Ep. 15 — My Most Frequently Asked Question by Museums
Amy shares the question she is asked the most by museums and the answer.
Show Links
Resources mentioned:
Episode 10: Brand Messaging for your Museum
Join the Love my Museum Facebook Group
More FREE resources:
Museum Metrics Tracker Template: https://bit.ly/amysmuseummetrics
Planning Calendar for Museums: https://bit.ly/2024museumcal
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00]
Today on the podcast, I thought we would talk about the question I get asked the most from museums. Today I'm going to let you know what that is and answer it for you. Let's get started.
Hello, and welcome to the Love my Museum podcast. I'm your host, Amy Kehs, and I love museums. I also happen to be a brand strategist and communications expert for museums.
On this episode, I'm going to tell you what my most frequently asked question from clients, podcast listeners, and email subscribers is, and I'm going to answer that question. The most frequently asked question that I get is around brand messaging.
[00:01:00]
Museum workers will ask me, “Okay, Amy, you talk about brand messaging a lot, but I don't really know what that means. What should I have in place? What words should I have written? What makes up my brand messaging?” And so I thought that would be a good thing to talk about on the podcast today. I really hope that you can take this episode, refine the words that you're using, and make it something that becomes a foundation for not just marketing and public relations, but everything that you do at your museum.
First, let me tell you a little bit about the commonalities that I see in the people that are coming and asking me this question. They tend to be struggling to get visitors in their museum’s doors. A lot of times they are worried because they aren't getting donors, they aren't increasing their memberships, they aren't getting repeat visitors.
[00:02:00]
They think that they have a marketing problem or a media relations problem. But for all of these, what I can see, and the reason that they're asking me this question is that they don't have authentic brand messaging at the foundation of everything that they do. In episode 10 of the podcast, I talked a lot about brand messaging. One of the things that I quickly mentioned were the messaging elements that you should include in a brand kit. I listed them, but I didn't really go into each one. Like I said, that led to a lot of questions from podcast listeners.
So, between the recurring questions that I get from my clients and also the questions around that episode from podcast listeners, I knew that this was something that we needed to talk about. So today let's define some of the major building blocks in your brand messaging. These are the essential elements that make up the words of your brand.
[00:03:00]
If you are having trouble getting visitors through the door, it is probably worth it to go back to these items and reexamine them. Talk about them with your coworkers. See if maybe they need to be clarified.
The first major building block is your mission. The mission of the museum is a clear and concise statement that defines the purpose and the primary objectives of your museum. It should be serving as a guide for your activities, your events, your exhibits, and all aspects of your decision-making process.
Most museums do have a mission statement. But a lot of times, what I see is maybe the mission statement isn't being used. It isn't serving as a foundation.
[00:04:00]
There could be a couple of reasons for that. Maybe it's just not a habit to look at it frequently or use it as the foundation for the work that you do. It could be that maybe some of the words need to be clarified.
The second thing that you should define or that you need as a major building block is your vision. The vision of a museum describes what the long-term goals are. It's a forward-looking statement. It should articulate how the museum plans to impact its community. The vision should inspire. It should motivate not only staff, but also stakeholders, donors, community members, and visitors. It should be ambitious, but also attainable.
[00:05:00]
The third building block, which is more of an internal building block, but it's just as important as mission and vision are values. Values are the fundamental principles and beliefs that guide the behavior and help determine the decision-making of the museum.
The values that you pick should shape the museum’s culture internally. The tone of these values can really make a difference. I've seen how just one word can impact the direction of an organization. There should be alignment between your mission, vision, and values. Let me give you an example.
If your mission and your vision, talk about being inclusive and talk about education, but then one of your values is the word preeminence, that is not in alignment.
[00:06:00]
The definition of preeminence is the fact of surpassing all others. Superiority. So that word is not in alignment with being inclusive and in sharing with others. There are a lot of words out there, and I'm sure that there's one that you could come up with that would still have the idea of being a leader without the tone of superiority.
The fourth building block is brand story. It's the origin story of your museum. It's a narrative that recounts why you were founded. It may include the motivation who founded it. The origin story provides some context and background, and it helps you create a sense of identity and familiarity. It's something that you can be creative with, maybe even poetic.
[00:07:00]
You can use it to show a persona and personality for your museum. It can highlight the challenges that maybe you've overcome. And it should also talk about your vision and be inspirational. How do you want to impact the community that you are in? What is your legacy?
Having a video brand story on the homepage of your website can be really important for potential visitors and for fundraising. It can help solidify that know like, and trust factor. I've also seen where a video brand story can really help with your internal communications and staff morale as well.
So we have mission, vision, values and a brand story. And the last thing is key messages. Key messages are the core points that a museum should consistently communicate to its audience. I recommend one to three key messages. No more than five.
[00:08:00]
Your key messages should be clear. You should use them consistently. And you should use them with confidence. They will be used in marketing materials, social media, public relations, media relations and hopefully anyone that visits the museum, no matter what exhibit, no matter what program, they should be able to come away and talk about these key messages.
A lot of times when a client is having a hard time figuring out what their key messages are I tell them to ask their visitors. What did you learn at our museum? How did it make you feel?
If you are confident in these messaging building blocks, if they are clear and if your audiences are seeing them consistently, they will learn them. And that is the PR goldmine.
[00:09:00]
They will be able to go into any room, even when you're not there, and repeat your messaging for you and tell someone about your museum.
Include these messaging building blocks in your brand kit and have it be something that you refer back to. Have them be something that not only drives what you're saying in your marketing and in your public relations, but also what you use to decide on what the next exhibit will be or what your programming may look like for the following year.
Public relations is slow growing, but if you are clear, consistent, and confident, in these messaging building blocks, it really will help you get visitors through your museum’s doors.
I really hope this was helpful. If you want to learn more, you should join the Love my Museum Facebook group.
[00:10:00]
It's a great place to have a two-way conversation, not just with myself, but with other museum professionals. I'll leave the link to join in the show notes. I'd also love to hear from you. Send me an email. Let me know what you're thinking of the podcast or ask me a question. Well, that's all for today. I'll see you next time.
