Having read an earlier thread on public perceptions in regard to “repeat “ trips to museums, and having pleaded guilty of having dragged a significant number of my family members to operating museums, perhaps my experiences represent a common thread as far as the perceptions of the general public are concerned in regard to any repeat visits to a site. Even when the equipment, grounds, facilities, etc are maintained to a high level of care, I found that the “been there…done that.” reaction of my family has few exceptions because they are not genetically infused with coal smoke in the veins as I am. The ones that they do want to revisit are;

1 Routes that are linked to another attraction. The Cape May, New Jersey run up to the zoo, East Troy to The Elegant Farmer as well as the Baraboo Wisconsin route to the lumber camp qualify.
2 Museums that are in close proximity to another attraction and that fact is advertised. Trips to IRM at Union, Illinois always finds takers.
3 Rides that have an entertainment factor. Events as hokey as a pretend holdup by outlaws or Christmas parades of equipment all lit up ( at East Troy) or spooky Halloween trains draw them back especially when the kids were younger.
4 Onboard activities beyond the ride. Seasonal dinner and mystery trains always hook my wife.
5 Facilities with other non railroad items. Antique Cars ( Spencer ) or the seasonal show at IRM always pulls my brotherand othe revenue producing freinds in.
6 Food.. If there is an old fashioned diner nearby or upscale or interesting place to eatÂ…itÂ’s a major plus.
For what it's worth,these are the tactics I use when selling a trip.


B_Duensing@msn.com

Bruce:

Thanks for the insite. I'm sure most of us are too close to the trees to see the forest.

While the location and other attractions are outside what many of us can do, we might be able to run dinner trains, or special events, host car clubs or tractor pulls, etc.

Pacific Southwest Railway Museum
Jim@psrm.org

> While the location and other attractions are
> outside what many of us can do, we might be
> able to run dinner trains, or special
> events, host car clubs or tractor pulls,
> etc.

One organization that is very good at this is the Ogden Union Station Museum in Ogden, UT. They do not do train rides (the Heber Valley is close enough to Ogden to do that). Their museum holds not only railroad stuff but also the Browning Arms collection and antique autos. The museum hosts railroad events, motorcycle rallies, steet fairs, car shows, antique shows and many other public, non-rail events that cover a wide spectrum. These provide more incentives for people to come to the place and at the very least become aware of what is there, and that it's not all just a bunch of old guys playing train and calling themselves a museum.

> One organization that is very good at this
> is the Ogden Union Station Museum in Ogden,
> UT.

Interesting. I'm not here to dump on any organization, and I truly don't know anything about Ogden - their financial health, number of volunteers - nothing. But, last year, I went out of my way to stop by, took one look at the collection stuffed into a fenced in area, and took back to the highway in search of Yellowstone and, of course, the Gold Spike National Monument.

Jim@psrm.org

> For what it's worth,these are the tactics I
> use when selling a trip.

For the opeator of the attraction, there is a difference between selling a product and having a saleable product. We correctly worry about the quality of our attractions, but sales and marketing often seems an afterthought. Sometimes it’s actually easier to sell an inferior product that a superior one – case in point -- interior decorators often sell their clients on white upholstery because they have a better chance at getting repeat business. It sounds sleazy, but at least they have a sales plan.

Even the nation’s premier railroad museums are often featured in newspaper coverage with phrases such as, “one of the area’s best kept secrets.” Who's at fault? Given minimal budgets, the selling of museum attractions tends to be passive. Brochures are printed and a web site is created for people already interested to visit. Promotion often is handled by an individual whose marketing plan is rubber-stamped by board members glad they don’t have to do it. If attendance flags, guess who gets the flak?

