USNSBM_Marketing Plan_JUNE 2015

Building the Patronage Bridge: An Integrated Marketing Plan for the U.S. Seabee Museum

Prepared by Aramis X. Ramirez

JUNE 2015

U.S. Navy Seabee Museum NBVC Port Hueneme Bldg. 100 1001 Addor St. Port Hueneme, CA 93043 (805) 982-5165 www.usnavyseabeemuseum.com

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………3

MISSION & CORPORATE OBJECTIVES…………………………………... 5

MARKETING AUDIT………………………………………………………….. 5

SWOT ANALYSIS……………………………………………………………… 8

ASSUMPTIONS…………………………………………………………………10

MARKETING OBJECTIVES & STRATEGIES……………………………..13

CLOSING REMARKS………………………………………………………….22

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………..23

http://www.usnavyseabeemuseum.com/


INTEGRATED MARKETING PLAN |

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Seabee Museum based out of Port Hueneme, California aims to become the

premier institution for selecting, preserving and displaying historical material relating to

the Navy’s construction force, better known as the Seabees and the Civil Engineer Corps

and set a standard by which all other military history museums can follow.

In a business sense, the Seabee Museum operates federally; meaning all activity

whereby a traditional corporate entity can actively offer products and services with the

intent to gain profit is otherwise prohibited. The Seabee Museum must be able to

demonstrate measurable visitation numbers in order to continue to receive financial

support from the U.S. Navy (and taxpayers by extension) and the foundation established

to financially support museum activities.

Luckily, the market for national military museums is scarce in the region – as in the

Seabee Museum is the ONLY military museum in the region. This is a benefit,

particularly since it is located in the heart of community that owes its existence to the

Seabee Community. Instead, the market for the museum is defined by its presence in the

local museum network within the tourism industry. Key demographics for the Seabee

Museum consists of Vietnam-era veterans, retirees, local active duty servicemembers,

military and DOD civilian families, and local education institutions. Motivation for

visitation is often dates of significance (Memorial Day, Seabee Birthday, etc…), as well

as celebratory or commemorative events at the museum.

Again, we do not deal with profits, although there are costs to operate, staff, and

continuously evolve the museum and its exhibits. Therefore, the number of people who

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visit the museum on a daily basis as well as our online properties guides our

measurements. Communication with the community relies heavily on digital mediums

such as the Internet and social media. The Seabee Museum continues to see growth in

community engagement in the online realm. Traditional media and outreach

methodologies continue to see success due to the nature of museum operation and the

high number of older patrons that continue to rely on such media to include media

coverage in the main local newspapers, VC Star, VC Reporter, and Camarillo Acorn.

Our marketing objectives then are to steadily increase patronage by 20 percent for

each year over the next 5 years and increase public education attendance by 10% for each

year over the next 5 years. We will accomplish this by using traditional media and social

media to demonstrate the value of learning, but also the value of preserving the history of

a military force funded through taxpayer dollars. As the museum was selected to be the

official site for the 75th anniversary celebration of the forming of the Seabees, such

anniversary planning will centralize exhibit planning, public programming, and social

media efforts to an overarching theme. We expect that because such a milestone occasion

will result in meeting the objectives with little challenge in the next two years, the

challenge then will be to develop further programming that will build on that momentum

from the anniversary events and extend it in the years beyond.

This marketing plan outlines the goals and the strategies necessary to accomplish

modest goals for not only growing the museum and its patronage, but also maintaining its

operation and the community built around its mission and purpose.

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Mission Statement:

As the second oldest national Navy museum, the Seabee Museum’s mission is to increase

patronage by offering opportunities of learning through our historical collection,

preservation and presentation efforts relating to the documents and artifacts of the Naval

Construction Force, better known as the Seabees, as well as the Civil Engineer Corps.

Corporate Objective:

To become the premier institution for selecting, preserving and displaying

historical material relating to the Seabees and set a standard by which all other

military history museums can follow.

Marketing Audit:

External Audit

Business and Economic

Environment

In a business sense, the Seabee Museum operates federally; meaning all activity whereby a traditional corporate entity can actively offer products and services with the intent to gain profit is otherwise prohibited.

