Five sayings that need to be banished from museum marketing

1.      “Build it and they will come”

Nope, not necessarily. In fact, you really can’t rely on it, whether it’s a new building, exhibition, programme, event or product. In today’s busy world there is enormous competition for our audiences’ attention, time and money; we have an endless stream of digital experiences and distractions at our fingertips; the media landscape is fragmented; and our audiences bombarded with messaging to seduce them on a daily basis. So we can’t assume that audiences will be knocking on our doors without a concerted effort from us. We need to generate awareness, connect with and entice audiences.

2.      “Make us go viral”

The statement that sends shivers down the spine of anyone with responsibility for socials. Going viral might be an aspiration, but it will often be down to a secret and elusive sauce involving a heavy dose of luck, fortuitous timing, money or resources to seed it, as well as algorithm magic. Virality isn’t a strategy, it’s an outcome, and an unpredictable and uncontrollable one at that. Chasing virality may lead organisations to create off-brand or risky content to grab attention, at the expense of authenticity or organisational reputation. Even if achieved, is the broad audience relevant to your organisation? And even if it is, a spike in short-term attention also doesn’t necessarily contribute to longer-term brand-building efforts, conversions or audience relationships.

3.       “We can’t afford to do any proper marketing”

Whilst no one is going to turn down a chunky marketing budget, the reality is that budgets are dwindling and for smaller organisations marketing spend is fairly non-existent. But that doesn’t have to mean no marketing. Strategic marketing is an approach and commitment, and there’s a lot you can do without any cash. Developing a strategy using logical steps and evidence is a useful exercise to create a direction of travel, to prioritise and provide consistency. And there are plenty of free communication channels and approaches you can undertake, providing you’re prepared to invest some time. But you can’t expect results without investing any money or time. Equally sometimes it’s about reframing marketing spend as an investment that pays off, and advocating for how marketing can support the organisation’s goals and its sustainability.

4.      “We need to be in….”

Back when I worked in a PR agency in the early noughties, this statement always referred to certain national newspapers. The client read and valued the newspaper (as did their colleagues/friends/family), so achieving coverage for their organisation in that publication was a measure of success that was familiar and mattered to them. Whether it was relevant or not to the organisation or its target audiences. It also means starting at the wrong end, rather than considering what the purpose of the activity is and who the target audience is.

5.      Cliched, over-used and hyperbolic words

Back in school, our English teacher told us to write a dialogue without using “said”, so instead of writing “she said” we’d need to write things like “she exclaimed” or “she questioned”. Similarly, early PR training taught me to avoid starting a press release quote with “I am delighted to announce…” since its frequency makes it banal. This still requires some discipline! There are plenty of overused words I’d caution against using, or suggest you qualify and prove. For example: unique, innovative, unforgettable, ground-breaking, iconic. Some are subjective, some end up sounding generic, and some are just not true!