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Dylan Tagg
Tina Chavez
Senior Internship
15 December 2015

Effective Advertising at S.D.C.D.M(San Diego Childrens Discovery Museum)

Introduction
Ever since I started highschool and seriously thinking about my future career, I have
always found interest in the field of marketing. I find all the work that goes into getting people to
buy a product or service fascinating.
One issue in particular I am interested in is how business can draw more of the most
popular demographics and stay above the competition by different marketing strategies. In order
to pursue this line of inquiry, I decided to intern in the marketing department of an organization. I
ended up, through school, interning in the marketing department at a local childrens museum in
Escondido: The San Diego Children's Discovery Museum. By working there and observing the
people there I came up with a question that would encompass my interests in marketing and
apply directly to the place I was working. How can the San Diego Children's Discovery Museum
change their current marketing strategies to better appeal to their target demographic?
Background
Children's museums in the United States are an expanding market for educating young
children through hands on activities. The industry has expanded across the country in recent
years. This means that the marketing and advertising for the industry has been constantly
expanding.

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Marketing as a whole is vastly different than it was fifty years ago. Marketing originally
was more focused on telling people why they need a product or service. Now it's more about
how said product or service would make their life better in some way (Tarabasz). Social media
and the internet as a whole has allowed marketing to spread to more people more than it ever
could. Before advertising was limited to ads in the newspaper, flyers, and television
commercials. Now advertising can be seen by countless more people than before through the
internet.
Children's museums are one of the most popular forms of children's entertainment. They
have a presence all across the United States The north county region of Southern California is
home to some very large and popular children's museums. Kid Ventures and the New Children's
Museum to name a few. But, the one being focused on here is the The San Diego Children's
Discovery Museum. The San Diego Children's Discovery Museum is an educational children's
museum located in Escondido California. It is one of the most popular children's museums in
North County. Its' primary mission, as said in the mission statement, is: The mission of San
Diego Childrens Discovery Museum is to inspire children to learn about our world through
exploration, imagination, and experimentation.(sdcdm.org). In addition to the museum itself,
which includes a variety of hands on activities, they also offer numerous programs including
book readings, crafts, theater, music and yoga. It primarily caters to kids around the ages of zero
to ten. The adult attendees consist of mostly moms and a few dads around 30 years of age. Most
of the children are accompanied by one parent, very often the mother, and occasionally other
family members. Most families that are frequent visitors are members, which allows for faster
entry into the museum and access to special events(add the current number of members).

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The museum uses a variety of forms of marketing and advertising for the museum itself
and events throughout the year. The most widely used and effective form of advertising is online,
through social media, mainly facebook twitter and instagram, as well as email, and their website.
In addition members receive a monthly newsletter which details all the events coming up for the
month.
In addition to all the regularly occurring events and workshops offered at the museum
they also hold a few larger events throughout the year. One of their biggest events during the
year is the Fall Family Festival which is held late in October. This event gets a lot of attendance
especially in later years and a lot of people learn about the museum through this event. This
event is one of the biggest parts of the museum's marketing in the Fall and thus gets a very large
turnout. Events like this help the museum get more traction every year, but there are ways their
existing marketing strategy can be altered to better appeal to their target demographic.
Methods
S.C.D.M is located in Escondido, California and draws many attendees from areas all
across North County San Diego. The museums main attractions consist of exhibits designed to
teach children concepts about science and exercise their creativity among other things as well as
daily events such as arts and crafts.
The Children's Museums attendees consist of parents, mostly mothers, who were used to
gather data about the effectiveness of different aspects aspects of the marketing strategy; This
was done mainly to determine what form of social media did people respond to the most from
the museum, if at all. In addition the employees, specifically my mentor provided information of
their past marketing techniques what worked and what didnt work and what they plan for the
future.

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The methods used for data collection were two surveys and an interview with my mentor, the
marketing and events manager at the museum. A total of twenty two parents, mothers were
surveyed twelve in the first eleven in the second. One of the surveys I conducted was at the
annual Fall Family Festival. This survey was aimed at determining what form of notification/
advertising used was the most effective for that event. The second survey was conducted on the
museum floor to gauge what form of notification/ advertising used was the most effective for the
day to day attendance of the museum. The first survey, the one at an event, was conducted in mid
October the second was conducted a little over a month later. The interview, conducted in early
December, was conducted in order for me to learn about the past marketing strategies and tactics
of the museum and see where they plan on going in the future.
Analysis & Action Plan
Most museum attendees heard about the museum through word of mouth. The surveys
conducted showed a strong favor to forms of advertising like word of mouth and social media
and email. In the second survey conducted fifty four percent of mothers surveyed heard about the
museum through word of mouth. Only thirty six percent heard through online advertising. A
small portion, ten percent heard, through local advertising. In another marketing survey
conducted by museum staff over the past year most attendees who did not decline the survey
heard through word of mouth, mainly friends (Mendoza). This shows the museum attendees are
more drawn to the museum because of recommendations of people they trust more so than
advertisements they might see online. This type of advertising hinges on what is called internal
credibility; something that generates validity through people trying it themselves (Heath &
Heath).