The Seabee Museum must be able to demonstrate measurable visitation numbers in order to continue to receive financial support from the U.S. Navy (and taxpayers by extension) and the foundation established to financially support museum activities.

Continued budgetary complications by Congress consistently challenge museum funding and operations, as historical museum operation is a low priority for Department of Defense Spending.

The Market The market for national military museums is scarce in the region – scarce as in the Seabee Museum is the ONLY military museum in the region. This is a benefit, particularly since it is located in the heart of community that owes its existence to the Seabee Community.

Instead, the market for the museum is defined by its presence in

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the local museum network within the tourism industry. In 2014, California increased tourism revenue by 3.6% from 2013

to $117 billion (Dean Runyan Associates, 2014, p. 11). Ventura County consists of four major cities clumped together:

Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, and Port Hueneme as well as the myriad of smaller townages to which a population of 850K call home

Key demographics for the Seabee Museum consists of Vietnam-era veterans, retirees, local active duty servicemembers, military and DOD civilian families, and local education institutions.

Motivation for visitation is often dates of significance (Memorial Day, Seabee Birthday, etc…), as well as celebratory or commemorative events at the museum.

Competition

Direct competition for the Seabee Museum comes from two other locations that house independently-run Seabee-themed museums: Gulfport, Mississippi and Davisville, Rhode Island.

The competitor museums lack storage capabilities as well as staff trained in current curatorial and archival practices that currently characterizes the Seabee Museum in Port Hueneme.

Internal Audit

Own Company Sales

As a government-owned and operated historical institution, sales is a not a focus in the traditional sense.

Instead, our focus is patronage, simply getting people through the doors for any number of reasons to include: guest-hosted events (use of our space is free); commemorations, general visitation, docent-guided tours, etc.

Because the Seabee Museum, as a federal entity, is forbidden by law to actively seek funding in any way for any reason, we must simply operate with the hopes that what we produce (interpretive exhibits) will entice people to WANT to visit the museum.

Profit Margins/Costs

Again, we do not deal with profits, while we certainly entertain the idea of costs to operate, staff, and continuously evolve the museum and its exhibits. Our measurements are guided by the number of people who visit the museum on a daily basis as well as our online properties.

Marketing Information &

Research

Communication with the community relies heavily on digital mediums such as the Internet and social media. The Seabee Museum continues to see growth in community engagement in the online realm.

Traditional media and outreach methodologies continue to see success due to the nature of museum operation and the high number of older patrons that continue to rely on such media to

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include media coverage in the main local newspapers, VC Star, VC Reporter, and Camarillo Acorn.

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SWOT ANALYSIS:

Internal

Strengths

The Seabee Museum is the only national military museum in Southwest region.

The museum is staffed with specialists trained in proper artifact and document collection, preservation and presentation.

It is accessible to the public as it resides outside the Naval Base Venture County Port Hueneme perimeter

A robust online presence enables patrons to enjoy content from the museum from afar

Weaknesses

Government funding is fickle and each year it is challenging to obtain significant operating funds as museum systems and historical preservation are not high on the Department of Defense spending priorities.

The Seabee Historical Foundation, which exists to augment government funding, is in debt for the construction of the new Seabee Museum, which become operational despite incomplete construction in 2011.

The situation with the museum’s foundation has led to a troubled relationship with the museum and its staff particularly because the foundation itself is not located near the museum.

Finalized planning for the museums interpretive exhibit plans are still yet to be determined. An interim solution has been decided on in the meantime, but offers no permanent solution beyond the major event that has been identified as the Seabee 75th Anniversary in March 2017.

Backlog of collection due to prior staffing limitations is significant enough that it will be some time before artifacts that have been donated to the museum in the last four years remain un-cataloged.

ExternalOpportunities The Seabee Museum has an opportunity to finalize the building of

the exhibits and set a high standard for interpretive planning. Because of the tumultuous relationship between the museum and

its supportive foundation, the director and the staff have found alternative means to construct and install exhibits that will help increase patronage at all ages. Such means include passively entertaining independent donors as exemplified by the STEM Center, which is set to open June 6, 2015.

