App Marketing Tips From The National Museum of Wildlife Art
GuestUser · May 30, 2018
Creating an exceptional app is the first step to supercharging your visitor engagement, but a world-class app is no good unless your visitors know about it! We’re always on the lookout to see how members of the Cuseum family are introducing visitors to their apps so that we can share their great ideas. Read on to learn more about how the National Museum of Wildlife Art is making sure that every visitor who walks through the door knows about their app and has the tools to use it easily and effectively.
What are they doing?
The National Museum of Wildlife Art set up a “download station” directly inside the main gallery doors. It’s the first thing that visitors see after they have paid admission and are ready to enter the galleries. No need to get too fancy, the download station consists of a few comfortable chairs and a small table to hold app information.
According to the Museum, “The purpose of the download station is to both advertise the existence of the Museum app for audio tours, and to provide easy directions and troubleshooting tips.”
There is also a poster designed to catch the eye of visitors and let them know that this free mobile app provides exclusive content from artists, curators, and more! The poster also provides basic info, like how to connect to the Museum’s WiFi, how to locate the appropriate app for your device, and the icon sticker to look for on the wall next to art objects that have audio content in the app.
The station features a “Getting Started Guide,” a laminated sheet that answers FAQs, provides step-by-step instructions for downloading the app, and helps visitors decide between using the downloadable iOS app and the web app.
Not wanting to stop there, the Museum has also created small “business cards” with a condensed version of the Getting Started Guide for visitors to take with them, in case they have questions as they browse the museum! There is also a book about the museum’s permanent collection, and in the summer, a basket of free, individually wrapped earbuds.
Where did the idea come from?
While no official evaluation has been done, museum staff report seeing lots of visitors with their phones out at the station!
What has the reception from visitors been like?
While no official evaluation has been done, museum staff report seeing lots of visitors with their phones out at the station!
What are the plans for the future?
The first addition will be to expand the Getting Started Guide for Spanish. The Museum is also going to take the concept of audio marketing to a whole new level by playing a soundscape of animal vocalizations via spotlight speaker directly above the download table! This has two advantages: drawing visitors to the table as well as advertising the Museum’s new audio tour featuring animal sounds. Finally, they plan to do an evaluation of the effect the download station is having on visitor engagement and identify any future additions or changes that could increase its usefulness to visitors.
What can your museum take away?
You can create your own download station, or you can pick and choose the parts that would work best for you!
Here are some of the main features of the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s download station that you could use individually or all together in your museum:
- Post informative signage onsite
- Provide a comfortable place to sit while downloading and initially exploring the app
- Create convenient “business cards” with useful information for accessing the app
- Offer free headphones for audio tours
- Promote current tours that are featured on the app (using signage, as well as audio and video)
- Include instructions in multiple languages