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The history of the museum is one of shifting purposes and changing ideals. Taking a necessarily close look at the specific needs of this sector, this volume asks if it is possible to define the 'product' which the modern museum can offer. Are the theories of marketing developed for manufactured goods in any way relevant to the experience of visiting a museum? Or, as anti-marketing lobbies believe, should marketing play only the smallest of roles, if any at all? In this volume, the marketing of a museum is not seen in terms of 'product', but rather as the process by which one can build a relationship between the museum and the public. This study is the ideal guide to the ways in which museums can overcome the numerous hurdles on the route to truly achieving a marketing orientation. It gives practical guidelines to the specific ways in which marketing can be tailored to the needs of museums and become a useful as well as an acceptable part of today's museums in achieving their ultimate purpose in serving the community.
List of contents
Introduction Part I Issues and challenges 1 The museum context 2 The marketing context 3 The museum's environment 4 Museums and the public Part II The practice 5 The museum's markets 6 The museum product 7 Communicating the museum product 8 Resource attraction 9 Implementing the marketing effort Fictional case-study: Marketing plan for Currie Natural History Museum 10 Future developments for marketing the museum
About the author
Fiona McLean is a Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Stirling. She has been widely published in journals on her special research interest: the application of marketing to the museum and heritage industry.
Summary
The ideal guide to the ways in which museums can achieve a marketing orientation. It is essential reading for museum professionals, students and anyone in the heritage industry around the world.