Increased public-facing events as part of the museum’s public education and scholarship programs will cover a variety of topics in and out of the realm of Seabee history. Such programs will be tailored to various ages and groups to include school/youth groups,

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adult education, and guest-hosted professional groups.

Threats

Government shutdowns and sequestration often loom when Congress fails to reach accord on the annual defense budget. This can result in the limited or complete closure of the museum, thus limited availability to public stakeholders.

The shortfalls of the historical foundation result in the perception by public stakeholders that the museum is failing on promises that neither the director nor the staff has made to benefactors donating money through the foundation.

Continued misbranding by the two other independently operated museums can perplex patrons who simply wish to visit the official Seabee Museum. If more than one promotes themselves as such, potential patrons will be confused and this may lead to loss of artifact collection opportunities as well as funding received via the troubled foundation.

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ASSUMPTIONS:

Assumption 1: Key ages for patrons of the Seabee Museum are students, particularly

those in grades 4, 10 and 12 where studies in American History are emphasized as well

as Vietnam-era veterans who served as Seabees and are currently retired.

These are separate ends of the age spectrum and as such marketing is less of a

challenge for both ends since these audiences are built in. The challenge then becomes

how to market to those in the middle. Ideally those patrons would be current-generation

servicemembers along with their friends and family, including those currently serving in

the Seabee community. Most importantly, the local community would and should play

are large role in marketing. Garnering financial support via our foundation through the

community would appeal to travelers thus ensuring a place among the go-to local tourism

attractions.

Assumption 2: Dates of significance play are large part in the museum’s visitation.

Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, D-day, the Seabee Birthday, the Navy Birthday, and

Independence Day are among those tied to celebration of military culture and the people

who serve in it. It would be wise to capitalize on these dates to marketing strategies to

increase visibility and awareness.

Assumption 3: Lack of national military museums in the area means the Seabee Museum

is positioned to be a must-see attraction for military enthusiasts regardless of affiliation.

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Museums play a role in preserving and displaying the history of the selected subject

matter. With the Seabee Museum, that historical display consists of documents and

artifacts, large and small, relating to the Naval Construction Force and the Civil Engineer

Corps. Historically (and currently, actually) the Seabees and the Civil Engineers are often

placed in areas where they are ambassadors representing not only the Navy, but America

as well. This makes for a rich history of partnership and international relations that speak

to a general audience and can pull in people from all interests, not just the Navy.

Assumption 4: Location and limited media availability challenge communication efforts.

The area has two major newspapers, and most major broadcast outlets are based out

of Los Angeles, which means coverage and content compete with greater Los Angeles for

focus and airtime.

This means social media plays a major role in our marketing efforts to not only

display what visitors can find at the museum, but also learn about the history its meant to

preserve by showing things that would generally not be on display (all the behind the

scenes items and documents).

Assumption 5: The financial situation is challenged by the fact that the museum is a

federal entity and therefore cannot act within normal business operational parameters.

Government regulations prohibit solicitation of funds, prevent the museum

classification of “non-profit,” and restrict spending of taxpayer dollars. Money received

to operate comes from the Navy and is supplemented by a foundation aimed at supporting

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the museum. Currently, the Seabee Historical Foundation is that supportive body, but

unfortunately, the construction of the building in which the Seabee Museum currently

resides left the foundation millions of dollars in debt and is therefore not in a position to

assist the museum.

Thankfully, that debt is its own and not tied to the property, which is not in the

custody of the Navy so there is no threat of seizure or shutdown in that regard.

ANSOFF MATRIX:

Existing Market/Existing Products

Deepen Market Penetration

Use existing dates of significance as anchors to promote museum exhibits,

operations and activities.

Existing Market/New Product

Product Development

Develop new interactive and tech-based exhibits to incorporate a newer

generation of visitation.

New Market/Existing Product

Market Extension

Increase opportunities for school programs to entice American History

educators to incorporate Seabee History into their curriculum for increased

visibility

New Market/New Product

Diversification

Continue work online that increases exposure to people outside the

geographic region and all over the world.

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MARKETING OBJECTIVES: PRODUCT, PRICE, PLACE, & PROMOTION

In this section we define the marketing objectives and outline how each tenet of the plan

will work to meet those objectives. Additionally, we will indicate what our expectations

are, how will evaluate the performance of each objective, and what budgetary

expectations and limitations should be applied.

