SHOW TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is automatically generated by Descript.  Any errors or omissions are unintentional.

[00:00:00] Jeff Sieh: Hello folks. Welcome to Creator News Live. I’m Jeff c and you’re not.

[00:00:03] Conor Brown: And I’m Connor Brown, and this is the show that keeps you up to date on what’s happening in the world of the creator economy and so much more.

[00:00:10] Jeff Sieh: you ever caught yourself wondering why some organizations seem to attract loyal fans while others struggle to get notice? Maybe you’re trying to figure out how to clearly explain what you do in a way people actually remember, or maybe you’re just doing great work, but finding it harder than ever to cut through the noise.

[00:00:29] Jeff Sieh: If that sounds familiar, you are in the right place.

[00:00:32] Conor Brown: Today we’re excited to welcome a guest who spent decades helping institutions move from being overlooked to becoming community favorites. Amy Keys is a strategic communications partner with over 30 years of experience in the museum world. Amy is the creator of the Love My Museum Method, where she helps cultural institutions unlock their potential by aligning their brand messaging, visitor experience, and their media presence.

[00:00:59] Conor Brown: She’s bringing [00:01:00] lessons that apply far beyond museum walls, and she’ll be sharing what she’s learned about brand messaging, experience, trust. And how those same ideas, really helps any business, build a following that lasts.

[00:01:13] Jeff Sieh: So sit back, clear schedule, clear mind, and get ready for this week’s episode of Creator News Live. Jazz hands, everyone. Jazz hands.

[00:01:22] Jeff Sieh: we go. Very, I love it. I love it.

[00:01:26] Jeff Sieh: so glad you’re on the show, Amy. How are, where are you dialing in from, by the way? I don’t think we asked that at the beginning.

[00:01:31] Amy Kehs: I live outside of Annapolis, Maryland. I’ve lived in Maryland all my life, and it’s a great spot. Annapolis is beautiful, super close to Washington, DC and also Baltimore.

[00:01:43] Jeff Sieh: What we gonna say, Connor? I know you had some quip about your home state.

[00:01:46] Conor Brown: Nap town. We call it Nap Town. It’s our capital. Let me just say, that was a great, intro song. You put that together there, Jeff. I will say though, the AI motion that you did for me, I think it was the worst I’ve [00:02:00] seen yet, but I will say what I like the most is when Amy’s avatar turns, it looks like she’s scolding us and that is appropriate. She always needs to

[00:02:08] Conor Brown: keep in line.

[00:02:09] Jeff Sieh: That’s true. That is very true.

[00:02:11] Amy Kehs: I do have to keep you guys in in line a bit, don’t I?

[00:02:14] Jeff Sieh: We do. by the way, I wanna do a, a quick shout out to our sponsor. Ecamm. There was what makes the show happen. being able to pull in that music, bring full screen animations. All that stuff is because of Ecamm.

[00:02:25] Jeff Sieh: You find out more about them at Ecamm dot com slash jeff. You could say 15% by using Code Jeff 15, on your first purchase. And by the way, they’re having an amazing thing at the UK coming up April 23rd through the 24th. You can find out more about that by going to Tube pe.co uk slash creator camp.

[00:02:44] Jeff Sieh: make sure you check that out. Their creator camps are always awesome. First time in the uk. So if you are in the area, make sure you guys go and check that out. All righty, we are gonna jump right in because this, we got so much, what are you gonna say? You raised your hand, Connor.

[00:02:57] Conor Brown: I was gonna say, have you tried out [00:03:00] the, are we allowed to talk about the beta for Ecamm? The new feature that

[00:03:03] Jeff Sieh: public, yeah. it’s beta right now, but you can stream out vertical for like shorts and, and, and Instagram. Very, very cool.

[00:03:11] Jeff Sieh: and it plus for like repurposing, it’s gonna be so easy to take that, and, and use it that way. So that’s in beta right now. It’s gonna, it, they’ll test it out, work out all the bugs, then it’s gonna move into their production, uh, software and it’s gonna be really, really cool. So I can’t wait to show you guys that,

[00:03:25] Amy Kehs: this is my first time, like on this side of EAM. So cool and so easy. I really like it.

[00:03:33] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, it’s, there’s a reason they’re sponsor to the show. I’m just saying. I’m just saying. Alright. So Amy is a PR expert

[00:03:39] Jeff Sieh: and I wanted to kind of, before we get started, because a lot of people I think get confused. What’s the difference, Amy, between PR and marketing?

[00:03:46] Amy Kehs: such a great question. And I always say like, for all of the communications professionals out there, there’s probably the same number of explanations, but how I like [00:04:00] to describe it and, and usually I also add in their advertising is. For marketing, advertising, and public relations. It’s all about who you’re talking to and what space you’re talking in.

[00:04:14] Amy Kehs: So think of it this way, if it is marketing, it’s your space and your voice, your words. So that’s like your website or a marketing brochure. If it’s advertising, you are borrowing somebody else’s space. So it’s your message still, but you’re borrowing an audience. You’re borrowing somebody else’s space. So think of that Dorito’s commercial, the Super Bowl.

[00:04:42] Amy Kehs: And then for Republic relations, ideally it’s someone else talking about you in their space. So think of like, oh, there’s a new pizza place down the street. You run into your neighbor on the corner and they’re like, oh my gosh, I just went to this new pizza place and it’s amazing. like, you [00:05:00] are going to believe your neighbor a lot more than the Facebook ad because of course the pizza place is going to say great things about themselves.

[00:05:09] Jeff Sieh: Unless you’re Conor Brown. ’cause he’ll, he’ll say anything to get his people to click on his, his ticket. He talks. But anyway.

[00:05:14] Conor Brown: that reminds me of my, my undergrad days when we, we learned about all this, Amy, when we were talking about it’s either paid, earned or owned media, right? So paid, is that advertising earned? Is that PR and owned? Is is your own spaces, so your own newsletter, your own website, your own social media things.

[00:05:34] Amy Kehs: Yeah.

[00:05:34] Amy Kehs: And that earned media, you know, it might be a little harder to get, I know we’re going to talk about this, but it’s just worth its weight and gold.

