OVERVIEW 

Our Museum
Design Services 

It's no secret: The cultural organization business model is struggling.

Audience-reliant cultural organizations are facing new challenges in engaging and retaining visitors while securing the monetary support required to thrive.

It is time to rethink strategies so that they most align with the wants, expectations, and behaviors of the communities that organizations aim to serve.

Ulrich Consulting provides a range of strategic planning services aimed at helping museums and cultural organizations to re-imagine its relationship with their visitors, audiences and members and deliver programs and services which best meet their align with identified wants, expectations, and behaviors.

Learn more by clinking a button or keep scrolling.

OUR AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

Strategies for attracting        

new audiences and retaining

existing ones.                                 

All cultural organizations are skilled in audience engagement – it's a core aspect of our work.

However, an audience development plan goes beyond just explaining our current methods. It is a forward-looking statement of intent, crucial for fulfilling our public purpose and maintaining relevance and resilience.

The plan serves as a roadmap for change. It provides a practical blueprint for growing audiences, extending our reach, and building deeper relationships. Since museums and cultural organizations thrive on innovation and evolution, the audience development plan is a living document, continually adapting to meet our goals.

Our services include:

  • A recommended first step, Ulich consulting will review the organization's current audience and the effectiveness of the organization in engaging with existing audiences and in developing new audiences. A report is provided that highlights the findings of the review and recommendations.

    Schedule a free Discovery Call to discuss.

  • We create a practical blueprint for growing audiences, increasing reach and building deeper relationships within identified resources and partnerships.

    Schedule a Discovery Call to discuss.

  • We are happy to provide additional research services to help determine the effectiveness of your audience development work and where your audience development strategy needs to be adjusted.

  • We are happy to support existing clients with content development support, either in developing content for a whole campaign or for a single media platform. Billed at an hourly rate.

  • We are happy to provide audience development coaching and support billed at an hourly rate for existing clients.

  • IDEA IN ACTION

  • Caring

    Social museums will emphasize empathy and understanding towards their audience's unique needs and concerns. This means going beyond customer service to actively listen to visitor feedback and address social issues relevant to the community. By providing safe, inclusive, and welcoming spaces, social museums will build stronger emotional connections with their visitors, showing genuine care for their well-being and fostering a loyal and engaged audience.

  • Collaboration

    Social museums will prioritize partnerships that deeply involve the community and its diverse voices. Instead of traditional top-down collaborations, they will engage in co-creation with local groups, artists, and cultural influencers, ensuring that exhibits and programs reflect the community's authentic stories and experiences.

    These partnerships will often be more grassroots and inclusive, allowing for a broader range of perspectives and fostering a sense of shared ownership


  • Community

    The focus on community will be more pronounced in social museums, as they will serve as dynamic hubs for social interaction and cultural exchange. They will create programs that encourage active participation, such as community-led exhibitions, workshops, and events that celebrate local heritage and contemporary issues. By being deeply embedded in the community, social museums will build a stronger sense of belonging and unity among their visitors, making the museum an integral part of everyday life.

  • Connection

    Social museums will create lasting connections with their audiences by fostering an environment where visitors feel seen and heard. This includes personalized interactions and encouraging active participation in museum activities and decision-making. By hosting community forums, interactive exhibits, and collaborative events, social museums will facilitate meaningful dialogues and relationships. This ensures the museum evolves with community needs, creating a dynamic space where everyone feels a sense of belonging and connection

Why is audience development
more important now than ever?

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally altered audience habits and expectations, highlighting the need for a reset in our approach to audience development. With soaring inflation and changing engagement patterns, cultural organizations must rethink how they connect with and serve their audiences, ensuring access, relevance, and meaningful engagement in this new era

Ron Ulrich, Principal Consultant

Frequently Asked Questions

  • In cultural organizations, audience engagement is essential for growth and relevance. Marketing and audience development, while similar, have distinct focuses. Marketing concentrates on promoting specific programs or exhibits, showing their benefits to potential visitors through targeted or broad advertisements like print, digital ads, and billboards. Audience development, on the other hand, emphasizes understanding and nurturing the audience's interests, preferences, and engagement patterns. It often relies on building relationships through word of mouth, social media discussions, and community involvement, which can be more cost-effective. Both approaches are complementary and frequently overlap; marketing can help attract new visitors, while audience development fosters deeper connections and loyalty, ensuring sustained engagement and support for the organization.

  • Our audience development services benefit cultural organizations by identifying and targeting diverse audiences, creating tailored engagement strategies, and building long-term relationships. This approach helps increase attendance, fosters community involvement, and enhances the organization's relevance and impact.

