Make the Most of Your Bronze Membership
Bronze membership gives your business a strong presence within Shakespeare’s England and connects you with our wider visitor economy network.
The key to getting value from your membership is keeping your information fresh, giving us great content to work with and making sure we know what’s happening in your business. Use this guide throughout the year to make sure you’re getting the basics right and making the most of the opportunities available to you.
Bronze Membership
What your membership includes
Your Bronze membership gives you a strong foundation for raising your profile, staying connected and accessing Shakespeare’s England’s marketing and visitor economy opportunities.
✓ Dedicated website listing with 1 image
✓ Event listings on the Shakespeare’s England website
✓ Consumer email and social media promotion opportunities
✓ Inclusion opportunities within destination marketing campaigns
✓ Influencer and creator opportunities
✓ PR and media visit opportunities
✓ Selected trade event collateral opportunities
✓ Quarterly Tourism Forums
✓ Networking events and introductions to other members
✓ Training, practical sessions, industry updates and member resources
*Fees may apply to selected activities.
Make it work for you
How to make the most of your Bronze membership
Having access to the opportunities is only the start. These 8 practical actions will help you get more value from your membership throughout the year.
- Check that your Shakespeare’s England website listing is accurate and up to date
- Make sure we have your best current photography
- Check that the right people in your business receive our member communications
- Submit your upcoming events to Shakespeare’s England
- Tell us about anything new, seasonal or unusual happening in your business
- Follow Shakespeare’s England on your main social media channels
- Tag Shakespeare’s England when you share relevant visitor content
- Attend a Shakespeare’s England tourism forum, networking event or member session
Keep it handy: revisit these actions every few months to make sure your listing, imagery, events and other information are still up to date.
Make your website listing work harder
Your listing on the Shakespeare’s England website is one of the foundations of your membership. It should give visitors a compelling reason to find out more about your business, rather than simply listing the facts.
Keep it current
Check your description, opening hours and other key information regularly. If something changes, tell us so we can update it.
Think like a visitor
Lead with what makes your business worth visiting. Focus on the experience, what makes you different and the reasons someone should choose you.
Keep it seasonal
If your visitor experience changes significantly throughout the year, make sure your listing reflects what people can expect now.
Give us great content to work with
Great content makes it much easier for us to promote your business. Strong photography, useful information and interesting stories can all increase the chances of your business featuring in our visitor content and campaigns.
Photography
✓ Send us clear, high-quality images
✓ Show people enjoying the experience where possible
✓ Include a mixture of landscape and portrait imagery
✓ Avoid heavily branded graphics or images covered in text
✓ Let us know about any usage restrictions or required credits
What makes useful content?
✓ A new experience or product
✓ A seasonal reason to visit
✓ An anniversary or milestone
✓ An award or achievement
✓ An unusual behind-the-scenes story
✓ Something visitors can only experience with you
Tell us what’s happening
Don’t assume we already know what’s happening in your business. The earlier you tell us about something, the better chance we have of finding a relevant opportunity to include it.
Things we want to hear about
✓ Upcoming events
✓ New products, menus, rooms, experiences or exhibitions
✓ Seasonal activity
✓ Relevant visitor offers
✓ Awards and achievements
✓ Major anniversaries or milestones
✓ Anything that gives people a new reason to visit
Plan ahead: wherever possible, tell us about key activity several weeks in advance rather than once it has already launched.
Make the most of social media
Your Bronze membership gives you social media promotion opportunities, but the quality of the content we have to work with makes a big difference. Help us create something that visitors will genuinely want to engage with.
Give us a story
A post about something new, timely, visual or unusual will usually be stronger than a general reminder that your business exists.
Tag us
Tag Shakespeare’s England in relevant visitor-facing content. It helps our team see what you’re doing and identify opportunities to engage, share or build your activity into future content.
Think visually
Short-form video, strong photography and content showing the visitor experience tend to give us much more to work with than posters or promotional graphics.
Follow Shakespeare’s England and tag us in relevant visitor-facing content so our team can see what you’re up to.
Use the Shakespeare’s England network
Membership isn’t only about promotion. It also connects you with other businesses across the region’s visitor economy.
Make time for tourism forums, networking events and member sessions. They can lead to new partnerships, referrals, shared ideas and opportunities that wouldn’t necessarily come from digital promotion alone.
Try this
At your next Shakespeare’s England event, aim to speak to at least one business you haven’t worked with before. Some of the most valuable membership opportunities start with a simple introduction.
Keep your membership working throughout the year
Membership works best when it becomes part of your regular marketing routine rather than something you only think about at renewal time.
Every month
✓ Look out for member updates and opportunities
✓ Tell us about anything new
✓ Submit relevant events
Every quarter
✓ Check your website listing
✓ Review your photography
✓ Think ahead to the next season
Every year
✓ Review which opportunities you used
✓ Think about what generated the most value
✓ Plan what you want to achieve next year
Looking for more?
Want Shakespeare’s England to do more of the promotion for you?
If you’re looking for greater visibility and access to a wider range of marketing, PR and travel trade opportunities, it may be worth exploring Silver membership.
