Everyday I am at Miles Through Time Automotive Museum, it is inevitable that someone comes and tells me they had never heard of the museum prior to visiting. There are two ways you could interpret this kind of a statement.

One way is to assume I need to do more marketing, so that they could have found out about the museum sooner. While I agree, any museum could do more marketing, there is an aloofness when it comes to running a museum or any business.

You don’t know, what you don’t know. Did you know those popular USA Today ads that tell people nationally what the best places are can cost $10,000? I know this because I had to refuse when they called me.

Marketing/advertising can be a massive expense, and if mismanaged, it could be no different than burning stacks of cash in your fireplace on a hot day. Yes you have a fire, but what good is it?

Occasionally, I will get someone to visit Miles Through Time Automotive Museum who told me they had known about it for a long time, but it took them a long time to be able to actually visit. To my knowledge, this is rare, and most often it is through the Automotive Museum Guide, that they’d made a point to visit from a long distance.

Unfortunately, I’m not always at the museum when people come from a great distance, but I definitely try to be there if I know they are coming, just so I can thank them in person.

Most often though, when someone comes into the museum and tells me they just found out about the museum, I take great pride. There are millions of people, just in the Atlanta metro. If I can reach a few of them everyday, that’s a win.

The greatest takeaway is that the people just found out about the museum and then made the decision to visit right away. It’s okay they didn’t know about the museum before, but once they learned about it, they visited right away.

This is how the Snowball Effect starts to become very prevalent. One person finds out about the museum and tells their friends, who then tell theirs and so on. There’s no way I could afford what positive word of mouth delivers. Word of mouth is a great way to become internationally known.

This weeks museums are probably internationally known, but in the states we know them as national museums.

The National Automobile Museum does have an impressive vehicle collection on display. I was able to stop by briefly once during one of my cross-country trips and would have liked to have more time.

Of course for years I was in the area one weekend a month and visited the area many times, and never went to the museum. I didn’t know what I was missing at the time.

The National Corvette Museum is another museum I’ve been to twice. I’ve never owned a Corvette, but the C8 might change that for me some day. This museum skyrocketed in popularity after the sinkhole disaster. Talk about turning a lemon into lemonade. I’ve only visited post sinkhole, but incorporating that event into the museum’s story was genius.

Last up is a bit more lowkey of a museum compared to the first two. The National Corvair Museum is open to the public, but they do not have regular hours. You will need to reach out ahead of your visit to ensure there will be someone there to let you in.

There are many more “National” museums than the three I mentioned. A couple of them have closed for good over the last couple of years. Don’t put off what you’re capable of doing now. At some point it might be too late.

Weather you visit these museums soon or not, use the Automotive Museum Guide to find your next destination.

Have a great week!

SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT THIS WEEK’S 3 AUTOMOTIVE MUSEUMS.

Plan your next trip, discover your new favorite, or find the nearest museum

 Sean Mathis
Creator of Automotive Museum Guide
Founder of Miles Through Time Automotive Museum

P.S. Make sure you follow AMG on Facebook and join the FB Group to see what’s going on at all the museums.