Category Archives: W

What it means

We all tell stories. Word-of-mouth is shorthand for the stories told about your museum or its products out in the marketplace. These stories can be positive or negative. They are generally regarded as the most reliable and powerful types of information a person can receive regarding your museum and its offerings. Organic social media operates as a kind of word–of-mouth. Online reviews are also a closely related form of storytelling and have a similar effect.

How it’s used

Word-of-mouth is the result of every component of the experience and thus, the responsibility of every function in the museum (see also brand equity). Marketing, communications, and audience engagement play a role in setting the stage for word-of-mouth, but fundamentally, it is driven by product quality (e.g., exhibitions and programs) and lived experience. Extremely good experiences encourage positive word-of-mouth. Modestly good experiences typically do not. Negative experiences, even mildly negative ones, encourage negative word-of-mouth. This range of response to an experience is important because negative stories carry more weight than positive ones.

Why it matters

Word-of-mouth is arguably the most powerful marketing mechanism because it can drive behavior. Because it is rooted in storytelling, it has always been with us, and in a world that is oversaturated with marketing, the first-person story or testimonial given to you by someone you know and trust overrides almost any other message. This power is the origin of such widely used tools as the Net Promoter Score. For a museum, the same dynamic is at play. What people are saying about you and your products (e.g., a special exhibition) is often the strongest determining factor for a person’s choice to attend or not.

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What it means

The National Wellness Institute (NWI) defines “wellness as an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.” And wellness can be understood against various dimensions, including the spiritual, emotional, mental/intellectual, social/relational, environmental, and physical.

Today, it is not uncommon for businesses, organizations, and academic institutions to consider additional dimensions or wellness-based elements for their institutions. Whether the organization thinks about wellness using the six dimensions from NWI or an expanded menu, wellness offers a deeper and more holistic view of a person’s health and well-being, moving away from one singular vantage point, for example physical health, to other considerations such as social connections, relationships, or spirituality.

Wellness for museums inspires a fuller, more complete view and understanding of their staff, audience, and community.
As noted by the International Audience Engagement Network (IAE), “museums have an active role to play in responding to and sustaining the various wellness needs of our communities.”

How it’s used

Wellness can be considered both a mindset and a framework for museums, assisting them in engaging and understanding their staff and volunteers, audiences, and the communities the museum serves.

The wellness mindset provides the museum with an expanded understanding, moving from a singular consideration to a pluralistic one. An example of the wellness mindset might encourage the museum to consider the negative impact of loneliness during the pandemic on individuals and their relationships with their friends, family, and neighbors (social). Looking at another dimension, people’s fitness activities were also forced to change during the pandemic (physical). In considering yet another dimension, many were no longer able to attend religious activities at their houses of worship (spiritual).

The wellness framework allows the organization to consider, plan for, and where possible, address an expanded range of needs for museum staff and volunteers, audiences, and community. A wellness framework encourages the museum to expand its offerings and create opportunities for group participation so that the individual can socialize with family and friends (social). The museum could include the step counts for its exhibitions (physical). In considering the religious needs of its audiences (spiritual), the museum might consider altering its food options.

The IAE provides a wellness-based framework for museums to further assist them in planning and addressing their staff, audience, and community’s holistic needs.

Why it matters

A wellness mindset and framework provides the museum and its staff with an expanded view of the needs of staff, audiences, and communities. Putting a wellness framework into practice can make people feel nourished and more satisfied with their museum experience, thus encouraging greater visitation and engagement. Wellness moves the discussion beyond the primary consideration of common touchpoints to a broader perspective of each group’s holistic needs and motivations. This allows the museum to better plan, engage with, and meet those needs and expectations.