From the desk of Dr. Robert Urban, occasional overthinker, and the guy you call when your museum deserves more visitors than it’s getting.
Let me start with a confession.
I love museums.
Like, wander-too-long-reading-every-plaque love museums.
Art museums. Science museums. History museums. Weird niche museums that exist because one very specific human refused to let a passion die quietly.
And because I love them, I get a little fired up when I see museums undersold, undervisited, or marketed like they are apologizing for existing.
They should not be apologizing. Museums are some of the most valuable, trust-rich, story-packed institutions we have. The problem is not the product. It is almost never the product.
The problem is the marketing.
I am Dr. Robert Urban, founder and sole human behind PaperBoat Media. I am a one-man consulting firm by design, which means when I work with a museum, you are not getting handed off to an intern named Kyle who just discovered analytics last week. You get me. Strategy, execution, context, and the occasional hard truth, all in one place.
So let’s talk museum marketing. Not buzzwords. Not theory. Real strategies that work in the real world.
First, a hard truth museums need to hear
Most museums are marketed for people who already love museums.
That is a problem.
Your biggest growth opportunity is not convincing the art history professor to visit again. They are already coming. They are bringing friends. They are reading your newsletter like it is sacred text.
Your opportunity is the person who says,
“I keep meaning to go there.”
That sentence is the enemy.
Museum marketing has to move people from intention to action. From “someday” to “this weekend.”
That shift requires clarity, relevance, and confidence.
Strategy One: Stop marketing exhibits. Start marketing outcomes.
This is where most museums trip.
They promote the exhibit title.
The artist name.
The collection dates.
All important, but incomplete.
Visitors do not wake up thinking, “I would like to engage with a postmodern interpretation of form.”
They wake up thinking:
- I need something to do with my kids.
- I want to feel inspired.
- I want to learn something cool.
- I want to take someone on a good date.
- I want to feel like a smart, interesting human.
So market that.
Instead of:
“Now featuring the works of…”
Try:
“An hour inside this exhibit will change how you see…”
One museum I worked with reframed a dry-sounding historical exhibit into:
“The true story behind the event they skipped in your history textbook.”
Attendance went up. Not because the exhibit changed. Because the language did.
Strategy Two: Local relevance beats global prestige every time
I do not care how famous the traveling exhibit is if no one understands why it matters here.
Local audiences need local hooks.
- Why does this exhibit matter to this town?
- How does it connect to local history, local schools, local families?
- Why should someone choose this over brunch?
Yes, brunch is your real competition. Accept it.
The museums that win consistently answer the question:
“Why should I care about this today, in my life, where I live?”
This shows up beautifully in local SEO, which museums routinely underutilize.
Strategy Three: Museums should dominate local search and almost none do
If someone searches:
- “Things to do this weekend”
- “Things to do with kids near me”
- “Indoor activities near me”
- “Date ideas near me”
Your museum should appear. Loudly.
Most do not.
This is where my consulting brain lights up.
Museum websites are often beautiful, thoughtful, and completely invisible to search engines.
What works:
- Clear location signals
- Dedicated pages for families, schools, tourists, and locals
- FAQ-style content written in plain English
- Event pages that actually explain who the event is for
Search engines love clarity. Visitors do too.
When museums win at local SEO, they stop relying solely on seasonal foot traffic and start building consistent attendance.
Strategy Four: Education is your superpower. Use it like one.
Museums are sitting on a goldmine of content.
Curators. Educators. Archivists. Experts.
And yet, most museums barely publish anything beyond event announcements.
People love learning when it does not feel like homework.
Some of the best-performing museum content I have seen includes:
- Short “Did you know?” articles
- Behind-the-scenes looks at how exhibits are built
- Curator picks and personal stories
- Explainers that answer questions visitors did not know they had
This content builds trust, authority, and search visibility all at once.
It also makes your museum feel human.
Strategy Five: Your website is not a brochure. It is a decision-making tool.
If someone lands on your website, they are deciding whether or not to visit.
That decision usually happens in under 30 seconds.
Ask yourself honestly:
- Can I quickly tell who this museum is for?
- Can I tell what I will experience?
- Can I tell how long it will take?
- Can I tell what kind of person would enjoy this?
If the answer is no, the website is not doing its job.
Museums do not need louder websites. They need clearer ones.
Strategy Six: Marketing consistency beats campaign spikes
Museums love big campaigns.
Grand openings. Major exhibits. Big moments.
Those matter.
But the museums that grow steadily show up consistently between those moments.
Weekly content.
Regular social storytelling.
Search-friendly articles that age well.
Email that feels like a conversation, not a flyer.
Consistency builds familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. Trust builds visits.
Why PaperBoat Media works differently with museums
I do not run a big agency. That is intentional.
When a museum works with me through PaperBoat Media, they get:
- Strategy grounded in how people actually think
- Messaging that respects intelligence without being academic
- SEO that supports education, not cheap tricks
- A consultant who understands culture, psychology, and attention
I am not trying to scale clients into a system. I am trying to understand them deeply and market them honestly.
That matters in cultural institutions.
Museums do not need to become louder, trendier, or gimmicky.
They need to become clearer.
Clear about who they are for.
Clear about why they matter now.
Clear about what a visitor will feel, learn, and take with them when they leave.
When that happens, marketing stops feeling like selling and starts feeling like an invitation.
And museums deserve full rooms.
If you want help getting there, you know where to find me.
Dr. Robert Urban
Founder, PaperBoat Media
Museum advocate. Strategy consultant. Professional reader of wall plaques.