Planning a Trip to DC: So Many Choices!

After visiting the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, the Air and Space Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum, conducting interviews with visitors at these sites and pouring over TripAdvisor reviews, I learned just how difficult it is to market these aspects of the DC visitors’ experience. When we asked visitors at the Lincoln Memorial and Air and Space museum how they planned their trip, a vast majority signaled that they planned their trip using the internet. However, when you dig deeper, the sheer number of sources of information on DC tourist destinations on the internet is enormous. There are so many different ways people are getting information to plan their trips, which creates a huge marketing dilemma for DC destinations: how do we ensure people see the right information no matter which channel they use online.

Awareness and planning of your trip is the first step in the customer experience, the first point of contact between the museums/memorials and the visitors. First impressions are incredibly important, if if DC destinations are not using the internet to their advantage, they can make a bad first impression. The Smithsonian website is overall, a pretty good experience. They have information that is easily accessible, maps, opening and closing times, and information on the exhibits. However, it does get confusing as each of the 19 Smithsonian institutions have their own website, which can confuse visitors. Some DC destinations are doing very cool things with their online tools. The Lincoln Memorial, for example, has a very cool interactive tour you can take online here:http://www.nps.gov/featurecontent/ncr/linc/interactive/deploy/index.htm#/introduction

This course has brought to my attention the importance of a strong digital presence for any business, be it a restaurant, museum or public memorial. The internet is the first point of contact between visitors and their destinations, so the customer experience needs to begin on the smartphone or laptop before it can take place at the museum, restaurant or business.

--Zack