Notes for a speech: Wilmington (NC) travel writers by Liz Bleiberg
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Since September 11, 2001, several phenomena have occurred in museums:
corporate gifts have declined, additional resources have been poured into a
development mode, and streamlined operations have cut numbers of talented people
from the rolls.

The result: in many cases, museums have worked "smarter" (and harder) in
many areas.  My hypothesis is that attention to one area has been cut back  to a
level that has drastically affected attendance:

The guest.

What?!  the cry goes up.  "We have put additional efforts into  all we do.
We have e-mailed our members with new programs.  We have  put the word out!"

In this climate, museums (and others) need to make the case for their
existence not only with those who are the "traditional" audience.  They  need to
reach out to people who fit their target demographic, yet who have never
darkened their doors before.

Think about it--with travel restricted, and Faith Popcorn's predictions
coming true about cocooning, what better place to look for new constituents than
in the "rubber tire ring" -- about 100 miles in radius around one's  site.
Expressed mathematically, if your attendance is 250,000 annually,  and the
population within a 100-mile radius of your site is 5 million, you have  a lot of
opportunity.

Do you really care whether the folks providing the "heads in beds" are from
the next state or across the Atlantic?  Are not the spending patterns of
vacationers similar?  Do you have a hotel/restaurant/additional attraction
partner to help make up an attractive reason to pull a family of four on a long
weekend or summer holiday to visit you?

Many museums have arranged their programming and hours to suit the  "in-town"
guests' (and staff's) needs.  No drop-in workshops are  taking place on
Sunday morning.  No open hours in advance of noon on  Sunday, few extended hours on
Saturday evening.  "Staff wants to go home,"  the reasoning goes.  Ah, but
out-of-towners want to play!  Maybe  in-towners do, too?

Rarely is the "first string" of staff -- the people who treasure guests,  are
authorized to bend policy, the folks who have made a career of museum
management -- on duty on weekends.  Why not?

I would suggest that a family with children under age 11, two
parents/grandparents in tow (this demographic makes up the bread & butter of  museum
non-school visitors) will want convenience when traveling.  Market  to them as you
might market to those in town, and adjust your staffing and hours  accordingly.

When I first worked at The Science Place in Dallas, Texas, the hours  were 9
- 5 Mondays through Saturdays, noon - 5 on Sundays.  By changing the  schedule
to later hours on weekends, 9 AM opening seven days a week (and yes, we  were
open every day of the year, including Christmas Day; I worked  that day for
six years.  We saw Christian families with over-excited,  sugar-filled kids who
needed a place to run around, Muslim families, Jewish  families...the
attendance was better than 17 other days in December.) the  attendance during morning
hours stayed flat, but the afternoon attendance  soared.

Why?  We asked!  And families told us that when they were making  their plans
for the day's activity, they looked at what was open.  Never  mind that they
didn't actually get out the door on Sunday mornings much before  noon -- they
chose our museum because of the perception of  availability.

Clearly, research will tell you more about your own site.  Talk to  families
representing your demographic and see what they do when they  travel.  Look at
varied demographics, and think about the wisdom of closing  during
holidays--that's when people travel, and that's when folks in town want  to show off
their local delights.

What are you doing that is newsworthy?  How do your best  promotional
partners (and potential guests) -- local TV, newspaper and  radio -- like to be
informed?  How would a stranger from out of town know  to find YOU?  (That great
plug on Oprah will come to  naught if no one locally knows how to find you, or
if you are closed during  holiday periods, and keep short hours in the summer.)

Promotion and marketing is easiest created in a series of concentric
circles.  Start at home first.  And are you sending out four releases  a year to
folks who are papered with releases?  How would they know to pick  you out of the
chaff if they have no relationship with you, no stake in who  you are?

"It's too expensive to send out paper releases; we use electronic press
kits, and send them out overnight."  If that is the case, please call your
addressees and make sure this is what they want.  Keep in mind how easy it  is for
your to arrive at the office and "deletedeletedelete" over your first cup  of
coffee.  Paper is good for many things, most important of all: the thank  you
note.

Did a reporter cover your opening?  Feature you in a story?   Great!  Bet you
clipped that puppy and sent it to your board and  prospective donors.  Did
you write a thank you note to the person whose  work just made your job easier?

"That's their job," you justify your lack of correspondence.

Remember the last time you got a thank you note for a job well done?   How do
you feel about that person?  Did you save the note?  Show it to  your boss?
Keep it around to comfort you on days when things seem  knotty?  Did it make
you feel as though you'd like to work with that person  again?

Reporters are people, too.  And very important guests, because they  have a
role in shaping how you are promoted to other potential guests.

Keep in mind that the very best attendance-building is going to take some
time.  And your message needs to be consistent.  If you change your  hours on
the web site, yet keep using brochures with "old" hours and  information, you
are essentially advertising against yourself.  And who has  money to do that?
(It is hard for museum folks, trained to preserve, to  THROW AWAY.  Yet
sometimes that is preferable to wasting marketing  efforts.  Recycling is good for
all.)

In summary:

- Look nearby to increase your audience.
- Talk to people like the ones you are already successfully reaching.
- Schedule for guests' needs first.
- Be accessible.
- Thank the folks who help get the word out about you.
- Give your program time to work.


Change is good, yet change is hard.  The world changed on September  11,
2001, and no amount of wishing it was "like it used to be" is going to make  it
so.  You are operating a leisure time activity.  No one "has to"  attend a
museum.  They visit because they want to.  And you are not  just in competition
with the museum across town, the one with all the free  parking.  You are in
competition will all other leisure time  activity.

Please introduce yourself to a new group of constituents and friends.   Think
of the guest first.  Not the budget, not how hard you are  already working,
not what internal meeting you need to attend.  Put your  staff in uniforms so
the guest can find them.  Sorry, you may look like a  museum administrator to
your friends, when I am looking for directions, I  can't see you, and I am
frustrated.

Think of the guest first.  Because without attention to the  guests, the best
museum in the world has failed to deliver the their best  efforts.














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