This document outlines a strategic communication plan for the Susquehanna Art Museum. The plan includes positioning statements, situational analyses, communication objectives, key publics, recommended strategies, tactics, media contacts, message matrices, and timetables. The museum aims to increase awareness of its changing exhibits, boost attendance and membership, and strengthen donor relations through media relations, events, social media, collateral materials, and constituent relations. Objectives include attracting 2,000 people to a 1-year anniversary relaunch event and increasing social media followers, VanGo bookings, donations, attendance, and memberships within six months to two years.

1.
A Strategic Communication Plan
Created By:
Rebecca Hess, Santino Stancato, Rebecca Ward
Advised By:
Kristie Byrum, Ph.D., APR

2. Table of Contents:
Positioning Statement …………………………………………………………………………...2
Situational Analysis ……………………………………………………………………………..3
Communication Objectives ……………………………………………………………………..4
Key Publics ……………………………………………………………………………………..6
Recommended Strategies ……………………………………………………………………….8
Tactics …………………………………………………………………………………………..9
Media Contact ………………………………………………………………………………….12
Message Matrix…………………………………………………………………………………13
Timetable ……………………………………………………………………………………….14
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3. Positioning Statement
For the Harrisburg community, families, schools and donors who are seeking a supplemental
curriculum enhancement art experience, Susquehanna Art Museum (SAM) is a non­collecting,
dedicated art museum in the capital region providing a unique atmosphere, supplemental art, as
well as a full spectrum of art education opportunities. Unlike the competition SAM offers a
non­static (dynamic) art experience which includes hands on activities such as art classes during
school visits to the museum.
“Susquehanna Art Museum a driving metamorphosis into the capital city”
This is the tagline for SAM because it captures the brand essence of the museum’s exhibits
changing as well as the museum bringing new life to the part of town that it is located in.
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4. Situational Analysis
SAM is a non­collecting art museum that is devoted to spreading art culture in the central
Harrisburg area. With a successful launch in January 2015, their unique​ ​metamorphosis of
exhibits is what sets SAM apart from their competitors because every few months one can visit
the museum and experience new exhibits. Another unique trait of SAM is that they create art
experiences for individuals outside of the museum. VanGo is a service provided by the museum
that delivers a unique, supplemental art education experience for individuals of all age groups.
SAM does have some challenges that they must face. The museum must create a media platform
for themselves because the public is unaware that the exhibits change several times a year.
Individuals may not be interested in every exhibit held at the museum, but it keeps the museum
fresh and flavorful. The art museum is struggling to retain consumer traffic and individuals are
using VanGo as a supplement to visiting the museum itself. The museum must create a media
strategy to attain more traffic.
The museum is also facing issues as a result of its location. It is extremely important to make
sure that individuals understand the area is safe and that the experience the museum offers is
worth the visit to the museum. Patrons must also know that there is a parking lot behind the
museum that they can utilize for free during their visit.
The Susquehanna Art Museum has great potential to continue and grow on their past successes.
It is important that the museum continues to grow and create new opportunities to grow. The
museum creates a unique experience for individuals, but if individuals do not know about the
museum they will not come. SAM must establish and maintain more contacts with the news
media to ensure the promotion of its endeavours/goals.
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5. Communication Objectives:
Objective 1:
To relaunch the museum on its one year anniversary and have 2,000 people attend the event.
● It is vital that the public are aware about the museum and the hype of a relaunch will help
to get the word out to the public.
Objective 2:
To promote SAM’s brand via social media, and their website in order to achieve 4,500
likes/followers within six months of the relaunch.
● Being active on social media is vital to a growing the art community.
● As an art museum, it is also necessary for SAM to connect with key publics via
Instagram since that is an all picture platform.
Objective 3:
To increase the number of yearly bookings with the SAM’s VanGo Museum.
● VanGo is a great way to get the word out about the museum while providing a unique art
experience to school aged children.
● Use VanGo as a way to promote visiting the museum.
● VanGo can be promoted for school events, festivals, and kid’s birthday parties.
​Objective 4:
To increase donor relations between 5­10%.
● Donors are vital to day­to­day operations.
● More donors are needed to help the museum keep the doors open.
Objective 5:
To increase museum patronage by 10% within six months.
● In order to keep the museum open, it is necessary to increase the number of people who
visit.
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6. Objective 6:
To have 1,000 museum members within the second year of being open.
● By becoming a member, people are more likely to frequently visit the museum to see the
various exhibits throughout the year.
● Members will be inclined to tell their friends about the museum, hopefully generating
more members.
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7. Key Publics:
Art Enthusiasts
Art enthusiasts are the largest target market for SAM to reach. Art enthusiasts are the people who
are going to be intrigued to visit a non­collecting museum. This will hopefully lead to
memberships as the Enthusiasts will want to visit the museum to see the exhibits as they change.
Art Teachers
How does the Art Museum reach out to their art enthusiast? They contact art teachers within the
area. You need to hit this key market because art teachers are the individuals who enjoy the
product and can inform students who enjoy your product what the museum has to offer.