[00:05:43] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, because I would trust things that Amy would say over than just getting an ad on Facebook. ’cause if Amy says, Hey, you need to go to this museum because it’s got this and this, and they’re giving out like free sushi or something, I would be like, okay, Amy knows what she’s talking about. I’m gonna go right

[00:05:56] Jeff Sieh: instead of just. Yeah, free tacos. That’d be good. Yeah. but, you know, [00:06:00] getting attention is really, really hard. And we’re gonna talk about that because it, I think, even with the rise of ai, we’re trying to cut through some of the noise because there’s so much stuff coming out. They’re predicting even more AI slop, uh, coming in the pike.

[00:06:09] Jeff Sieh: So cutting through the noise getting in there with your audience I think is really, really important. But I wanna know from the audience, wherever you’re watching from, put it down below in the comments. where do you think it’s hardest right now?

[00:06:20] Jeff Sieh: Is it, is it getting attention right now? Is it staying relevant to your audience? Or is it actually getting people to take action? So what’s hardest for you right now? Getting attention, staying relevant, or getting people to actually take action? I know that’s a struggle for all of us in some way or another, but what are you really struggling with right now?

[00:06:36] Jeff Sieh: Let us know down below. But Amy, I wanted to ask you because, you know, attention is getting harder to get right now. it’s just not a museum problem. This is a problem, you know, across the board for businesses. But you’ve spent 30 years working with museums, including places like the Smithsonian that this tiny little museum, that we all talk about.

[00:06:55] Jeff Sieh: but from your perspective, why is it harder than ever for museums to get people [00:07:00] through the door today? Because I think this is relevant to all of us.

[00:07:03] Amy Kehs: It is a really noisy world, and it is definitely relevant to everybody, whether you’re a creator or a small business, whether you’re a online business or a brick and mortar business, it’s a really noisy world. Just specifically talking about museums. You know, museums used to be the place to go for, to learn something or all inspiration.

[00:07:31] Amy Kehs: I mean, kind of similar to like your Encyclopedia Britannica, right? If you, if you need to know something, like that’s where you would go for information. That’s where you would go. Also, just for that awe and inspiration. Now people can sit on their couch and in 4K on their smartphone, get the awe and inspiration.

[00:07:51] Amy Kehs: So what are you doing to create that experience? People now want an experience. They want that [00:08:00] connection.

[00:08:01] Jeff Sieh: So just real quick for a follow up, what do you think has changed most for the last five to 10 years? I mean, museums have been around for hundreds of years, I mean, probably thousands of years. There’s places to go to see cool things and learn through the exhibits, but what have you seen change the most?

[00:08:15] Jeff Sieh: Is it the interactive stuff that’s going on in the museums? Is it museums building community? What is, what are your thoughts on that?

[00:08:21] Amy Kehs: Well, I think it’s also people are overscheduled. and you are asking for people’s most precious commodity, their time. That’s true for creator as well. or for a business, you know, you’re asking for their time, but you’re also asking for their money. And so when people are overscheduled, in addition to having like the next greatest exhibit, you also need to be able to answer the question like, why should I even care?

[00:08:51] Amy Kehs: Why, why should I even care about this little museum? Maybe it’s a museum in your town and it’s on. Three acres that could be used for [00:09:00] housing, which your town might need, or a new grocery store or a park for your kid. So why should I care? That’s the question that you need to answer, and it really, the answer can be in those, that connection, those relationships.

[00:09:16] Amy Kehs: You want people to love your museum or your business so much that they can’t imagine life without you. You wanna create community.

[00:09:28] Jeff Sieh: That’s a great, great answer. No matter if you’re a museum or just you know, a solopreneur watching this show.

[00:09:34] Amy Kehs: Yeah.

[00:09:35] Conor Brown: Yeah, definitely easier said than done, but I know Amy. You always talk about, you know, museums bring you in because you have such a specific skillset and expertise. And a lot of the times when you’re interacting with these museum leaders, they don’t know what you know, and they’re also coming from a place of being rooted in the museum world, right?

[00:09:56] Conor Brown: They’re a curator there, an exhibitor, [00:10:00] those sorts of things. So I’m interested to know, when you talk to these museum leaders who might not be getting the foot traffic that they want, or who aren’t building that community and want that, what do they think the problem is with that? And then how often is that different from what the real issue is?

[00:10:18] Amy Kehs: They usually think that it’s a marketing problem, they will say, we are a hidden gem. People just don’t know. People just don’t know we’re here. and it’s actually that relevance problem. It’s actually you need to create a relationship so that they know the answer to why should I care or. Why is this an important thing in my life?

[00:10:44] Amy Kehs: So I always say that every museum needs to be a community museum. And that is true for businesses as well. Like you want to be the museum that has the Halloween event that families come to year after year. You want [00:11:00] to be helping families create traditions. If you’re a small business, whether it’s brick and mortar, or you have a YouTube channel, How are you going to create those relationships so that you are the coffee shop that people meet at every Friday, or the YouTube equivalent of being the Cheers bar around the corner.

[00:11:21] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, I think, you know, it’s interesting that you said that about Halloween and then the YouTube. but first I wanted to bring up some of the, the. Comments from our, amazing audience, Raymond Keatings. You know, we asked the question, what’s their, they struggle with the most and taking action, like getting people to take action.

[00:11:36] Jeff Sieh: Ray, I know Ha is an, a great author. I get his emails to his books and I know like there’s sales and there’s special Amazon stuff. And so I, I, I can see for him it’d be taking action, like getting people to buy his books. That’s what he wants people to do. And then, but mostly Disney, getting folks to take action, like subscribes, responding to email, commenting.

[00:11:57] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, getting people to interact is, I [00:12:00] think is across the board is something that we all want. We either want ’em to purchase our stuff, you know, subscribe, you know, leave a comment like we were asking to do before. So it’s getting harder and harder to do that. But I thought the points that you made are spot on.

[00:12:12] Jeff Sieh: one of the things that I did want to ask is, I mean, museums Used to be like the destination for field trips. I remember going to so many museums. I, our kids in Texas, you know, we, there’s a kind of the annual pilgrimage from our school to go to the Alamo.

