Books: Marketing and Public Relations for Museums, Galleries, Cultural and Heritage Attractions

Marketing and public relations are changing rapidly. Communicating with the public should no longer just be a one-way affair – the emphasis now is on engagement and dialogue, involving our audiences in our work in the broadest sense.

The communication channels available to us are multiplying almost daily and there has never been more need for marketing professionals to update their skills and knowledge regularly to keep up with the opportunities to engage with new and existing audiences. This book makes the case that the discipline is now fundamental to the sector, and no longer a “bolt-on”.

Given this fast pace of change, it’s ambitious to attempt to provide a handbook for students and practitioners to use that will have a decent shelf life. But Ylva French and Sue Runyard have a wealth of knowledge and the breadth of quotes and case studies from others in the sector is impressive.

The case studies – and there are more than 30 – range from the Manchester Museums Consortium’s Creative Tourist website, Banksy at Bristol, the brand developed for the Great North Museum, the fundraising campaign for the Staffordshire Hoard, through to smaller venues such as the Lake District’s Muncaster Castle and its events programme, and the PR campaign following the earthquake that rocked the Canterbury Museum in Christchurch, New Zealand.

They make fascinating reading and I only wish that there were contact details for all the contributors as I’d love to find out more about some of the projects.
The book begins with the theory and then moves onto tactical delivery. The case for taking some time away from day-to-day delivery is made.

Marketing and communications teams need to be good planners, but should also have creativity and risk-taking in their make-up; this calls for being outward-facing, talking to others and understanding the opportunities for new ideas.

To take some risks they need the trust of their managers and to have proved that their work has a positive impact on the organisation.

The need to gather evidence of this impact, to evaluate and monitor, is perhaps one area that could be stronger in the book. An interesting point is made about the tendency to delay action in the face of our ever-increasing access to information.

A paralysis of data can settle in. We need to remember how to use our gut instinct, backed up of course by experience and knowledge, and appropriate levels of data and insight into our audience.

It’s great to read this while the context it has been written in is still current. The book does refer to cuts to services and the new digital environment, which is reflected in declining newspaper sales, the need to develop mobile-friendly websites, the expansion of social media, and changes in the way that the media gathers stories.

But inevitably it can’t be completely up-to-date. The transition of museum functions from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to Arts Council England is not covered in the otherwise excellent discussion on stakeholders and advocacy. Also, the mention of MySpace seems rather outdated.

The authors return repeatedly to the need for all our organisations to make their communications authentic, to use integrity and to deliver on their promises. It’s a disaster to overpromise on what the visitor will experience. The chapters on PR and crisis management are particularly good on the importance of PR responsibility.

The book is useful for anyone working in this area, or aspiring to do so. It makes points about the need to have influence internally, the importance of stakeholders and visitors, and how to balance planning and delivery with an eye to the new opportunities that are constantly evolving.

The layout and style of the publication’s writing make it an easy read, and its wealth of resources and case studies are an excellent reason to keep on dipping in and making a return visit to the bookshelves.

Emma Parsons is a freelance arts and heritage marketing and management consultant