communications conference seminar
TRANSCRIPT
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
Kieran Quirke, BMgmt
Communications Projects Coordinator
Alberta Museums Association
P: 780.424.2626 x. 243
Thoughts? Ideas?
Questions???