Museum Marketing – a matter of Common Sense
Pronob
Kumar Sircar
On 13 July 2015, it was our first class triggering us
to understand MUSEUM MARKETING. At the juncture it was absolutely a newly known
subject for us.
Our every day experiences ranging from TV to movie
to shopping mall to local market to an street hoarding, we never seriously
analysed systematically how and why all these? At the very outset I took museum
marketing as a subject field to study the strategies to sale something to and
fro museum. But eventually by the end of our second class (July 20) the blurred
picture got clear on my brain board.
There are several components or say variables which
are interrelated and functionally influence before the moment, in the moment
and after the moment in context of the MUEUM MARKETING. All these purely depend
on and vary from case to case. Marketing on a Museum product differs from the
strategy on how to increase number of visitors. The effecting variables are the
target people, understanding psychological traits, place, available budget, components of action to
influence, and standard to attract, etc.
Generally few categories we keep the museums in.
These are a) Private-Public, b) Government-Public, c) Private and d) Public
Museum. The concepts and practices in Museum marketing are continuously
expanding globally with new tools and techniques, determined by the case-
purpose, and the capacity-status of the museum.
We also discussed in the class supported by our tutor
Shreyanka Ma’am that how ‘needs’ may
vary among the people in the same Museum marketing context; e.g. an earthen pot
one buys to decorate his house and another man takes to contain water. We also
discussed on how a product being absolute value is linked with a brand being a
relative value. The product is tangible while the brand is intangible being a
psychological issue. You may see and touch a product but its influence on a
buyer’s mind is constructed by brand or its advertisement etc.
It is very essential to undergo a deep understanding
that the plan/strategy in Museum Marketing must be a research based. Simply a Dhaba on the highway, functions very
cleverly. I saw often in their front, the boards/hoardings inviting in bold
letters A/C WASH ROOM AVAILABLE HERE, CLEAN TOILET etc.. and when you get down
you will find mainly the Dhaba
adjoined by pan-cigerette shop, icecream corner, separate room for
driver/conductor of the buses, etc in the premises. The authority well
understands the nurves of the situation on high way and the urgent need they
kept on priority to business other things (actually which were the main purpose).
They kept hidden the main purpose i.e. to sale food in the so called ‘Before
moment’. One can find the dhabas fancily
decorated with color bulbs as a wedding venue to attract the travelers in
night. And ofcourse they will modify the premises with the changing crux of the
situation and demands. I fundamentally say that a Museum Marketing should have a
‘Common Sense’ in its basis atleast.
