The Lakeshore Museum Center houses exhibits featuring the natural and cultural history of Muskegon County. It is comprised of multiple sites and buildings including the Hackley & Hume Historic Site, the Fire Barn Museum, the Scolnik House of the Depression Era, Archives, and a Museum Store.
LMC wanted to change the perception of museums, presenting themselves as fun and adventurous as well as educational. Their goal was to get people excited about visiting their exhibits and increasing attendance at the various historic sites as well as participation in their programs. They also wanted to eliminate confusion and build awareness about the multiple historic sites that make up the museum center as a whole. They were struggling to achieve these goals with a limited budget and in-house marketing efforts.
We created a new attitude for the museum with a campaign that focused on all the things that museums make you: adventurous, smart, wonder, imagine, inspired, and more. We also used innovative marketing tactics and media placement to spend marketing dollars in the most effective ways, spreading awareness of the museum and all it has to offer, and promoting various programs and events.
Not only has awareness of the museum been on the rise, but attendance has also increased at each museum site and at events and programs as well. Memberships have also increased and LMC was able to hire a much-needed Fund-Development Director with the money they saved working with Revel.
- Goal: increase membership by 5%; Results: 12% increase
- Website visits up 16.2%
- Facebook following up 24.5% for main site; 371.9% for Hackley & Hume historic sites
To change their perception from old and stodgy to new, fun and exciting, we went to work re-positioning their brand, refreshing their logo, and developing a tagline that was the driving force behind their successful new campaign.
We explored new mediums, like sidewalk graphics and building banners, to make a big impact without costing big bucks.
Video is a powerful marketing tool, especially when it comes to increasing awareness. With the inclusion of shooting and editing fresh video in the mix of marketing tactics, we were able to not only showcase the museum sites, programs and events, but also demonstrate the fun and excitement of it all – exactly the message the museum wanted to send. Additionally, the versatility of video allowed us to share that message in a variety of ways, including on their website and via social media.
To match their new brand and reinforce their messaging, we redesigned the museum website to better reflect all the fun and excitement the museum has to offer. A simplified navigation makes it easy for visitors to learn more about events and programs, and helps to eliminate confusion, making it clear which historic sites make up the museum as a whole. Engaging videos, fresh photography, and a user-friendly design gives the museum a more modern look and feel, further combatting that old and dusty perception.
We spread the word and increased the reach of the campaign by using various types of advertising to build awareness and prompt participation and visits. We also worked to establish an awareness that each of the separate sites were a part of the main museum.