Marketing Objectives:

To steadily increase patronage by 20 percent for each year over the next 5 years.

To increase public education attendance by 10% for each year over the next 5

years.

PRODUCT:

The museum itself is the product. We want people to visit, so all of the exhibits and

public programs must attract people to visit not only in person, but also on our web

properties.

Strategy

A robust exhibit development and release schedule will keep subject matter

variable to not only encourage new visitors, but invite previous visitors to return

as new exhibits will have new stories to tell.

Schools could also be tapped to encourage learning, not just about Seabee history,

but also tie in the educational tenets of Science, Technology, Engineering and

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Math, known as STEM, to that history so that learning could take place outside of

historical parameters.

Expected Results

By keeping the exhibit schedule variable and on a steady schedule, the expectation is that

visitation will increase in accordance with the marketing objective, 20% for each year.

Based off the current year’s baseline projection attendance, that would mean:

2015 – 12,000 (Baseline)

2016 – 14,240

2017 – 17,280

2018 – 20,736

2019 – 24,883

2020 – 29,859

Evaluation/Monitoring

Evaluation is simple when it comes to determining visitation. The front desk operator

tracks feet through the door with a counting clicker and records end of day numbers. The

first question in evaluation is what is preventing inflation of numbers by adding in extra,

or “ghost” clicks? Average numbers tend to reflect daily numbers, so an accounting

regulation body, such as the command’s Inspector General’s office, can simply visit the

museum and monitor it for a few days to assess whether numbers are accurate. Final

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assessment is based on personal judgment whether the reported numbers are accurate.

Spikes in attendance are usually associated with documented events, scheduled or not.

While end of day numbers are recorded, monthly numbers are reported up to the

Museum’s System Office (MSO) at headquarters. Both metrics give a real-time analysis

of the performance of the museum, giving ample opportunity by mid-year to determine if

the museum will meet its marketing objectives and adjust accordingly.

Budget:

Outside of operating costs to build the exhibits, employ staff members, etc., marketing

budget for this tenet does not exist because such budgets fall under the Operations

parameter of the business.

PRICE :

The museum is free to all, so there is no price to pay except in time and travel to get to

the museum.

Strategy:

It would be to our benefit to not only use social media to demonstrate the value of

learning, but also the value of preserving the history of a military force funded through

taxpayer dollars.

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Expected Results:

With a free museum consistently adding cost-effective programming and exhibits, we

expect to meet the marketing objective. Again, keeping exhibit and programming

variable will entice new visitors, and encourage previous ones to revisit. The value of

learning and education will be communicated and assist in keeping things on track

toward the objective.


Success will still be measured by visitation numbers. Meeting numbers both daily and

monthly will garner success in the objective. However, missing daily and monthly goals

will result in further research to discover what are strengths are, and where we are falling

short. Surveys are a useful tool in that regard, and that will not only involve surveying

patrons, but also volunteers and staff to assess what content is successful, and what is not.

The point in this tenet is to ensure content speaks to the value of visiting of the museum

since there are no entry fees.

Budget

Operations budget applies in this tenet that involves employee salary, facilities

maintenance, exhibit planning and building. However this is where we begin to delve into

the promotional side for marketing in regards to communicating with the public the value

of visiting the museum and learning about history, Seabee history and Navy history alike.

Social media keeps costs next-to-nonexistent and budgets low because it is a free way to

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promote the museum (since it is forbidden to use purchase paid advertisement online with

federal money).

PLACE:

Admittedly, the location of the museum is challenge for most travellers. It resides deep

within Port Hueneme, and is not located near any major highways. Even visibility with

regards to foliage results in the oft heard, “I drive by this place every day and never

noticed it,” by visitors were probed upon entering the museum.

Strategy

When the current building was built and opened in 2011, one of the first issues alleviated

was accessibility. It no longer resides within the base perimeter so access is easier to

everyone including non-government visitors.

Marketing must communicate this, even if it’s not a sole focus of marketing. It’s a

question and assumption made by a lot of people that the museum, because it was

once on base, is still not easily accessible. It is.

