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Re: Western Railway Museum Railfan Day-What are we doing and why are we doing it?
Author: BOB2
Date: 08-06-2016 - 15:08
Market "Differentiation"? That's all the consultant could come up with? How much did you pay for this, and would you please hire me next time?
How about the need to address defining the "product" that you are trying to market, which is (I hope?)to give folks an experience of the enjoyment, history, and understanding our railroad heritage, the technology, it's place in our society, and how much fun it is to actually ride a trolley or train...?
Poor mission focus, due to a failure to define the product they wish to offer the public, often due to competing personalities, and/or typical "foamer" factionalism, not differentiation from others doing the similar things, is too often the main problem that I've seen in some of these institutions.
This failure to define what kind of experience some of these RR museums want the visitor/customer to experience results in a failure to be able to provide that in a way which attracts folks, making it hard to effectively market this (lack of) "product" in order to attract a broader spectrum of folks (and, not just other foamers...) to that experience.
As Dr. Deming used to ask: "What are we doing, and why are we doing it?"
I actually think the Rio Vista folks do a pretty good job with the collection and facility, but it still doesn't get the level of visitors it should. OERM is pretty good, but could use some better curation of its admittedly diverse collection, in order to tie the whole experience together...... The Descanso and Ward Kimball collection is an example of how to do that better.
Advertising and effective marketing to the non rail community is often lacking to non-existent in many of these institutions, as well. Despite the fact that it can be a very effective way to attract more new attendee's, who can do good things like increase revenue from the gift store, admissions, and rides, which can increase community awareness, income, and make a much better case for broader financial support by potential sponsors or benefactors.
There are some excellent examples of how to do this more effectively, and it shows when it is done right. Silverton/Grand Canyon which are commercial operations do it that way, or else they wouldn't have survived, and are now thriving. But, at the other extreme, some of these collections and facilities, that can't figure out a better way to market their "product", may some day find some of these collections rusting away in a field, like in Merrill, after the last dinosaurs, which are running a few of these, die off.
How about the need to address defining the "product" that you are trying to market, which is (I hope?)to give folks an experience of the enjoyment, history, and understanding our railroad heritage, the technology, it's place in our society, and how much fun it is to actually ride a trolley or train...?
Poor mission focus, due to a failure to define the product they wish to offer the public, often due to competing personalities, and/or typical "foamer" factionalism, not differentiation from others doing the similar things, is too often the main problem that I've seen in some of these institutions.
This failure to define what kind of experience some of these RR museums want the visitor/customer to experience results in a failure to be able to provide that in a way which attracts folks, making it hard to effectively market this (lack of) "product" in order to attract a broader spectrum of folks (and, not just other foamers...) to that experience.
As Dr. Deming used to ask: "What are we doing, and why are we doing it?"
I actually think the Rio Vista folks do a pretty good job with the collection and facility, but it still doesn't get the level of visitors it should. OERM is pretty good, but could use some better curation of its admittedly diverse collection, in order to tie the whole experience together...... The Descanso and Ward Kimball collection is an example of how to do that better.
Advertising and effective marketing to the non rail community is often lacking to non-existent in many of these institutions, as well. Despite the fact that it can be a very effective way to attract more new attendee's, who can do good things like increase revenue from the gift store, admissions, and rides, which can increase community awareness, income, and make a much better case for broader financial support by potential sponsors or benefactors.
There are some excellent examples of how to do this more effectively, and it shows when it is done right. Silverton/Grand Canyon which are commercial operations do it that way, or else they wouldn't have survived, and are now thriving. But, at the other extreme, some of these collections and facilities, that can't figure out a better way to market their "product", may some day find some of these collections rusting away in a field, like in Merrill, after the last dinosaurs, which are running a few of these, die off.
