With the growing uncertainty around Coronavirus and its duration, museums and cultural organizations are wondering the best ways to navigate these uncharted waters. In the face of closures, requests for membership extensions, and member turnover, many cultural organizations are all experiencing the unprecedented challenge of maintaining their membership bases. During this unusual time, communication with those members is critical - but where do we start, and how do we stay relevant in members’ eyes when nobody can actually see us?
This past Monday, over 500 membership, development, and cultural space professionals came together with Dan Sullivan (Head of Partnerships @ Cuseum), along with Ingrid Van Haastrecht (Director of Advancement Services, Analysis and Membership @ Dallas Museum of Art) and Jennifer Thomas (Director of Annual Programs @ St. Louis Art Museum) to discuss actionable strategies for keeping members informed during closures.
Watch the full webinar recording online.
You can view the top takeaways from the conversation here:
1. Don’t Worry About Over-Communicating
During this time, we’re all likely receiving a flood of information and updates from the places we normally visit and shop. As a result, museum membership professionals might worry about sending too many emails or updates.
According to our special guests, this concern has turned out to be unfounded. Jennifer noted:
“I initially thought 1 email per day would be too much, but members are looking forward to and appreciating our object-of-the-day emails.”
- Jennifer Thomas
One important thing to keep in mind: most of the communications we are receiving these days are updates about the coronavirus. If you can offer your members respite, reprieve, or distraction with warm and engaging emails, you are offering something they want and aren’t getting elsewhere.
2. Consider Member-Exclusive Content
If you’re struggling to engage your members, it’s not too soon to be offering member-exclusive content. As Ingrid said:
“Content is the biggest thing we have at this point. We can scale different types of content according to membership level, and we’ve been doing that successfully.”
- Ingrid Van Haastrecht
One of the ways they’ve had success at the Dallas Art Museum is by offering special content to members first, several days or weeks before making it available to the general audience. Ingrid also recommended offering different levels of access to special content. For example, if you have an exclusive video interview or lecture from the curator, consider giving high level members full access, while offering shorter snippets and clips to lower level members, and preview clips to general audiences.
3. Don’t Underestimate How Tech-Savvy Your Membership Base Can Be!
One of the biggest concerns membership professionals face is how to communicate with older audiences, who may not be as tech-savvy. While this is a valid concern, keep in mind that to communicate with their children, grandchildren, and friends during these difficult times, and to navigate everyday challenges that social distancing imposes, many older folks have rapidly adopted new technologies. They might be using email, video chat, and mobile app grocery delivery already now.
That means, they might be more prepared and ready than ever to receive digital communications from you. Jennifer, who has previously struggled to communicate with her older members, has initiated a postcard campaign to collect email addresses of older members and encourage them to follow the Saint Louis Art Museum via online channels.
4. Consider Multimedia Content, Especially Video!
If you’re struggling to think of what kind of content will engage members and seeing low open rates on traditional email campaigns, try branching out! Video messages are easy to produce on a mobile device, and can be significantly more effective than plain text emails. As Ingrid noted,
“A we are all home and social distancing, seeing faces and seeing a person talk is very powerful.”
- Ingrid Van Haastrecht
These videos don’t have to be high-tech or perfectly edited. A genuine message recorded by you or your organization’s leadership can be more personal and meaningful than a high production-value cut.
5. Take this As an Opportunity to Explore Digital
While the coronavirus has presented many challenges for organizations, it’s also worth noting that some of these challenges can be viewed as opportunities. Ingrid, for example, remarked that she has been intending to switch to digital acknowledgment letters for quite some time now. Without access to her office, this has been the push she needs to go digital.
With the right mindset, you can treat this as a chance to execute new digital initiatives you’ve been putting off. This can be a great time to move some of those projects which have been put on the backburner back into focus.
6. Take Extra Measures to Support Your Staff
Across the country, many of us are now working from home full time. For many museums, this is novel and unusual, and they may not have the tools and workflows in place to do this successfully.
That’s why it’s so important to make staff check-ins a priority. If you manage a team, even a five or ten minute video call each day can make all the difference. Tools like Google Hangouts and Zoom make video conferencing easy to do, and can provide a little extra personal touch. Additionally, tools like Slack (an instant messaging platform for workplaces) and Trello (a project management tool using virtual boards) can improve communication and efficiency.
This is an unprecedented time, but we have faith in the resiliency of museums and membership professionals. For more advice, keep tuning into Membership Mondays and check out more Coronavirus Resources.