The Marketing of SantralIstanbul Art Gallery - Essay Example

Contents Introduction 2 Discussion 2 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction The SantralIstanbul art gallery and museum is an arts and cultural museum located in Turkey. The museum was opened up in the year 2007. The SantralIstanbul museum is a cultural and arts complex. It is located in the Eyrup district of Turkey. The whole complex consists of a number of buildings aimed at improving the cultural and arts facet of Istanbul, Turkey. The complex includes a public library, a modern art museum, an amphitheatre, an energy museum and several concert halls. The name of the SantralIstanbul arts and cultural complex has been derived from the Turkish word ‘Santral’ which means power plant. The complex is named so because it is located in the Istanbul Bilgi University campus which used to be the formal first power station during the existence of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. SantralIstanbul is spread over a total area of 118000 square metres and has many cultural, social, educational and arts related buildings within the complex. The SantralIstanbul museum has been opened up only a few years back, yet it has become an important representation of the cultural heritage of Istanbul. A wide number of local as well as international visitors visit the museum every day. In line with the importance of the museum in the cultural and heritage domain of Istanbul it can be identified that suitable strategic drivers for marketing of the museum should be identified to boost the cultural heritage and creative aspects of the country in a beneficial manner. Discussion The modern art museum in the SantralIstanbul complex forms an important part of the museum and is a significant medium for mirroring the creativity and culture of the country in the national as well as international domains. The modern art museum is the most prominent building in the SantralIstanbul complex and occupies a floor space of 7000 square metres. The art museum is spread over two huge buildings which have been set up on the remnants of the two plant buildings that existed in the power station during the Ottoman reigning period. The museum has multiple high end facilities which make it an easy choice for temporary and permanent exhibitions in the country. Also, many renowned creative figures of Istanbul and other parts of the world are associated with the works presented in the museum of SantralIstanbul (Wilcoxon, 2007). The marketing of a museum or any other creative form of organization is much different from the marketing of other business organizations (Thompson, 2001). The marketing of a museum or an art gallery is unique because the objectives of a museum or art gallery is different form the objectives of the profit oriented businesses. The main goal of the museums and other arts and culture centres is to create more level of education and awareness among the general public regarding the arts and cultural history and current development of these in the country while generating more revenues and attracting more number of audiences into the museum (Thraser, 2001). Thus, the SantralIstanbul museum should give more stress on the educational and awareness factors to promote the museum effectively. The marketing process of an arts museum or any other creative organization is mission relevant and is driven by the market and demands. The marketing directors of museums and art galleries try to make the visiting experiences of the audiences of the museums more satisfying, attractive as well as accessible. Thus, the marketing of the SantralIstanbul arts museum needs to be more strategic and comparatively sophisticated in nature as compared to general organizations. Also, the marketing process should be aimed at enhancing the experiences of visitors and increasing the level of awareness among the public related to the arts and cultural heritage of the country that is being tried to be displayed through the exhibitions, activities and resources of the museum (Sobol, 1999). The marketing directors of the museum should take up new strategies of marketing like the use of social media for increasing the visibility of the museum (Smallwood, 2001). The strategic drivers of the marketing plan for the SantralIstanbul museum should be identified carefully on the basis of the selected target group of audiences for the museum. The main target group of audiences for the SantralIstanbul museum include the metropolitan residents, organized groups, visitors from educational institutions, tourists and the parents and grandparents who visit the museum with the children of the family in order to educate them about the cultural and creative history and background of the country (Prince, 2002). To increase the number of general public audiences and visitors to the SantralIstanbul museum, it is necessary to implement suitable strategies like conducting market research to identify the present position of the business in the minds of the target audiences and to subsequently develop suitable strategies and action plan to make the museum more appealing to a wider market (Edith and Neijens, 2000). Also, the SantralIstanbul museum of arts should establish teams dedicated to understand the needs of the different target audiences and embed these needs in the content building, design and marketing plans of the museum as well as in the temporary exhibitions held in the museum. The main trend of museum marketing involves the experiences of the visitors and the audiences of the museum. The experiences of visiting a museum are based on the educational values and information building relevant to the culture, arts, educational and social aspects. These experiences can be used to further the strategic goals of a museum. The experiences of the audiences of a museum or an art gallery are more focused in nature. As such, the SantralIstanbul museum should concentrated on building adequate resources and setting up suitable exhibitions to capture the interests of the audiences as well as to enhance the visiting experiences of the audiences. This can be done through the identification of the recreation needs and the wants of the leisure time recreation as displayed by the potential audiences for the museum (Vandell, 1999). Tapping on the unfulfilled needs and demands of the selected target group of audiences would ensure that the objectives of the marketing activities of the SantralIstanbul museum are adequately achieved. The identification of the unmet demands should be followed by devising suitable visiting experiences for the visitors of the SantralIstanbul art museum which would match the identified unmet needs of the audiences. An identification of the additional experiences that would add value to the experiences for the audiences while being compatible with the resources and mission of the