[00:12:25] Jeff Sieh: That was a big thing to go to in San Antonio. But they’re having the trouble almost like movies. Like, why do I want to go to a movie when in a couple weeks I can sit down on my couch, I can posit for bathroom breaks. I can do, I can do everything at home now.

[00:12:38] Jeff Sieh: so do you think that’s what’s pulling attention away from museums and what can, museums and brands learn from the shift? Like, how can we, maybe think of ways that are outside of the typical field trip box or, you know, brick and mortar box to get people to come in our store?

[00:12:53] Jeff Sieh: What are some ways we can maybe think a little bit more creative?

[00:12:56] Amy Kehs: I call this brand love. and [00:13:00] I think that there are three parts to it and I’ve, for museums, I’ve put this together into, I call it the love, my Museum method. There are three things, brand messaging, a really great, amazing visitor experience and media relations. And the first part, that brand messaging, I think especially for creators, especially for solopreneurs and also museums, is really key.

[00:13:28] Amy Kehs: When people talk about their brand, they think about a logo and colors. but there’s also a messaging component to that as well. And you need to, you need to be clear, you need to be consistent, and you need to be really confident. I think as solopreneurs and as creators, it can be really tempting to kind of experiment and play around with like the words that we’re using when it comes to our business. And that’s great. And that [00:14:00] is, It’s good to experiment, but you also need to have those words that you repeat all the time. Because remember, our goal is we want people to talk about you when you’re not even in the room. We want them to learn that messaging, so to be clear, to be consistent. I mean, you should be sick of your elevator speech or your tagline.

[00:14:22] Amy Kehs: You should know how to talk about your mission, vision, and values so much that. It is ingrained in everyone’s mind that they know exactly what you do, so that if they run into somebody at a party and they’re talking about like, I’d really love to learn more about ai, or, man, I really could use a great travel agent.

[00:14:46] Amy Kehs: you are top of mind. They think of you first. They’re like, oh, you should check out Jeff C’s show. Or, oh, you need a travel agent. You need to go visit Vacation Kingdoms. You want to be known for one thing and you need to [00:15:00] talk about it all the time, and you don’t have to be a Nike, you know, just do it.

[00:15:05] Amy Kehs: Or Apple think different.

[00:15:08] Amy Kehs: Like you can have your brand messaging and teach it to people so that they buy in and they feel like they know you and they’re on your side.

[00:15:18] Jeff Sieh: That’s a great point. Yeah.

[00:15:19] Conor Brown: I think that. So interesting and, and just hammering it, right? Like you need your elevator pitch. You need to know what you are about us is so that you can immediately say it, and the more you regurgitate. And I think the thing with that too is like you think, oh my God, these people know this. Right?

[00:15:37] Conor Brown: They’ve heard me say it a thousand times, but they probably don’t remember it until you are getting sick of it. They’re not, you

[00:15:43] Conor Brown: know, fully remembering all of that, which is important. You know, Amy, you deal with museum level things, right? People coming to the museum that scope and size. But for someone listening right now who, who has a small business of their own or a [00:16:00] personal brand, what are some warning signs that, that you’ve seen in the museum world that says, Hey, we’re being ignored, right?

[00:16:09] Conor Brown: No one’s listening to us. What are some of those signs that the small business solopreneur can can be on the lookout for?

[00:16:16] Amy Kehs: I think it’s not getting that customer who’s coming back to buy more, you know, it’s a lot cheaper to get someone to buy something a second time than it is to acquire a new customer. And the same is for museums. I think when you aren’t getting those repeat buyers or you aren’t getting those repeat visitors, it really comes down to customer experience or.

[00:16:46] Amy Kehs: In the case of museums, a visitor experience. You need to know what your customer journey looks like. You need to know all of the touch points along that customer journey, and you need to really think about like, how am I [00:17:00] interacting with this person and is it on repeat? Right? We’ve all had that experience where we go to, we go to a restaurant, we have an amazing experience.

[00:17:12] Amy Kehs: we get seated right away. The waitress is fantastic, the food is really great. We go home and we tell our friends and we’re like, let’s go next week. You’re going to love this place. And then you go back and it’s an entirely. Different experience and what are you, you’re embarrassed, you’re kind of mad and, and it’s just, you want that visitor experience, that customer experience to, to be solid.

[00:17:40] Amy Kehs: My favorite Disney quote is, do what you do so well. That they wanna come back and bring their friend. And Disney has a method for this. They are looking to repeat that visitor experience so that you also know what to expect. Because people don’t like to [00:18:00] walk into mystery. They want to know what’s coming.

[00:18:03] Amy Kehs: you want to have that waitress that knows. like what your order is before you sit down. Like you want that feeling. And I think that that is the sign for small businesses are people coming back to buy again and how to fix it is to look at that customer journey.

[00:18:20] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. And you know what? That’s really interesting you said that because it’s almost sometimes the easiest lift to d differentiate yourselves from other people. I know Connor’s a, a fan too, but Justin Welsh had like an article I think last week where he was talking about exact same thing you were talk, you said was he went to a restaurant, it was his favorite restaurant.

[00:18:38] Jeff Sieh: It was perfect. They would serve him. They knew his name. It was a small little thing. And then it changed and it was horrible service. And he’s like, he, he’s not even gonna go back. And like, it’s just a little thing like customer service or like just keeping your water glass filled, like stuff that’s not hard to do but can easily as you grow or you become comfortable in your [00:19:00] brand, can slip through the cracks.

[00:19:01] Jeff Sieh: And I think. This is gonna be more and more important than ever.

[00:19:04] Amy Kehs: it’s universal. Like this is just ingrained. And that’s another thing that I love about, public relations is like, it’s, it’s human experience. It’s shared human experience. when my kids were little, we would go to friend’s. Sadly our friend’s is gone, but we would go to friend’s and our favorite waitress was Tabitha.

[00:19:24] Amy Kehs: And Tabitha knew to bring the kids, their little kid place mats and their crayons. She knew what everybody liked to drink. Sometimes she would have our drink, like we’re walking in from the parking lot and our drinks are on the table. Like Tabitha was amazing, but when. Their grandparents would come to visit.

