The dark art of marketing: branding & the digital world

If you’re reading this, and you’re from a smaller museum you’re probably asking ‘how is branding and marketing relevant to me?’ When it comes to fundraising, you need to explore every opportunity to help you tell your story as brilliantly as possible, to as many people as possible. This is where marketing can really help you. Be strategic and creative. Museums that wish to make the best out of the marketing and branding opportunities should initially write a simple, clear marketing strategy. It doesn’t need to be long or complicated, just ask yourselves the questions:

*What are we trying to achieve, and why?

*Who do you want to be talking to?

*What are you trying to say?

*How can you do this with the most impact?

This will help you form a plan outlining what you want to achieve and how you want to go about doing it. You will find that marketing is a process that requires organisation and setting clear targets.

Online resources and social media are used by a significant, and growing, number of people, it is important for your organisation to keep up. Google has the answer to everything. So what is it telling people about your museum? When someone googles your museums what is the first thing that they see? It might be helpful to ask yourselves questions like:

-Does our website look professional, appealing and engaging?

-How easy is it to navigate through our website and look for information?

-How often do we update our website?

Does our website connect with any social media platforms e.g. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? Which of these do our audience use?

If you feel unsure about any of the answers, it might be a good idea to re-visit your website and think of ways to improve it.

It’s important to have an effective website in place that reflects who you are and what you do: potential donors and funders will look at your website, visitors will look at it to get an idea of whether they’d like to visit, and for practical things like opening times, parking etc.., donations can be encouraged through your website, and it gives you an instant way to keep in touch with your audience – near and far.

Tip: a very simple way of making it easier for private donors or individuals to give money to your cause is to have a ‘donate’ option on your homepage. You’d be surprised by the number of people that would use it.

Catalyst Trainings: Branding and Marketing & PR and Media

When: 9-10 May , 9.30am – 13.00pm

Where: SAPC

If you’re serious about Branding, Marketing, PR and Media, join us on the 9th and 10th of May 2017 for a chance to learn how to use these tools for the fundraising benefit of your museum. For more information please contact Clare, Programme Manager, or Yiota, Programme Coordinator, on: 01209 500750, or yiota@cornwallmuseumspartnership. To book a place directly on our website, please visit: https://www.cornwallmuseumspartnership.org.uk/events/marketing-branding-dark-arts/ and https://www.cornwallmuseumspartnership.org.uk/events/digital-magic-websites-pr-social-media/