Donors
Donors are extremely important to a non­collecting because this is how the museum keeps their
doors open. It allows SAM to pay their bills when the number of guests visiting the museum is
low.
Harrisburg Community
Harrisburg community is a very broad term. However, the museum must reach out to the
community as a whole.. What SAM has to offer is unique experience and the museum can create
a change of culture within the Harrisburg area. It is vital that the museum reaches out to the
community through various types of media as well as face­to­face interactions.
Media
By having a strong communication with our media outlets we can ensure enhanced coverage of
the work being displayed in the museum.
Schools/PTA
As a result of SAM being versatile and being able to be used as an art curriculum enhancement
experience, the museum must reach out to the individuals seeking out that service. Schools are
an important part of the decision­making teams, however, the Parent Teacher Associations
(PTA) are even more important. PTA are key decision makers and are also the people who are
putting forth money for student field trips.
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8. Other Science/ Art Museums (Partner with)
Whitaker Center­ Harrisburg
Landis Valley Museum­ Lancaster
The reason SAM should partner with our neighboring competitors is to fulfill the need. As stated
in the meeting, SAM is more of a bonus stop for schools if they are visiting other locations in the
area, it may be beneficial to work out a mutually beneficial price for a trip to both museums.
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9. Recommended Strategies:
News Media Relations:
● Use the News Media to show the capital city community the importance of SAM’s
relaunch and to keep them up to date with the current exhibits. The goal of media
relations is to receive as much coverage in the media without paying for direct marketing.
SAM needs to create a media presence in order to help promote the museum and create
brand awareness.
Events:
● Events are a great way to interact with the community and to show them that SAM has an
collection for everyone. Different events can be held throughout the year to correlate with
the exhibits and to help bring groups of individuals into the museum. Events are
necessary to persuade the public into returning to SAM to view different collections
throughout the year.
Social Media:
● Promote SAM through various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter. Create a Hootsuite account to manage all social media platforms at once.
Hootsuite is software that aids in managing social media post. It gives you the ability to
strategically write up all your post for the upcoming weeks and post them on designated
dates. This will alleviate the hassle of staff members taking valuable time of their day to
create different posts for the various social media accounts on a day­to­day basis.
Collateral Materials:
● Revamp the collateral materials SAM is using. It is important to keep our newsletters,
brochures and posters new and fresh especially as we begin to promote the museum's
unique metamorphosis. All of the collateral materials that the museum creates will be
distribute around the capital city, local businesses, and schools in the surrounding area.
Constituent Relations:
● Events, written correspondence, and donor recognition are great ways to maintain a
healthy relationship with the museum's donors. Donors are vital to the museum. It’s
important to keep donors up to date on what’s happening at SAM as well as SAM’s
priorities and needs. Donors should be recognized for their contributions to SAM.
Whether it be through an event, the naming of an atrium, or a plaque, it’s important to let
donors know how important they are to the operations of SAM.
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10. Tactics:
Tactic: News Media
● Create relationships with the media contacts listed on ​page 11. ​This is a building block.
Keep developing and adding to the list so that future events can be publicized quickly and
SAM is aware of the people that should be contacted in order to have reporters covering
the museum’s events.
● As the exhibits change, the media contacts should be updated so that they can publish a
write up about the current exhibit.
● Publicize exhibits before they open to generate a buzz and bring people to the museum.
Tactic: Events
● The theme for the relaunch correlates with the new tagline. “Driving metamorphosis into
the capital city.” The museum will use this theme to drive public leaders to the important
event. The theme has to be about bringing the museum's new culture into the already
flourishing city.
○ Use this opportunity to grow donor relations and build memberships.
○ Elected State Officials should be invited as well as local officials because they’re
the city leaders and their support it vital.
● Donors Gala (late spring, early summer)
○ This can be used as an opportunity to recognize donors and to try and “auction”
the naming of the museum atriums to generate large donations.
○ Elected State Officials should be invited as well as local officials because they’re
the city leaders and their support it vital.
● Wine tasting (August)
○ A wine tasting will promote the new exhibit that will be installed after the Gala.
○ Gives added reason for people to visit the museum.
● Offer “Sip and Paints” for groups of people.
○ These are becoming common amongst groups of friends wanting to have a fun
night out. Groups of (10+ people).
○ Groups can bring their own wine/food and enjoy a instructor led painting session.
○ The museum can offer theme nights of painting. The museum can offer 30 spots
for this where small groups of people can sign up if they are not interested in
hosting a larger group event. (Beach night, decorate a canvas bag night, flower
night, etc.)
○ These can also be used for children’s parties as well (lemonade).
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11. Tactic: Social Media
● Update all existing social media accounts and create an Instagram for the museum.
● Keep SAM’s postings on social media divergent. This ensures that followers will read the
posts on each social media account.
● Use Hootsuite to regularly populate content and have it post for the museum on set days
and times.