Also using local events such as fairs, tourism tradeshows, and educational fairs

would extend the reach via a traveling panel presentation or exhibit.

Stress that the Seabee Museum is the only national museum that calls the

American Southwest region home through use of in-house produced flyers that

can be printed out and placed in prime community bulletin boards both locally,

and on the military base.

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Expected Results

We expect that increasing awareness as to the location in regards to the old building in

which the museum once residing, and the base, will have a large impact in meeting the

marketing objective of 20% increase year after year. This would likely be attributed to

the military community or the interest in it coupled with the fact that the Seabee Museum

is the only official national museum run by the Department of Defense in the region.


Increasing awareness of the location should have a large impact. Survey those visiting the

museum to see if knowledge of location made it more appealing to visit will be a useful

metric in evaluating awareness campaigns.

Budget

Social media and online properties will keep budgetary needs low in meeting the

objective of increasing awareness. The cost of the initial flyers is low because they are

designed and produced in house and distributed on a limited basis to community entities

that can then place such flyers on community accessed bulletin boards.

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PROMOTION:

The museum got its first big break earlier this year when it was selected as the official

site of the 75th Seabee Anniversary, which will be on the Seabee birthday, March 5, 2017.

All exhibits and public programs will tie into that theme for the next two years, which

will help promote it as a premier military history museum for the area.

Strategy

Meeting the marketing objective would mean using this one major event as an

anchor for promotional efforts that could then tie into the functions and offerings

of the museum so that they can continue to be a marketing tool well beyond the

anniversary.

Increase social media presence and products that appeal to the nature of the

museum both as an institution for learning about Seabee history, but Navy and

military history as well.

Increase public education programming that will touch upon subjects both in and

out of the realm of Seabee history

Expected Results

The anniversary planning will centralize exhibit planning, public programming, and

social media efforts to a singular theme. We expect that because such a milestone

occasion will result in meeting the objective with little challenge in the next two years,

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the challenge then will be to develop further programming that will build on that

momentum from the anniversary events and extend it in the years beyond.


Social media metrics are easy to capture as most offer such services. Online visitation

numbers will determine what content is popular and what is not. These metrics are

currently capture monthly, but monitored daily so that the real-time analysis can be useful

in adjust content and frequency of posts.

Surveys both formal and informal about what brought people into the museum can be

conducted by volunteers operating the front desk, as well as staff on station. The front

desk currently maintains a daily log of visitors, and that is our opportunity to inquire

about motivation to visit.

Budget

The average budget for marketing in the Promotion tenet has rested in the realm of $6K

for a few years. With this, money is spent on the following, typically:

$1K-$2K on local tourism and city bureaus where partnerships in advertising is

authorized

$1K-$2K on marketing products such as externally produced flyers, rack cards,

programs, and decorations

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$1K-$2K on travel costs associated with attending local events, tradeshows,

exhibit traveling

$500 (approx.) on management of online accounts such as Flickr Pro, Hootsuite

PR management, etc.

Training and resource material (AP styleguides, reference books on marketing,

professional subscriptions, etc.) make up what’s left of the budget.

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CLOSING REMARKS

As noted, while there are certainly roadblocks to fully being able to spend the money

non-governmental enterprises are afforded in their marketing strategies, it is remarkable

what the Seabee Museum has been and will be able to accomplish with such restrictions.

It is imperative that all forms of communication are used in both the traditional sense and

within the new media realm in order to span generations and generate awareness of the

museum and its function. The goals are modestly set in order to progressively increase

patronage and operation with a large portion of growth attributed to the activity

surrounding the 75th Seabee anniversary observance in March 2017. Continual survey of

the community and patrons will ensure exhibits speak to the history set forth in the

corporate mission. Lastly, we must not forget that consistent self-evaluation in all

strategic parameters will enable us to adjust efforts should some strategies fall short of

outlined goals.

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REFERENCES

Dean Runyan Associates (2015, April). California Travel Impacts 1992-2014. Visit

California pp. 10-15. Sacramento, CA

McDonald, M., & Wilson, H. (2011). Marketing plans: How to prepare them, how to use them (7th ed.). Chichester, W.S., U.K.: John Wiley & Sons.

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USNSBM_Marketing Plan_JUNE 2015

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