Summary: | 碩士 === 臺南藝術學院 === 博物館學研究所 === 92 === The aim of this thesis is to understand the need of a pre-school education institution, and examine whether the current pre-school education institution marketing mix of the National Science and Technology Museum (NSTM) can satisfy the target audience. Two methods were used in the research: surveying by questionnaires, and focused group interviews.
The questionnaires were designed on the principles of: finding out the needs of the target audience, and satisfying the needs of the target audience. The “needs” were oriented according to marketing mix 4P and consumption standards. The questionnaires were issued to all the members of NSTM’s pre-school education institution group. There were 630 samples, of which 24 were answered on pre-test. After adjusting the contents of the questionnaire, 580 of them were issued, of which 185 answered.
To account for the possibility of the questionnaire not being thorough enough, the thesis organized two in-focus interviews according to the distance of the school to be interviewed from the museum. Other than continuing the principles of the questionnaire design, the topic of the interview also pin points and probes into what the results of the survey reflects upon. The main group was those to whom the questionnaires were targeted at. The first interview mainly concerned the pre-schools and kindergartens nearest to the museum, the second one targeted on those outside the county. One to two persons were chosen from each of the four categories: “visits the museum often”, “never visits the museum”, “percentage of answers matching lies above 80% of the mean result”, and “percentage of answers matching lies below 50% of the mean result”, and invited to participate.
Researches show that, target marketing is done because museums had started to place an importance on marketing, to help it continue to exist and develop, and because the current resources are limited and cannot satisfy everyone. Pre-school education institutions are one thing museums should start to value and develop. When arranging educational field trips, pre-schools mainly consider its appropriateness to the children, its relevance to the curriculum, its safety and the services provided. But costs, transport and distance are the obstacles that stop them in their effort. NSTM’s exhibitions and activities are approved by pre-school education institutions, and if a special section could be established for pre-school toddlers, the approval will rise. Pre-school education institutions know very less about the various services provided by NSTM, especially about the policy concerning prices of tickets; and distance is the main reason why schools outside the county rarely visit the museum. The museum should utilize an appropriate method for publicizing and marketing. The membership system of NSTM’s corporate kindergartens and pre-schools has established a long-term relationship between the museum and the pre-school institutes, and these efforts have begun to produce effective results.
Concluding from the above, the suggestions to be made concerning NSTM’s marketing mix towards pre-school education institutions are as follows: set up a special section for pre-school children with appropriate changes in themes, establish it as a characteristic of NSTM’s, create a bilingual environment in The Children’s Science Center, as well as setting up an educational resource center for young children. A policy on special prices should be publicized, and by coalescing tactics with the bus company, transport problems could be resolved. The “Tuesday crowd” should be relieved, the appointment procedure simplified, and program arrangements improved. Other services should be advertized for the public to know. Marketing can be done in advance by setting up a thorough database and performing continuous surveys on target audiences. All members of the pre-school education institutes should be brought together, and the channel of pre-school educational magazines can be used wisely. At the same time, the idea can be introduced to the parents through these pre-school education institutions.
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