Improving Marketing at the Kempton Steam Museum
| Sponsor: | Kempton Steam Museum |  |
| Sponsor Liaison: | John Anderson and David Lawrie | |
| Student Team: | Sumi Hayasakura, Amber Powell, Jonah Ricciardi, Connor Thompson | |
| Abstract: | The Kempton Steam Museum aims to increase annual visitation from 4,000 to 20,000 and achieve UK Museum Accreditation in the next five years. Through interviews with trustees along with conventional and intercepted surveys of visitors, we determined that the museum could gain more visitors by increasing marketing to families and younger audiences. Through observations in the Kempton Steam Museum and related museums we developed ways to enhance the visitor experience to increase visitation. We have eight recommendations for the museum pertaining to visitor demographics, social media, website, ticketing, volunteering, membership, signage, and special events. These recommendations can improve the visitor experience and garner more interest in the museum from both new and returning visitors. | |
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Executive Summary
Background
The Kempton Steam Museum is a rarity among London’s industrial museums in that the site has remained mostly unchanged since it terminated operation in the 20th century. The museum maintains a steady rate of growth thanks to its status. Now, the museum is looking to expedite its growth by expanding its audience and marketing its offerings to fulfill Sections 8 and 9.2 of the UK Museum Accreditation Scheme. To achieve this, the Kempton Steam Museum is enacting a five-year plan, which involves improving its marketing strategies and offerings within the museum. In this project, which marks the first year of this five-year plan, we helped the museum develop strategies to better market itself to a broader audience.
Project Objectives
To increase visitation and improve marketing within the museum, we established the following project objectives:
1. Determining the main demographics of visitors of the Kempton Steam Museum.
2. Determining the attractions and engagement for visitors of the Kempton Steam Museum.
3. Assessing the effectiveness of the Kempton Steam Museum’s current marketing efforts.
4. Developing a taxonomy of marketing strategies for the Kempton Steam Museum.
Methods
To achieve these objectives we surveyed museum visitors, interviewed trustees, observed behaviors of visitors, and conducted a benchmarking study. To define the Kempton Steam Museum’s current demographics, we conducted surveys with visitors during the two open weekends at the museum. The results of this survey also helped us analyze the effectiveness of the Kempton Steam Museum’s marketing. To determine the attractions and engagement for museum visitors, we observed the museum on the days it was open to see how visitors interacted with the museum. To further understand the effectiveness of current marketing strategies, we conducted interviews with the museum’s trustees to understand their views on the museum’s marketing. To further understand which marketing strategies to recommend, we conducted a benchmarking study comparing the Kempton Steam Museum to other mechanical museums in London.
Findings
Trustee Interviews
During our interviews with trustees, we found that trustees frequently mentioned that data is required to determine the effectiveness of social media marketing, related museums share audiences with the Kempton Steam Museum, and the museum should market membership opportunities further and add more benefits to the membership plan. The trustee interviews helped us recognize patterns between trustee responses, which we considered when analyzing our results from other methods.
Survey Data
Using the results from the visitor survey, we found that most visitors to the Kempton Steam Museum were over 40, white British, and male. The museum visitors contradict the relatively high diversity in the borough of Hounslow, in which white and male residents both
make up less than half of the population (Hounslow, 2021). 72% were first-time visitors, primarily informed by word of mouth or social media, with the latter attracting a higher percentage of younger audiences. The Weekend of Power event drew a larger crowd with more returning visitors than the non-event weekend, indicating the event’s strong appeal. Most visitors spent one to three hours at the museum. Most visitors arrived by car due to limited transportation options, with many coming from nearby areas like Twickenham. The information provided in the guidebook and guided tour satisfied most visitors.
Observations
We observed dwell time, visitor interaction, visitor questions, and guidebook use through the four major exhibits at the museum. We found that both engines received far more interaction and visitation compared to the turbines and Mercury Arc Rectifier, especially during the first hour of the museum opening. Dwell time varied by visitor, with noticeable trends in 1.5 hour intervals in line with the startup times of the steam engine. Common questions visitors had across all exhibits related to access and signage. Using these findings, we could better understand visitors’ interactions with the museum during their visit.
