The promotion of museum bookshops
How to make the most of them for museum marketing
Art Rights Magazine in collaboration with ArtBackers.Agency dedicate the first column to Cultural Marketing, to the discovery of digital strategies for art professionals and their protagonists.
The column to get a preview of the techniques, methodologies and secrets of communication: an access key to the world of Art 3.0
he bookshop is that magical place where you can buy a souvenir of your visit to the museum , learn more about a particular topic, buy the exhibition catalog or a gadget to give as a gift.
The visit to the museum or gallery is in fact a real experience, and as such it must also continue in the memory of the visitor, who must be able to buy both physically, in the exhibition space, and online, through an e-commerce.
In Italy, museum bookshops are not always valued as they should : in fact, they often represent more of a cost than a precious economic and commercial resource.
If structured and strategically promoted, the bookshop represents an important opportunity to increase the museum’s profits and also to retain its public with rare and special objects .
How?
In reality we don’t have to invent anything because it is enough to learn the lesson of the most famous foreign museums, such as the Tate Modern or the Moma , which know how to apply the rules of cultural marketing for the promotion of their bookshops.
Here are 5 tips to successfully promote your bookshop!
1 – Transform an uncared for and semi-deserted space into a design store
Style, flair and creativity: the great museums have bookshops that look like design shops where nothing is left to chance: from the choice of furnishings to the search for selected items; from the suggestive location to the choice of the affable and enterprising staff.
2 – Diversify the offer by making it more attractive and exclusive
Make a difference by focusing on the quality and uniqueness of the items. Don’t limit yourself to classic books, gadgets and catalogs, but look for trendy, original, exclusive articles… that only you can offer to your potential visitor.
3 – Transfer your online bookshop with an e-commerce
Create a site and integrate it with an e-commerce to sell your items online to a world wide audience. Add a newsletter to inform your contacts of promotions, discounts and new arrivals. Open social profiles and design a digital strategy that connects everything in a functional way.
4 – Make artist or brand collaborations to create exclusive gadgets
Create exclusive partnerships with artists or brands to create limited edition and trendy items capable of attracting the attention of a wider and more heterogeneous audience. An example? The collaboration between Moma and Vans that produced a line of artistic-themed sneakers .
5 – Events + Educational Programs
Your bookshop is not just a shop for sales but a meeting and discussion point between people. This is why it hosts meetings, conferences and seminars for educational purposes or events such as workshops and presentations on books for sale.
Promoting your bookshop by making it an investment and not an expense is by no means simple. Therefore, rely on a cultural marketing professional who can support you to revolutionize your bookshop making it 100% productive.
And you, are you ready to find out how to promote a museum bookshop?
