Episode 10: Brand Messaging For Your Museum

On this episode, Amy talks about the importance of a brand, especially brand messaging. The words you choose to represent your museum will tell the world what they can expect from your museum. 

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Your museum's brand tells the world what they can expect from your museum and

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what sets you apart from other museums.

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Your brand is more than just a logo.

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Did you know that?

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That's what we're talking about today.

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Let's get started.

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Hello, and welcome to the

"Love my Museum" podcast.

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I'm your host, Amy Kehs,

and I love museums.

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I also happen to be a communications

expert and brand strategist.

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Today we are talking about one of my

most favorite things— brand messaging.

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When most people think of the

word "brand", they think of

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an organization's logo, but a

brand is so much more than that.

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Building your museum's brand takes

thought, collaboration and research.

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It is, after all, a representation of

your museum's values and mission and

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maybe even a bit of a personality.

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You can convey so much through

your chosen design elements

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and the words that you use.

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You want people to feel like

there's a relationship there.

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Think of it like meeting someone

new and then deciding if you would

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like to be friends with that person.

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First, you want to get to know them.

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Your brain is probably

unconsciously taking notes to

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see how alike or unalike you are.

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Depending on what you prefer in a

friendship, you are making these mental

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notes, even if you don't realize it.

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After a few interactions, you

may think, I really like her.

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At this point, you've gotten to know her.

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Now you might want to try to spend more

time with the person to test the theory

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and see if you actually like them.

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Time and experiences pass and your

new friend has a bit of a track record

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and you decide, yes, I can trust

her with more than just small talk.

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I can tell her how I'm feeling or share

stories that I don't just tell anyone.

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This also happens with brands.

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In marketing we call this the

"know, like, and trust" factor.

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Your brand communicates to your

potential visitors who you are

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and what they can expect from you.

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The psychology involved in how people

decide if they want to invest more time

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or money into something works similarly

to how a new friendship develops.

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One thing our brain is looking

for is consistency and if things

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aren't consistent that, usually

subconsciously, leads to mistrust.

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And so it's important to create

a consistent look and feel across

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all of your branding materials,

and this will create something

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that is strong and recognizable

to the people who are deciding if

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they know, like, and trust you.

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There are two aspects to a brand; the

visual assets and brand messaging.

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People often think of your brand

as just being the logo, but

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it's so much more than that.

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So for your visual assets, the visual

part of your brand, it does include

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your logo, but it also should include

a chosen font, brand colors, design

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elements, maybe a set of brand images.

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The job of your visual brand is to grab

the attention of your potential visitor.

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People who are noticing your

brand are subconsciously

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looking for that consistency.

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Can you imagine if McDonald's one day

had pink arches instead of golden arches?

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And then the following week,

they switched again to blue.

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Would you trust that they were

still the famous golden arches?

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We'll talk a lot more about this on

a future episode and I'll probably

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invite one of my brand designer

friends on the podcast to chat.

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But here's one really important

thing to keep in mind.

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There is a psychology to it.

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Your museum director or a board member

can't just say "I like the color yellow

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so our logo is going to be yellow."

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My own brand is a great example.

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My favorite color is purple.

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I love purple.

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I'm sitting here at my desk,

looking at my purple phone and my

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purple iPad case and my purple cup.

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And my favorite purple backpack

is sitting under my desk.

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But there is no purple in my brand colors.

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Your brand, the visual aspects and the

brand messaging, is for your audience,

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not for you or anyone else on your staff.

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Once your visual brand has grabbed

the attention of your potential

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visitors, then the words you use

need to hold their attention.

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Again, you want to create that know,

like, and trust factor with them so that

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they feel like you are an old friend.

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The "Marketing Rule of Seven" says that

someone has to see the same message

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seven times before they will act on it.

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This is why brand

messaging is so important.

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I'm going to share a

behind the scenes story.

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I was in a really frustrating meeting

. I was trying to get the people in the

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meeting to focus on brand messaging.

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It was supposed to be a brainstorming

meeting about brand messaging.

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As a consultant, there's only

so much that I can do when it

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comes to my client's content.

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I insist on authentic messaging and

being an outsider, I need buy-in

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from the inside and the perspective

from inside the organization.

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I can guide you to creating that

authentic brand messaging, but you

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are the hero in this endeavor . This

is your organization's story and

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you are living it day to day.

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So I need information from you

to be able to pull together

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resources that are authentic.

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Your audience will see right

through it if you aren't.

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Anyway, I was in the meeting.

