Stop Being the Best-Kept Secret: AI, Ads & Impact

ID: WMA2026_540

Track:

Your museum’s growth depends on showing up where your audience lives: AI, Google, and social media. But how do you know if you’re standing out—or even showing up? This session delivers a modern marketing playbook for the digital age. Learn to use AI tools to sharpen content, harness the $10K/month Google Ad Grant, reach new audiences through smarter segmentation, and prepare for a future where AI handles everything from customer service to ticket sales.

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: Most sessions tell you what’s changing. This one shows you how to act — with AI, Ad Grants, and segmentation working as one.

Objectives: Objective 1: Get Found, Get Equipped, Get Ready — AI from Discovery to Booking Attendees will understand how large language models surface local attractions and what it takes to appear in those results. They’ll get a practical introduction to free AI tools that marketing teams can use today to create better content faster — including hands-on prompts they can apply immediately. And they’ll look ahead to what’s coming: a near future where AI agents book tickets directly on a visitor’s behalf, and what your website and ticketing infrastructure needs to be ready. Objective 2: Activate the Google Ad Grant as a Growth Engine Attendees will learn how to effectively deploy the Google Ad Grant ($10,000/month in free search advertising available to nonprofits) to capture high-intent visitors — people already searching for experiences like theirs. They will understand account structure, keyword strategy, and how to pair evergreen grant campaigns with exhibit-specific bursts to drive consistent year-round traffic. Objective 3: Apply Behavioral Audience Segmentation Attendees will move beyond broad demographics to identify distinct visitor personas — “high-intent explorers” who are ready to book, and “cultural loyalists” who drive repeat visits. They will leave with a framework for building these segments using behavioral data and for reaching each with the right message at the right moment.

Engagement: Engagement is woven throughout: opening polls surface who uses the Google Ad Grant and what AI tools attendees already rely on, calibrating the room in real time. A mid-session demo breaks from the panel format to walk through free AI tools and ready-to-use prompts for enhancing marketing materials. Attendees leave with a one-page how-to takeaway covering the session’s core tactics.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Marketing & Communications (Including Social Media) 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: This session is built for the entire museum spectrum. Because the Google Ad Grant provides the same $10,000 monthly credit to all non-profits, and generative AI tools act as a force multiplier for one-person marketing teams, these tactics are inherently scalable.

Participants