F 8 · Marketing
At many smaller properties, education staff are members of the marketing department, and regard learning activities as part of their marketing brief. While this may work effectively it reinforces the importance of commercial considerations in the planning of learning activities.
Marketing sites through the Internet is likely to be increasingly important – this subject is discussed extensively in this document. There may be scope for properties such as rural churches, archaeological sites or smaller country houses to collaborate in their Internet coverage, either as types of property or as places to visit within a region. It is particularly hard to find information about, for example, places of worship. We found few examples of joint marketing of learning initiatives by historic properties. Except at very large properties, budgets are often derisory.
One message that came across from both a cathedral and a famous country house was that ‘cold’ unprepared approaches to schools and other bodies were unlikely to lead to positive results. Both cathedral and mansion wrote to over 100 schools in their area offering visits or INSET days, and both received fewer than three responses. What seems to work is careful fostering of relationships with local organisations including schools by heritage sites, however time-consuming this may be. Such an approach is one of the reasons why the education centre at Canterbury Cathedral, which has cultivated close relations with schools in Kent and beyond, has such success. At Painshill Park in Surrey, too, a longstanding reputation assisted by careful marketing and word of mouth, has ensured comparable loyalty. There are also some notable examples of enterprising collaborations with community groups: at Flag Fen, a leaflet drop to 2,000 houses was made by a disabled group.
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'Learning in cultural organisations is associated with creativity and innovative thinking, and there can also be seen the developments of attitudes and values. In this way, learning is not separate from emotions. In fact, emotions can help people to learn more. Enjoyment, amazement or inspiration can provide the motivation to acquire facts and knowledge.'
Measuring the outcomes and Impact of learning in Museums Archives and Libraries
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