Writing for Museums: Communicating and Connecting with All Your Audiences

Words are everywhere in the museum. They swarm amidst all the visual exhibits, and throughout many non-exhibition areas, talking to a vast swath of people in ways that visuals cannot. Signage at the information desk, visitor material, scripts for tour guides, scripts for exhibition videos, education plans, posts, blogs, membership brochures, audio scripts for smart phones, apps for in-depth information, and store labels. In a multi-screen world, where information explodes in every corner of the field of vision, clarity comes from the presence of words to organize the feast of visuals and help all audiences feel at home.
Research bears out the need for a range of learning tools and it’s not just visitors who benefit from verbal cues; donors, educators, community partners and volunteers will all engage more effectively with the museum that explains its brand mission with good writing. Whether written by administrators, staffers, freelancers, or interns, words must be delivered by your museum with the confidence they will connect meaningfully with all audiences. Your story is told everywhere, with every narration opening your doors wider.

Completely updated, the Second Edition addresses the newest ways to put into words the distinctive stories you need to tell:
Websites for expanding audiencesContent-centered posts NewslettersTour scriptsVideosEducation materialTalks and lecturesProposals for partnershipsFundraisingResearched blogsLeveraging of facilities rental and your store for reaching new audiences Volunteer recruitment Current practices from a diverse range of museums inform every chapter.
All chapters recognize the many cultures in your audience, alerting writers to the sensitivity needed for effective communication.
For museums, historic sites, cultural centers and museum studies programs: if you ever wished for writing help, here’s the resource you’re looking for.

Margot Wallace is a marketing professional, a former writer and creative director at a global advertising agency. When she segued into academia, becoming an associate professor of marketing communication, she focused her area of inquiry on museums and their competitiveness in the arts and leisure market. She has written four books about museum branding, writing and research. Her numerous articles and talks surveyed topics such as Museum Branding: Competing for Loyalty and Dollars, Loyalty Dining, Pax Guggenheimia, academic museums, the symbiosis between museums and their stores, and beyond the brass plaque on house museums.
As a docent for a large Chicago museum, Professor Wallace has learned the museum business from the inside, and observed the many audiences that enter from the outside. As a coordinator of lifelong learning classes – in person and virtual – through a major university, she understands the expanded demands of contemporary communications.