The Key Catalog/Multichannel Issues survey conducted by VoviciEFM recently showed that 96% of respondents agreed that their print catalogs generated sales on their website. Many respondents saw a 20- to 50-percent increase in online sales immediately following a catalog mailing!

What does this have to do with museums, you might ask? Although most museums aren’t selling nearly enough product in their gift stores to warrant a catalog, I still believe the buyer behavior will transfer. The theory is that the print piece is easy for a customer to carry to his or her computer to place an order. Using this technique will allow you to  capture sales from people who may never have come into your gift shop while doing their  holiday shopping.  Even if you can only afford to mail a small postcard this holiday season, go ahead and try it to see if your web sales spike. The nice thing about using print and the internet in tandem is that everything is completely trackable, so you know whether it is a successful tactic worth repeating.

Even if you don’t have a gift store, consider a mailing to promote donations, memberships, or gift certificates as holiday presents.

Source: Deliver: A Magazine for Marketers

Last weekend, I was once again reminded what an important role living history can play making an event both exciting and educational. “The Redcoats Are Coming” was a weekend-long encampment of both British and Continental soldiers on the grounds of Jerusalem Mill Village in Kingsville, MD. We had crowds of about 650 each day (which allowed us to cover our expenses and make some profit too!). Visitors could wander the camps and talk to the re-enactors – the soldiers, as well as their wives, and children. Craftsmen were also on hand to demonstrate their trades. Kids and adults alike learned how to fence and march in line, did laundry by hand, played checkers, helped to cook to stew over the fire, browsed through the sutlers’ colonial wares, and exclaimed over straw mat beds inside each soldier’s tent.

But what really thrilled me was watching the kids watch the battle re-enactment. Every time the Continentals fired a volley, a cheer went up from the kids, and every time the Redcoats gained some ground, there was thunderous booing! Re-enactors in the crowd starting encouraging it with heckles like “I think we’ll have LOBSTER for dinner” which were immediately picked up by the kids. And as the battle concluded, the troops lined up in front of the crowd and everyone was free to mingle, look at the artillery, and have their pictures taken with the troops and horses. Everyone seemed to have had a wonderful time, and I am inclined to believe a large part of that came from the ability to interact with the re-enactors and the colonial lifestyle in a variety of ways.

A recent article in The New York Times discussed this issue when it profiled the Harlem Success Academy’s trip to the Queens County Farm Museum. The school participates in this field trip in pursuit of better test scores, but also acknowledges the benefits of the trips within the broader educational experience. Eva Moskowitz, a leader of the school, commented: “I see nothing mutually exclusive about having fun and having a rich, well-planned, rigorous learning experience. It’s important for kids to know where butter comes from, that corn does not just arrive in the supermarket.”

The children’s comments spoke for themselves:

• “Pumpkins have seeds inside them,” said Omari Eagan, 6.
• Ivan Ramirez, 5, said he had learned that bacon comes from pigs, but that chicken does not.
• “Chickens make eggs,” said Paige Garcia, 5. “I didn’t know that before.”

Living history events function in the same way. Learning about the Revolutionary War in a classroom – memorizing names of generals, names of battles – is extremely different that SEEING a battle re-enacted. Suddenly, kids have a visual to attach to the stories they read in their textbooks, And I bet the kids from the Jerusalem Mill re-enactment’s cheering section will forever remember that the British – the Lobsterbacks – wore red…no memorization required!

An addendum to my last post… Seth Godin’s criticism has sparked a lot of discussion at The Chronicle of Philanthropy and has reminded me of an important point I failed to make in my last post. When you are using social media, your primary goal really shouldn’t be how many “followers” or “friends” you have. Many non-profits have taken issue with Godin’s point that non-profits aren’t successful with social media because they aren’t in the Top 100 Twitter users. Most commenters agree – and I do too — that “Number of Followers” is a poor measure of success. Many of the top Twitter users are celebrities (Ashton Kutcher) and media outlets (CNN) that have a tremendous reach. Unless your non-profit is nationwide, you will never reach those numbers.

