4 Membership Ideas for Museums to Steal from the Premier League
The 2018 World Cup has come to a close, but thankfully football fans don’t have to wait too long for the regular season to start. For me, this means the Premier League―the top level of the English football league system featuring about 20 clubs operating on a system of promotion and relegation, that can make for some top-notch drama.
The clubs in the premier league boost worldwide dedicated fandom, and each club contains membership to serve their most devoted base. As sports seem to continue to captivate sought-after audiences museums look to draw into their own spaces, here are a few of my favorite ideas museums should consider stealing.
Rewards Programs
Rewards programs are a dime a dozen these days―but that’s because people love them! Leicester City FC has both formal membership programs alongside informal reward programs for those that aren’t quite ready to commit. For museums this structure has endless applications, rewarding frequent visitors to the museum or events by enticing audiences with free visits, event tickets, or a percentage off merch, or even using a tiered system so guests can aim what whatever reward is the best for them.
Guest Passes
Any sports season ticket holder knows one major benefit beyond access to all the games is the ability to list their tickets (for a profit, or a discount) they wont use for games not attended. While this idea doesn’t directly translate, the idea of discounted tickets for those attending the museum with a member is. At my local museum, and many others, members get a handful of guest passes to use, which is great. I’m content with the two I get for my local museum membership, but would love the option to bring guests on for a discounted ticket price when bringing friends and family to the museum
Membership from Birth
A handful of clubs have membership options for those of all ages. Seriously―all ages. Manchester United starts their first tier of membership for those aged 0–1 making you a literal fan from birth, and has multiple aged tiers leading up to the adult level, which include age appropriate perks. One of my biggest gripes for membership is for the expense the perks attached to it aren’t attractive for me or my generation. Tailoring tiers to include perks that will realistically re-affirm your members to connect with your museum in a meaningful way is absolutely essential.
International & Digital Membership
Ideally we think of members as frequent on-site visitors, so investing in international or digital membership might not be your first idea to invest in. But with a little bit of consideration, you can create fans of your museum that span all the way across the globe. Arsenal has a free digital membership, which is as simple as a members only content area on their website and a special newsletter, easy ways to re-engage your most enthusiastic online fans. Having a built in audience that is opted-into your museum also has its perks for the site, creating a new audience to test ideas with, communicate, and get feedback from.
—
This article first appeared on jskennedy.net on 7/23/2018