  • We would love to have 30 minutes of your time to explore where your organization is at today, and where you would like to be! Schedule a free 30 minute Discovery Call with us.

    After that, we generally recommend starting with an assessment review. Its a low-cost, no commitment process that generates a report on our review and a set of recommendations for improving your effectiveness in key areas.

OUR VISITOR EXPERIENCE DESIGN SERVICES

Strategies for creating

a memorable visitor

experience.                    

At Ulrich Consulting, we design unforgettable museum experiences that deeply connect with diverse audiences.

Ulrich Consulting uniquely integrates Social Museum and DEI principles into our museum experience planning. We understand new audience expectations around personalized content and multiplicity of voices, and we deeply appreciate the desire for authentic stories told from multiple perspectives. Our approach ensures the visitor experience is as accessible as possible, meeting the varied ways people access and learn from content in a museum.

Our service include:

  • The Visitor Experience Master Plan is a comprehensive document that lays out its principal story and creates a compelling visitor experience around it, and is usually undertaken as part of a new build or a complete refurbishment of the museum's public spaces. It considers all the touchpoints starting with pre-trip planning through post-trip engagement and everything in-between. This document is a collaboration between museum staff, project architects, exhibit designers with robust community and stakeholder engagement.

    A Visitor Experience Strategy establishes goals and an evaluation strategy to measure, report and evaluate whether annual target goals in key areas such as learning, social engagement, visitor services, visitor satisfaction, and offsite engagement were met. This document is a living document that is reviewed quarterly, updated annually, and rewritten as part of the organization's strategic planning cycle

  • Ulrich Consulting’s Interpretive Planning services focus on creating meaningful connections between visitors and the cultural or natural heritage of a site. By carefully designing interpretive experiences that are engaging and educational, this service helps to convey the unique stories and significance of a place. The planning process involves collaboration with local stakeholders, historians, and educators to ensure that the interpretation resonates with the community and enriches the visitor experience.

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  • IDEA IN ACTION

  • The Visitor's Needs Are Values Based.

    Museum visitors today value experiences which:

    • embody representation and Inclusion:

    • create opportunities to engage and interact with authentic historical resources, stories and objects.

    • provide educational Value:

    • embody authenticity, grounded by diverse perspectives and lived experiences.

    • create an emotional connection:

    • promote opportunities for further exploration and foster community and social Connections,

  • Embraces Inclusivity and Accessibility

    Digital storytelling techniques, personal narratives, community participation in the development and delivery of programs, and immersive technologies are powerful tools for engaging audiences and enhancing their cultural heritage experiences. These approaches foster a sense of belonging, challenge stereotypes and personal beliefs, and provide meaningful experiences.

    This is particularly true for individuals with diverse sensory and cognitive abilities because these tools can be tailored to accommodate various needs, offering more inclusive and accessible ways to experience and engage with cultural content. This personalization helps to ensure that everyone, regardless of their abilities, can fully participate and feel connected to the cultural heritage being presented.

  • Immersive Storytelling

    To engage diverse audiences, museums are adopting immersive (or transmedia) storytelling technique. This narrative approach allows the museum to engages audiences through various interconnected mediums, perspectives, and layers to create a rich and comprehensive multilayered storytelling experience.

    Using first-person narratives throughout visitor spaces encourages community participation through carefully crafted content crowdsourcing, and co-created and co-managed community-focussed programs with diverse groups.

  • Community

    A Social Museum visitor experience embraces community by fostering an inclusive and participatory environment throughout the entire museum.

    Co-Created Programming
    Beyond exhibit spaces, the museum can facilitate community-led programs. The museum becomes a vibrant hub where everyone’s voice and contributions are valued.

    Public Spaces and Amenities
    Public spaces within the museum, like cafes, lounges, and outdoor areas, can be designed to encourage social interaction and collaboration.

    Digital Experiences
    he social museum experience can also extend into interactive digital platforms that reating a rich tapestry of local history and culture accessible to a broader audience.

  • Personalization

    A social museum can tailor content to visitors by offering personalized experiences that cater to individual interests and backgrounds. Interactive exhibits, augmented reality, apps and games, gnd personalized audio guides can allow visitors to choose their own paths, creating a more engaging and meaningful experience. Advances in AI will soon allow museum content to be dynamically adjusted based on what machines learn daily about us.

    To make content shareable, the museum can integrate social media and digital storytelling tools throughout the experience. Developing hashtags, social media challenges, and collaborative online projects can further engage visitors and expand the museum’s reach.