[00:19:41] Amy Kehs: Where did my kids, little, little kids want to take the grandparents? They wanted to take them to friendlies because they wanted to see like, look how we fit in. Look how great Tabitha is. you want to share that experience with your friends and your family and [00:20:00] that That’s public relations.

[00:20:02] Jeff Sieh: well you think about even how the three of us came in our circles together. We went to a conference that did a really great job, momentum that did that like, and then stuff happens like mastermind’s forum and, and thing. But it came from that first like really good customer experience at this conference where things happened.

[00:20:20] Jeff Sieh: you’ve met people who had a growth mindset that really wanted to, you know, take their business and it just worked. And I think that kind of tapping into that kind of stuff, not even trying to be markety or like, you know, spammy or whatever, but it just kind of happens organically when you have a great product, right?

[00:20:35] Jeff Sieh: Like it really works really well. you know, we’ve mentioned the Smithsonian that you’ve worked for, you’ve helped them with their pr. and people are like, okay, yeah, Smithsonian, everybody knows the Smithsonian.

[00:20:44] Jeff Sieh: but there are a lot of other museums that you work with don’t have the brand recognition of Smithsonian, but you can still say, have some of these things. And like, I think for a lot of us creators, it’s like we see, see the Hermo or the Mongs or the Connor Browns that are, have all this huge following [00:21:00] and everybody likes, you know, wants to be around them.

[00:21:01] Jeff Sieh: And we’re like, but I’m only, I’m only here. So what kind of takeaways can you, when you think about, like, I know a lot of museums go, I’m not the Smithsonian. Like I can’t, I don’t have that budget or whatever. What kind of principles can you take that you’ve taught from the, from helping those smaller ones that we can use as creators where we don’t have the brand recognition, like so many museums have.

[00:21:22] Amy Kehs: I love this question so much. first, for every Smithsonian project that I’ve ever done I have not had a marketing budget. It has all been earned media relations. Yes, the brand recognition is totally there, but that is, that is a small part of it. They, they’re consistent. They have an amazing visitor experience.

[00:21:47] Amy Kehs: And when it comes to media relations, they have really good relationships with the people that are on their media list. And I think that when I’m talking to a smaller [00:22:00] museum, they say the same thing. They’re like, well, Amy, you’re used to working at the Smithsonian and we’re just not there. But that isn’t true in every communications plan that I do, there is a section that talks about the different audiences, who are the different audiences that you’re speaking to and almost developing, like when I’ve worked with small businesses, almost developing like a hierarchy.

[00:22:23] Amy Kehs: So just as an example, thinking about your email list. Those people are giving you space in their inbox. You need to treat them like VIPs. If you have an announcement to make, they should learn first. They should learn about it first, and it should be through your email. They shouldn’t see it first on social media.

[00:22:46] Amy Kehs: So think about the different audiences that you speak to and how, how can you make them feel like VIPs? I think the other thing is that visitor experience or that customer experience one, when I’m [00:23:00] talking to smaller museums, one mistake that I see over and over again is they think that the visitor experience starts when a visitor walks through the door.

[00:23:11] Amy Kehs: Oh, no, no. We’re like a third into that visitor experience. They have been checking you out on social media. They’ve looked at your website. on your website, do you have a plan, your visit button or page that makes it easy for them to plan a visit? They had to drive there. Could they see the sign from the road?

[00:23:32] Amy Kehs: Are you handicap accessible? Like there’s a whole part of the visitor experience before they even walk in the door. The same is true for small businesses.

[00:23:43] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. Those are great points that we, You know, we think that everybody knows, we may have to like keep saying it. My wife is always saying, nobody knows that. You think everybody does. And I’m like,

[00:23:53] Jeff Sieh: oh, you know, and we have that kind of, that, you know, fog of like, we think we, you know, we’ve been doing it for so long, it’s just like, oh, I [00:24:00] thought everybody knew that.

[00:24:00] Jeff Sieh: And, and having those people come in and say, oh, you need a handicap ramp, or, oh, you need to have, another language on your website, or, oh, you need to have, you know, a bigger, you know, call to action on your website. Where, how can they sign up? Like how can they find out more? How can they book a call? All that stuff.

[00:24:15] Jeff Sieh: I think we kind of just like think that we know what we’re doing, but sometimes we really need to go back to the basics on some of this stuff.

[00:24:21] Amy Kehs: So true. So true.

[00:24:23] Conor Brown: Or even telling people that you have those things. Maybe you’re already handicap accessible, but it doesn’t say it anywhere on anything,

[00:24:30] Conor Brown: so people get turned away. It’s telling people. What we also have, I think we do this a lot in the travel agent space, where somebody comes to me, I book ’em a cruise, and then the next thing I know, they’ve also booked a, a vacation somewhere else and they say, Hey, you know, I, I could have helped you with that too.

[00:24:44] Conor Brown: And they said, oh, I had no idea. You can book other things. That’s on me.

[00:24:48] Conor Brown: Right for not educating them on what I am able to do for them. Uh, a couple great comments here. We have a question, but before that, I just want to comment on Rich’s comment real quick. [00:25:00] Rich Graham, he says a lot of this stuff comes from the book, unreasonable Hospitality.

[00:25:03] Conor Brown: Great examples for any business Rich that’s been on the top of my two read list for a while. I know it’s by, the Mader D from 11 Madison Park, which has been the best restaurant in the world for a number of years, so I’m definitely looking forward to reading that. And then we have our friend Paul Gowder Gower’s on the go.

[00:25:22] Conor Brown: He meant to ask you this at Pod Fest last week. What do you think about brands like Wendy’s that has taken an online voice that’s very different from their brand values? They just roast people on social. You just commented Amy, about. Before people even step foot in the door, they’ve already researched you, they’ve gone on social, right?

[00:25:43] Conor Brown: And then they’ve gone on the website. So when Paul’s example is saying, you know, Wendy’s obviously a much bigger thing, right? And it’s more, if it’s top of mind, you’re gonna go to Wendy’s, that sort of thing. but when there is a disconnect, what do you think, about that? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

[00:25:59] Conor Brown: [00:26:00] Right?

