Good Interpretation Sells

One of the striking aspects of Interpretation as a discipline, a skill, and a philosophy is that it always is in search of frontier, a better light bulb, and a higher call. It is not complacent with giving a tour; a list of names, places, and events. Good interpretation inspires and a list simply does not inspire. Good interpretation sells.
By "sells", it should be understood that interpretation creates something within itself that people like visitors and stakeholders want.

Planning is crucial to making a
quality program that sells itself

One cannot buy a good reputation. A reputation is built, little by little, and as such it will take time. For an interpretive place, this should not be a problem as there is always another day tomorrow. By taking the time to carefully cultivate quality interpretive programs, events, tours, training, hand-outs, or waysides, an interpretive site can position itself to start to attract attention. Quality interpretation is going to inspire, motivate, and provoke (Remember Tilden's 6 Principles?) Outreach, advertisement, and word of mouth promote the site, but do not be discouraged by a modest response; many of the decision makers are slow to respond, especially to new things. Everybody is looking for a sure-fire win and the best bang for their buck, especially from the education field with their ever shrinking funding and increasing liability for field trips. The interpretive place is therefore in competition with everything else for that field trip consideration.

As mentioned, it will take time. Five years should be a minimum base before seeing significant growth. Why? Because you cannot buy a good reputation; it is built little by little and it takes time. Five years should be enough to get the word out. A busy season should be a good indicator that the interpretation is quality.

Some t-shirts do get honorable mentions!

That increased visitation is going to create revenue, even if the interpretive site is free. Nearly every interpretive site has a gift store. Those items on sale are going to sell. It works even better if they are quality products. The closer to the interpretive themes a product is, the more likely it will sell. However, never disdain a well designed t-shirt! Or a funny one! An excelletnt example would be Living History Farms. The town highlights trades like a print shop, a broom maker shop, and a blacksmith, and each of these shops produce goods to sell in the gift store. Living History Farms also goes out of its way to create events that fall in line with its interpretive goals like Food and Farm festivals. Read about my experience at LHF here.

If the site does charge for admission, the high visitation from quality interpretation is going to do well. It also shows to the Board or to the higher-ups that the site is doing well and deserves to be protected, preserved, and properly maintained. For many places, especially in the public and national properties, this is the goal: to get people to appreciate the place and make sure it continues. Few places are more heartbreaking than a washed up has-been place that is neglected.

The quality interpretation is simply going to elevate the profile of that place. Some places are blessed to be large, famous, important, significant places that resound in the public, but others are going to have to yell and scream to get recognition and a quality interpretation of that place can generate enough noise to attract notice.

These higher profile places are appreciated. The things that are appreciated are protected. Even a local place can gather staunch support if people properly appreciate it. Quality Interpretation creates not only appreciation for the site, but also support, a higher profile in the community, protection and preservation, better funding to be able to do more, and a reputation for being a sure-fire win for visitors.  Thus, when there is another partial government shut down, the impact is felt by the surrounding area because the local businesses depend on the revenue that the popular site brings in as an added benefit. Of course, that applies only to the public lands, but could apply to private interpretive places in the case of a emergency, like an environmental disaster.

The bottom line is that an interpretive place must take the time to hone its programming, hand-outs, and events, and provide the best training for staff in order to build that reputation that the site sells itself and is successful in reaching its goals. That is how good interpretation sells.