Found by More Than Its Name
A content and social plan. The next audience is searching for the art, not the name.
The argument
1. What this comes down to
Research articles written for the questions people search bring in readers who were never looking for the museum, and turn some of them into members and buyers.
Plan B figures. Plan C, the leanest, returns 4.0x. The Amazon case has its own deck and a $75,000 pilot.
The three ideas
2. Slogan, symbol, surprise
Surprise: A teacher’s lesson draws nearly as much search as the museum’s ticketing page
Big idea: Answer what people ask, and they find the museum on the way
Surprise: An article written in year 1 is still earning in year 5, at no cost
Big idea: Articles keep bringing visitors. Ads stop when the money stops
Surprise: Follower counts are not on the measurement list at all
Big idea: Judge the program by visits, members and store sales
What the assessment found
3. Four findings, in brief
| Finding | In brief |
|---|---|
| Known by name | Search brings 1.3M visits a month, almost all by name |
| The big event doesn’t carry | Search in its biggest event month fell from 97 to 17 in 4 years |
| The store follows the door | About $12 of retail a visitor, flat for 7 years |
| A strong team already | Commissioned authors, video, 4.2M on email, curator essays |
Where paid stops and content starts
4. The long tail is where nobody bids
Figure 1
12,726 searches in the museum store’s categories, split by how contested they are
96% of the terms and 56% of the demand sit in the long tail. Nobody can buy 12,196 keywords. One good article ranks for dozens of them at once.
The plan · What we take on
5. Research articles first, social if wanted
What stays with the museum: curatorial accuracy, brand voice, all photography and video, every approval.
| Area | What it means | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Research articles | Written for what people search | 2 a week |
| Expert long-form | By an art historian, curator-checked | 2 a month |
| Search fixes | The site list, tracked to done | Month 1–3 |
| Social (Plan A only) | Tied to articles, all 7 platforms | 6 a week |
| Community (Plan A only) | Replies and comments | Daily |
| History series | The museum’s own past, in explainers | 2 a month |
| Analysis | Visits, members, store, email sign-ups | Monthly |
The money · Three plans compared
6. Plan C returns the most per dollar
Figure 2
Three plans compared
Plan C gives up about a fifth of the reach and costs about a third as much. Plans A and B reach further. The choice is the museum’s: reach, or return per dollar.
The money · Nothing expires
7. What one explainer is worth
Paid for once, it earns every year. Not every piece ranks: the model assumes 30% do. Across all 520, the museum gets back $5,700 for every $1,430 spent.
The money · Paid against owned
8. What a visit costs, bought or built
Figure 3
$1.63 a paid click today, the arts average, against a built visit, year by year
Built: Plan C fee ÷ its visits. Paid: WordStream 2026 benchmarks
$21.2M moved from renting clicks to owning traffic.
The contribution
9. What this gives the museum
- A way to be found by people searching for the art, not the name
- A 5-year model the museum can rerun with its own numbers
- Three plans that work alongside its own writers and social team
- Three free fixes to make today, whatever it decides
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