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The other ways people were drawn to the museum mainly consisted of online
advertisements and local advertisements. The Fall Family festival also generated some
attendance from advertisements at the museum; thirty three percent of survey participants heard
about the event at the museum itself. In both surveys a small portion of participants heard
through local advertising, flyers and posters, and online advertisements. This shows that online
advertisements are effective for some people but not as effective for other people. Online ads
people may see on on the internet are effective simply because they are simple and easy to
access. Modern advertising hinges on the internet so these simple types of ads will be seen by a
lot of people. However, the ads are very impersonal. There is no element of trust and credibility
with a simple online ad. People are far more likely to act on something if they have an element
trust and assurance in what they are acting upon.
In addition, a lot of the museum's business isnt from new clients. A lot of it is from
repeat visits. The museums membership program gives members ease of access into the
museum and access to special events.Thus, it is one of its biggest draws. Forty two percent of
participants, who didnt decline, in the survey conducted by the museum were members
(Mendoza).
The data shows that social media and word of mouth are their most effective form of
advertising. Through the museums own social media and social media platforms used by
museum attendees people are able to use internal credibility by trying the product for themselves
and determining if it is worthwhile or not. In short, people try something they tell others about it
those people try something they tell others about it, so on and so forth.

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Since social media and word of mouth are the most effective forms of advertising
according to the data gathered, more of their marketing should hinge on internal credibility.
Meaning people try their product and they tell their friends. Most people, especially moms would
be far more likely to take their kids to a place they heard of from a friend rather than seeing it
online, from a local advertisement or driving by. Things like referral programs, sharing on social
media should be emphasised in the museum's marketing. This will draw more people to the
museum and create more new memberships through marketing based on trust and credibility.
From the research conducted, this researcher has determined, because of all reasons given
above, that social media and word of mouth are the most effective form of marketing, especially
for a place like the San Diego Children's Discovery Museum. In addition, since the two forms of
advertising have been shown to go hand in hand. They could be viewed as the same thing. Social
media and word of mouth effectively are the same thing one is through the internet and the other
is physical interaction and face to face conversation. Both these methods of marketing and
advertisements hinge on trust and credibility, they effectively accomplish the same thing and are
both the same thing and should be treated as the same thing in advertising.
In order for the museum to implement this type of advertising into their marketing more
than they do already several changes can be made in terms of their social media marketing and
deals and incentives. All their social media posts should encourage people to share the post.
For Facebook this would be liking the post and re-tweeting for twitter posts. This will allow
people who have already been to the museum and may or may not be members to spread the
word to their friends and generate more interest.

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In addition to advertising through the internet more emphasis could be put on referral
programs. Members or frequent museum attendees reaching out to their friends, who have not
ever been the museum, will draw more people who are confident and trust in the product.

Appendix
Survey 1(conducted at the museums Fall Family Festival)

All participants were mothers

Question 1: How did you hear about this event?

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Question 2: What made you want to come?

Question 3: How do you prefer to be contacted about events?

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Question 4: Would you come again?

100% of survey participants responded: yes

Survey 2(conducted at the museum)

All participants were mothers

Question 1: How did you hear about us?

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Question 2: Why did you come?

Question 3: Would you come again?

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90% of participants responded yes, 10% responded no(out of state)

Question 4: Do you live in north county?
82% of participants responded yes, 18% responded no
Question 6: How often do you use social media?
82% of participants responded daily, 18% responded not often
Question 7: What form of social media do you hear most from the museum?

Interview Transcription

1. How has the marketing strategy of the museum changed over the past five Years?
The Museum has been in its current location for 4 years. Previously, it was located across the
street in the Center for the Arts. With a new location came new marketing. Five years ago the
marketing was awareness based. Four years ago the marketing was focusing on the rebranded
name of the San Diego Childrens Discovery Museum from the Escondido Childrens
Discovery Museum. Three years ago Museum programs were introduced as the Museum was
opened during major renovations and buildout. In 2013, the childrens discovery garden was

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opened adding a new component to be able to differentiate and market. In 2014, artificial grass
was added to the outdoor area allowing a more comfortable space to be able to have outdoor
programs. From 2011-2014 the past marketing manager worked to get the Museum up and
running. In 2015, I came onboard as the new Marketing Manager. My main goal was to diversify
our marketing channels.

2. What venue of social media, including email, do you put the most emphasis on when
marketing if any?
Facebook is our top social media site for followers and interaction. Email is crucial to the
communications of our programs.

3. How will the marketing strategies change in the future?

As we grow the Marketing team we will be able to put greater analytical efforts on each of our
marketing channels. We hope to improve our email marketing once we can get our CRM system
to function at capacity.

4. Are you currently doing anything in your marketing strategy to target North County
moms specifically? If so,what?

Print Advertising in North County Kids, San Diego Family, Edible San

Diego, North County Sun, Escondido Magazine, and Red Tricycle (digital ads)

Calendar Listings

Targeted Facebook Ads

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Works Cited

Heath, Dan, and Chip. Made to Stick. N.p.: Random House, 2007. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
Mendoza, Danielle. S.D.C.D.M Marketing Survey. 10 Nov. 2015. Raw data. San Diego
Children's Discovery Museum, Escondido, California.
Tarabasz, Anna. "The Reevaluation Of Communication In Customer Approach Towards
Marketing 4.0." Contemporary Management Quarterly / Wsplczesne Zarzadzanie 12.4 (2013):
124-134. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.