What are the benefits of Museum Marketing? A special customer explains.
Step by step, the War Museum is building better results
Interview by Ruud Linssen
The most important – Dutch – museum about the Second World War can be found in Overloon. A museum with the most modern technical facilities that inform the public about what that dramatic period meant in people's everyday lives. This is surrounded by a lot of historic war equipment, both inside and in the large surrounding park.
Erik van den Dungen has been director of the museum for more than ten years. He has been working with Museamarketing for several years, in particular Rob van Dijck and Ivan Beemster. They help bring the Overloon War Museum to the attention of the public.
Crucial role
The museum director needs few questions to explain the benefits of this collaboration. “Even though our surface area suggests otherwise, we are a small company. Although we have a strong team, the number of employees is limited. You need the right expertise in marketing. Creating a brochure is not a problem for us. We have people in house who can write well and we also get photos. This changes with more modern marketing, where the internet plays a crucial role. Think of the website, a digital newsletter, social media and online advertisements. That requires expertise. You can acquire that knowledge yourself, but within a year you will fall behind again.”
Photo: Director Erik van den Dungen in the park of the War Museum.
Museum marketing came into the picture at the museum in 2017. “We heard about Google Grants for online advertising. For cultural institutions like we are. But we couldn't quite figure out how to do that. Rob and Ivan arranged that for us. Very nice. Since then we have been benefiting from these Google budgets, which are not small.”
Peace of mind
The support from Museamarketing offers Erik van den Dungen relief. “Rob and Ivan work as a team. Rob is on the creative side: where are the opportunities, what else could we do. While Ivan does the technical part, he takes care of the bits and bites of our online communication. I get exactly what I need, nothing more, nothing less.”
Photo: Rob van Dijck and Ivan Beemster of Museamarketing (photographer Walter Janssen).
This director is not short-term. He and his team build better results step by step; with museum marketing as an outboard motor. Then you won't make a decision overnight. “Visitor numbers now fluctuate between 110,000 and 120,000 visitors per year. We need structurel 130,000. We expect this improvement in particular from our eastern neighbors: Germany. Not first of all by bringing them here, because they are often already there: in the bungalow parks in the area. It gives me a reassuring feeling that we don't have to get everything out of ourselves, but can also lean on Rob and Ivan.”
It War Museum Overloon is the largest war museum in the Netherlands and the oldest museum about the Second World War in Western Europe. The museum offers impressive permanent and temporary exhibitions. Visitors will see more than 150 vehicles from the Second World War here. A visit makes it clear what the museum stands for: “War belongs in a museum”.