British Museum Media and Digital Campaign - Report Example

British Museum media and Digital Campaign Report Every organization in the present world can effectively use Public Relations in ensuring proper communication with its stakeholders. The importance of public relations in modern organization cannot really be overemphasized. It is the tool that creates a good engagement between the organization and its various partners through communication. The British museum has been at the forefront in building a positive image through the use of the various aspects of public relations. The focus of public relations in this regard is to create a particular image in the minds of the audience through the use of press releases, events, function, newsletters, and the internet. In such a case, the reputation and the brand of the organization continue to expand. More importantly, the British museum as an iconic national organization should effectively utilize the various aspects of public relations in ensuring success both nationally and internationally. Without doubt, the British Museum has managed to build a brand and continues to use the various strategies for its brand positioning and ensuring popularity of the Museum amongst the target audience. The British Museum has applied both online and offline activity in making the museum much popular and creating awareness about its contents. In this case, much has actually ben achieved through these means (Botan, 2010). In order to raise more funds, the British Museum can effectively use public relations activity as a proper tool of communicating with the potential partners. In this case, both online and offline media can be used. The public relations experts at the museum can create the awareness by connecting with media and events. Indeed, the social media allows a real time way of connecting with millions of people and this can provide a perfect opportunity to each many people (Caleca, 2004). In the same way, unlike other people, the social media will allow the PR professionals to easily track the number of people who are responding to their campaigns. In this case, much focus should be placed on the use of social media. In the same way, the Museum can use media tours in order to publicize the fundraising need. In order to achieve this, the major players in the organization like the top management should travel to several places in order to meet people and encourage them to support the cause of their travel. The use of celebrities in such tours can ensure that many people respond to the calls. In the same way, the museum can use newsletters as an appropriate means of reaching many people in different areas. The newsletters should clearly provide information on the museum and the need for more funding while also showcasing the potential of the museum (Cutlip, 2010). Similarly, the fundraising drive can be communicated effectively to the audience through the use of speaking engagements. In this case, the PR experts at the organization can interact with the audience and communicate to them directly on the fundraising drive for the organization. It should however be realized that the internet offers the best opportunity to publicize the fundraising drive due to the ability to reach many people across the world. Considering that the British Museum attracts people from international quarters, it would be prudent to solicit for funds even amongst the international audience. In this case, the social media can effectively be used (Crook, 2006). The media tactics to be used by the museum provide different levels of interaction with the various partners. It is therefore important to note that while some of these approaches can be very effective for the organization, others might not really address the fundraising need in totality. In this case, it is important to use a combination of the different approaches in order to create an effective means of communication with the audience. In terms of advertising of the museum, both written and electronic means can be applied. In the same way, leaflets and other forms of visual communication can be applied (Mickey, 2003). The major challenge in this respect is the difficulty in gauging the reception of the whole advertisement campaign. Considering that advertisements are always directed to the perceived audience, many people normally ignore them. In this regard, direct marketing can be applied in order to limit some of these challenges. The museum has established memberships for various groups of people like schools, adults and children. These groups can easily be reached to provide good source of funding for the museum. The good cooperation existing between the British Museum and British Broadcasting Corporation can be well exploited to provide a chance for the information on the fundraising to reach millions of people across the world. BBC is an international media station and this can greatly boost the fundraising drive of the museum. In the same way, the museum can focus on creating more partnerships with other organizations which can enhance the communication. All these avenues are actually one way events that do not provide much interaction between the PR experts and the target audience. For much interaction and two way communication, the social media sites like Facebook and Twitter can be used. In the same way, the museum can place much information on the fundraising on its own website. Through the use of the public relations theories, the communication between the museum and the audience can either be one way or two-way. Most of the media tactics will provide the ways communication from the organization to the audience without any opportunity for interaction. For instance, the visual media and other forms of advertisement fall into this category (Caywood, 2002). On the other hand, some of the tactics fall into the public information category which is essentially meant to inform the people although communication is still one way. However, unlike the press means, the public information avenues provide much information to the public on the need for fundraising. For instance, through the use of educational institutions and government agencies, the museum can reach many people and share much information. Organizations like BBC can provide a lot of intensive one-way communication with the publics which can greatly increase the awareness on the fundraising need. Finally, there are two way asymmetrical ways of communication in which PR is treated as a form of scientific persuasion. In this case the focus is to make the audience to adjust to the position of the organization. The museum will therefore strive to engage the public in the persuasion and ensure that they concur with the position on the need to raise funds for the organization (Green, 2010). By persuading the publics into their position, the PR experts will manage to enhance the communication which will effectively lead to the realization of the fundraising needs. There are various forms of engagement which can enhance this persuasion between the museum and the public, these can be organized in the form of events in which information is freely shared between the museum and the people and it ultimately becomes a win-win situation for everyone (Bernays, 2012). The British Museum is one of the most iconic institutions in Britain and is internationally recognized as a center for history and heritage. The museum realizes close to 6 million visits yearly of which two thirds are international visitors. In addition, the museum conducts various activities across the country in enhancing research and learning. In this regard, the aspect of communication is one of the most important factors in enhancing the success of this organization towards its objectives. Considering these needs, the museum seeks to raise funds in order to achieve its goals of enhancing research through its numerous activities. As an international institution, it is important that the institution is well positioned cross the world in providing its services and ensuring success in its activities. It is on this regard that the museum is launching a campaign intended to raise funds. The museum has been successful on several grounds and is today considered to be a major institution in the country. It should also be noted that British Museum was the first national museum across the world (Hiebert, 2008). Over the years, the museum has managed to collect a great deal of artifacts and history of the world which is safety stored in its premises. Considering its growing popularity and the need to enable many people to access its services, the museums has launched an online system through which people who cannot physically visit the premises are given the opportunity to view what the museum offers. However financial challenges still bedevil the organization hence the need to raise funds to this cause. It is therefore hoped that the public will respond positively toward this initiative and contribute effectively (Wolfe, 2005). References Bernays, E. L. (2012). Public relations ([1st ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Botan, C. H. (2010). Public relations theory. Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates. Caleca, A. (2004). British Museum, London. New York: Newsweek. Caywood, C. L. (2002). The handbook of strategic public relations & integrated communications. New York: McGraw-Hill. Crook, J. M. (2006). The British Museum. New York: Praeger Publishers. Cutlip, S.(2010). Effective public relations (6th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Green, A. (2010). Creativity in public relations (4th ed.). London: Kogan Page. Hiebert, R. E. (2008). Precision public relations. New York: Longman. Mickey, T. J. (2003). Deconstructing public relations public relations criticism. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. Wolfe, L. A. (2005). Library public relations, promotions, and communications: a how-to-do-it manual (2nd ed.). New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers. Read More