[00:26:00] Amy Kehs: It does. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And I think in that case, and I have a couple of other really great examples, it’s the audience like who are you talking to, who is on Instagram? Looking at that ad, there’s an amazing, reel Right now. It’s the, the National Gallery of Art is one of my favorite social media accounts to follow along with, um, national parks because they also can be a little, fun and Smithsonian as well.

[00:26:29] Amy Kehs: the National Gallery of Art posted, I, they’re, they were talking about a contest for teens, and so it’s this. Curator. She is an older woman. She’s completely adorable. And she is speaking another language, like all of the teen lingo that’s

[00:26:50] Amy Kehs: out there right now. It’s so great. It’s so great. So I, I really think that it makes your brand, like when you can [00:27:00] do things like what Wendy’s is doing or the National Gallery of Art, like it shows that your brand is fun, right?

[00:27:06] Amy Kehs: And it shows that you’re trying to connect with other audiences and there’s almost like a level of, and not just fun, but like respect there, right? but I think it’s okay to be fun. I think it’s okay to, to do that and, and not just try it out, but like really embrace it. Like, this is how we’re gonna be on social media.

[00:27:27] Amy Kehs: I think it’s great and it is a brand voice.

[00:27:30] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. And I think to Paul’s point about winds, I think one, it’s their logo comes up to all on all the, wherever they’re up on social. And that logo is so. You know, we talked about Smithsonian and people who have brand recognition, like you see it and, and to your point, when people see the snarky comments from Wendy’s.

[00:27:47] Jeff Sieh: It, uh, ’cause it, a lot of times they’ll poke fun at McDonald’s or something else, so it’s kind of sometimes in their space, but they know that it’s a fun brand, like you were saying. Like, oh, am I gonna pick like an old school stodgy place to eat, or am I gonna go to Wendy’s, which [00:28:00] will kind of have fun and poke with people on online.

[00:28:02] Jeff Sieh: So, I just think it’s, it’s very interesting, Paul, what they’re doing, and how, and how well they do it. And I wonder like how many people run that account? Like, is there just one really funny dude, or is a girl, or is there, is it just like a team, like the SNL writer’s room or something that they’re, they’re doing all that stuff.

[00:28:19] Jeff Sieh: Anyway, it’s pretty interesting. we’re gonna talk next about this. Amy had mentioned it before, her love my museum method because there’s a lot of things that we can take away as creators from what she has put together. But I wanna ask you guys in the audience, oh, and by the way, we’ve got, James Hicks said, uh, he loves the discussion.

[00:28:35] Jeff Sieh: James is amazing creator, but he’s really, he loves the old school phone and typewriter behind Amy, so that’s pretty cool. Yeah. Other YouTubers are

[00:28:42] Jeff Sieh: always checking out other people’s background. Yeah. Part of her brand. They’re always checking that out. but what I wanted to ask you guys in the audience and drop it down wherever you’re watching from down below, what part do you think is hardest for your business right now explaining what you do?

[00:28:55] Jeff Sieh: ’cause Amy talked about that, like having the elevator pitch uh, creating a great first experience. We’ve talked about [00:29:00] that. Or getting others to talk about you. So what’s harder for you explaining what you do? Create a first experience, or getting others to talk about you? I want to know. Let us know down below, but we’re gonna talk about Love My museum method.

[00:29:14] Jeff Sieh: Now you created this, Amy. so can you walk us through the three parts, which are brand messaging, visitor experience, and media relations? ’cause I think this can be applicable to creators across the board.

[00:29:26] Amy Kehs: Definitely and, and actually I started working on it and developing it when I was not just working with museums, but when I was also working with online businesses at the time. And the first part, brand messaging is all about that know, like and trust factor. So what we’ve been talking about, do people not just recognize that brand voice, but also can hear your message clear, see it consistently know exactly what you do so that they [00:30:00] can. Talk about you when you’re not in the room. So that’s the first part, and you need to be consistent and it has to be solid. The second part is that visitor experience. So for a museum, what is the, before the visit experience, the during the visit experience, and then after the visit, like how do you collect their information so that you put them on the email list or you tell them about those, that Halloween program or, or a festival that you have coming up so that you can turn them into a lifelong fan.

[00:30:33] Amy Kehs: You want somebody to. Not just come to your museum or visit your business or you know, watch a YouTube video, what, whatever it is, you don’t want them to just watch it, check the box and say, I don’t have to do it again. Like you want them to say like, oh, that was amazing and I need to go back,

[00:30:52] Amy Kehs: or I want to buy the t-shirt, I want to buy a membership.

[00:30:56] Amy Kehs: I wanna become a donor. Like, how do you make them a [00:31:00] lifelong fan? And that is around that visitor experience. So they’ve, they’ve kind of found you online. They’ve learned who you are through brand messaging. They’ve had this amazing, amazing experience that’s made them want to come back and bring a friend as well, Disney says.

[00:31:17] Amy Kehs: And then the last part is media relations. And that’s important because you want that third party endorsement and. That could be a neighbor on the street that could be you know, it doesn’t have to be media relations. It could be some other way to borrow an audience, but media relations and getting a third party endorsement sort of solidifies in a person’s mind, oh yes, I’ve made the right choice.

[00:31:44] Amy Kehs: Like, okay, I thought that that was really great and now this person’s also saying that it’s really great, so it must be really great. Sometimes we need that.

[00:31:52] Jeff Sieh: Right. Very cool.

[00:31:54] Conor Brown: Let’s focus on the, on the first thing too. Brand messaging. What I think so many museums struggle with [00:32:00] is, is how to explain like why they matter, right?

[00:32:03] Conor Brown: I think media relations really helps when there’s a big new display coming, right? There’s a

[00:32:09] Conor Brown: new exhibit. Media’s gonna pick that up. They’re, they’re gonna talk about it.

