Ep. 13 — Media Relations At Your Museum
Today Amy is talking about media relations at your museum. She gives her best tips and talks about what she has learned after doing media relations in museums for 30 years.
Show Links
Other episodes mentioned:
Episode 9: Creating Brand Love for Your Museum
Episode 10: Brand Messaging for Your Museum
Episode 11: Tacey Atkinson on Putting Customers First
More FREE resources:
Museum Metrics Tracker Template: https://bit.ly/amysmuseummetrics
Planning Calendar for Museums: https://bit.ly/2024museumcal
People First Framework Guide for Museums: https://bit.ly/4PSguide_lovemymuseum
Check out the website at: www.lovemymuseum.com
Episode Transcript
[00:00:00]
Today on the Love my Museum podcast, we are talking about media relations. And media relations at museums is my jam. You are not going to want to miss this episode. Let's get started.
Hello, and welcome to the Love my Museum podcast. I am your host, Amy Kehs, and I love museums. I also happen to be a brand strategist and communications expert. I've worked for some of the most renowned and well love museums on the planet and my goal is to ensure that museums thrive into the next century. I'm really passionate about helping you get visitors through your museum's doors and one of the key elements to doing that is media relations.
[00:01:00]
When I'm talking to my clients about media relations a lot of times we have to back up a little bit and talk about the difference between marketing, advertising, and public relations. I guarantee that for every communications professional out there, there are the same number of explanations for what these things are and how they're related.
This is my take and how I explain it to people when I'm asked. So to me, it all comes down to who is doing the talking and where they are talking. When we talk about marketing, it's your message in your space. So you are controlling the space and you're controlling the message. For example, marketing is your website or a brochure. For advertising, it's your message in someone else's space and usually that costs money. So you are buying column inches or buying a Facebook ad or even buying a commercial on the super bowl.
[00:02:00]
And it is your message. No one else is controlling that message. But someone else is controlling the space. The great part about advertising is you've paid for it. So it's guaranteed. The downside to advertising is people can be a bit skeptical because you've purchased the space.
For public relations, it's someone else's message about you in someone else's space. And the two best examples of this are referrals; so that could be you run into a friend and they tell you about a great exhibit that they saw at the local museum and how much they loved it, how much fun their kids had going to see it. That's public relations. That's someone talking about you in their space.
[00:03:00]
Another part of public relations is media relations. So that is a journalist who is talking about you in their space. The important part about public relations, whether it's the referral from your neighbor or the journalist that's writing about you, is it's a third party endorsement. For the audience that's receiving the message, which of these is going to make the biggest impact? You guessed it, public relations. There's a great quote that I love by Richard Branson that says, "A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad." And that is so true. You want those spots on the evening news or articles in the newspaper or a social media influencer giving you a shout out.
[00:04:00]
You want those because it's that third-party endorsement. So, how do you work on media relations for your museum? Well, I think the most important thing to remember is that media relations is about relationships. It is about building those relationships with the journalists that are on your media list. If you don't have a media list, start one today. There are three main jobs for your communications team when it comes to your media list. The first is to cultivate that list. Cultivate a list of reporters and editors who are interested in your museum. They could be interested based on location or niche. Your media list is something that you are always thinking about and refining. It's okay to start small and build it from there. Just start and keep really good notes.
[00:05:00]
The goal is not to have the most, the goal is to have an active and engaged list. Lots of times I get the question, “But how do I even start?” If you don't have a media directory service, then Google's your best friend. You can Google media outlets in your area, or you can Google a topic and just see what journalists articles pop up. Don't worry if you can only find a general email address or a phone number, that's still a great place to start. The second is nurture. So first we're going to cultivate and now we're going to nurture that list. These are relationships and it's crucial to nurture those relationships. Follow them on social media, read their articles, engage with them by commenting or sharing their work. Be sure that you have a notes section on your media list spreadsheet.
[00:06:00]
When was the last time you talked to them? If it's someone that you haven't met before, send an introduction email, and also think beyond how they can help you. Share how you can help them. Maybe you can provide an expert for a story that they are working on. What are your curators experts in? What special resources do you have that could be valuable as a research tool? Relationships take time. That same rule applies to media relations.
The third thing is to maintain that list. You want to stay top of mind. One great way to stay top of mind is to send out a calendar of events to your media email list. This could be ideally it's once a month, but it could also be once a quarter.
[00:7:00]
If your content is a well thought [00:07:00] out and consistent, they will come to rely on your museum as a great resource. Remember, they are also trying to create content and being consistent helps build this relationship.
So those are my three main tips for getting started to build the relationships with your media list. You want to cultivate that list, nurture that list and third, you're going to maintain that list by sending out consistent and regular communication to the people on your media list.
When you do get that first email or phone call asking to do a story on your latest exhibit, that request becomes a priority. Not only is it a priority for the person that is handling your media relations, but the rest of your staff needs to understand the importance of making it a priority.
[00:08:00]
Journalists are under tight deadlines and you want to make sure you can give them all the resources they need to help them meet their deadline. I guarantee that if you make their job easier they will come back and do another story.
If you've been listening to the podcast for awhile, you know, that, that my first museum job was as a volunteer when I was in college. I loved every minute and I took my volunteer job very seriously. I was always on time. I never missed a day. The staff and the office were amazing mentors, especially my boss. They were kind and inclusive and lots of fun. Their enthusiasm was just contagious. And I wanted to be a great co-worker because of it. After I had been there for a little while, my boss asked if I wanted a project to complete on my own.
