As museums themselves are changing to meet the needs of a changing world,
so too important concepts change. Change has led to an increased interest in
marketing in museums and to a reappraisal of their purpose, evident in the
changing definition of the word ‘museum’. The change in definition has been
gradual and has been influenced by prevailing social and philosophical attitudes.
The change in purpose affects not only the stories museums tell, but
also the method of telling those stories, the corollary of which is a greater role
for marketing—the focus of this chapter.
Museums contribute not only to social and cultural development, but also
to the spiritual and emotional sense of national self through telling stories. In
the UK, government is responsible for roughly 60 per cent of museum funding
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14 Museum Marketing: Competing in the Global Marketplace
(Matty, 2005). In the USA, museums receive a median figure of 24 per cent of
their funding from government sources (AAM, 2006). The Australian museum
sector alone reached 1329 museum locations in June 2004, with income of
$919.4 million. While most museum income was derived from government
funding, 9.7 per cent came from fundraising, 6.1 per cent from admissions and
5.4 per cent from sales of goods (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005). The
museum sector faces more competition from new venues and leisure attractions
for visitors who have less and less free time (Burton and Scott, 2003). Contemporary
approaches, using marketing, to tell legendary stories are appropriate
for museums.
