Hello Mary Anna and all,
Having consulted with Museums for more than 25 years throughout the U.S. and Canada, I / we have found that Museum maps do not do a good job in locating, advertising and promoting there visitor dining and retail stores. Some have nothing noted and some only have like a 'knife and fork' but do not provide the visitor any description, menu, pricing, photos, etc. which can be done if it is accessed on the visitor's handheld device of course.
These are important 'earned income' areas and I assume because they are visitor amenities, per se and not core Museum collection items they do not always get the attention deserved.
Same is true for Map on Museum's website and section on website that is a very well done Visitor Dining and Store sections that attract visitor interest and participation. VERY, VERY important.
It is easy to look at other Museum (and, Aquarium and Zoo) websites to see industry best (and not so good) practices in this regard. If one or both of these services is outsourced to operators, then the operators can and should help the institution, including financially with advertising, promotion, design, art work, etc. in this regard.
Good luck and if any questions, please feel free to email or call me. No cost/charge of course, if you want to talk or have questions.
Hope this is helpful.
Thanks,
Art
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Art Manask
Principal
Art Manask Consulting
artmanask@gmail.com818 358-3588
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-01-2021 02:55 PM
From: Mary Anna Murphy
Subject: Seeking best practices in museum maps
Hello,
St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, a non-profit arts organization is looking for guidance on what's the best practice to communicate museum locations to our visitors. St. Petersburg, Florida is lucky to have 12 museums clustered near its downtown. The arts organization, in its role of supporting cultural tourism, would like to help tourists navigate to those museums.
Do you print and distribute maps? Do you rely on digital maps? What is the most effective driver of foot traffic to your museum? Is what you do more effective with one demographic vs. another?
Thanks!
Mary Anna (in my role as board chair)
Mary Anna Murphy
MAM Exhibit Design