Altogether now - better visitor offers through partnerships - AIM

Associate Supplier, Colin Mulberg outlines how working with partners benefits both visitors and venues.

Many museums and heritage sites see themselves as competing with other heritage and cultural attractions, all jostling for the attention and custom of visitors. Yet most visitors are not making a single, one-time only purchase but are looking for range of cultural experiences, either over a short period or throughout the year. In most visitor markets, there is room for more than one cultural option, so venues are not necessarily in competition.

Mutual benefits

Working together has a greater presence, flags up the benefits of a cultural visit and gives more value. It takes time, effort and often money for visitors to travel to a specific location, so it is attractive to have more things to do. Working with partners provides a stronger visitor offer and creates a ‘critical mass’ of experiences that makes a visit worthwhile.

Many venues are familiar with partnership working through schemes such as heritage open days, arts/sculpture/design festivals and coordinated summer family programmes. These schemes encourage visits to more than one venue and benefit from joint marketing with a higher profile than can be achieved by individual venues on their own.

Working with partners increases the pool of ideas and approaches, especially if partnering with arts and creative organisations. This can expand your visitor programme and activities, without having to do everything yourself. In some cases, your contribution could be to host or simply support an event run by others, lending status and credibility as well as joint marketing.

Partnership working can therefore reduce costs as activity, organisation and expenditure is shared, and provide extra reach and channels for promotion.

Working together

Review local activities where your venue could add value while improving your offer to visitors. For example, linking in with festivals, events, and celebrations (e.g. town/city festivals, anniversaries, annual fairs, art trails, Christmas, etc.) where you can contribute to existing provision and local life.

Cross-promotion with partner venues encourages visits and could include incentives such as discounts at partner venues on admission, café, shop, or specific activities. The partnership could be expanded through complementary exhibitions, coordinated programmes or joint ticketing for shared events.

Working with partners is a useful way of expanding activity and attracting new and diverse audiences. For example, local adult groups, societies and classes in art, photography, history/heritage and over 50s activities could partner with you for visits, as a host venue or as a source of inspiration.

Soldiers of Shropshire Museum at Shrewsbury Castle uses a mixture of these approaches. It has hosted local theatre performances, been part of the town arts trail, plays a key role in local events (e.g. Queen Elizabeth book of condolence; armed forces remembrance and memorial services), is part of holiday provision for families and runs sessions with a variety of local groups.

Many museums and heritage sites have commercial partnerships with local businesses, promoting the local economy and reducing carbon miles. Some venues without on-site catering arrange a discount at local independent cafes, providing a benefit to visitors and driving footfall.

More extensive partnerships involve markets and fairs bringing together local makers and producers (e.g. makers markets). Partnerships can also increase venue hire bookings.

Soldiers of Shropshire Museum at Shrewsbury Castle (copyright Soldiers of Shropshire Museum)

Identifying partners

A first step to setting up any partnership is to determine what you want from the process and what you can offer potential partners. It is also worth looking at current and past partners to review the nature of your partnership to see if there is scope for expansion or to revive past contacts.

Take time to identify partners that will fit with your aspirations and situation. On-line research (e.g. Tripadvisor; Google Maps) will reveal other cultural venues and attractions, along with local and regional clubs, societies, organisations and networks, adult education classes, etc. that are worth exploring further.

Many local and regional authorities have lists of voluntary/charitable organisations in their area. Development bodies such as regional Museum Development Network and Local Enterprise Partnerships may also be able to advise, including looking for commercial partners.

Filter and review the list of potential partners, assessing what a partnership could look like, how it matches your aims and what benefits you could give to the partner. This can then form the basis for initial exploratory discussions and some trial partnership activities.

Find out more about Colin Mulberg Consulting