Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 13:30:38 -0500 From: JAMES STROSCHEIN <stromedia@verizon.net> Subject: Re: Open hours for historic house museums Message-id: <b24c3eb973662979fb5ab0fb111846c3@verizon.net>
Currently we have a very minimal budget for house tour promotion. We
place an ad in the annual Chamber of Commerce visitor guide, we have
one or two sandwich boards that we place near the commercial district
(one of the boards has a small box with lid that contains brochures),
we hang posters downtown, we send group emails to our Chamber's list,
and we distribute both our newsletter and our brochures to downtown
restaurants and galleries.
Our hours are 1-5 Friday & Sat. and 11 am - 2 pm on Sundays. We don't
generally invest in advertising that gets only one viewing, such as a
newspaper ad that is glanced at once and is bird cage liner the next
day. We used to be open 1-5 Sundays but, if you want to catch the
tourist, we found they want to do something after breakfast on Sunday
and then hit the road. By 2 pm the tourist is gone.
But having said all that, we don't think "chasing the tourist" is a
very good business strategy for a historical society. For us, house
tours are currently only slightly better than a "break even"
proposition. We generate income in other ways, including a solid
year-end Annual Campaign that touts all of the educational and fun
activities that we do throughout the year. We ask our members for
additional gifts to support those activities and they come through for
us. We also have a very good newsletter that keeps our name and
activities in front of the membership 4 times a year.
One other thing that you might consider: if you have a board member who
can deliver a good 90-second elevator speech, ask them to work it into
any appropriate public gatherings, such as at the town ice cream social
or during a break in a concert or between speakers. We have free music
concerts at Orchard Lawn, called Jammin' on the Porch, (the second
Friday of each month in summer) and before the show or during the
break, one of our board members comes to the microphone and touts house
tours and the historical society in general. We get good responses from
this.
I've even been known to ask for volunteers in this way, and then send a
signup sheet around.
I hope some of this helps, Janice. This exchange is another great
benefit of this list serve. I think we all face similar challenges.
Jim Stroschein
President, Mineral Point Historical Society
On May 16, 2008, at 12:14 PM, Janice Dibble wrote:
> Our members volunteer on weekends during the summer to give tours of
> our
> Morgan House.
> It's always a struggle to find the right hours and best promotion (with
> very low $ budget for promotion).
> (1) What hours work for you in terms of highest attendance? Has anyone
> found week days or nights successful and/or other times of the year
> (excluding Holiday Season, which we also open up for)
> (2) What promotional methods have worked best?
> (3) We mostly get out-of-towners in the summer -- is that your
> experience?
>
> Thanks for any feedback, Janice for Winn. County Historical Society
>
> Janice Dibble
> dibble@oshkoshpubliclibrary.org
> Head of Reference & Adult Serv.
> Oshkosh Public Library
> 920.236.5214 ph 920.236.5227 fax
> www.oshkoshpubliclibrary.org
>