Which brings me back to my point – the quantity isn’t what is important, it’s the quality of those followers, and the way you engage them. If you only have 100 followers, but all of them have visited your museum at least once, isn’t that better than having 5,000 followers who barely know who you are and what you do? You should use social media to deepen your relationship with your supporters, educate them on your mission, and draw them into your museum’s fold. Don’t fall into a trap of measuring your success by your number of followers – instead, focus on the quality of your relationships with those followers.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has responded to Seth Godin’s scolding of non-profits’ “non-use” of social media. One of Seth’s points is that all non-profits should have a group of volunteers ready to head up their social media efforts, and if they don’t, “then you’re not working on something important enough.” I’m not sure whether that last bit refers to

1. That your programs aren’t exciting enough if your volunteers aren’t excited about them or

2. That recruiting the volunteers is the important thing you aren’t working on.

Regardless, I think he is right about one thing: the main reason non-profits haven’t engaged in social media – Twitter, Facebook, Flickr — is because they fear change. Or more to the point – in my experience, at least – they fear a loss of control. I attended AASLH’s conference online a few weeks ago (and kudos to AASLH for providing this new avenue of involvement for those of us who couldn’t travel to Nashville!) and one of the sessions was on using the internet and social media to attract and relate to new (and younger) audiences. It was a great presentation, but a lot of the questions from the attendees concerned the same topic:

“What do you do if someone posts something negative?”

“What if something posts something that is wrong?”

“How do you control what is posted?”

“Our Board/President is too afraid of losing control – How do we convince him?”

The presenters gave a great answer. They said that it is important to realize that social media is inherently participatory and that looking for ways to “control” the content is not only futile, it could be off-putting to your supporters and online community at large. Allowing people to comment on your blog and then deleting anything “negative” is seen as censorship. The same goes for trying to control what people post to a Facebook page or Twitter account. Social media does indeed require a new outlook. Its main goal is to allow and encourage participation and discussion by all audiences. And isn’t that one of the things museums also aim to achieve? Encouraging and welcoming new and different opinions can make any online presentation more interesting. Even if the feedback isn’t entirely positive, shouldn’t those comments be looked at as ways to improve? Social media is free and is therefore a great window into the minds of our audiences – we should be using it to improve our products and engage our audiences.

Technology isn’t going away, so it is time for non-profits to jump on board and figure out how to make use of it. As Seth Godin points out, this leadership needs to come from the top of the organization. Even if younger staff members have enthusiasm for social media, it won’t work if it isn’t supported organization-wide. I give some tips on how and when to Twitter and the Chronicle points to several non-profits who are using social media to their benefit.

I was very excited to read about the American College of the Building Arts in the most recent issue of the National Trust’s Preservation Magazine. This school is teaching the quickly-vanishing skills needed for timber framing, iron working, and stone carving, among others. We focus on these skills in our living history museums, but not many builders and contractors know how to execute these building techniques. If we want to continue preserving our historic buildings, we need solid programs dedicated to teaching these skills.

Take a look at the article and post below if there are other programs out there dedicated to preserving the trade skills of the past.

Here is the link: A Hands-On Education in Preservation

Wanted to share this great idea from the Maryland Zoo. Their fundraising event “Brew at the Zoo” is this weekend. They sent out a tweet today that said “To win Brew at the Zoo tickets for Saturday – retweet this message. At 4:30pm today we will announce a winner.” What a great way to encourage people to spread the word! In marketing lingo, this is known as “viral marketing.” I’ve seen it used a lot with email and on Facebook, but this is the most effective use I’ve seen on Twitter. And I’m proof that it works – I didn’t get the original tweet from the Zoo, but several of my friends retweeted it to me. And it got me excited, because the illusion was that “everyone else was doing it.” Try it to promote your next event – especially effective for museums with a local following.

So I didn’t do a great job of blogging from AAM…mostly because I was suffering from information overload and increasingly mounting exhaustion as the weekend wore on! Now that I have been home for a few days, I have had time to reflect on everything I learned.