Special exhibits and events are used by nearly every museum. They should include both recurring annual events and longer–term unique exhibits. The key is to overcome the public’s inertia -- if they don’t come on that day of that month, they won’t see the event. Specials also tend to get media attention and they don’t have to be elaborate. They don't have to be involved. If you have six Pullman-built cars, print a cheap brochure for the special "Pullman Exhibit." Background information in the flyer links to the cars on the display. Add a small display case of Pullman related items and you have a much better special exhibit than you would see the typical house museum or historical society. The subject could be Commuting by Rail, Remembering the Atlantic Coast Line or any of a thousand other topics. It’s a lot less work than a Civil War enactment or Thomas and, while the returns will be less, the results will be positive. Many museums have mixed feelings about special exhibits because of long set-up and tear-down times result in dull intervening periods. Since we’re seasonal anyway, we don’t really have this problem.

For repeat business, direct mail is the best form of advertisement. If you have a visitor’s log, it could pay to have a service update your mailing list and follow with at least two mailers. Better yet, have them leave their e-mail address. Print advertising is also effective – sometimes in unforeseen ways. We all know that a feature story is better than a small box ad, but you can be certain that newsmen writing the feature know who pays his/her salary. Advertisers stand a better chance of getting a feature story into a the publication. If all you can afford is occasional PR mailings, don’t send a different picture of #10 every year – this is especially true if your efforts were less than successful the prior year. Remember that one definition of insanity is doing the same wrong thing over and over expecting different results --show the depot or the speeder or a kid eating ice cream to vary your appeal. And don’t always try for a home run-- free home shoppers may be the lowest form of media outlet, but they’re hungry for good local copy and they get a wide circulation.

Most local University business departments will be happy to have their marketing students advise you on how to sell. If you set parameters at the beginning – this is the budget and these are the volunteer resources available – you can get a fresh look at your advertising and promotion efforts for free. The main thing is that you have to SELL.



fred_ash@bankone.com

Museums call them "mission statements", tourist railroads call them "marketing concepts". One shouldn't be developed without the other.

How many organizations began not with some stuff, but with a concept, which was then used as the yardstick to determine the appropriateness of every business activity? Probably way too few of us. Many of us seem to be playing catch up now, trying to figure out what sort of mission or concept we can write to wrap around the things we have collected or are programming now.

While most of this choir doesn't need sermons about relating to hardware, most "civilians" relate better to personalities and human stories. I would encourage everybody to determine what the personality of your organization should be, and every visitor interaction needs to be designed reflect that personality, from signage to architectural details to staff.

One recent tourist line was designed to reflect the created reality of Petticoat Junction. Not a duplication, but the generally informal nostalgic small town branchline feeling of a foregotten place in a past time. Clear images and statements like this make it easy to build programs that match.

Also helps to have some clearly stated concept to sell. Nudge nudge.....

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

We have pretty good repeat visitation (something like 80% at some events,) but we still consider ourselves to be the best kept secret out there.

We had an article about our site published today in a newspaper 100 miles away which is one of the best about the site I have seen.

http://www.modbee.com/life/travel/trip/ ... 4041c.html

Randy Hees
Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources, & Historic Patterson House



Carter Brothers Builders
hees@ix.netcom.com

We have several store bought plexiglass racks that hold single sheet flyers copied in house on color paper. Each sheet announces a different upcoming event. The sheets are produced in house using MS Word and clip art or photos as needed. This inexpensive system has worked well for years.

Wesley

National Capital Trolley Museum

Your post has many good ideas and directions, but there is one point I think is not as universally true as it sounds.

"... you can be certain that newsmen

writing the feature know who pays his/her salary. Advertisers stand a better

chance of getting a feature story into a the publication."

This is not true at the daily where I work, and at many others. The best way for a museum, or anyone else to get feature stories in our paper is to keep us informed of what's going on with timely, truthful news releases. If there's no budget for those, email works. It helps if there are interesting public-oriented events going on, but if not even meeting reminders will help. We can't decide whether or not to cover events we don't know about.

Send your news releases to the city editor and a copy to the features editor. Those releases should also go to area television assignment editors as well as the shoppers mentioned. You never know what will produce results.
There's a lot of essentially free positive publicity going untapped by rail museums. While we like and encourage paid advertising, it's just that- paid advertising. It will not get you a story in our news or feature pages. I truly hope we are typical.



http://www.steamvalley.com
mail@steamvalley.com