This book applies museum marketing theory in an experiential
service context, namely for art galleries and museums. The marketing of
museums needs is becoming increasingly sophisticated in an age of declining
public funding to each museum, the competitive nature of the information
society and the pressures on people for their time. The museum sector is
complex in operation with some organisations operating as volunteer
organisations, others as venues and collecting institutions, while still
others have no collections at all and are exhibition producers. Survival
strategies are many and various. The important ones for the museum sector
are the increase in competition.
Museum marketing needs to adopt a broader market definition of potential
visitors in order to compete for the same entertainment dollar as sport,
movies, eating out and other pursuits. Museums are part of an experiential
service sector, complicated by intangible elements. It is deeply entrenched
by emotion and sensory stimuli and little research has been conducted
specifically on this aspect of museum marketing. The focus has been on
operational matters in museums, with little attention directed to strategic
issues of service quality, satisfaction, repeat visitation, the link
between visitors and marketing, the museum experience and perceived value
to the visitor.