marketing your museum - nemanet.org · marketing your museum on a shoestring christina inge, vp of...
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Marketing Your Museum on a Shoestring
Christina Inge, VP of Marketing, EdTrips
You want more visitors!
But you can’t go over a fiscal cliff!
Need a plan for effective and cost-effective marketing
Look at what you want
More visitors?
More tour groups?
More donors?
All of the above?
Set realistic goals and prioritize them
Look at what you have
More than you think!
Much of current marketing uses “free” channels that depend on current visitors and supporters
Social media
PR—not what you think!
Now decide what to go after!
Set realistic yet aggressive goals
Be concrete: We want to increase bus tours by 50%
over same time last year We want double the number of school
field trips We want to grow the attendance at
lectures and events by 40%
Targeting: key to affordable, effective marketing
People respond best to messages that strongly touch their interests
Need to know “Why should I go?” in a way that addresses their unique needs
Find out who your best 5 types of attendees are, and create marketing specifically for them
Targeting in action: Identify
Teachers taking kids on field trips
Their specific needs: Address Common Core and other
education standards Age-appropriate Bus parking Allergy-aware food CORI-ed staff
Targeting in action: Address
Create web page, brochures, materials addressing their needs
Talk to them directly: “We have great field trip programs.”
Outline what you offer, how it meets their needs, why it’s for them
People have questions—answering them helps them make the decision!
Targeting in action: Target
Find communities of teachers: Mailing lists Organizations Online publications and communities Facebook advertising Word of mouth
Share your message
Measure responses
PR is “free” – but you work for it
Can be the most credible channel after word of mouth
Think creatively
New England Quilt Museum: Wonderful collection of vintage
quilts Owned the intellectual property Write about history of women, folk
culture, and create spinoff, modernized quilt patterns for core audience of 28 million-plus quilt enthusiasts
PR done right
Familiarize yourself with the publication
Think about what the editor needs. When you do a placed article, you work for the publication
Good photos, great stories, outstanding resources appeal
Get your strongest writer
Inform, rather than promote
This is not paid
Social media
Single best way to get your biggest fans to promote you
Share interesting content, not just updates: Candid photos Trivia Questions
Engage people
Don’t be afraid to ask for a share!
Email marketing
Companies get back over $40 for every $1 they spend on email
Still the best way to reach core advocates
Make sure you email with regular schedule: Announce events and exhibits Monthly e-news People come to expect it!
Measure clicks on each article, to see what your attendees like!
Web, email, and social together
Make sure it all works seamlessly: Consistent imagery and language Signup forms easy to find Social media links and calls to follow
Add information easily: Include links to specific pages, rather than
homepage Use your blog to highlight very specific
information Keep email short and pithy, use website/blog
for full info
Are you wasting budget here?
Large print magazine ads with no tracking
Big, untargeted mailings
Print brochures in too many locations
Not getting competitive print quotes
You can save!
Print ads: Track with coupons, special web pages Smaller and co-op ads
Mailings: Target by household type: Families with kids under 15, seniors, over $100K income Costs more for list, but worth it Tailor message to the demographics Try mailing via a targeted list by interest group
Advertising: you can afford it
In addition to smaller and co-op:
Online ads—they are often a fraction of print
Google Display Network
Outbrain
Email newsletters
Bringing it all together
Set priorities
Look for combined campaigns: PR on new exhibit with an Ad in a targeted email blast and Targeted postcard mailing and Multiple social media posts
Re-use materials as much as possible
Measure!
Google Analytics
Coupon redemption
Social media tools: Hootsuite Facebook insights
Email open rates and clickthrough rates
