Amy, 
First off I want to say I agree with Ross and Lucy in their
suggestions for gathering information and inputs for your marketing
study/plans to improve visibility.   
I, on the other hand look on your "challenge" from a more basic point
of view.   In the long run, the best marketing plan cannot succeed
unless the product is what people want.  On yes, in the short term, a
crash marketing exercise can bring people in but it takes good art
exhibits to get people to come back to an art museum and a track
record of good exhibits to get donors to contribute.  

I just realized that we may be thinking of different meanings for a
"Marketing Plan"   One definition is a plan to market what you now
have.  This is how I have taken your posting.   The other definition
is a plan to determine what it is you should be
doing/selling/exhibiting.  The second type is more fundamental and
goes to the heart of the institution.  Which type is your challenge? 
Regardless, both require the feedback that you can get using the
suggestions of Ross and Lucy. 

John Bing

 It is what you do with the data that can make or break the goals of
the museum

On Thu, 29 Jun 2000 14:40:50 -0500, Amy wrote:

>Dear listers,
>
>I share the challange I have been faced with.  Briefly, I am a recent
>graduate and interning in a mid-size art museum in the Midwest.  I am also
>a candidate for a position with the museum.  I have interned off and on
>for a total of one year and have also been employed with the museum as a
>security
>guard.  Because I am so familiar with the workings, the Director hands
>me many non-routine projects.
>
>So to the challange, I have been asked to comment on and revise the one
>and five
>year plan for the marketing department (in which I am seeking
>employment and would be the managing the dept., it is a one-person show).
>The greatest obstacle that I have noted as I am going through this
>planning exercise is that the museum is faced with a visibility problem.
>Physical visibility and community awareness are both low.  How can this be
>solved? (at a no-to-low cost of course).  I have some ideas, but would be
>interested in hearing from some museums that may have faced a similar
>challange.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Amy Kleinert
>
>=========================================================

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