● Follow SAM’s theme of being metamorphic.
○ Show that the exhibits change.
○ Post pictures of the new exhibits being installed.
○ Announce the new exhibits.
● Post about events that the museum is hosting.
○ Take pictures and post throughout the event to create a fear of missing out
(FOMO) effect for people who didn’t attend.
○ This will make people want to attend the next event.
Tactic: Collateral Material
● The museum must create new collateral material as it begins the rebranding process.
○ Start off by creating brochures, handouts and flyers for the relaunch. This is going
to be the most important event over the next year.
○ After the collateral material is created for the launch focus on the upcoming
exhibits that are being shown in the museum.
○ Keep working on building new flyers and try to figure out the audiences. With
SAM’s exhibits always changing so does the key public. The museum must
distribute their materials based on audience attraction.
● Create new brochures for VanGo to mail to various school districts to gather interest and
display the benefits of visiting SAM .
○ Material for VanGo should also consist of brochures, handouts and flyers.
Helpful Hints:
● Create collateral material that is VISUAL and SIMPLISTIC. The museum does
not want to overbear the consumer with information. Simplicity is sophisticated
and leaves room for the consumer to use their imagination.
● Do not center or italicize texts, makes information look tacky.
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12. Tactic: Constituent Relations
● Reach out to donors using direct marketing to keep them up to date on the exhibits and
what is happening in the museum.
● Use monthly newsletters to keep in contact with donors and to give them important
information about the museum.
● Create a program that allows donors to sponsor a VanGo trip to a school district of their
choice.
● Hold events that are specifically for the donors to let them know their importance to
SAM.
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13. Media Target Sample
Harrisburg Magazine
3400 N. 6th St.
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Phone (717) 233­0109
The Patriot
2020 Technology Parkway, Suite 300
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
717­255­8100
99.3 KISS FM WHKF
Clear Channel Radio
600 Corporate Circle
Harrisburg, PA 17110
WHTM/ ABC27
3235 Hoffman Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110
Phone: (717) 236­1444
Fax: (717) 236­1263
Email: ​news@abc27.com
WVIA Public Media
Contact: Erika Funke
100 WVIA Way
Pittston, PA, 18640
(570) 826­6144
Fly Magazine
P.O. Box 1328
Lancaster, PA, 17608
(717) 293­9772
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14. Message Matrix
Key Message 1 Key Message 2 Key Message 3
Art Enthusiasts Visit the
“metamorphosis”
Art classes can be
added to museum
visit
Harrisburg arts
community
Art Teachers Curriculum
enhancement
activities when
visiting the museum
VanGo can be used
as a supplemental to
art classes at school
Return/ see constant
change
Donors Atriums could be
named in your honor
Support art in school
by donating Van Go
for a day
Benefits for different
levels of donorship
Harrisburg
Community
Don’t forget we’re
here and our exhibits
change
Relaunch Support your
community
Media Relaunch needs to be
broadcast
The art collection
changes 3­4
times/year
Schools/PTA “Add on” the
museum to an already
planned trip
Van Go Send your art teachers
our way
Other Science/ Art
Museums (Partner
with)
Comprehensive
package
Economic
Development
Growth of Arts
Community
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15. 2015­2016 Timetable
As the exhibits at SAM change, the media should be contacted and the current exhibit as well as
the upcoming exhibit should be advertised on social media. This will ensure that the public is
aware of the current/upcoming exhibits and will attain more traffic to the museum.
November
● Expand media contact list
● News Release to promote the Metamorphosis relaunch theme
● Work on brochure and mailers for VanGo and museum
December
● News Release about relaunch and the exhibit that will be open during the relaunch
● Work on Collateral Materials
● Build up marketing material for relaunch
● Contact media/members about event
● Spread the word on relaunch
January
● News Release to that covers the relaunch and how it went
● Relaunch Event
February
● News Release about current exhibit
● Create a Hootsuite account to manage social media platforms.
● Build a plan for twitter/facebook postings for the next few months
March
● News Release about social media platforms and staying connected with SAM
● Collateral Material for Gala
● Launch Instagram account
● Keep building a plan for Twitter/Facebook/Instagram postings for the upcoming months
● Contact media outlets for coverage for event
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16. April
● News Release about Gala
● Collateral Materials for Gala
● Keep up to date on all social media platforms
● Contact media/members about event
May
● Gala
● Keep up to date on all social media platforms
June
● News Release about Gala turnout
● Keep up to date on all social media platforms
● Collateral Material for Wine Tasting Event
July
● News Release about wine tasting
● Keep up to date on all social media platforms
● Collateral Material for Wine Tasting Event
● Coverage for upcoming event
August
● Wine Tasting Event (Partner with a town winery)
● Keep up to date on all social media platforms
September
● News Release about turnout of wine tasting
● Keep up to date on all social media platforms
October
● News Release about upcoming exhibits and what to look for coming up at SAM
● Keep up to date on all social media platforms
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