– Quick, accessible information– Designed for travel plans – Connect visitors with museum experiences

• Outbound links• Community of museums

Online Strategy

A fully integrated online strategy today typically includes:

• A Website• Social Media (and Mobile Web)• Online Marketing

There should be a strategic thread that binds what each of these tools do singularly or combined to provide valued content in the

right context. 

Online Tools

Quality over quantity:

The most important thing about any online presence is QUALITY

Good web content is the single most important determinant in search rankings and whether people choose to visit your site

Keep it manageable

Have up-to-date, relevant information

People go to the web to find every type of information – Let them find you!

Website

HAVING A WEBSITE IS AN IMPORTANT ONLINE TOOL BECAUSE IT:

Creates opportunities to build trust, relationships, and a community with your visitors

Allows for 24 / 7 promotion of your tourism experience

It is quickly becoming the concept that if you are not online you do not exist

Opens up wealth of possibilities for online exhibits, research, and

The Primary Benefit: You do not need a large budget to create an effective website!

WebsiteLINKS

Distribute your web address in as many ways as possible

Print and communications materials

Links to your website on other relevant websites and blogs

INBOUND LINKS

Online recommendations – other sites link to yours

Major factor for Google’s PageRank system – the more you have the higher you will rank

Each profile on the AMA Tourism website links to the museum’s own site (when available) on the contact sidebar, all images, and at least once in the narrative potion of the profile.

Link your website to the AMA Tourism website at http://public.museums.ab.ca

Grande Prairie Museum and Heritage Village

AMA Tourism WebsiteRed Deer Museum & Art Gallery

Galt Museum & Archives

This is stronger…

Grande Prairie Museum and Heritage Village

AMA Tourism WebsiteRed Deer Museum & Art Gallery

Galt Museum & Archives

…than this.

Links

Web 2.0

It’s about Community– Museums– Visitors– Alberta heritage and

culture– Tourism– Events

Social Media is an online tool to help build awareness and accessibility to your museum

PR 2.0

Social Media as a Marketing Tool

Social Media is increasingly important in the Marketing field

Audiences are changing, marketing campaigns need to change with it to connect with people

Canada is second in the world for Facebook use – this would be a prime consideration when determining how to reach audiences

Source: Nick O’Neill, All Facebook: The Unofficial Facebook Resource, http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/01/facebook-demographics-country-saturation/ (Accessed 25 February 2010).

Online Marketing Strategies Three kinds of online marketing strategies:

PromotionalTo build buzz and word of mouth

TechnicalSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) Activities to increase search engine visibility

and rankings

AdvertisingOnline Ads

Branding

Branding is an important factor for getting your web address out there

“A brand is the personality that identifies a product, service or company (name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them) and how it relates to key constituencies: Customers, Staff, Partners, Investors etc.”

It is a consistent message and image you give to everyone who comes into contact with your organization

Your web address should be the name of the museum – your name is your brand

Your web address should be on everything your organization presents to the public

The Recognized Museum logo is a brand visitors can identify with a quality museum experience and affect their decision-making – put it on your website and other branding materials

Branding: the Recognized Museum Logo

Goal: to create awarenessand understanding of the Recognized Museum logo and what it means, and eventually toinfluence visitors’ visitation decisions.

The RMP logo is on every profile page and promotions that the AMA undertakes.

Using the Web to Reach your Target Market

• Can find demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioural information• Can collect contact information • Can provide satisfaction surveys

http://www.labnol.org/internet/how-will-you-describe-google-reader-in-one-word/4936/

ONLINE STATISTICS

Your website host, as well as Social Media sites such as Facebook, can provide statistics that track important visitor data

Google Alerts

Enhancing your Marketing Mix

• Product (service or idea)• Price• Place (distribution)• Promotion• People• Process• Physical Evidence

Online Marketing

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM)

Google AdWords: Cost-per-Click (CPC)

Google AdSense: generate revenue by others placing ads on your site

Submit your website to a Search Engine for indexing

Online Marketing

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

Key for driving marketing campaigns

Based on using KEYWORDS that describe you online

SEO improves the visibility and ranking of your web site in search engine rankings

Ranking Algorithm:Context (content) + Authority (determined by

links)

SEM ads reinforce SEO rankings

To figure out your keywords: http://www.wordle.net/

Source: State of Inbound Marketing Report - http://bit.ly/aewfHr

Online Marketing is More Effective

Source: State of Inbound Marketing Report - http://bit.ly/aewfHr

Traditional Marketing Becoming Less Effective

Communications

MEDIA & PUBLIC RELATIONS

• The Media Release• PR Web (www.PRweb.com)

COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

• What are your Communications Objectives• What are your Key Messages• What channels can you use (social media? Website? Links to similar websites?)• Web-based marketing should be part of your media plan

PUBLICATIONS

• Provide online• Distribute using direct email

Measurement

CONDUCT A MARKETING SURVEY

To measure the effectiveness of your communications and marketing efforts

To determine the needs of people in your target market - what worked and what can be improved?

To acquire information

EXAMPLES:

• % of total population in ‘this’ region has heard of this event• % of visitors who used our website to find information on this event

When Choosing and Using Online Tools and Market Strategies Remember:

• Be Creative• Think Outside the Box• Analyze your audience (match tools and tactics to audience needs)• Keep up with new communications technology tools and learn how to use

them• Choose tools that are useful and helpful It is important to emphasizes that proper communications planning needs

to take place for social media as well Keep yourself in the RACE - research, analyze, communicate, and evaluate

Resources

Successful Tourism Marketing, Travel Alberta

Successful Online Marketing, Travel Alberta

Recognized Museum Media Kit, Alberta Museums Association

Anne Hayward, Standard Practices Handbook for Museums, 2nd Edition (Edmonton: Alberta Museums Association, 2005)

Harold Davis, Google Advertising Tools (Sebastol: O’Reilly Media Inc., 2010)

Daniel J. Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, Digital History (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006)

Google Analytics: www.google.com/analytics

Google Adwords: www.adwords.google.com

Google Alerts: www.google.com/alerts

Website How-To: htmlgoodies.earthweb.com/

www.w3schools.com/

Marketing How-To: www.marketingprofs.com/

Marketing Online How-To: www.hubspot.com

www.diosacommunications.com

Build your own website: www.wordpress.org/ Cheap software and tools: www.techsoup.org

Resources

THANKS!

CONTACT:

Carrie Ann Lunde, BA, MA

Communications Manager

Alberta Museums Association

P: 780.424.2626 x. 244

E: clunde@museums.ab.ca

Kieran Quirke, BMgmt

Communications Projects Coordinator

Alberta Museums Association

P: 780.424.2626 x. 243

E: kquirke@museums.ab.ca

Thoughts? Ideas?

Questions???