Virtual Exhibits Investment Program – Marketing Tips

Nine Simple and Inexpensive Ways to Promote Your New Online Exhibit

This document contains a series of strategic and tactical tips for museums wishing to enhance their marketing efforts, and to promote their online products. Every museum can actively increase the visibility of its virtual exhibits and other online heritage projects such as interactive games, contests or even websites. Here are a few easy but effective ways to start the ball rolling.

Press Release
Newsletters
Advertising
Media Event
Search Engine Optimization
Printed Materials
Promotional Material
Presentations
Sponsorships

1. Press Release

The best and easiest way to inform the media about a new exhibit is through a brief and clearly-written press release. Keep in mind that the media is looking for a good news story with wide appeal. Your local newspapers, radio and television stations and websites, will be happy to share it with their audiences.

In some cases your exhibit may complement specialized media from outside your region. As a result, editors may choose to turn the release into a public service announcement, write a full-fledged article, or even contact you for a broadcast interview.

A Few Tips for Preparing a Press Release

The media receive countless press releases every day, so it is important to make yours stand out, as much as possible. It should fit on a single page and should be brief and to the point. If you are using the release to invite media to a public launch, be sure to refer to it as a Media Advisory.

Structure

Title: Try to catch the editor’s attention with a telling and catchy title and, if you wish, a subtitle.

Date and town: If you are writing a media advisory, refer to the date of the event. Otherwise, use the date of distribution.

First paragraph: Summarize the ‘what, who, when, where, why, and how’ of the story.

Body: Describe the exhibit, and consider including quotes.

Conclusion: End with a description of each partner organization, followed by the following symbol, centred immediately below the final paragraph: - 30 -

Contacts: Following the symbol, include the name and coordinates of a contact at the museum.

VMC Connection

The VMC’s role should be mentioned in the first paragraph, as follows: “This online exhibit was developed in partnership with the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) at virtualmuseum.ca, an initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage.”

At the end of the release, the VMC can be described as follows: “The Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC), an initiative of the Department of Canadian Heritage, was established in partnership with over 1,300 Canadian heritage institutions. www.virtualmuseum.ca is a unique portal to the countless stories and treasures held in trust by Canada’s museums, and lies at the core of the Government of Canada’s strategy to nurture and promote Canada’s culture online.”

Timing

If you are using the release to announce a media event, distribute it 3 days before, with a follow up call the day before the event/launch. Otherwise, you can distribute it on the morning that the exhibit becomes accessible online. In either case, avoid sending your press release on a Friday.

Follow-up

Afterwards, make follow-up phone calls to ensure the press release is noticed, to discuss possible coverage, and to answer any immediate questions.

2.  Newsletters

If your institution publishes a newsletter, or has another regular means of communicating with its members or friends, you should take advantage of any existing forum to promote your online product.

3.  Advertising

The most common forms of advertising include television, radio, print (newspapers, weeklies, magazines), outdoor (billboards, bus shelters), transit (buses, subway) and direct mail. The use of these advertising strategies will largely depend on your institution’s mandate and budget, as well as the availability of human resources.

4.  Media Event

In addition to drawing attention to the exhibit and raising your institution’s profile, a public launch is a wonderful way of recognizing the efforts of everyone involved. It can be a stand-alone event, or, it can be included as part of a larger event, such as a conference or a festival.

If you decide to organize such a media event, be sure to include the time and place in your release, and to attach screenshots that can be used in either print or on the Web. Other considerations include selecting a spokesperson to demonstrate the exhibit and answer questions, and perhaps inviting public figures from the community.

5.  Search Engine Optimization

Since your exhibit is online, it makes sense to also pay special attention to those already browsing the Web. Luckily, Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) content is very well ranked in search engine results thanks to CHIN’s online marketing efforts.

a. Directories/Paid Inclusion:

In order for visitors to be able to directly link to one of your Web pages from a search engine or directory results listing, your website must first be indexed by the search engine or directory. Registering your new online products with search engines and directories should not be overlooked. You may want to consider paying to get your online product included more quickly in the search engine’s listing. Information on accelerating this process, also referred to as “paid inclusion,” is usually available on search engine and directory websites.

b. Pay-per-click:

In addition to implementing paid inclusion, you can purchase keywords on various search engines. The concept of this “pay-per-click” option is that you bid for a given keyword and pay only when users click on your listing.

c. Link Building:

You can also help raise your exhibit’s visibility by adding links to your institution’s main website, and as many other sites as you can. Send the exhibit URL, along with a brief description, to the webmasters of the chambers of commerce, tourism authorities, popular portals and any other cultural organization. Keep in mind that search engines take into consideration how many other websites link to your site when determining how well it will rank in results. You will want to consider adding a link from your content to any relevant content at the VMC.

6.  Printed Materials

If your budget allows, or, if you have the support of local business or skilled volunteers, you can also consider printing a handout. Brochures, posters, bookmarks and postcards can be passed on from person to person, and serve to remind people to visit your exhibit once they have settled in front of their computer.

Even if you cannot print a handout dedicated to the exhibit, you can consider including the URL in all of your emails, business cards, museum programs, etc.

7.  Promotional Material

T-shirts, caps, highlighters, pens, cups, etc. can also provide added visibility for a new virtual exhibit, online game or website. Remember to make the URL address the focal point on the merchandise for added visibility.

8.  Presentations

Long after the initial buzz has passed, the story that your exhibit tells will continue to resonate with people. One way you can keep spreading the word is by making presentations, not only in your museum, but also at club meetings, seniors’ residences, libraries and other places where people gather. Offer to speak to students at local schools. Teachers will appreciate your efforts and you can be sure that many of the students will then tell their families and friends about the exhibit.

9.  Sponsorships

Developing a sponsorship strategy can also prove to be a valuable way to promote your museum, extend your reach in the community and leverage valuable and sometimes limited marketing dollars.

The art of sponsorship is building a relationship between two or more properties (your museum, a local media or private corporation) that can exchange products, promotion, visibility and services.

This type of partnership may help in accessing exploitable commercial benefits for your museum. Some benefits include: on site and online visibility, Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer opportunities, access to the museums marketing and promotion tools and use of the museum facilities.

Intangible benefits are to be taken in consideration also. For example, being associated with a prestigious museum or exhibit is beneficial to any sponsor. If your project has an element of uniqueness, it will certainly attract more media attention.

Consider offering a sponsor category exclusivity option (i.e. Platinum Sponsor) which can entice the sponsor to participate in your project. For more information on sponsorships, visit the following links: www.sponsorship.com and www.sponsorship.ca .

Finally, be sure to share your successes with CHIN, so that we can in turn share the news with the wider museum community and visitors to www.virtualmuseum.ca.

Don’t forget to include the VMC Logo!

By including the VMC logo in all of your promotional materials, not only are you ensuring that people remember where to find your exhibit, you are also helping to promote the online content created by fellow Canadian museums. Please see the choices of logos available for use.

Contact Us!

Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN)
Attention: Virtual Exhibits Investment Program
15 Eddy Street, 4th Floor (15-4-A)
Gatineau, QC K1A 0M5
Email: service@chin.gc.ca
Tel.: 819-934-5035 or 1-800-520-2446