MUSEUM BOIJMANS VAN

BEUNINGEN
Marketing Essay

Contents
Introduction3
Marketing Introduction..3
Needs & Wants.4
Products & Sales..4
Marketing Tools5
Criticism.6
Conclusion7
Literature .8

Introduction
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The museum Boijmans van Beuningen is one of the most famous museum in The
Netherlands and is located in Rotterdam. They have a vast collection of old Dutch
masters as well as contemporary art and design. Not only their collection is
impressive, but the building is also an artwork itself. In this essay I will talk about
the marketing of the Boijmans van Beuningen, because marketing is a very
important part of being a cultural institution, especially with the decreasing
subsidies in Holland. In this essay I will take a close look at all the aspects of
marketing within the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. What are they doing now
to make the museum more visible for people inside of Rotterdam, but also in the
whole country and even the whole world? And how could they possibly improve
their marketing strategies to get more attention, and therefor possibly more
visitors, not only from Holland but from tourist as well?

Marketing
The first question we should ask ourselves is: what does marketing actually
mean? According to the Institute of Marketing, the definition of marketing is: The
management process which identifies, anticipates and supplies customer
requirements efficiently and profitably (D. Yorke & P.R. Jones, 1987). So if you
look at this definition, it clashes with the art idea, that art should never have
money as an incentive. But as I mentioned in the introduction, money became a
much greater aspect within the art world in the Netherlands over the last decade
due to the decreasing subsidies from the government, and don not forget the
economic crisis which has had its effect on the spending habits of citizens on
cultural trips, which include going to a museum. Another definition I found of
marketing is: Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social
needs (P. Kotler & K.L. Keller, 2012). This definition is seemingly much less
focussed on money, but still they say the exact same thing, which is that
marketing should centre around the consumers, and identifying en meeting the
consumers needs. According to Croteau, Hoynes & Milan (2012), the key source
of revenue is advertising, and thus marketing.
There are several aspects of marketing which I will mention, and explain their
relevance for the Boijmans van Beuningen. I will talk you through the Needs and
wants of the museum, the products they sell, and the marketing tools they
use.
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Needs & Wants

The needs and wants of the consumer is an important part of designing a
complete marketing strategy for a museum. A museum needs to know what the
consumers (in this case: the visitors) need and want when the pay a visit to the
Boijmans van Beuningen. The definition of needs and wants is: Needs are the
basic human requirements for air, food, water, clothing and shelter. Humans also
have strong needs for recreation, education, and entertainment. These needs
become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might satisfy the
need (P. Kotler & K.L. Keller,2012). To clarify the meaning of needs and wants
even further I searched for another definition which is more targeted towards
marketing. A need is a consumer's desire for a product's or service's
specific benefit, whether that be functional or emotional. A want is the desire for
products or services that are not necessary, but which consumers wish for.
([Customers Wants and Needs],n.d.). So when you apply this to the Boijmans
van Beuningen, you could say that the needs of the visitors are easy access to
the museum, functional lay-out of the building, and, of course, interesting pieces
of art. The wants can be intellectual growth, relaxation, and just having a nice
experience. I think that the Boijmans van Beuningen is fully aware of the needs
and wants of the visitors. For example when you take a look at their Facebook
page, the average rating, out of 975 ratings, is 4,4 stars out of 5. This means that
the museum lives up to the expectations, and thus the needs and wants, of the
visitors.

Products & Sales

But what are the actual products the Boijmans van Beuningen sells to their
visitors? The most obvious products of sale are the entrance tickets which, of
course, are an important part of the income of the museum. But next to that they
also rent out spaces in the museum, you can buy artefacts in the gift shop, and
you can buy something to eat and to drink in the museum. To define what it is
precisely that the museum sells, is also an important factor to include in your
marketing strategies. When you, for example, rent out spaces in the building, it
can be useful to target some of your marketing/advertisement toward companies
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instead of only the private sector, which might be more interested in renting a
nice space for dinner parties. Looking at the Boijmans van Beuningen you can
see that they do their very best to get close relations with companies, and give
them several different opportunities to become involved with the museum with
the benefits of renting them spaces in the museum for free

Marketing Tools
The Boijmans van Beuningen uses a vast amount of marketing tools. A marketing
tool can be research of the market they target, but also the way the adverstise.
When you look at the Boijmans van Beuningen in the press, you can see they
have a lot of exposure in newspapers and magazines. In 2013 there were 3503
articles written about the museum (Boijmans van Beuningen, 2013) which makes
an average of nine articles per day. Alongside the articles where the museum is
mentioned, they do a lot of advertisement as well in newspapers and magazines
like putting a loose folder inside a magazine or newspaper, and placing banners
inside them. Next to advertisement in the regular media, the internet also plays a
big role in the marketing of the museum. They now have near to 21 thousand
followers on Facebook, 30 thousand followers on Twitter and 26 thousand people
who are subscribed to their newsletter (Boijmans van Beuningen, 2013). Internet,
as we all know, became more and more important to cultural institutions to
advertise and to keep possible visitors up-to-date on what is happening in the
museum, especially for foreigners who wont see the advertisement in Dutch
newspapers and magazines, but rely on the information they can find on websites
and on social media. Which brings me to the website of the Boijmans van
Beuningen. When it comes to a website of a museum (or any other institution for
that matter), there are a few things very important. The website needs to be
easily found (for example: on Google), and the content needs to be clear and
easy to access. The Boijmans van Beuningen is fully aware of this fact which
shows in, for example, the way you can change language of the website from
Dutch to English, the clear lay-out (of the homepage especially) , and the visually
attracting way they have built their website.
Another marketing tool the Boijmans van Beuningen uses is ArtTube
(www.arttube.nl). This is a site linked to the museum on which you can find
profiles of artist shown in the museum, insight information on art pieces of the
Boijmans van Beuningen, and much more. Some clips are English spoken, and

