Hello everyone,

I joined this list to find out whether a museum or an art collector
(or a group) would be able to buy a complete art collection worth
$300 Million. Judging by the lack of funds in the museum world, it
seems next to impossible.

However, two days of reading emails from your subscribers gave
me quite an education in museum activities. As an international
marketing specialist, I never knew museums had so many problems,
both funding and staff related.

It may not be appropriate for me to even speak up in a forum of
specialists and dedicated workers/volunteers, but I just could not
resist. You all came across as hardworking people with noble
intentions - no matter which side you were on.

Although I cannot answer the questions as to whether a museum
should have only full-time staff or a mix of full/part-time and volunteer
workers, it seems to be first of all a funding problem. With money
available, most of the problems described would be solved.

Based on the message just sent in by Ms. Finton, only 40% of
revenues come from admissions and store sales. The rest "must
be raised through grants, begging, etc." Sounds like an awful lot
of money to "beg" for - and it must be very time consuming as well.

So, where can museums find more money?

While searching for an art collection buyer, I visited a number of
museum websites. Most of them had a decent set-up, some where
quite elaborate. Generally they had a "gift shop" section with a couple
of items more or less tucked away in a corner, almost added as an
afterthought. Nothing exciting to invite people to buy anything. Too
bad, really. Why have an online giftshop if they do not try to sell while
 they have a visitor there? Lots to improve here.

Maybe I notice these things due to my marketing background, however,
with all the problems museums have, I feel they are not doing enough
to promote their activities outside a certain area - maybe over 200-500
miles away?

I am in Montreal, Canada. Let us say I want to visit an aviation museum.
We have a nice one in our capital, Ottawa, but maybe I want to see
other ones also, especially while on trips (business or vacation). If only
I heard about the far away museums, I might want to stop by while in
that area. Nobody ever invited me to come around - never even told me
they exist. Not very effective.

It seems to me that with a more coordinated marketing effort, all
museums could generate much higher profits while saving thousands
of hours of work.

Just a few ideas : (there are probably hundreds of options available)
Some may already be used - but I do not know the museum field too well.

1 - Exchange clients with museums in other areas
- A museum in NY could arrange visits to one in Boston - maybe weekly.
- The museum in Boston would do the same thing the other way around.
- Both (or several museums as a group) will benefit from joint marketing.
- Visitors would come from outside the area, based on a special offer.
- Visitors would buy gifts and books - adding more museum revenues.

2 - Making additional profits from each visitor
- Museums could get 25% of travel profits from exclusive tour operator
- Museums could also get 25% of profits when sending visitors to restaurants
- Other arrangements for profitsharing can be done with local services.
- Visitors go to museum during daytime - then theatre or concert at night.
  (People who love art often love concerts or plays as well - so, join forces!)
  (Businesses and organisations would benefit from profitsharing this way)

3 - Targeted marketing
No museum ever asked me to go and visit their webpage - or to inform
me of a new, exciting exhibition coming up - even locally. Of course, it would
cost too much to do so on an individual basis using flyers or telemarketing.
Instead, why not get people interested in aviation, archeology or other fields
set up this way? :

- Create a "global" mailing list of potential visitors for each specific field
- Build an email list of say 50,000+ aviation fans from all over the world
- Ask all aviation museums to help build this list for mutual benefits
- Allow all aviation museums to use the names on the list for promotions
- A coordinated effort would probably attract a lot more interested visitors
- This is valid for any type of museum - aviation was used as an example
- With a category like paintings, a such list could include millions of names

With this list, each museums can :

- Send invitations to everyone, asking them to join THEIR mailing list
- Send clients information, sell them books, calendars, posters etc.
- Build sub-category lists for Miro, Picasso - or even Viking artifacts.
- Use email at no cost to promote websites or exhibitions worldwide

4 - Joint marketing
Couldn't museums put more related links on their website?
It could be coordinated to get a bigger marketing impact for everyone.

5 -  Sell reports
As a marketing consultant I would also like to mention the potential
revenues from available material. If your museum writes a report on a
specialized subject, would it not be possible that someone in another
country would be willing to pay $25 or even $100+ for it if it saves the
person days of work to do this research? Once a report is available, it
costs nothing to email it worldwide. All pure profits. It can even be done
without human intervention - no labour cost.

6 - Sell videos of your collections
- Make several videos - one per collection (or part of a collection)
- Sell this to clients worldwide using above mailing list
- Sell videos to universities, libraries, interest groups or other markets

7 -  Museum exchange marketing
- Collection information, books, reports, models or whatever can be sold in
many related museums. Is this currently being done in your field?

8 - Global marketing
I must apologize for not organizing this properly, but I really do not have
time to do so right now. The main point I want to make is this :

- Why limit yourself to nearby visitors? Maybe millions of people would like
to see your collection, but only a small number can afford to come. The next
best thing is to take part of the museum to them. With a million people as
potential buyers, chances are you will sell more this way than through the
museum store.

By coordinating marketing efforts and expanding to a global market, I think
a lot of museums would generate decent revenues. I am not saying they will
make a fortune, but maybe enough to cover their operating costs.

I hope that I have not ruffled any feathers by intruding in a new, unknown
world. My ignorance probably shows and my advice may be modest, but my
intention to be of help is most sincere.

Sincerely,

Arne Tengelsen, President
Groupex Marketing International Inc
Montreal - Canada
[log in to unmask] ca

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