[00:32:13] Conor Brown: but I think a lot of the times these museums, they’re saying we matter because of. X thing we have, right? Or Y thing. We have not really the over encompassing, well, this is what we’re doing. Like a perfect example. I love the American History Museum, the Smithsonian American History Museum. Every time I would go there, I’d always say, all right, let’s see what’s not on display right now.

[00:32:35] Conor Brown: Is Kermit gonna be out? Right? Are the Ruby Red slippers gonna be there? Is Carol O’Connor’s chair? Is the Star-Spangled Banner gonna be under restoration? Right? It was always something. So at that point it became a museum of, all right, what do they have behind the door that’s not on display? So it was hard to say like, why it, it mattered, you know?

[00:32:57] Conor Brown: So why do you think [00:33:00] museums overall just have a tough time explaining, Hey, forget the things we have. This is why we matter and this is why we’re doing great work.

[00:33:10] Amy Kehs: Yeah. And I think, you know, when it comes to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, one of my great friends, it’s really easy to explain why the Star-Spangled Banner matters. Right? It’s that that’s an easy sell. But when you are a smaller museum and maybe you have something on display from, I don’t know, the, the town’s founder or something,

[00:33:39] Amy Kehs: Or, or you have, I talked to a museum once, they’re like, we have the most amazing 1800 wedding dress collection. Like, who would, who would want to miss this? And I think, you know, a, a museum space is very much like an academic atmosphere. you know, they’re, they’re studying [00:34:00] these things. They’re experts in their field on very niche subjects.

[00:34:04] Amy Kehs: And so of course, like, oh, this is the most important thing. so I think that getting them to understand, like it needs to be the whole experience, a blockbuster exhibit is great, but you also need to have. Story time on Saturday mornings. You, you need to have, like that family day event. You need to become a community museum so that it doesn’t matter what’s on display, that it’s the space, it’s the being part of the community and that that is what you’re focused on.

[00:34:43] Amy Kehs: And not the the teacup or the

[00:34:45] Jeff Sieh: right.

[00:34:46] Amy Kehs: wedding dress collection.

[00:34:47] Jeff Sieh: Right. So I wanna, I wanna dig on this a little bit because when we were at podcast, we talked about this a little bit, but you mentioned this thing that,I can’t remember what museum, maybe Smithsonian, is that called the Bird Lab? Like I had never heard of [00:35:00] it before. And you said there’s even gonna be like a series on it.

[00:35:02] Jeff Sieh: I think your daughter maybe working for like our interning there. and I’m like, why haven’t I never heard about this? Because it’s like So I want you to explain it and then maybe some lessons we can take away from it. Because I was like, one, it was word of mouth. It came from you, but you’re like this museum, like, you know everything about it.

[00:35:19] Jeff Sieh: But I’m like, this was fascinating to me. And I’m like, why have I not heard of this before? So talk about the bird lab a little bit.

[00:35:25] Amy Kehs: I think the one thing that people forget about, museums, and when I say museums, I mean I, I use this term very broadly. Like it could be a nature center. It could be a zoo. A zoo is really just, you know, there, their collection is alive, but there are still, there’s science going on, there’s research that’s going on.

[00:35:45] Amy Kehs: And at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, they have something called the Feather Lab that started in the 1950s and they study bird strikes. They partner with the [00:36:00] NTSB. And there’s a book out right now, I think it’s called The Feather Lab. and my daughter is volunteering in this lab and.

[00:36:09] Amy Kehs: Yes, there is the work that museums do behind the scenes that they don’t talk about. And it doesn’t have to be a Smithsonian Museum. You know, it could be like the Nature Center has like a really cool eagle who has a really interesting story, or, you know, it, it could be a historic home, has done a really interesting archeological dig.

[00:36:34] Amy Kehs: it doesn’t need to be. again, Star-Spangled Banner or Feather Lab level. Share your stories, like share what you’re doing. Share those behind the scenes moments.

[00:36:47] Conor Brown: So, Amy, when, when we’re talking about that, how important is it for a museum to say, do you think this is cool? Great. You need to come see it ’cause this is how you’re supporting us. [00:37:00] Like

[00:37:00] Conor Brown: They put an emphasis on what they’re doing. Like the purpose isn’t, the things are on display, the things are on display is a byproduct of all the research that they’ve done.

[00:37:10] Conor Brown: And the only way you’re gonna continue to see cool stuff is if you come and support us in our research. Like is that a turnoff for people or is that something that they should focus on even more?

[00:37:21] Amy Kehs: mean, I, I think that you can do that a few different ways. I, I think you can be super direct, like take the brick upside the head and say like, this is, this is what your, your donation dollars are going towards. but it can, it can also be on a more personal, sort of intimate level. Again, if you have a really great email list and, and you are thinking of those people as VIPs, let them have like, here’s a behind the scenes tour just for the people on our email list where you’ll get to see this behind the scenes thing that we’re.

[00:37:57] Amy Kehs: You know, restoring or preparing [00:38:00] for an exhibit. Like, think about what are those extra things that you can do to get people to care about your museum and for that, for that buy-in. And yeah, sometimes I, I think it’s really important to say like, look, here’s some, here’s an artifact that we just restored and we would not have been able to do it without you.

[00:38:20] Amy Kehs: Like, that is really, really important because that’s also information that, again, they can share with others. Like, I am a part of this. Like, I’m a part of this restoration. I’m a part of this research. I think that museums probably don’t do that enough and don’t, share that enough.

[00:38:44] Jeff Sieh: You know, and the, going back to the, the Feather lab, which is really, really cool, is that, and I think there’s a takeaway for creators and, you know, entrepreneurs in this, because a lot of this goes kind of back to we think we, everybody knows what we do, or everybody knows that piece of [00:39:00] information. Like I know Connor enjoys cooking, like he cooks for, you know, puts things together, does special Christmas meals.

[00:39:06] Jeff Sieh: I know, you know, Amy tells me this cool stuff about a feather lab and her, her, you know, what she does with the midshipman, you know, bringing them into her home because she’s so close. And like I carve and we’re getting ready to do a new show about carving, spoiler alert. But, those little things that you find out about people.