Benchmarking Study
During our benchmarking study we observed the physical media, main attractions, and membership plans for three other mechanical museums. We found that the London Museum of Water and Steam, the Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum, and Brooklands Museum all shared sufficient signage explaining exhibits or guiding visitors through the museum, spaces dedicated to children, and membership plans with clearly listed benefits. Based on the findings from our survey, observations, trustee interviews, and benchmarking study we developed a menu of evidence based recommendations.
Recommendations
We divided our recommendations to the Kempton Steam Museum into eight suggestions. Recommendation one addressed determining the main demographics of visitors to the museum. Recommendations four through eight addressed determining the main attractions and engagement for visitors at the museum. Recommendations two, three, five, and six addressed assessing the effectiveness of the museum’s current marketing efforts. Our recommendations all address objective four, providing the museum with various improvements which can be made to enhance the visitor experience and increase visitation.
1. The Kempton Steam Museum’s Market
We recommend that the Kempton Steam Museum expand its audience to a younger demographic, since it was found that 75% of the museum’s visitors were over the age of 40. Increasing the number of interactive exhibits inside and outside the museum can help the museum gain the interest of families and children. We recommend placing interactive exhibits outside the museum on the front lawn and renovating current displays in the museum to satisfy these visitors. We also recommend creating easily digestible signage for younger audiences, since the current signage and explanations for the exhibits are very academic. An event where
kids can create signs for each exhibit can get younger audiences more involved and create kid-centered signage for use in the museum.
2. Social Media
We recommend that the Kempton Steam Museum increase its promotional content on Instagram. We found that the museum has more younger followers on its Instagram compared to its other platforms. Increasing promotional content on this platform will help the museum draw in a younger audience.
3. Website
We recommend that the museum replace the visitor feedback survey on its website. The new survey is easily accessible, shorter, and produces data that is easy to analyze. This will help the museum understand the effects that different marketing strategies have on visitation after our project.
4. Ticketing
We recommend the Kempton Steam Museum split its opening hours into two ticket times. The museum can double the number of daily visitors by selling separate tickets for 10AM-1PM and for 1PM-4PM. This will not affect the time most visitors spend in the museum.
5. Volunteering
We recommend increasing the promotion of volunteer sign up and benefits within the museum. Moving volunteer information to the front of the museum will increase visibility to visitors. Promoting the benefits of volunteering and featuring current volunteers will enhance the volunteer culture at the Kempton Steam Museum and encourage visitors to join.
6. Membership
We recommend increasing the promotion of museum membership in the museum and online. Currently, there is no marketing of the membership plan within the museum, and the membership plan is not easily accessible on the website. Promoting the membership more should help to increase the number of visitors that join the plan. We also recommend improving the membership benefits to include an all-day pass, emails with schedules of future events, and members-only events.
7. In the Museum
We recommend increasing signage around the museum to help visitors navigate the exhibits. Adding signage to the gates on the driving floor will inform visitors that they have access to the downstairs floors. Adding locations of interactive displays and engine start-up times to the guidebook will help visitors better navigate the museum.
8. Special Events
We recommend increasing special events hosted by the museum. Special events at the museum attract more returning visitors and can be tailored to engage different audiences. For example, interactive events during the day can attract younger visitors and families. On the other hand, late-night events cater more towards older audiences. Our report outlines the history of marketing in museums and the Kempton Steam Museum. We defined our methods as interviews with museum trustees, assessment of visitor engagement, analysis of social media marketing, and a benchmarking study of related museums. We then used these findings to compile a menu of recommendations to the museum. Our research marks the start of the Kempton Steam Museum’s five-year plan, and provides a
foundation upon which the museum can build upon with future research to improve marketing and increase visitor engagement.