Here is my look at the ten trends which I think will be big in Museum Marketing in 2010.
1. Get a seat at the big table
Larger museums and galleries are increasingly talking about the lines between marketing and programming blurring, and now is the time to make sure that your organisation is taking the input that you can give seriously, not just in developing marketing, but in the strategic direction of your organisation as a whole.
The future of the museum is audience focused, and who better to lead the museum of the future then the people who understand audiences best (that’s you).
2. The Big Idea
With marketing budgets falling it’s time to get creative, and I think this pressure will make 2010 the year of the big marketing idea, we need to forget about the status-quo, ditch the ordinary and strive for extraordinary.
We need to move away from exhibit focused advertising and think about how we can communicate the experience, we need to forget about just being on Facebook and Twitter and do something different with social media, we need to rethink marketing that targets everyone and use segmentation in more effective ways.
3. Become fanatical about effectiveness
How effective your marketing is at delivering the desired outcome is going to be more important than ever in 2010. You need to ask everyone involved to prove the value of the activities that they are delivering for you, and measure the results of everything you do.
4. Create experiences that can be shared
Crowd-sourcing and co-creation were big news in 2009 and I don’t see the trend towards audiences participation going away. ‘Create experiences that can be shared’ is something that I have heard people talk about at a lot of conferences in the past few months and I totally agree.
Make sure everything you put online can be sent to a friend, linked to on Facebook and posted on Twitter.
5. Real time reviews
People are increasingly sharing more of their lives then ever before, and a big part of this is posting reviews of everything they buy, listen to, watch, visit. Changes to Google mean that any comments people make about their visit to your museum will appear prominently in search results.
How can you encourage people who visit your museum to post reviews and share their experience with others?
6. Choose your medium
Your museum doesn’t need to be on every social network, now you have had a chance to experiment it is time to prioritise what is working for you, and consider leaving websites which don’t seem to be adding much to achieving your goals.
7. Reinventing print
You know that your museum has several audiences who are motivated to visit your institution for a wide variety of reasons, but does your print reflect this. Most museums tend to have a generic leaflet aimed at everyone, but with cheap digital print, isn’t it time to segment your audiences and create leaflets aimed at each group.
8. Policy
A lot of people have been asking me about how they can create a social media policy for their museum, I think that a formalisation of the way that organisations are using websites like Facebook and Twitter is to be expected, this will also include how you’ll measure success.
9. Mobile Friendly websites
One of the stories which I think will be big news in 2010 is the mobile web, with 3% of internet traffic in the UK coming from mobile phones (and half of that from iPhones) it is time for Museums to start to think about a version of their website which will work well on a smaller screen.
10. Value
Value was a big trend in 2009 and I expect that to continue in to 2010. Museums are well placed to take advantage of the trend towards cheap days out and Institutions need to promote the value that they offer without cheapening their brands.
Do you agree? What do you think will the big museum marketing trends in 2010?
Although I think it differs for every country (based on how far the country is culturally developed), I think collaboration might be a trend in 2010. You kind of mention this in your first trend, but I think in 2010 we will see more than ever that museums will work together to create shared experiences for their audiences. We all compete for the same group of visitors, so rather than all desperately trying to reach the same group separately, we will see a trend in which museums combine their efforts.
Also, I hope to see (but don’t expect to see), online and offsite visitors to be considered equally important as onsite visitors by the people who measure the success of museums. Counting the community, rather than only the people passing the frontdoor. I fear this won’t happen in 2010, though.
Good point Jasper! (an of course good analysis Jim)
Another trend I see coming is the museum outside of the museum walls: exhibitions in other venues than traditional museum surroundings, mobile devices, augmented reality, ‘viral museums’. And more places we can come up with at The Big Table.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by MuseumMarketing: My stab at Museum Marketing trends 2010 – http://www.museummarketing.co.uk/?p=522…
Hi Jasper & Pepijn
Yeh, I did kind of miss collaboration of the list and I agree it’s a growing trend (see some examples – http://www.museummarketing.co.uk/?p=308 )
I am really in to the idea of the museum without walls too, great trend…
Jim
I do fully agree with Pepijn, but that might be easy for me to say, as “my” museum doesn’t have a building yet and will go all out for the first time in 2010. Therefore, we will do absolutely everything in other venues (including moving venues
), online, etc. 2010 will be the year our team will go out and play…
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I love the way you describe “…the lines between marketing and programming blurring”. That’s been our experience at Thinktank Planetarium since embracing social media less than 3 months ago (and now with 100+ Twitter and 500+ Facebook fans) ie. are we now marketing the planetarium or are we busy popularising astronomy / digital theatres? It’s hard to tell…
I also can’t help thinking that to date over 70% of the workforce has been barred from accessing social network sites like Facebook during business hours. Yet with iPhones becoming available through a third service provider in the UK next year (and dropping in price again), soon enough people will be accessing social networks from work anyway – on their personal pocket computers! Hence the importance of small screen content, as you say.
Mario
I think you hit the nail on the head. I’ve noticed quite a few of these trends already becoming popular in the later half of 2009, owing mostly to two things(well, likely): the cultural recession and the continuous rise of online networking and marketing.
I do hope more museum and other cultural institutions start thinking along these lines, because that’s the largest problems is just making them aware of it. I’ve had hands on experience last year with just getting museums used to the idea current marketing schemes and showcasing museums online (I mean, other than a homepage). I’m trying desperately to drag my own museum into the twenty-first century and these Top 10 are exactly the things I’m looking at.
#8 the most interesting to me, as I spent three months last year creating a social media policy for the non-profit cultural institution I worked for. They had the idea that maybe they needed one and should be looking into social media more but they had no idea where to start!
#9 This is a big thing. For everyone and not just museums.
Hi Amy
I’d be really interested in seeing your social media policy, or anyone else who has one.
Jim
May be more on the wish list than a trend: Bridging the gap between artists/their work and audiance like for example Tate Shots http://channel.tate.org.uk/tateshots-blog/ does
Nice list. I do have one small quibble though with a point buried in #1: “who better to lead the museum of the future then the people who understand audiences best (that’s you).” Careful there.
I agree that the marketing team at a museum should be at the big table, but there are other people in the museum community who are likely to be just as knowledgeable about audiences: exhibit development/design teams (with or without audience research staff) and floor staff/volunteers, for instance. Furthermore, these groups are more likely to drive the marketing/programming blur from the point of view of the educational message (and therefore institution’s mission). Marketing teams are more likely to be charged with just getting people through the door and sometimes undercut the message if everyone doesn’t work together.
Again, both should be at the table because both goals are fundamental. And the larger point about marketing and program blurring is very true. And that can be a good thing.
Hi SBS
Hehe… I am very surprised that it’s taken a few weeks for anyone to challenge #1 on the list. I was being deliberately controversial with that point, and encouraging those who work in marketing to think big picture.
Jim