Validated Presence for Museums
by: Malcolm R. Campbell
'Some of the most important people to your future don't understand the value of what you are doing.' --- Richard West, "American's Museums – Building Community"
Your museum needs validated presence with multiple individuals and groups to effectively carry out its mission, build and maintain audience and manage donor development.
* For presence, your museum (or other heritage tourism site) requires branding—a distinct and compelling identity impacting everything from image to programs and services—that allows it to position itself to appeal to prospective visitors and to differentiate itself from other local and regional venues.
* For this presence to be validated, your organization must simultaneously earn and maintain the respect of tourists, tourist/visitor bureaus and associations, educational institutions, governmental agencies, foundations, museums, and historical societies.
You must tell a consistent story through your name, site design, exhibit interpretation style and focus, events and activities, visitor guidebooks and brochures, web site, and advertising and public relations materials. While style and focus will change somewhat to meet the demands of audiences/formats, this consistent story must also be maintained in monographs, white papers, grant applications and other requests, and archival resources.
Your organization's ability to create a validated presence with individual groups and stakeholders impacts its success with other groups and stakeholders. That is, the advertising done to attract tourists and local visitors influences foundation responses to grant requests; web site content focusing on historical information and restoration goals influences the collegial approval of professionals at other museums and museum associations. Everything relating to branding evolves, builds on itself, and has multiple non-linear effects on all stakeholders.
If you have validated presence, everyone who should know who you are does know who you are, and they believe you are presenting a quality museum experience.
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