How to Increase Museum Sales With Content Marketing
Somber fact: most museums around the world reported revenue losses in 2020, with about 12.5% of institutions losing more than 90% of annual revenue.
The attempt to increase museum sales has become a priority ever since: attracting new visitors, keeping them engaged, and encouraging them to return is the only way to stay profitable and continue the museums’ mission.
But how do you accomplish this hairy, yet significant purpose with limited funds available and high operating costs?
Selling tickets to get people in the doors is NOT enough - only 2% of the MET’s income is from ticket sales. This means you need to find a more impactful, sustainable method to generate new museum revenue streams.
The best solution?
Start using content marketing!
It’s the most suitable tactical marketing approach to pull in and retain a clear targeted audience, build lasting relationships, and drive ideal customers to make their purchase decision.
Several benefits come from creating and sharing consistent, quality content that speaks to your online community: you spread brand awareness, raise website traffic, gain trust, and boost sales!
Strategic content marketing is what makes a museum successful - in fact, companies that use it see six times more conversions than those that don’t! 🤯
Ready for the big change?
The top five museum marketing ideas listed in today’s post will show you exactly how to make the most of content marketing to grow your income and achieve business longevity.
Let’s do it!
Why Invest in Content Marketing to Increase Museum Sales?
Content is KING when motivating ideal and existing visitors to interact with you and take action toward your offers.
You must set clear goals for every content piece published on your digital channels (What are you trying to achieve? What should people do next?) and align with your audience’s wants to create the most appealing, informative, entertaining content.
The result?
You’ll develop deep connections that turn leads into loyal supporters and repeat customers!
These mind-blowing stats prove the affordability and effectiveness of thoughtful content marketing:
It costs 62% less and generates 3x the leads.
More than 51% of B2B buyers rely on content to research their buying decisions.
86% of B2C marketers use content marketing to drive profitable customer action.
92% of marketers and businesses report content as a valuable business asset.
Knowing how to increase the museum attendance rate, how to improve the museum visitor experience, and generate high conversions will be a no-brainer if you have a well-structured content action plan.
Bear in mind to:
Address your audience’s pain points and interests.
Engage with them consistently.
Diversify your content materials for better results.
Demonstrate the value and worth of your services/programs.
Humanize your brand by showing your personality.
What makes content marketing 100% worth the investment?
It’s ROI-focused and guarantees slow and steady organic growth - meaning your efforts will pay off in the long term!
Top 5 Ideas to Increase Museum Sales With High-Converting Content
To navigate your content marketing activity towards increasing sales, consider implementing the next five revenue-generating ideas for museums.
These practical tactics will give you clarity and strategic support on how to deliver resonating, useful content that attracts and converts your audience.
Let’s begin!
Focus On Your Buyer Persona
I won’t lie: none of your content marketing endeavors - let alone trying to increase museum sales - will work if you don’t know your audience well.
Defining the buyer persona (aka your ideal visitors/customers) is what differentiates your content creation - with personalized content, you have better chances of converting visitors into buyers!
Ask yourself:
Who are you writing for?
What are your audience’s habits/desires/needs?
Where are they most active online?
What content types do they love engaging with?
Answering these and other questions will help you outline a detailed profile of your persona.
Source: AWeber
Once you complete your market research and identify your prospects’ commonalities, it’ll get easier to create powerful content with your persona in mind.
This way, you’ll:
Improve your communication.
Target the right audience.
Trigger ongoing conversations.
Leverage online authority.
Encourage leads to join and pay for your initiatives.
Increase museum attendance.
Focusing on this process is crucial to get a better sense of who you serve - so take time to discover your audience, gather customer data relevant to your business goals, and adjust your content strategy accordingly for optimal results.
2. Produce Evergreen Content
When you create a memorable, SEO-optimized content piece that is continually useful to your audience, you provide them with evergreen content.
Staying relevant and “fresh” for readers over time, this content type helps you with high search rankings, shares, brand authority, lead development, and customer building.
The best example of that is blogging. Not only is it an effective way to drive traffic to your site and gain visibility, but it also pulls in prospects and increases museum sales.
Believe it or not: 53.3% of all web traffic comes from organic search, and businesses that blog see 126% more leads than those that don’t!
Key features of evergreen content:
Click-worthy headlines and subheaders.
Long-tail keywords focused on user intent.
Optimized content writing for better searchability.
