Zainal Arif, Manaf Ahmed, Fernando Huaman Ccanto, Tan Huu Nguyen, AH Al Qasem, Carlos Ramón Vidal Tovar, Abdelhamid Nechad
ABSTRACT
The marketing strategy is central to the development of financial sustainability and audience development in cultural institutions. Based on an interdisciplinary and empirical approach, this paper will examine the data of five major institutions including British Museum, MoMA, NCPA Mumbai, Smithsonian and Sydney Festival between 2021 and 2024. They are combined with quantitative analysis of financial indicators, visitor growth, and marketing investment and with thematic interpretation of institutional reports in evaluating the fit between marketing practice and organizational results. Findings show that organizations with a focus on experiential design, community involvement, and regular digital engagement, including Sydney Festival, produce a better visitor and revenue growth. On the contrary, an example such as MoMA demonstrates that high levels of marketing spending are not necessarily linked with financial success in case of absence of strategic consistency. The structural integration of marketing functions and alignment with institutional missions are some of the performance factors. Although constrained by publicly available information and the lack of insights of internal stakeholders, the results provide useful information about the symbolic and functional roles of marketing. It is recommended that the audience-focused strategies be integrated into the wider models of governance. Future studies ought to study the long-term outcome of digital transformation, situational factors, and sustainability planning in cultural marketing.
