Elisabet Pueyo
Collaborative spirit, participation, dynamism, friendship, commitment, research, identity, culture, etc., these are for sure the characteristics that the great majority of associations and entities that make up the networks of associations in Catalonia want to identify with.
And that’s why we have wanted to focus in a special way on these associations and the people who form part of them, so as to strengthen the ties with the territory. Making a more social museum and a museum for everyone is strategic for us, and within the concept of The Museum is yours a programme has been designed and structured with the aim of managing to reach this target audience (associations and entities of the country), in such a way that the Museu Nacional becomes a relevant and attractive option for them.
Action plan from a perspective of relationship marketing
We are well aware that to mobilise the groups, they require motivations that should be added to the strict artistic or cultural enjoyment, such as joining up with colleagues by organising an excursion or by doing something special. For this reason we have been working on thinking not only of offering economic advantages, but also on ideas of contents for the visits and on added value services, in such a way that the associations can have a complete experience.
Based on this, knowing clearly who we want to aim at, it is necessary to create and set in motion the necessary tools and resources for what should become a structural programme of the museum, by means of the methodology of relationship marketing, so as to identify, attract, sell to and make loyal our target audience.
In our case, the challenge is to design and internally manage the project with the support, obviously, of good collaborators in specific moments, that in the future can be extendable, methodologically speaking, to a programme of relationships with all the visitors.
So as to begin and to take on the category of programme, it had to have a name, and in this case, it is an open declaration: The Museum is yours, which appeals to the idea that we want the people from everywhere to make the museum theirs.
An from this point on, the creativity (the image and the message) concentrated on the promise aimed at the associations that visit us in groups, dealt with also as different profiles, with the aim of identifying interested groups.
We have prepared a specific offer: free admission to the museum provided they come in a group, advantages in the contracting of guided visits to the collection or to the singular spaces which are not normally open to the public, selection of works of the collection that have links or ties to the territorial origin of the group, etc. All of this combined with aspects of the service such as, for example, better prices for staying for lunch after a cultural visit or event, or help in the organisation of the event by the museum team.
We have been working on different channels so as to reach the associations:
- Personalised meetings with coordinators of entities, federations, and public organisms to whom we can offer these contents so that they spread them among their members. This will provide us with the real needs of our public.
- By means of the database that we are constructing based on the historical activity and also on the public databases. This allows us to start segmenting and personalising messages according to profiles, such as, for example, the associations of women, or behavioural information, entities which have shown interest in a campaign but haven’t ended up making a reservation, or groups that repeat, etc.
- By means of the general media, through the press, exterior publicity, radio and digital support that are planned in local support. With this, we aim to gain the notoriety of the programme in a less directed way.
- Through social networks, so as to integrate this programme in the digital plan of the museum. We aim to highlight the proximity and knowledge, one to one, provided by the media so as to create a solid communication.
Results and continuity
From the beginning of the pilot test until the end of 2015, around 3,000 visitors have participated. They have come from associations that we have gone out to find and they have come to the museum, have contracted one or more guided visits, and have enjoyed the restaurant service of the museum.
The indicators show us the type of entities, the decision-making time in relation to the launching of campaigns, which services are being contracted, and their degree of satisfaction. Making use of this information to match the offer and enrich the knowledge we have of the users, so as to transform the interests or ‘leads’ that the plan has generated among the visitors of the museum.
What is true is that the work of relationship marketing demands a painstaking work, in-depth and of different aspects that not only require suitable infrastructures, but also the conviction that it is the way to do things, in which everyone participates. This includes work by the different areas such as the management area, which presents the activity with a personalised letter to each of the entities; the director, who has participated in meetings with cultural associations; the constant updating of the databases that make it possible for the marketing to work; and the colleagues who receive the groups, welcoming them and asking to take a group photo for subsequent diffusion. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but aren’t the relationships which are worthwhile the ones that provide us with more work? And a lot of satisfaction also! Here are some examples of the entities that have already visited us, and given the expression on their faces, we believe they have enjoyed the visit!
Màrqueting