Specific, yet easy-to-read copy that responds to people’s search queries.
With these characteristics, users are bound to find your content - and related services - more easily, increasing your chances of building a solid bond that spurs them to convert.
By producing consistent value-added content, you’ll…
Stand out in your industry.
Strengthen your brand reputation.
Boost engagement.
Have a steady stream of readers.
Deliver a better customer experience.
…and ultimately gain your audience’s loyalty!
3. Share User-Generated Content
A great answer to questions like “How do museums increase revenue?” or “How do I attract more teenagers to the museum?” is User-Generated Content.
UGC is a powerful marketing trend involving any form of publicly available content produced by your current visitors/customers. (Younger generations particularly love this content for its authenticity and trustworthiness.)
Sharing reviews and testimonials on all of your platforms - from your website to your social media accounts - lets you:
Motivate your audience to visit your museum and partake in your programs.
Reinforce trust and credibility.
Grow your digital presence.
Increase museum sales by social proof.
According to a study by Podium, 93% of consumers claim that online reviews impact their purchasing decisions; and 82% of them say review content is what influences their choice to engage with a business.
People are more open to buying if they know your brand on a deeper and more personal level. With UGC, you make this happen by showcasing the opinions and experiences of satisfied customers.
This strategy also helps you understand your target audience better and analyze essential aspects of your brand promotion, like the level of engagement of your following and their approach to your museum.
If you’re wondering how to obtain and share UGC, here’s what to do:
Collect answers from online surveys or interviews.
Explore forums and group discussions to see what people are saying about you.
Start social media chats with your following.
Use branded hashtags to invite visitors to post their photos and videos at your museum.
Then, repost the gathered content on all your channels.
There’s no better way to get more leads than seeing real people validate the uniqueness of what you do!
4. Be Active in Social Media Conversations
It might sound obvious, but brands are often guilty of not participating enough in social media discussions.
A recent survey from Sproutsocial reveals that 70% of consumers want to learn more about the people behind their favorite brands and expect the latter to be more active on social.
Being present and having regular conversations with your audience is fundamental to:
Identify their interests and needs.
Form strong relationships.
Gain reliability.
Create better and more relevant content.
Improve your offers.
Extend brand awareness.
Share your values and beliefs.
The more you interact and provide insightful information to them, the more encouraged people are to come back to you and support your mission.
Also, include attractive, clear calls-to-action (CTA) at the end of your social media posts to boost engagement and increase museum sales.
Whether it’s a Question CTA to start a discussion on a specific topic or an explicit invitation to visit your offerings on your site, this method is a surefire way to influence your audience’s purchase decisions!
Protip: go one step further by regularly replying to your followers’ comments and messages - this will keep the conversation going and facilitate customer retention.
5. Create Interactive Content
It’s undeniable: interactive content grabs people’s attention in ways that traditional content can’t do.
That’s because it’s based on user participation, turning the content experience from passive consumption to active engagement.
From quizzes and polls to infographics, videos, and live chats, this content type entertains users while educating and giving solutions to their queries.
Plus, it fosters social interactions and benefits a brand by:
Stimulating people to take action toward a desired goal.
Making content consumption lighter and more fun.
Collecting feedback data from users (views, clicks, and responses).
Improving the customer experience.
Nurturing lead generation and conversions.
Being more inventive and stimulant than usual advertising, interactive content is a winning content marketing tactic to increase museum sales!
Protip: focus on your buyer persona to create helpful, resonating content and develop new formats from existing materials (aka content repurposing) to maximize your marketing efforts.
To Increase Museum Sales Rely on a Customer-Centric Content Strategy
There you have it: five proven content marketing ideas directing you on how to improve a museum, leverage attendance, and increase museum sales. 🙌
A few takeaways:
Create compelling, quality content around your target audience.
Optimize your copy for SEO.
Stay connected with your audience through your social media platforms.
Use strategic CTAs to convert site visitors into paying customers.
Experiment with different formats to persuade a wide and diverse public.
But most importantly, make these tips your own and integrate them into your strategy, knowing that content marketing is the most sustainable way to grow your business.
From being cost-effective to helping scale your online presence and attracting higher quality leads, it’s the trump card that will make you achieve the best results.
By merging your brand authority, expertise, and creativity, you’ll create authentic, personalized content that prompts your audience to support you long-term - and eventually, visit your museum!
