MARKETING PLANS FOR MUSEUMS: A VITAL MANAGERIAL TOOL
MARKETING PLANS FOR MUSEUMS: A VITAL MANAGERIAL TOOL
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Issue Date
1987
Authors
Côté, Joanne
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how museums interpret and implement the concept of marketing, and more specifically how a marketing plan is a vital managerial tool that directs and assists museum staff in determining targeted audiences, informing the public, increasing awareness, and supporting development efforts.
The results of the study appear to indicate that, of the five museums studied, Le Musée d'Art de St. Laurent, Le Château Dufresne, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Le Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal, and Le Château Ramezay, none of these has a marketing orientation, or a marketing plan. The majority of the five museums studied have a product orientation or a selling orientation. The major reasons that hinder the implementation of the marketing concept in these museums are the following: the museum directors and museum professionals interviewed are more interested in the product than in their present or potential audience; there is a misunderstanding of the marketing concept; and finally, the majority of these museums do not have the human or financial resources to give their museum a marketing orientation. This lack of funds is due to the dependency of these museums on governmental subsidies, and to their lack of effort, with the exception of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, to diversify their sources of funding by approaching the private sector for support.