Marketing Strategies to Increase Visitor Attendance
Regardless of how interactive, educational, and engaging your exhibits are, your efforts may be to no avail if can’t get visitors through your doors. This is especially true in a time when the industry is saturated and museums across the country are seeing decreases in attendance.
Considering the challenges that museums face regarding visitor attendance, it’s incumbent for directors and administrators to develop effective marketing strategies to reach more visitors.
If museums make an active effort to understand the changing trends of the digital age and utilize all of their tools to connect with their target audience, it’s likely that they can begin to reverse the trends and see an increase in visitor attendance.
Below are a few museum marketing strategies to increase visitor attendance.
Increase Visitor Attendance with a CRM
Referring to your CRM should be the first step in developing a museum marketing strategy. A competent CRM not only provides you with up-to-date contact information of your guests, it also stores valuable data that you can use to learn and identify visitor interests.
A CRM will give you insights into your visitor demographics, seasonal trends, returning visitor rates, and passive vs. active members. One of the things that can cripple a marketing strategy is trying to reach every type of visitor, and a A CRM will provide you with the necessary information to evaluate the kind of guests you’d like to reach and, from there, create a focused marketing campaign.
A CRM can help you:
- Create a strong marketing campaign.
- Learn valuable information about your visitors.
- Contact visitors with up-to-date information.
- Define your target audience.
- Act as a database to store valuable data for the future.
Social Media Museum Marketing Strategy
There are several ways museums should be implementing social media in their marketing strategies.
The first and most obvious thing museums need to do is create a presence on social media. This means building a following, sharing videos and pictures, and being active on the main social media networks of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and so on. Today’s generation of new museum-goers connect with the world through their smartphones; museums should be there to connect with them.
Although controversial to many museums, allowing visitors to take videos/pictures of exhibits and share them on social media is an excellent way to grow your presence on social media and allow your exhibition to market itself.
Even if your museum is dedicated to the tradition of classical art or history, museums can still utilize temporary events or exhibits that highlight the use of smartphones and give visitors an opportunity to share their experiences online.
Technology Marketing Strategies to Increase Visitor Attendance
Technology has presented several new opportunities for museums to innovate their exhibits and create excitement through videos and on social media.
Technological developments are occurring at an increasing rate and innovations in education technology mean that museums have a steady flow of new opportunities to showcase their exhibits.
Here are a few ways museums can utilize technology to increase their visitor attendance.
- Many museums have already taken advantage of virtual reality applications. Introducing a VR exhibit into your museum can help bolster excitement around your museum.
- Utilize technological applications in education in order to reach local schools and valuable members of the community.
- Guided tours have evolved, and museums are constantly finding new ways to introduce digital scavenger hunts, tablet-lead tours, and educational games in their exhibits.
- Highlighting these technological implementations on your web page, through social media, and in mobile advertisements will ensure that a large amount of your target audience learns about your innovative and exciting exhibitions.
Building a Brand and Community Presence to Increase Attendance
While building a brand and name recognition are marketing 101 points, museums can do so in such a way that contributes to their presence in the community.
As one of society’s most important cultural pillars, museums represent everything valuable about a functioning and educated democracy. As such, building a campaign message that connects with the community and spreads your mission statement/brand is an effective way to become a known and valued member of your city.
Work with schools, community leaders, non-profit organizations, and other local institutions to help build excitement around your museum.
Building a successful marketing strategy and increasing visitor attendance starts with forming a sound game plan. ACME’s highly advanced CRM and flexible configuration system will allow you to access valuable data and develop a marketing strategy with ease.
ACME’s reliable and powerful features will give you all the necessary tools to develop, control, and manage your marketing strategy. Increase visitor attendance and see the ACME demo today.