4.5.Qualitative methods
Interviews with groups or individual representatives of target groups can be useful for probing difficult questions. The decision process, which a family goes through when deciding whether or not to have a family day out and then where to spend it is extremely complex with, may contributory factors. Also, representatives of funding stakeholder groups could be interviewed in order to ascertain funding allocation criteria.
Observation may be used to generate much of the internal data required by the museum such as numbers of visitors or length of queues. More widely this technique could be extended to visiting other museums or other attractions, especially those held up as successful showcases. Much could be learnt from this benchmarking. The ultimate for this type of project being a hosted Disney theme park visit where you are taken behind the scenes to appreciate their customer focused marketing strategy: -
·Incredible awareness coverage (who's never heard of them?), recommendations to peer groups and repeat visits from loyal customers.
·Precise targeting of chosen segments (families with children in a fixed age range).
·Careful consideration of every aspect of the marketing mix.
·Attention to every conceivable detail of service delivery.
And then left to enjoy the result!
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