[00:09:00]
Of course I jumped at the chance. The project that he gave me I took and I did everything he had taught me. I put together a press kit, I made a media list, I spent hours putting together press kits and mailing them. This was like 1994. I mailed them to the journalist that I wanted to invite to the event. I faxed my media advisory. I made follow up calls. I left the office on my last volunteer day, before the event, with this really nervous feeling, whether all of my work was going to pay off. Was anyone going to come? That was a feeling that I would have many more times in my life. And it's one that all PR professionals are familiar with. I mean, I still get that feeling every morning or the evening before an event.
[00:10:00]
I got to the museum on the day of the event and every one in my office was running around like crazy. They filled me in on what had been happening the last 24 hours while I was on campus in class. The phones had been ringing off the hook and we were expecting a huge turnout of journalists for this little event. The museum's education department had been busy all morning doing live interviews because of my outreach. Our education director was on the Today show. Other education staff were giving demonstrations on local morning shows. CNN had called and the Washington post and Associated Press. In just a couple of hours, the museum would be welcoming a giant turnout for the event.
[00:11:00]
And sure enough, we had local, national and international coverage that day for my little event. I mean, it was amazing. It was the 1994 version of going viral. I remember at the end of the event, hopping into the elevator with my boss to head upstairs to our office. He was grinning and I'd like to think that he was a little bit proud of me. I remember saying, “Oh my gosh, that was so much fun! And that was so easy. I can do this! I can do PR!” I was so excited and so proud of myself. My boss giggled. Of course he knew what I didn't, it was a slow news week. I had done the hard work, but you never know with media relations. It totally could have gone in the other direction.
[00:12:00]
Since then I have had it go in the other direction, a lot of times. It also was successful because my office had already established these relationships with the media. That day was a huge turning point for me, even now, when people ask me about my career in PR, it is scenes and feelings from that day that flash before my eyes. At that point, I was just six months into my volunteer job. I could tell that the museum was going to be a place where I was going to be able to learn and grow. I continued to volunteer at the museum for another year. Then two months before I graduated, they offered me a job and I transitioned from volunteer to employee.
[00:13:00]
Since then I have opened a lot of exhibits and invited media to a lot of events. I know that it can go either way. You can have a little event and have a great turnout. You can have a big event and no one come. Because media relations is that third-party endorsement. If you want to guarantee, then you should buy an ad. There are so many other factors. Yes, you need the experience and the expertise, you need a really good media list. You need to put in the time and effort to build those relationships. But also sometimes, it just doesn't work out. I had a huge event open the day that Michael Jackson died. Nobody was covering anything except for his death that day. That was not a reflection on my work, even though at the time some of my coworkers thought it was. I had no control over that.
[00:14:00]
So, yeah, media relations is hard because sometimes you can put in all the work and outside forces can make things not go your way.
Media relations is also the third ingredient to what I call Brand Love, which we've talked about a little bit on this podcast. Brand love is when your audience loves your museum so much that they tell others about you when you're not even in the room. They know your messaging. They know what you do and who you are. They visited your museum, and they've had such a great experience that when they come again, they bring a friend. Maybe they even decide to purchase a membership or buy something in the shop. They are invested. They have seen consistent and positive media coverage, that validates how they feel about you.
[00:15:00]
You've gotten them on board to share your messaging with others. Brand love is earned and it is slow growing. But the benefits are much more effective than any other public relations strategy. We've been talking about the three parts to brand love, which is really an external communication strategy for your museum. And those three parts are brand messaging, visitor experience and media relations. So now that we have talked about all three parts on the podcast, now I'm going to sum it all up for you. I will link the other two episodes in the show notes so that you can go back and listen to those in more detail.
Let's say you have your ideal visitor out there, a potential customer. The first thing that will happen is they will see your brand identity.
[00:16:00]
The visual assets of your brand will catch their eye. That happens on a subconscious level, which is why your brand identity, the visual assets have to be more about them than they are about you, because you're trying to attract them. The next thing that happens after they're attracted to the visual assets, is they’re going to look and see what you say. So you want to have that clear, consistent, confident messaging. Remember, it takes people seven times to see and act on a message. So having that consistent message and making sure that it's clear means that your audience is going to see it several times before they'll act on it. That might mean coming to visit you for the first time. If you deliver that message with confidence, that means that they will trust what you're saying as well.
[00:17:00]
You want that know like, and trust factor. So that they decide to come visit your museum. The next thing that happens, hopefully ,is they walk through your doors. Knowing what the visitor experience is from beginning to end is so important. A lot of times I have my clients put themselves in the shoes of a person who has never been to the museum before. Is it easy to find directions on the website? Can they plan their visit before they arrive? What about when that person gets to the museum? Are they greeted by a friendly staff member? Is the museum accessible to everyone? How does the museum support its community? You want somebody to walk out your doors, having had the best visit possible and you want that visitor experience to be consistent. So their experience is just as good as their next door neighbors.
[00:18:00]
The next thing that will happen is they are going to decide, “Hey, does this great feeling I have about this museum? Is it valid?” That's why they'll be looking for that third party endorsement. Media relations is the best way to get that third party endorsement. And that's what we've been talking about, how do you cultivate the relationships with the hardworking journalists on your media list? It definitely takes time and effort. It's definitely a two way street. Think about how you can help them. Have you positioned your curators as experts? Do you have spokespeople who know your messaging and feel comfortable talking to journalists? I think media relations is something that we're going to talk about a lot here. If you want to learn more, we also talk about all of this in my new Love my Museum Facebook group. It's a private community just for museum professionals.
[00:19:00]
I would love to see you there. Thanks so much for listening and I'll see you next time.
