The process of valorizing widespread cultural heritage. A Case Study on The Washington Patrignani Maritime Museum of Pesaro (Italy).

The new trends in cultural consumption and the growing need of resources for the economic sustainability of cultural institutions in Italy suggest that museums should include in their mission value creation as a prerequisite for survival and growth. The aim of the paper is twofold: 1) to propose a conceptual framework for the valorization of cultural heritage of a single organization that draws on strategic marketing planning concepts, along with those of experiential marketing and cultural marketing; 2) to analyze the Washington PatrignaniMaritime Museum of Pesaro (Italy), by adopting the conceptual model in order to understand how the museum valorizes its cultural heritage and how it could create further value for the users and for itself.For this purpose we have used the case study method (Yin, 2009). The proposed model has proven useful for research purposes, and has highlighted the critical aspects of the process of valorizing the museum in question, in particular the absence of the first phase of analysis of the museum and of the context and the last phase of control of the activities carried out. To improve this process and create greater value for visitors and for the museum itself, it should analyze the demand and the competitors, to better define its strategic choices; in this regard, especially, it should identify the most appropriate targetsin order to design an offer that meets the desires of the demand. During the implementation of the strategic choices and of the marketing policies the museum should pay more attention to its communication and price policies. The study highlights the managerial and policy implications and, because the main limitation of the research is the analysis of a single case study,we recommend testing the proposed model on several case studies.