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Welcome to our March Arts Marketer of the Month featuring a second interview with Greg Hall, now the Marketing Executive for London's Natural History Museum. Two years ago, when we first interviewed Greg, he was putting in place a relatively new e-marketing strategy for London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Now he tells us how he is building on the same strategies in a new (more scientific) environment. Read on...
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Featured Arts Marketer: Greg Hall, Marketing Executive for the Natural History Museum
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Greg Hall, Marketing Executive for the Natural History Museum
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After receiving a degree in History of Art and Architecture, Greg Hall managed the marketing of two museums, an art gallery and an historic house in England's Lake District. He then spent two years as Marketing Assistant at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London before moving across the street to the Natural History Museum where he has worked as the Marketing Executive for the last 18 months.
With a background covering mostly visual arts communications, Greg was ready to move away from this specialized field - in particular gaining new experience in a more family and tourism-based attraction. His new role at the Natural History Museum has provided just that. And while calling on his expertise in e-marketing techniques - honed during his time at the V & A - Greg was also given a chance to relive his childhood fascination with nature...and dinosaurs!
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Q & A with Greg Hall
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NHM postcard to collect e-mail addresses for Dino Jaws
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Greg, what are the major differences in the approach and focus of the V&A and the NHM? What challenges (if any) have you faced as a result?
Location-wise, my move has not altered much (the two museums are located next to each other in South Kensington). Fortunately, I soon discovered that my cycle-commute was a minute quicker in my new role - giving me valuable extra seconds in bed - there has to be some benefits!
Because the museums are marketed in a similar way (although to vastly different audiences), the biggest challenge was not the job itself, but getting used to the scientific culture of the NHM. In addition to a visitor attraction, the NHM is also a scientific research institute, with over 300 scientists tackling a diverse range of global problems. Having given science up in my early teens in favour of a life in the arts, I found myself horribly out of my depth when talking to scientists who had spent a life-time studying deep sea nematodes.
In science everything is black or white, right or wrong. Unlike the arts, there is very little grey area where personal opinion is valid so a lot of time is spent ensuring that the information we put in the public domain is scientifically accurate. Having said this, my regression back to being a 10-year-old schoolboy again, looking at things, pointing and shouting: "wow, look at the size of that", has not been a problem.
Coming into an organization with very little e-marketing in place (and plenty of experience under your belt), how did you work to get an online strategy in place?
I knew that I had been brought-in to the Natural History Museum partly because of my e-marketing experience, and one of my first tasks was to put together an online strategy. Fortunately there was a real drive internally to get this up and running, so, with my experience, I was able to push the first stages of the strategy through quite quickly. I think our PatronMail account was set-up and running within six weeks of me arriving.
Tell us about Dino Jaws and how you're integrating e-marketing into the overall promotional strategy of the exhibition.
One of my major tasks is to look after our annual family blockbuster exhibition. This year Dino Jaws, opening on 30 June, is set to be our biggest and best dinosaur exhibition ever. Featuring ten of the most amazingly lifelike moving dinosaurs ever created, it explores the sometimes gruesome, often disgusting, subject of dinosaurs and their food.
For the first time, the marketing and online exhibition strategies will be properly integrated. Central to this is the use of e-mail to raise awareness and sell tickets. We are already encouraging current visitors to register their interest in Dino Jaws by leaving their e-mail addresses on postcards available at the museum (see image). As an incentive, visitors who register are entered into a draw to win tickets to the exhibition. In April (just in time for the Easter holiday rush), the drive will expand to include an online version of the postcard campaign.
Having as many people as possible registered to receive e-mails will help us to push advance ticket sales when booking lines open. It also presents an opportunity for us to reward those who have registered with access to special and exclusive news, competitions, games, screensavers and offers. Once the exhibition has opened they will also have access to otherwise hidden pages on our website.
How do the hidden pages work?
The hidden pages or 'gated area' sits on the exhibition microsite, and is accessible only to those who have bought a ticket to the exhibition (using the unique barcode issued on their ticket). At the entrance to this 'gated area', visitors will also have to fill in further details about themselves - information that we can use in future.
Once in the 'gated area', visitors will be able to access important dino-facts, competitions, online games and exclusive screensavers. In addition, they will be able to access their interactive scores from activities completed at the exhibition and receive Dino-Detective certificates - making the exhibition experience both physical and virtual.
Looking beyond Dino Jaws, how do you hope to exploit the potential of e-marketing in the coming year or two?
Beyond increasing exhibition ticket and online shop sales, e-marketing forms an important link in the 'relationship chain'. Giving subscribers what they want and tailoring information to them is becoming more and more important in generating and retaining loyalty. We want e-marketing to encourage people to get more involved with the Museum. This may start with a simple visit, tour or ticket purchase, which is then cultivated by encouraging repeat visits and subscription to our information sources, and then upward to Membership and Patronage.
Another potential is to use e-marketing not only to increase visits, but also to enhance visits to the Museum. What we are doing for Dino Jaws is a step in this direction - making the web a specific tool for increasing the enjoyment of the exhibition (as well as simply promoting it). We want to continue to push this in an exciting way, encouraging subscribers to utilise our e-newsletters and website both before and, importantly, after their visit.
You've been doing e-mail marketing seriously now for 5 years. What has been the biggest change?
The biggest change is simply the amount of choice that the average person has when deciding what e-mails they want to receive. When I started, very few UK Museums and Galleries had e-mail newsletters that were anything other than text based. Now they are seen as essential to the marketing mix and are becoming more integrated into marketing campaigns and strategies.
As more and more organisations compete for the same e-mail recipients, competition becomes fiercer. So, coming up with new and innovative ways to attract and retain subscribers has become critical to e-marketing success. That said, because of its unique nature, the arts world is slightly less cutthroat - but we shouldn't underestimate how quickly a subscriber can lose interest when the information that they receive is not relevant or tailored to them.
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Announcing: National Arts Marketing Conference & Marketing Technology Pre-conference (April 29 - May 2)
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National Arts Marketing Project Conference: TECHNOLOGY SATURDAY - Pre-conference
April 29 - May 2, 2006, Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel
We invite you to register for the Technology Saturday pre-conference, a day focused on arts technology marketing, on April 29th. How are your Web marketing skills? Whether you're just starting to get into e-marketing, or want to branch out into more sophisticated mediums like blogging or podcasting, you'll find the Technology Boot Camps and Case Studies to be right up your alley. Visit the Web site now to register for your pre-conference!
Don't miss one minute of the conference, with sessions on Branding and Re-Branding, Pricing Strategies, New Tools in Data Mining, Building Latino Audiences, Audience Retention Strategies and much, much more! Visit Americans For The Arts for a full list of sessions, registration and hotel information!
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Click here to learn more and/or to register
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If you have interesting and creative initiatives that you would like to have featured or know of an arts marketer that you would like to recommend for one of our upcoming editions, please contact info@patrontechnology.com.
Please watch for the next edition of our Arts Marketer of the Month, coming May 9, 2006.
Note: The CAN-SPAM act mandates that all commercial e-mail contains a physical mailing address, and ours is: 850 Seventh Avenue, Suite 801, New York, NY 10019
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