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I was walking through the elements

of their current brand kit so

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that we could have a conversation

about what needed to change.

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I can give my expertise and advice

based on what I know in terms

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of psychology, communications,

brand strategy, but in order to be

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authentic and be something that is

used, I need input from the client.

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So we're going through this brand

kit and someone in the meeting

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says, "we don't really use this."

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She pretty much said that

this meeting is irrelevant.

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And that could not be

farther from the truth.

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The fact that they aren't using

brand messaging or a brand kit was

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actually the reason that I was there.

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Your core messages and brand

story are so important.

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They are as important to your brand

as the logo that you've created.

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Staying on message is very relevant and

having a document like a brand kit where

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the visual assets and the brand story

live together is key to an organization's

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success, along with training your staff

how to use it and why it's important.

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It will save you so much time if

you have brand messages written in

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a brand kit that can be repurposed

and used throughout your content.

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Your entire staff needs to know these

core messages and talking points.

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What is being said needs to be consistent

so that people see the message many

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times, and then they act on it.

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Whether this is through your website,

your social media posts, your talking

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points in a presentation, everywhere and

anywhere that your museum uses words.

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The two keys to help your museum stay

on brand are creating this brand kit and

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convincing your museum staff to use it.

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A brand kit is a set of guidelines

and assets to ensure consistency.

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There should be two parts to

this brand kit, the visual

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elements and the messaging.

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And the visual elements.

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, they include your chosen fonts,

colors, several versions of

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your logo, maybe some imagery.

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I highly recommend hiring a

brand designer to help with this.

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In the messaging part of the brand kit

should be , your mission, vision, values,

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brand story, maybe a one-liner, those

key messages and an elevator speech.

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Once you have the complete brand

kit, the next step is to use it.

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If you have a communications team, they

may need to be the watchdog, especially

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at the beginning, for making sure

externally the museum is staying on brand.

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Everyone on staff needs to be on board so

that the brand doesn't get watered down.

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That means it is less likely to

gain traction or make an impact.

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Encouraging everyone to use the brand

kit really is crucial in building a

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strong brand identity for your museum.

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It should be top of mind

and used as a resource when

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creating anything at the museum.

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Having that consistency ensures that

your brand is easily recognizable,

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building brand awareness and creating

a more professional and trustworthy

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persona to your potential audience.

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If you're running into resistance,

schedule some time to explain to

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them why using the brand kit and

staying on brand is necessary.

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You could even share this podcast episode.

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Remember that this might be an entirely

new concept for some, so providing

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training on how to use it will help

your colleagues understand and show

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them how to use it effectively.

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If you are in the communications

office, make sure that you are there

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to help and serve as a resource.

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Have it easily accessible to your

colleagues, like in a shared drive, but

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also put into place an approval process,

especially at the beginning to make

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sure that it's being used correctly.

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And lead by example, use the logo and

maybe the tagline in your email signature.

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Last summer, my family

visited the San Diego zoo.

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We were there when the park opened and

we stayed all day until the park closed.

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We had a great day.

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My kids still say that it was one of the

best vacation days they had ever had.

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In addition to walking around and visiting

the animals, we also did the zoo's double

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Decker bus tour and we attended a

wildlife presentation in the amphitheater.

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At the end of the day, we were

visiting an exhibit and in the exhibit,

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there was a big colorful mural that

was also kind of like a graphic.

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I noticed that the messages on this

wall were messages that they had been

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telling us and reinforcing all day.

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The tour guide on the bus talked

about these core themes as we

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drove around getting our first

glimpses of the park in the morning.

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The wildlife presentation that we watched

in the amphitheater focused on the same

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pillars . And then there was this mural.

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Which was larger than life so that we

couldn't possibly miss the message.

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At the end of the day, my whole

family could tell you about the zoo

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and say their mission and tagline.

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The zoo's entire team was

consistent in their messaging.

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And even though we were just

visiting for a day, we could repeat

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their messaging by the time we

left, because of that consistency.

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Be like the San Diego zoo.

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Be consistent.

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Repeat your messaging everywhere

your museum uses its words; on your

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website, on your social media channels,

in your email marketing, in your

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press releases, and to the visitors

as they walk through your doors.

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Brand messaging is so important.

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Once you have it figured out and

everything in place, I also promise you

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that it is going to save you so much time.

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I hope this has been helpful.

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This is one of the things that we

talk about in the brand new Facebook

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group, "Love my Museum: the Community."

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I'll leave the link in the show notes.

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I'd love to see you there.

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Thanks so much and I'll see you next time.