CLIENT SLAVE HAVEN MUSEUM PUBLIC RELATION Slave Haven

CLIENT: SLAVE HAVEN MUSEUM PUBLIC RELATION

Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum The city boasts many museums, including well-known ones such as the National Civil Rights Museum and the Children’s Museum of Memphis. However the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum in downtown Memphis does not boast a nationally recognized name and reputation. Our main question revolves around why more local Memphis residents do not know about or attend Slave Haven Museum on a large scale, despite the fact that it is rich in both local and national cultural history. If more local Memphians attended the museum, its reputation would grow throughout the city through word-of-mouth and shared experiences with the museum on social media.

RESEARCH QUESTION ‣ Why don't more local Memphis residents don’t know about nor attend Slave Haven Museum on a large scale, despite the fact that it is rich in cultural history in regards to not just the city but also the nation and the Underground Railroad movement ?

SURVEY THE PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY The purpose of the survey was to assess those who would be ideal to attend Slave Haven, what we would need to do to get them to attend the museum, when they could attend it and how they could get there, and most importantly why they would be interested in attending the museum overall.

SURVEY ▸ We wanted to know what kind of museum did the participant enjoy , where they even interested in historical museums. ▸ How do they find out about upcoming events. ▸ How do the feel about a museums admissions price.

Results from survey questions

FOCUS GROUP ▸ Based on the feedback of the focus group, the responses indicate that Slave Haven should consider increasing their social media presence and creating a marketing or promotional strategy to ensure first-time and return visitors. When asked, participants agreed that social media is a must for businesses because the reviews previous customers have written further their interest level. ▸ During the focus group, the participants agreed that promotional days, school projects, and family cause interest in visiting museums.

Why do you visit local museums? “Mainly, I go for classes, but The Dixon held a free event, so I went to that. ” “I go to the zoo because it’s free on Tuesdays. ” Focus Group Participant

SLAVEHAVEN MUSEUM SECONDARY RESEARCH ‣ According to the book “Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience” by John H. Falk, knowing who attends museums and what they take away from those museum experiences lets us know more about the role that museums play in society (Falk, p 21 -22). ‣ According to Kevin Moore’s book Museum Attendance, building a museum’s reputation is highly important, but doesn’t necessarily guarantee funding to keep the museum afloat (Moore, p. 52). ‣ According to the second print edition of “Museum Marketing and Strategy: Designing Missions, Building Audiences, Generating Revenue and Resources, ” museum patrons in the 21 st century are looking for a more engaging, interactive museum experience (Kotler, et al. p. xxiii).

CONCLUSION ▸ The survey helped us to conclude that the reason many Memphians may not know about Slave Haven is because of its weak social media presence. Our belief is that an increased social media campaign through outlets like Twitter and Instagram would be the most cost effective way to increase local aware of Slave Haven. ▸ Our focus group indicated that people would be interested in free events or discounted rates of admission. We believe that free events and discounted rates of admission would encourage people to at least create an interest among people in Memphis.