[00:39:23] Jeff Sieh: Draw you in. And it’s not done in a way, like we said, to be spammy or like top of the funnel and all that stuff. It’s just who we are and we’re sharing aspects of the that outside our lives. And I think that is hugely important. Even more so we talked about cutting through the noise. Those little things that people could connect with are so important.

[00:39:41] Jeff Sieh: Like the bird lab, like I had no idea the government worked together with Smithsonian. I just thought they had exhibits, right? And I didn’t know that there was like an actual function now that they do to make air travel safer. And the Smithsonian’s a part of that. I think that’s fascinating. So stuff like that I think is a really big takeaway is like what can you share really [00:40:00] organically about yourself that can connect you with other people?

[00:40:03] Jeff Sieh: So I just thought that was the birch, the Feather lab. I just was, when you were telling me that, I thought that was so fascinating and I just

[00:40:09] Jeff Sieh: remembered It

[00:40:09] Amy Kehs: is so fascinating.

[00:40:11] Jeff Sieh: we got, we got our friend Zach Brown. And this is a great point saying, I think just asking the question, are others talking about what I do is a great way to stir up action, within myself.

[00:40:22] Jeff Sieh: And on that point, at what point does a museum or a business realize that marketing alone isn’t enough anymore and they need to do some of these things that you’ve talked about in your museum method and stuff like that? Like what point is it they, they’ve noticed the crowds are going down or they need money.

[00:40:37] Jeff Sieh: Like usually it’s too late, you need marketing at the wrong time. You need to market when you’re, you know, flush. But when do they realize that and when, what are some steps they can do?

[00:40:46] Amy Kehs: I think you’re right. I think, you know, if people are not coming in the doors to your museum or they’re not, engaging with you, if, if you’re a creator, then it’s almost too late, but also it’s never too [00:41:00] late, right? Public relations, you can start it at any time. Think outside the box. Be creative. Think about how can you connect with your audience?

[00:41:10] Amy Kehs: How can you connect with the people on your email list? how can, if you’re a museum, like how can you make that visitor experience? Better. I, a few, a few years ago I went to a little museum called Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Massachusetts, a really big property, big garden area. They had a few museums, at the space too, and you could buy tickets ahead of time.

[00:41:41] Amy Kehs: So I bought tickets online. Got a really great email like, here are your tickets, let us help you plan your visit. So smart. I get to the museum and there’s like a guy on a golf cart, like at the entrance, like, Hey, what are your names? Like, I’m gonna be driving around. Like, if you get tired, just flag me [00:42:00] down.

[00:42:00] Amy Kehs: I was like, that’s great. And we did, we saw him a few times during the, our visit while we were there when I got home, because they had my email. Address from buying the tickets. They sent a follow up. Like, how was your visit? How was your day? You know, we can’t wait till you come back again. Super simple.

[00:42:19] Amy Kehs: It’s a little tiny town that my friend lives in and I have gone back to Heritage every single time I’ve gone to visit,

[00:42:28] Amy Kehs: like I could have just checked the box. So how can you connect, how can you develop those relationships with your customers, your clients, your visitors?

[00:42:40] Jeff Sieh: Very, very

[00:42:41] Conor Brown: And now you know. you loved it so much. You’re, you’re telling everyone about it. And especially for you in the museum world, that’s a big deal, right? We’ve talked about how important it is so much already on, on today’s episode about that earned media, about people talking about you and you say, you know, people [00:43:00] trust what the world says about you more than what you say about yourself, right?

[00:43:06] Conor Brown: So that earned media. Why in today’s day and age do you think that’s so important right now? Why is it more important than ever for the world to, to be saying things about you?

[00:43:19] Amy Kehs: I think because it’s a noisy world. I, I think there’s a statistic that people get, 10,000 messages, marketing messages, brand messaging. They come in contact with like 10,000 a day. That’s a lot. That is like by, by the time you get to lunchtime, people have been bombarded 5,000 times with messages.

[00:43:44] Amy Kehs: so how do you cut through that? And, and one way Is media relations, it’s that extra credibility. Richard Branson says, you know, a, a public relation, is so much more effective than an ad, like infinitely more [00:44:00] effective than an ad, media relations. It, it, it’s my jam.

[00:44:04] Amy Kehs: Like it’s, it’s what I’ve been doing for 30 years. And a lot of times when I’m talking to solopreneurs or creators, they will say like, oh my gosh, I could never do media relations. Like, I don’t even know where to start. Media relations is also relationships. Open up a Google sheet. Find some reporters from your local paper, your local TV station, and just stay top of mind.

[00:44:29] Amy Kehs: Send them an email, tell them what you’re working on. Pay attention to what’s in the news. Like if you have a tie in with, you know, an article that’s just come out in a newspaper or a study that’s come out, send the people on that list. Like, Hey, I’m an expert in this and this just came out and here’s how I can contribute to the conversation.

[00:44:52] Amy Kehs: Journalists are always looking for content and so if you are helpful, if you’re staying top of [00:45:00] mind, if you’re also being consistent, you can be that expert. Like media relations doesn’t have to be scary.

[00:45:08] Jeff Sieh: Hmm. I need to hire you to be my media agent. I mean, ’cause you know, we don’t think about, we don’t think is, is help a reporter out still a thing? Do people still use that?

[00:45:16] Amy Kehs: Yeah. Yeah, I think it, I mean, I think it’s still a thing. People send stuff to me, but I really think that you can do it yourself. Like don’t rely on that. it’s really not hard. one of my kind of pet peeves is PR firms who are, like, our media list is gold, and that’s what you’re buying. I disagree.

[00:45:38] Amy Kehs: If you’re a small museum or you have your own business, you should have your own media list and you should be reaching out to them consistently. It makes such a big difference. If I am just calling a journalist or reporter as me, Amy Keys. PR firm or PR person, they hang up on [00:46:00] me. But if I’m Amy Keys and I’m calling from, the Loudoun Museum in Virginia, or I’m calling from, of course the Smithsonian, like, they want to hear from you.

[00:46:12] Amy Kehs: They don’t want to hear from a PR firm. So do your own media outreach.

[00:46:17] Jeff Sieh: Hmm. That’s a great point. Connor, were you gonna say something when I talked about help a reporter out?