museum would be another suitable strategy for developing a successful marketing plan for the SantralIstanbul museum. Apart from these strategies, the identification of ways in which more awareness can be created regarding the museum experiences and informing the potential audiences about the new attractions and additions to the museums would also help in audience building for the museum (Staniszewski, 2000). This should be followed by continuous monitoring and periodic reviewing of the marketing process to gauge the effectiveness of the marketing activities and to identify and rectify any loopholes or drawbacks in the marketing process for the museum. This would help the museum marketing directors to find out whether the new audiences as well as the returning audiences of the SantralIstanbul museum are satisfied with the visiting experiences and other resources and amenities provided to them during their visits to the museum (Silverman, 2001). The SantralIstanbul museum can be marketed through the use of sophisticated promotional strategies including telemarketing, direct mails, electronic mails and advertising in the social media sites (Runyard and French, 2003). All these modes of promotion are commonly used by the profit oriented businesses operating in the modern world. Seeing the success of these promotional activities, it can be identified that the SantralIstanbul museum can use similar promotional tools to enhance the visibility of the museum and also promote the brand in a more effective way (Oakenfull, Blair, Gelb and Dacin, 2000). The mass mailing and telemarketing activities of the museum would ensure that the promotional activities and campaign can reach the widest number of audiences for marketing the museum. Most of the museum marketing directors have seen much success with the conventional mediums of advertising through print media like newspaper advertising, distribution of pamphlets and brochures and billboard advertising (Tolbelem, 1998). The advertisements given in newspapers on a weekly basis would ensure that more people can see the advertisements and an interest to visit the museum are developed. Also, displaying some of the pictures of the resources and exhibits in the museum would add to the attractiveness of the advertisements for the SantralIstanbul museum in the print media. Ensuing proper frequency and consistency in the newspaper advertising technique would ensure that the group of audiences for the SantralIstanbul museum is built up slowly and steadily. The use of newspaper and other printed advertising would help to enhance the image of the museum on the minds of the existing visitors and would also help in tapping potential visitors by working on the interest factors (Robinson, 2000). The advertising through social media sites and email marketing are much less expensive and can be used to offset the rising marketing expenses, admission revenues and operating expense of the museums. Local awareness towards the SantralIstanbul museum can be built up through the use of passive advertising strategies like the use of billboards and banners in busy areas where the number of footfalls is considerably high and suitable for promotional activities of the museum. The conduction of non-gallery activities like setting up of kiosks, organising promotional activities in busy areas like shopping malls and metro stations would help to increase the participation level of the audiences for the SantralIstanbul museum and also create more awareness for the museum among the target audiences. It has been established that marketing of museum or any other cultural heritage oriented organization is much more result specific when steps are taken to create awareness among the general public rather than marketing the museum among specific ethnic or cultural groups (Pope, 1999). The creation of awareness among the general public helps in the subsequent increase in the number of visitors to the museum and also helps in long term audience building for the museum. Building on community relations and taking active part in the social and community activities and cultural events would be an important strategy to enhance the marketing activities of the SantralIstanbul museum (Zorn and Koidl, 2001). Istanbul is a country that has rich cultural heritage and the people in the country take great pride in their culture, creativity and arts. Therefore, if the SantralIstanbul museum starts taking part in the cultural and social activities and starts hosting these activities, then the museum is likely to gain more importance in the social strata of the country and create a unique position for itself on the minds of the target audiences. Conclusion The main barriers to the visits in a museum are identified to be physical accessibility, image of the museum and the awareness among the general public regarding the resources and exhibits of the museum. The physical accessibility factor is less important in the case of the SantralIstanbul museum because the museum is located at a prominent place in Eyrup city of Istanbul. The city has well established connectivity with other parts of the country. Therefore, it is easy for the people in different parts of the country as well as the foreigners and tourists to visit the museum. Also, Istanbul happens to be one of the popular tourist destinations in Turkey. As such, many visitors and tourists visiting the country prefer to go to the museum for experiencing the culture of Istanbul. The SantralIstanbul museum is perceived as a worthwhile cultural pace to visit. The SantralIstanbul museum is a comparatively new museum with high accessibility and a positive image which makes it a preferred place for visiting. The awareness factor regarding the museum is comparatively low when compared to the other two factors guiding the visiting decisions for museums. Therefore, a suitable and well devised marketing plan would help to increase the visibility and awareness of the museum and make it more popular among the inhabitants of the country as well mong the tourists who come to visit Istanbul. References Edith, G. & Neijens, P. 2000. Segmentation Based on Affinity for Advertising. Journal of Advertising Research. Vol. 40 (2). Oakenfull, G., Blair, E, Gelb, B. & Dacin, P. 2000. Measuring Brand Meaning. Journal of Advertising Research. Vol. 40 (1). Pope, T. 1999. Museums Torn Between Marketing and Commercialism. Museum Management and Curatorship. Vol. 14(4). Prince, D. R. 2002. Factors Influencing Museum Visits: An Empirical Evaluation of Audience Selection. Museum Management and Curatorship. Vol.9 (1). Robinson, C. 2000. Create Compelling Programs Before You Market. History News. Vol. 55(1). Runyard, S. & French, Y. 2003. Marketing and Public Relations for Museums. Galleries & Heritage Attractions. Vol.14 (1). Silverman, L. H. 2001. 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