some are spoken in Dutch. The Boijmans van Beuningen clearly understands the
importance of diversification on the internet and therefor is using different
platforms for advertising the museum and making it easily accessible around the
world.
I will summarize the marketing tools the Boijmans van Beuningen uses, to attract
more visitors and achieve to get a larger visibility, not only in The Netherlands,
but throughout the whole world. They use a newsletter subscription which is send
to you own e-mail address which keeps you up to date on events and exhibitions
and in 2013, 26 thousand people have subscribed to the newsletter (Boijmans
van Beuningen, 2013). They make a lot of use of the press of regular media, such
as newspapers and magazines, as well as television and radio. As I stated before,
there is an average of nine articles per day in which the Boijmans van Beuningen
is mentioned. The Boijmans van Beuningen also uses the internet in several
different ways. Social media plays a large role which includes Facebook, Twitter,
and Flickr. Next to social media they have introduced ArtTube with more in-depth
information about art pieces and artists shown in the museum. Of course they
also make use of the more old fashioned form of advertisement in the form of
folders, posters, and ads in newspapers and magazines.

Criticism
After taking a look at everything the Boijmans van Beuningen does when it
comes to marketing and advertisement, I can see some problems with it,
especially when it comes to marketing throughout the whole world. We are
becoming a more and more a globalized society. As Croteau, Hoynes and Milan
stated: the changing role of geography and physical distance with electronic
media, instantaneous communication and interaction can be carried out over
great distances. With electronic mass media, the ideas, images , and sounds
of different cultures are potentially available to vast networks of people outside
the culture from which the message originates(2012).
So it is a fact, that due to more technical innovation, like the internet, it becomes
easier for a museum such as the Boijmans van Beuningen to spread out
information about the museum and their artwork across the whole world. So I
took a good look at their website (www.boijmans.nl). At first sight, nothing is

wrong with it and you can easily select English if you are not dutch. But then, I
clicked on the Boijmans TV & online button and I was not very happily surprised.
There are several links there to: Boijmans TV, ArtTube, Collection, myBoijmans,
and Alma. These al are internet based platforms where you can get more
information on the museum and its collection. But when you click either of those
links (except for ArtTube), you will be send to a page with page not found. I
found this very strange. The internet is the most important source for foreigners
to let them get to know the Boijmans van Beuningen en maybe get them to visit
in the future. But if every link they click on the site does not work, the museum
itself will come across amateurish and unprofessional.
Furthermore, I have some points of improvement for their tactics on social media.
According to their annual report (Boijmans van Beuningen, 2013), one third of
their online visitors are people outside of The Netherlands, but the language they
post in on Facebook (www.facebook.com/boijmans), and Twitter
(www.twitter.com/boijmans) is Dutch. So to get a known name for the museum
outside of The Netherlands, it is not a very good idea to only post in Dutch. Im
not saying they should only post in English, because we shouldnt underestimate
the importance of Dutch visitors, but it could be a good idea to have an English
written facebook and twitter page, next to ones written in Dutch.

Conclusion
Considering the Boijmans van Beuningen is one of the biggest museums in The
Netherlands, and the most important museum in Rotterdam, you could expect
that the museum puts a lot of work in making, and improving, their name. Also
you should expect that the museum puts a lot of effort into their marketing
strategies. When it comes to the marketing within The Netherlands, there is not
much more they can do. They keep their social media platforms up-to-date, they
have a clear and visually attracting website, and they are a very visible museum
due to a lot of exposure in the regular media. But there is a big but when it
comes to their marketing. Being such a big and outstanding museum in The
Netherlands, they could, and should, target their marketing more to tourists who
visit The Netherlands, and art enthusiasts outside of The Netherlands. In my
opinion they are missing out on some possible lucrative opportunities by having a
Facebook and Twitter page only written in Dutch, and an English written website
where links does not seem to work. They are trying to reach out more to

foreigners and they mention their importance in their annual report (Boijmans
van Beuningen, 2013)

Literature

Byrnes W.J. 2009.

Management and the Arts Economics. Burlington ,US:

Elsevier.

Croteau, D., Hoynes, W., Milan, S. (2012). Media/Society. USA: SAGE

Publications

Kotler, P., Keller, K.L. (2012), A Framework for Marketing Management.

England: Pearson
Education Limited
McDaniel, C., Gates, R. (2012), Marketing Research, 9th edition International

Student Version.
USA: Wiley
Yorke, D.A., Jones, R. (1984).Marketing and Museums, European Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 18

Iss: 2, pp.90 99
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Yorke D.A., Jones, P.R. (1987). Museums and Marketing Techniques,

Management Decision,
Vol. 25 Iss: 1, pp.25 - 32
Annual Report Boijmans van Beuningen (2013)
o Consulted on: http://www.boijmans.nl/en/257/organisatie