Marketing Materials

My supervisor was used to having business and marketing interns, so he ran a lot of their publications past me for my recommendations and revisions. Because graphic design and writing are valuable skills in the museum field, I was happy to give my input and gain practical experience in those areas. I looked over a brochure card we stock at area hotels and provided my suggestions for ways to get the most important information across most clearly to the guest. I thought that information would include location, hours, phone number, and website. I also suggested they modify the social media icons to match with the accounts they have and the most popular platforms today: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, and Trip Advisor.

I also look over a membership letter that was to be sent out to encourage renewing one’s membership. My suggestions focused on ways to make the letter more personable and persuasive. I mentioned the yearly achievements I thought were most valuable to include. Mostly I thought it would be best to format it more as a letter instead of using so many fonts and colors and to include a signature from him, the executive director. I also thought it would be good to include the same social media icons on the letter to encourage member interaction.

The other marketing piece I worked on was a public radio spot. I knew we needed an attention-getter so I thought we should use the anniversary of the crash of Flight 232 to get people thinking about that day and how — whether they experienced it or not — they should come learn more about it at the museum. My mom is a writer so she helped write the 30-second ad from this brainstorming. We included enough information to peak people’s interest and explain how they could come visit, but otherwise it was short and sweet. My supervisor and the board president really liked it.

Although I’m honestly not sure if any of these outreach suggestions were ever incorporated into the museum’s marketing campaign, I felt like I gave my best input and definitely gained experience and knowledge in small museum advertising.

I was also able to gain access to the museum's Facebook page. I posted pictures and shared events to get people excited about visiting. I think it's important to use social media and technology to reach the community and I was able to do that with these posts. They sparked comments and got the word of MAMAT out there. It was a trial and error process to see what would reach people best, but I was glad to gain the experience and perspective. I also like that this is something I can continue to help with from wherever I'm at.