If your museum operates in a city or rural area outside your state’s major metropolitan areas, it can be a challenge to entice visitors to travel to see all that you have to offer. What strategies can you use to make your institution a destination in its own right? Join marketing professionals from the Tacoma Museum District as they discuss their ongoing efforts to tap the Seattle cultural audience and learn ways to apply their strategies to your institution even if you are located in more rural markets.

1. HEY! LOOK AT US!!
PROMOTIONAL CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES FOR MUSEUMS OUTSIDE MAJOR METROPOLITAN AREAS

2. FIGHTING YOUR AREA’S IMAGE OR SIZE?
“Nobody died in the Ash Street shootout. That was the miracle. Ten minutes; 300 shots. Army Rangers versus gangsters. Bullet holes and broken windows. The night of Sept 23, 1989 turned the Tacoma Hilltop into a national bulls- eye, an emblem of unrest.”

3. COLLABORATING FOR A STRONGER PRESENCE
▪Hillary Ryan, Associate Director for Marketing and Communications for the Museum of Glass
▪The Tacoma Museum Pass –Proof-of-concept to key promotional product
▪Kimberly Ketcham, Marketing and Communications Director for the Washington State Historical Society
▪Creative collaboration –data, stories, and marmots

4. SETTING THE STAGE FOR COLLABORATION

5. STATE GEOGRAPHY INFLUENCING THE ARTS
Population
Seattle = 652,000
Tacoma = 198,397

6. WASHINGTON TOURISM

7. 0
5,000,000
10,000,000
15,000,000
20,000,000
Operating Budget
CVB Operating Budgets
Visit Seattle
Travel Tacoma
0
2,000,000
4,000,000
6,000,000
8,000,000
10,000,000
12,000,000
Number Overnight Visitors
Number of Overnight Visitors
Visit Seattle
Travel Tacoma
0
1,000,000,000
2,000,000,000
3,000,000,000
4,000,000,000
5,000,000,000
6,000,000,000
7,000,000,000
Amount in Visitor Spending
Amount in Visitor Spending
Visit Seattle
Travel Tacoma
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
Jobs in the City
Number of Jobs in the City
Visit Seattle
Travel Tacoma

8. OUR DIRECT COMPETITORS
Seattle Art Museum
MOHAI
ChihulyGarden & Glass

9. CASE STUDY: THE TACOMA MUSEUM PASS

10. •Encourage multiple-museum and cultural attraction visits to prolong their stay, and also their dining, shopping, and hotel stays in Tacoma
•Communicate richness of cultural and recreational experience in Tacoma to inspire visitation by out-of-town guests
•Realize efficiencies in marketing efforts for Tacoma cultural community through strategic shared advertising and promotion
GETTING TOURISTS TO TACOMA

11. MAKE IT EASY –ATTRACTIONS PASS

12. TACOMA MUSEUM PASS –THE NUTS & BOLTS
▪Build on our successful tri-museum marketing partnership
▪Use our current TacomaMuseumDistrict.org URL as administered by WSHM
▪Create an online sales portal
▪Allow for walk-up admissions sales at any participating museum
▪Focus current combined joint advertising dollars on a product we can track
▪Begun as a trial run and evaluated periodically

13. TACOMA MUSEUM PASS RESULTS

14. WHAT WE LEARNED AND WHERE WE’RE HEADED

15. WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU GOT?

16. WORKING TOGETHER
▪Build partnerships with other museums, cultural institutions or performing arts centers, schools, charities, hotels, family organizations, service organizations, media
▪Add value to your visitor experience…engage with the members and the public…get creative with new media
▪Be on a first name basis with your visitors’ bureau staff, Chamber of Commerce, and city government – make sure they promote you
Partnerships
Visitor Engagement
City/County Representation

17. PARTNERSHIPS –SHARE THE LOAD AND THE WEALTH
Build alliances with other organizations on specific projects, around specific goals. Find the common ground.
▪Tacoma Museum District
▪Market the Arts Task Force
▪Cultural Resource Collective
▪Corporations
▪Travel Tacoma & Pierce County
▪Chamber of Commerce
▪Downtown Merchants

18. STQRY
Entry level is inexpensive
Can upgrade for more sophistication
Adds you to a network of users
Easy CMS
Multilingual
Images, audio, video, geolocation, hyperlinks, social media feeds and more…
Advice: Get other organizations in your area (including metro) to participate in the same app so that accessing one, accesses and promotes others. (i.e.-AAM Conference)

19. SEYMOUR HISTORY AND THE MASCOT MOB
Reading to the Mascot Mob at an exhibit opening
Behind the scenes at the Burke Museum of Natural History
Meeting colleagues at the AAM Conference
Engaging with authors and speakers
Connecting with museums around the U.S.
Washington 125 with Washington’s kids
Strengthening artist relations

20. hryan@museumofglass.org
Kimberly.ketcham@wshs.wa.gov
QUESTIONS?