  • Technology

    Unique delivery of content can be achieved through innovative storytelling techniques like mixed reality, immersive theater, and multimedia presentations. Live performances, holographic displays, and virtual reality simulations can bring exhibits to life in unexpected ways. By blending traditional exhibits with cutting-edge technology, the social museum can offer distinctive and captivating experiences that resonate deeply with visitors and encourage them to share their stories.

What creates a memorable experience?

I believe it occurs when storytelling, technology, and strategy come together with the deep narratives of the community's lived experiences and knowledge, combined with the insights and vision of the museum's leaders.

Ron Ulrich, Principal Consultant

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The Social Museum is a change framework—meant to be adapted and refined to reflect community priorities and realities—designed to provide stakeholders in urban, suburban, and rural museums with a holistic template for creating connected, vibrant, and inclusive organizations and ultimately communities.

  • Our strategies enhance visitor experiences by incorporating personalized and interactive elements, fostering deeper connections through inclusive storytelling, and utilizing innovative technologies to create engaging and memorable encounters.

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  • We would love to have 30 minutes of your time to explore where your organization is at today, and where you would like to be! Schedule a free 30 minute Discovery Call with us.

    After that, we generally recommend starting with an assessment review. Its a low-cost, no commitment process that generates a report on our review and a set of recommendations for improving your effectiveness in key areas.

OUR MEMBERSHIP ENGAGEMENT SERVICES

Strategies for attracting 

new members and        

retaining existing ones.

Transactional benefits like free admission only go so far in creating long-term membership value. Nurturing a connection to the organization’s mission does.

An effective membership program is crucial for cultural organizations, providing community support and financial stability. It generates reliable revenue and cultivates loyal advocates, enhancing credibility and securing grants and sponsorships.

Ulrich Consulting’s strategies address both transactionally-motivated and relational-focused members, developing strategies to attract and retain both. Long-term success, however, relies on fostering connections to the organization’s mission and nurturing relationships that build a vibrant community of advocates, resulting in our strategies prioritizing those objectives.

Our services include:

  • A recommended first step, Ulrich Consulting will conduct a review and assessment of your organization's membership program, with a report detailing the assessment and recommendations for ways to bolster the program's effectiveness.

    Schedule a Discovery Call to discuss.

  • Ulrich Consulting will craft a membership development strategy for your cultural organization by identifying the distinct needs of transactionally-motivated and relational-focused members.

    By offering a mix of transactional benefits like free admission and shop discounts, alongside initiatives that deeply connect members to the organization’s mission, we ensure both immediate appeal and long-term loyalty.

    Our approach will foster a vibrant community of advocates and supporters, enhancing your organization’s credibility and aiding in securing grants and sponsorships.

    This dual-focus strategy will provide financial stability, reliable revenue, and a loyal base of members dedicated to the organization’s ongoing success and impact.

  • Ulrich Consulting will craft a membership engagement strategy using the organization's current membership data and conduct additional research to determine their needs, expectations and behaviors.

    We will provide tailored strategies and tactics for providing meaningful experiences, creating value, and building relationships that encourage members to stay connected and involved.

    We will also provide communication strategies with personalized content that will resonate with your members’ interests and needs and ensure members feel valued and integral to the organization’s mission and goals.

  • We are happy to provide additional research services to help determine how effective audience development efforts have been and provide recommendations for where your audience development strategy needs to be adjusted to obtain maximum results.

OUR RESEARCH SERVICES

Strategies need good  data  

for good decision making. 

Good data is the backbone of effective strategic planning. Ensuring the collection of the right data ensures long-term success.

Accurate and comprehensive data enables organizations to make informed decisions, identify trends, and anticipate future challenges and opportunities. It provides a clear picture of current performance, customer behavior, and market dynamics, allowing for precise goal setting and resource allocation. Without reliable data, strategic plans can be based on assumptions or outdated information, leading to misguided efforts and missed opportunities. Good data ensures that strategies are not only well-founded but also adaptable to changing circumstances, driving sustained growth and success.

Our services include:

  • Analysis of data currently being collected and how it is being analyzed and used, with a roadmap for how to adjust your collection and analysis to get the data you really need.

  • From design to delivery to data analysis and reporting, we can create an exit survey process that provides data with as little pain as possible.

  • We are happy to add capacity and expertise to community and stakeholder engagement and consultation.

  • We can provide assistance to your team with the design, collection analysis of data for specific needs , such as data to support with funding applications and demonstrate your impact, or making sense of your ticketing data.

How can we help?

Fear that your organization is loosing

it’s relevance? We are ready to help.

Schedule a FREE Discovery Call to learn
how we can support your planning needs.

Send us an email so we can provide information about our services.