Crafting a Compelling Brand Identity for Your Museum
“Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touch points.” —Jonah Sachs
Your museum's brand is more than just a logo; it’s a complete representation of what sets you apart and what visitors can expect from your museum. It is an identity. Let’s explore how to create an authentically awesome brand for your museum.
Understanding Your Museum's Brand
There are two parts to your museum’s brand. The first part is the visual assets of your brand including the logo, chosen fonts, brand colors, design elements and brand images. The second part is the brand messaging. The visual elements are what draw people in and then what you say is what helps them decide if they want to stick around. The brand messaging can include things like your museum’s mission, vision, values, origin story, a tagline and key messages. Crafting a compelling brand identity requires thoughtful collaboration and research. It’s about building a relationship with your audience, much like making a new friend. Initially, you get to know them, assess similarities and differences, and over time, you decide if you like and trust them.
The Know, Like, and Trust Factor
In marketing, we refer to this as the "know, like, and trust" factor. Your brand communicates to potential visitors who you are and what they can expect. According to the "Marketing Rule of Seven," a person needs to see the same message seven times before acting on it. Saying the same thing over and over helps your audience “recognize you” just like you recognize your neighbor walking down the sideway. Imagine if McDonald’s golden arches were pink one day and blue the next. Or what if the Nike swoosh suddenly was upside down or pointed in the other direction. It would create confusion and mistrust, wouldn’t it?
The 3 C’s of Authentic Messaging
But how do we make sure our audience BELIEVES us? How do we make our messaging authentic and trustworthy? It’s important that all of the brand messaging elements that you’ve developed don’t just sit on the page. They need to translate into actions. Visitors should see, hear and feel them during their visit to your museum, when looking at your website and when finding your social media content. To help you do this you can think of the 3 C’s; Clarity, Consistency and Confidence. Your messaging should be simple and clear. You should use your words consistently and also show up consistently. When you speak (or write) you should do it with confidence and with this confidence you should also not be afraid to ask your visitors for feedback.
Inside Buy-In
Authentic messaging requires buy-in from the inside too. Using brand messaging internally is as important as it is externally. If your museum staff is familiar with the brand messaging, they are more likely to use it in their work and that cohesiveness will be evident to the visitors. One way to help insure this cohesiveness is by using a brand kit that includes the visual assets and the brand messaging.
Creating and Using a Brand Kit
A brand kit should include everything that we’ve talked about. The visual elements encompass fonts, colors, logos, and imagery. I highly recommend hiring a brand designer for this part. The messaging section should include your mission, vision, values, brand story, key messages, and an elevator speech.
Once your brand kit is complete, it’s crucial to use it consistently. Your communications team should ensure that all external communications adhere to the brand guidelines. All staff members must understand and implement these guidelines to maintain a strong brand identity.
Brand Messaging Cohesiveness in Action
My family recently visited the San Diego Zoo. We were there when the park opened and stayed all day until the park closed. We had a great day! In addition to walking around and visiting the animals, we also did their double-decker bus tour, the wildlife presentation, and at the end of the day we visited an exhibit that had a large mural. On the mural were several pillars, each with a different theme and message. I noticed that the messages in each pillar were things that they had been telling us and reinforcing all day. The wildlife presentation in the amphitheater focused on these same pillars. The tour guide on the bus talked about them as we drove around getting our first glimpses of the park in the morning. At the end of the day, my whole family could tell you about the zoo and what their mission was. Their entire team was consistent and even though we were just there for a day, we could repeat their messaging because of their consistency.
Be like the San Diego Zoo.
Repeat your messaging everywhere your museum uses its words…on your website, on your social media channels, in your email marketing, in your press releases, and to the visitors that walk through your doors.
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