I came home inspired and energized by the experience, and looking forward to future conferences. What really impressed me was the comraderie of everyone there – all 6,000 attendees! It seemed everyone took a turn presenting a session that drew on their own experiences in their own museums. People from the audience were just as welcome to answer questions as the presenters were. The entire atmosphere was one of helping each other succeed…it was very refreshing and a nice change from the “dog eat dog” of the business world.

Much discussion centered around the economy – naturally – and how museums should best weather the storm. While there are obviously no easy answers, I think that continuing to focus on your mission and being vigilant about controlling your expenses are both important steps in the right direction. I also heard someone point out (and I wish I could remember who) that while it may be tempting to reign in marketing and development expenses in these uncertain times, that is a sure way to organizational death. If you don’t continue to recruit new members and cultivate your current donors, you surely will go out of business. You will have no lifeline to sustain you. In times like this, it is important to remember to continue to work together and reach out to your supporters.

I’ll be blogging about the other sessions I attended at AAM throughout the next few weeks. Special thanks to my co-presenters Sarah, Suzy, and Lauren for their hard work and great spirits!

Couldn’t make it to Philadelphia for AAM? Follow it online!

AAM blog: http://09aamblog.wordpress.com/

AAM on Twitter: #aam09

So here I am in Philadelphia for my first American Association of Museums conference (AAM). Got a little lost on my way here, so I missed the first afternoon session, but I made it to the second: Extreme Makover 101: Rebranding Museums.

This session featured a great panel who had a lot of usable suggestions about rebranding of museums. I will spend time in the next few weeks detailing some of these suggestions in future blog posts. But I did want to point out one of the most interesting now…The Mob Museum. This is a brand-new museum currently being developed in Las Vegas. The presenter was from the branding firm that is helping the museum put their brand and marketing materials together. They did a great job! Their website isn’t live yet, because the museum isn’t open. But bookmark it as one to watch. You can visit their site to see their clever logo and branding scheme, as well as some fun effects. Remember, when it comes to your museum’s brand, don’t be afraid to get creative!

The Mob Museum: www.themobmuseum.org

I served as a judge for the Maryland History Day competition last weekend, for the Senior Individual Exhibit category. My two judging colleagues and I saw 7 different projects, with topics ranging from Thomas Paine to Eleanor Roosevelt to Sir Francis Drake to Bill Gates. As in all competitions, some were better than others. All of the students were well-versed in their subject matter and for the most part, could answer all of the history-based questions we asked them. I was very encouraged to see that an interest in history and historical research is alive and well in the younger generations.

Some trends I noticed:

1. Each student selected their topic because of a personal interest they had. One student chose a Polish Jewish soldier from the Holocaust because she, herself, was both Polish and Jewish. Another selected Sir Francis Drake because Drake appeared in one of his favorite video games and he wanted to learn more about him! This reinforces the theory that history museums should look for a hook to interest younger students by making history applicable to the kids’ own lives. Family heritage, video games, newly-released movies – they can all be used to capture a kid’s attention.

2. The students were very good at recounting the facts – they weren’t as good as putting their historical figure into a larger historical context. This is partially their age, but I saw the potential for them to dig much deeper — and thereby gaining a deeper understanding — if they had someone to guide them with their analysis. This is a role museums could play for students in their community schools.

3. Most students understood the difference between primary and secondary sources, even though they accessed many of their primary sources online. One of my judging colleagues was distressed over the fact that kids today “don’t even know where the library is.” That didn’t concern me as much as the kids who didn’t understand that wikipedia isn’t a reliable web source for historical research. The times are changing, and everything is now online. I’d rather kids be able to perform a proper web search to locate digitized primary sources. This is another area museums should consider…do you have a plan for digitizing your artifacts and posting them online? Doing so makes them accessible to the entire world – pretty amazing for a small museum, huh?!

The National History Day competition is in June at the University of Maryland, and I look forward to seeing the best of the best of what our nation’s students have to offer.

Consider getting involved in your local History Day competition next year. Many schools still aren’t participating – get your local schools involved and help foster an interest in history in tomorrow’s museum leaders and historians!

History Day information: http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/