Posted 8 months ago Comments
Bringing new people to your museum is a worthwhile challenge. It keeps your funding alive, encourages patron interaction, and helps to keep your exhibit list fresh.
This challenge exists for all museums, regardless of the size of the museum. Large museums funded by government organizations require a high patron count in order to justify the continued funding allocation for the museum. Small or kitschy museums require a high patron count in order to keep the doors open and pay the bills in order to continue offering the owner’s passion to the world. Engaging new potential visits is most difficult for the small museums without funding, and I’m constantly surprises at how many of these small museums do not implement even a fraction of the things they could do to improve it.
Here are some steps you can execute to improve your marketing efforts and I will be presenting a new article every few days focusing on each of the presented steps. If your museum is not currently doing several of these things, I certainly recommend that you put a little thought into making them happen. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on them to get set up, but maintaining them over time may require some experience and a little commitment. Regardless of the size or budget of your museum, you need to step into action and do these things.
Steps to Tell the World About Your Museum
1. Write a summary or pitch of why people should visit your museum
2. Create and maintain a museum website
3. Have as many ways to contact you as possible
4. List your museum on Yelp
5. Create social networking accounts
6. Create social checkin accounts
7. Create a blog and post regularly
8. List your museum on Mused
9. Invite bloggers and journalists to visit your museum
10. Donate entry tickets to raffles, charity events, or local travel orgs/hotels
11. Offer 1 Free Entry day per month
Although this does not contain a complete list, I will update this introductory article with links to each step as the new articles in the series appear. Additionally, as new steps are added to the list I will update it to reflect the complete table of contents. At some point I will likely put together an attractive and printable PDF (depending on demand for it).
I encourage you to check back in and look for updates on a regular basis. If your museum has implemented any of these steps, I encourage you to leave a comment about your experiences on the articles in the series as it will help to enhance the series moving forward and show others what your perspectives are. Your feedback is welcome!