[00:46:20] Conor Brown: No, I think it’s a great service and I think it’s a lot easier. Like even local media, like local news channels, they have like nine shows a day that they have to

[00:46:30] Conor Brown: fill content with, right? If you can pitch something that is worthwhile, even if it’s a two, three minute segment, if you’re good on it, they’re gonna invite you back.

[00:46:39] Conor Brown: There’s so much content that needs to be filled in the world.

[00:46:42] Amy Kehs: And also remember that when you do get that opportunity. It is a relationship. It’s just you and you need to be dependable. they’re on a deadline. Like you need, you do need to drop everything and help them out. Help them with their deadline. Be a good host. [00:47:00] Be you know, if they’re coming to your location, even if it’s a local reporter.

[00:47:04] Amy Kehs: And also when you’re building your media list, don’t forget about bloggers or other creators. They are spreading the word too. for my media list, I have radio, tv, newspaper, and I also have bloggers and other influencers on my media list.

[00:47:24] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. One thing I would say that if you are sending emails or whatever, make it personable. I mean, I, so part half of the 5,000 or 10,000 message we get a day are pitches for me to be on this show or on to be on Guy Show or my clients. And they’re like, hello blank name. I really enjoyed blank and this episode blank.

[00:47:43] Jeff Sieh: And it’s just like, I can tell and then they’ll suggest somebody has nothing to do with the show, right? Like, Hey, we wanna have this new stripper who has a new OnlyFans accounts. And I’m like, not my audience. Not my

[00:47:53] Jeff Sieh: audience. Well, Connor’s

[00:47:55] Conor Brown: hear that one out.

[00:47:56] Jeff Sieh: Yeah. You Connor wants like, maybe we should try, [00:48:00] Anyway.

[00:48:00] Jeff Sieh: So last question, Amy. This has been great. Um, and we talked about the difference between PR and marketing, but there’s a lot of solepreneur small businesses watching this show. So when should a business prioritize PR over marketing, or at least stop treating PR like an afterthought thought?

[00:48:18] Amy Kehs: I think yesterday,

[00:48:20] Jeff Sieh: That’s right.

[00:48:21] Jeff Sieh: And not just because you’re a PR expert.

[00:48:22] Amy Kehs: Right. but marketing is important too. Like you need to have a, a communications plan, right? And your communications plan needs to be diverse. It needs to include marketing, but it also needs to include public relations. And the public relations part is important because of all the reasons that we talked about today.

[00:48:44] Amy Kehs: Like it is a very noisy world. People are bombarded with messages all day long. And so you need to try for that more personal relationship.

[00:48:58] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, I think that [00:49:00] is is key. This has been an amazing show, by the way, folks. we’ve been talking with Amy Keys and for you guys listening on the podcast, her name is spelled KEHS, that’s Keys, and she’s at love my museum.com. So make sure you guys go, uh, check her out, but she’s also got a ton of resources on her website.

[00:49:20] Jeff Sieh: If you go to love my museum.com/resources, she’s got like a ebook on there. What else have you got on there? Amy? Tell us a little bit

[00:49:26] Jeff Sieh: more.

[00:49:27] Amy Kehs: Ebook. I have my own podcast, love my museum podcast. I do a planning calendar every year for museums. Metrics tracker. I talk a lot about tracking your metrics so that you can see like what’s working, what’s not working. So yeah, lots of great free resources on there.

[00:49:45] Jeff Sieh: Yeah, so love my museum.com/resources. is where you can check her out, but make sure you go follow Amy wherever she’s at. She’s on LinkedIn. Make sure you find her at Amy Key. She’s got great, a lot of her content goes up there on LinkedIn. I see her posts there all the time. [00:50:00] All our friends are going. cannot believe it’s already been an hour.

[00:50:03] Jeff Sieh: This hour flew by really quick. There’s a great question by Rich. Maybe we can, answer this really quickly. How can one get on a media list from a brand? I’d love to get a heads up from consumer brands about upcoming promotions before they make the news. He’s a big, uh, reaches a big promotions. he, he makes the things that like pencils and cups and all that stuff.

[00:50:21] Jeff Sieh: He’s a big promotions guy, so, how can he get on a list?

[00:50:25] Amy Kehs: If you go to their website, look for a PR contact, and just ask them, just send an email and say, Hey, this is what I do. I, if you have a media list, I’d love to be on it. That it’s that simple. I get those all the time.

[00:50:39] Jeff Sieh: Cool. Awesome. Well, thanks Rich for asking your question. Thanks for everybody in the, in the, uh, comments. But Connor Brown, where can people find out about the amazing unsinkable Connor Brown and what you got going?

[00:50:50] Conor Brown: You can head over to vacation kingdoms.com and you can follow me at Vacation Kingdoms across the social medias. Reach out to me. Let’s plan your next [00:51:00] trip. Get outta the cold. Get out of the cold, Jeff, it’s always great having an awesome friend on the show.

[00:51:06] Jeff Sieh: Yes.

[00:51:07] Conor Brown: awesome.

[00:51:08] Jeff Sieh: Good job, Amy. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for our sponsors. Ecamm found out more about them going go to Ecamm dot com slash jeff. You can say 15% by using code Jeff 15. they’re, what makes this show possible and amazing guests like Amy Keys. Make sure you guys follow her everywhere.

[00:51:25] Jeff Sieh: Amy Keys love my museum.com. Connor Brown, he set me up for a vacation. I’ll be speaking at Social Media Marketing World in April and Connor’s setting up all the stuff so, uh,he can do big trips, small trips, trips in between, but he is there for all your vacation needs, so make sure you check him out. And I would love for you guys to sign up for my new, my newsletter@jeffc.com forward slash news.

[00:51:46] Jeff Sieh: That’s where we talk about cool guest and other things like this show. So thank you guys so much. Thank you, Zach. Thank you, rich, but mostly Disney. James Hicks, everybody who watched and left comments. We appreciate you and if you’re watching the replay, thank you so much for [00:52:00] watching. And with that, we’ll see you guys next time.

[00:52:02] Jeff Sieh: Bye everybody.