Positive Public Relations

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Positive Public Relations

• A Workshop for Stuhr Museum Staff

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Why worry about positive Public Relations?

• We must maintain positive relationships with
  members of the media in order to continue
  receiving news coverage
• Negative attitudes reflect negatively on our
  museum
• Our visitors come here on vacation, which means
  we need to make their experience fun and
  memorable
• Because we are a non-profit organization, we
  cannot afford negative public relations nor bad
  press
• We do not have the Marketing budget to run image
  ads just for the sake of maintaining a positive
  image
• Our PEOPLE are our best channel of positive
  public relations!

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Goals and Objectives

• Learn how to interact positively with the public
• Learn what to do and what not to do when
  interacting with the media
• Learn how to better promote the museum in a
  positive light
• Utilize what we have learned on a daily basis!

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Dealing with the MediaHow to interview well!

• Have key points you want to talk about planned
  out beforehand
• Dont use museum jargon, terms or lingo
• Dont refer to inside stories or jokes
• Be conversational
• Smile and project enthusiasm for the event
• Talk to the reporter, not into the camera
• Be honest, but if you dont know the answer, say
  so, and offer to find out
• Use full sentences, but be concise
• Paint a total visual picture. Most likely,
  people have not heard of the event and will have
  no idea where to even start imagining the event.

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Dealing with the MediaHow to interview well!
Continued

• Stay within the theme of the event
• Make the event inviting to both new and repeat
  visitors. Remember that the general public
  doesnt get excited about the same kinds of new
  things as Stuhr Museum staff would, i.e. a new
  fence, a new door, new wallpaper, etc. People
  want to be entertained!
• There is no such thing as off the record!
• If you mess up, start again
• Call the reporter with corrections if something
  is inaccurate
• Minimize vocal pauses, ums, ahs, you knows, and
  likes
• End the interview on a warm fuzzy and thank the
  reporter for coming

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Questions to be prepared for
Reporters favorite questions to ask you!

• Tell me about your event!
• Whats new and different this year?
• What can people expect to see/do/experience?
• Any other information youd like to add?
• How can visitors contact the Museum for
  questions? (Give phone and website, contact
  name if applicable)

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Dealing with the public Our Visitors

• We need to be consistent in every department in
  how we deal with the public and how we address
  the media. We must always be POSITIVE about THE
  MUSEUM no matter what our personal feelings are
  at the moment.
• Because our budget is so limited, we rely heavily
  on word of mouth from our visitors to their
  friends and family. Therefore we must work to
  make sure that EVERY VISITOR leaves having had a
  positive experience and a memorable visit to
  Stuhr Museum.
• We must go out of our way to make their visit
  pleasant from start to finish. That includes
  making sure they enjoyed what they saw and
  experienced.

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Dealing with the public Our Visitors
Continued

• We must provide the visitor with an experience
  they cannot find at home or somewhere else. We
  must establish our own niche in the museum and
  attraction market. This means doing hands-on
  activities that are not boring, mundane, or can
  be done at home, such as sweeping, beating rugs,
  or folding laundry (especially folding
  diapersyuckthats a hard one to promote).
  Activities like these are not only hard to
  promote, they dont even sound fun. Visitors are
  here on vacation, not here for work camp.

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Dealing with the public Our Visitors
Continued

• We must be able to separate always being 100
  historically accurate and being able to please
  the visitor. More often than not, the average
  visitor is not going to know or care if EVERY
  DETAIL in every home, shop, etc. is completely
  period appropriate. Yes, we as a staff might
  notice these things. But what we do need to
  focus on is making sure they enjoy their
  experience here.
• To encourage REPEAT visitation, we need to
  develop a few NEW activities for each year. Not
  events, HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES. Very few visitors
  would repeat their visit knowing they would see
  the exact same thing on a return visit.

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Dealing with the public Our Visitors
Continued

• This means the visitor must be ENGAGED by their
  experience. They dont want to look. They want
  to EXPERIENCE and it is our job to ENGAGE the
  visitor. This means working hard to interact
  with the visitor and create a smile on their
  face.
• The average visitor may not be a big history
  buff. Some visitors may not even enjoy history,
  but they may have come to Stuhr for a unique
  experience. We need to make sure that even if
  they leave still not enjoying history itself,
  they still enjoyed their time here and came away
  enlightened Gee, I didnt know that!
• We need to remember that what is exciting to us
  is not always exciting to our visitors. A new
  door on a house, new wallpaper or a new stove is
  exciting for us as staff, but telling a visitor
  about it does not engage them. Most of the time
  they wont have seen the before and after
  picture of what is new, so they wont know or
  care. Publicizing or making a point out of these
  types of things being new is useless. The
  visitors want to have a visit that is memorable,
  and this kind of information probably make any
  difference in their visit.

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Projecting a Positive Image

• Remember that our visitors come here on vacation!
• Always be positive about what is going on. Dont
  talk about the negative or what is closed.
  Tell them what is open instead.
• Dont drag your personal feelings into anything
  you say or do in front of visitors.
• Never have a bad day in front of visitors.
  Always be on your toes and put on a smile and put
  your best foot forward.

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Positive Marketing Internally

• Department Heads if you have information to be
  promoted, you need to tell me about it and do so
  in a timely manner. Turn in information for a
  press release AT LEAST 2 weeks in advance of the
  event or the start of the exhibit. The later you
  turn in your information, the less media coverage
  we will get.
• Staff needs to be open to new ideas and changes.
  We cant continue to do the same thing year after
  year and expect better results each time.
  Marketing efforts will and must continue to
  change in order to continually attract both new
  and repeat visitors.
• The media will always ask us Whats new and
  different this year? when we repeat an event and
  when we open for the summer. We need to make
  sure that we have a good answer for them. We
  should never answer that question with an aloof,
  Oh, not much!

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Positive Marketing Internally
Continued

• We need to continue to make sure we are doing new
  things. I am often asked by the general public,
  So is anything new at Stuhr Museum these days?
  We need to step into the visitors shoes and
  step out of our own to see how THEY view the
  museum and what we can improve upon.
• We need to work harder at attracting new and
  different demographics of people by doing new and
  different things. Yes, we have a mission
  statement to stick to, but we need to be creative
  about what we do with it.
• A new policy will be created that any publication
  pieces that will go out to the public need to
  either come from Marketing or be approved by
  Marketing. This includes brochures, flyers, and
  any written material that promotes any event or
  activity. We need to present ourselves to the
  public in a consistent, clear, and well-designed
  manner.

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Thank You!

• Thank you for your time and attention today in
  learning how we can have more positive public
  relations!
• Go Stuhr Crazy!