Museums at Night marketing tips for

volunteersRosie Clarke

Culture24

Welcome!

• Who are you?

• What’s the best thing about being involved with Victorian Nights?

• Your hopes for this morning?

Marketing outcomes

• Storytelling

• Develop skills, confidence

• Legacy of resources

• Good PR for venues

• Attract visitors

• Give visitors great experience – WOM

• Audience development

Culture24

Content

Campaigns

The Museums at Night story

• French culture ministry

• Campaign for Museums

• Culture24 since 2009

2011 festival stats

• 169 towns and cities

• 352 venues

• 467 events

• 100,000+ visitors

• £1.1 million media coverage (AVE)

• 94% of venues would take part again

North Norfolk Museums at Night

• “Failing forwards” philosophy

• What’s worked well in the past?

• What would you change in future?

Target audience

• Who are they?

• Where are they, in real life and online?

• How can you reach them?

Marketing channels

• Product – event description, press release, images

• Traditional media – print & broadcast

• Online coverage

• Email newsletters

• Your own printed publicity

• In person

Event description

• Creative copywriting

• Why should people come out to your event?

• Collection objects / highlights / extras

• Night time atmosphere?

• Sensory descriptions – not just sight

Writing a press release

• WWWWWH

• Quote curator / funder / celeb endorsement

• 2 pages max in body of email

• Images

• Notes to Editors

• Named contact – respond quickly!

What makes a good image?

• People / cute kids having a good time, engaging with collections

• Get parents’ permission

• Create a night-time atmosphere

• Print quality – over 300 dpi, A5 size, minimum 2MB

• Filename, caption – title, venue, photographer, (c), date

Sending a press release

• Find out deadlines

• Contact details (print = news, listings, features editors; broadcast = producers)

• Follow-up phonecall

What’s your angle?

• Local media want a local angle

• Journalists look for human interest – any descendants of local Victorians?

• Topical – link to a historical event, personality or anniversary

Extra tips

• Set up a photocall

• Create a competition with newspaper

• Invite picture editor to send photographer on the night

• Take your own photos, visitor vox pops

Radio interviews

• Key points - soundbites

• Facts in front of you

• Drink water!

• Next step, listeners should …

Online coverage

• Your own website / blog

• Telling stories, drawing people in, news updates

• Immediacy: type what you’d say out loud

• I want your guest blog posts!

http://museumsatnight.wordpress.com

- include call to action and link back

Social media

• Communicate directly, anyone can read

• Simple, authentic, human voice

• Track what’s being said about you, respond openly

• Connect with local community, interest groups

• What does success look like?

Tools

• Google Alerts – save search

• Storify / Archivist to save Tweets

• Facebook page stats

• Blog – time on site, where next?

• Don’t forget to take baseline measurements!

Using Twitter

• Short news updates, creating buzz

• Connect with other museums / people

• Local news, pics - @PooleMuseum

• Answer questions

• @MuseumsAtNight we’ll RT

• #MatN2012

Facebook

• Think why you want a Facebook page

• Where are your target audience?

• Do you have time?

• Can create events, invite friends, they invite friends

• Share stories

Many more

• YouTube channel – calls to action, subscribe – long-tail content

• Flickr – tag and share photos

• LinkedIn

• Foursquare

Email newsletters

• Separate, targeted messages to public, teachers, Friends of museum

• Seasonal highlights, upcoming events

• Deepen relationship – perks e.g. launch invitations, competitions

• Cheap / free

• Tone of voice

Email signup

• On your website – homepage, About, Contact

• In person at venue

• Signup sheet at external events

• Email signature

Your print publicity

• Posters

• Flyers

• BBC History Magazine Guide to Museums at Night

Where to display print publicity

• Venue – café, entrance, back of toilet doors

• Community noticeboards

• Shops, cafes, libraries, churches, community centres

• TICs

• Hotel information packs

• Other arts / heritage venues

In person

• Good experiences recommended, bad experiences shared widely (TripAdvisor)

• Welcome in venue

• Outreach – school visits

• Conversation starters – costume

• Influencers – taxi drivers, bloggers, forums

Any questions?

Thanks very much!

rosie@culture24.org.uk

01273 623336

www.museumsatnight.org.uk

http://museumsatnight.wordpress.com

@museumsatnight

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/rosieclarke

@rosieclarke