Author and media strategist shares a free 8-step plan to bring more visitors, followers, and donors to local museums, historical societies, and cultural venues

SEBRING, Fla. (Oct. 31, 2026) — Highlands County’s museums and historical societies have plenty of stories to tell. The hard part is getting people to see them. That was the message from author and media strategist R. Michael Brown at the Heartland Cultural Alliance (HCA) meeting on Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Military Sea Services Museum in Sebring.

Brown presented “You Are the Media Now: An 8-Step Content Marketing System to Increase Awareness, Engagement, and Support,” based on his 2025 book of the same name. The audience included representatives of local historical societies and museums, a church, and a radio station.

“The gatekeepers are gone,” Brown said. “We used to need a reporter or a TV crew to tell our story. Now every museum, cultural group, nonprofit, and for-profit organization has a digital press and a TV station in its pocket.”

A Crowded Field

Brown opened with the local numbers. Highlands County has 570 IRS-registered tax-exempt organizations, and arts, culture, and history groups make up only about 5% of them. These groups compete for attention with churches, social-service agencies, clubs, streaming TV, social media, mobile games, sports betting, election ads, and big events such as the Sebring raceway and the County Fair.

Online, the odds are steep. A group has two to three seconds to catch someone’s eye before they scroll past, and a typical unpaid Facebook post reaches only 4% to 6% of followers. Local TV news comes out of Tampa, so Highlands County stories rarely make the air.

“Your members have amazing stories,” Brown said. “The question is whether anyone sees them.” His advice: show people something surprising first, then something smart and useful. “More stories, less marketing.”

A Spotlight is Coming

Brown said March 2027 gives local groups a rare opening. Snowbird season runs from November through April. March of Museums promotes more than 120 Florida museums all month. The Heartland Cultural Alliance’s free book festival, “All the World’s a Book,” is set for March 6, 2027, at Lakeshore Mall, and the 75th Twelve Hours of Sebring follows on March 20.

He pointed to stories local groups already have: lunch in the Avon Park Depot Museum’s Silver Palm dining car and its new “Baseball City” wing; the Sebring Historical Society’s Weigle House Museum and genealogy library; Lake Placid’s depot, caboose, 1929 steam engine, and 1920s jail; the Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard collections at the Military Sea Services Museum; the CCC Museum at Highlands Hammock State Park; and the Peter Powell Roberts Museum.

“We don’t have a content problem,” Brown said. “Every one of these is a story, a video, a post, and a reason to visit.”

The 8-Step System

Brown walked attendees through a simple loop: plan, produce, distribute, measure, then adjust. Any group can run it with a few volunteers and a phone. The steps include:

• Know the audience. Write for clear audience types, such as snowbirds, families, race visitors, genealogy researchers, donors, legacy families, and group-tour organizers.
• Research and plan. Collect the questions visitors ask at the front desk, then keep an Editorial Calendar, such as “On This Day” on Tuesdays and an artifact mystery on Wednesdays. Brown praised the Sebring Historical Society for already posting on Facebook five days a week.
• Produce with a phone. Make 60-second artifact videos, then-and-now photos, oral-history clips, and event recaps, with captions for people who watch on mute. He noted that one small rural historical society in California earned 7.3 million views in two years.
• Make the website the hub. Give every event its own web page. Pitch real news to reporters before posting it, and consider Google Ad Grants, which can give eligible 501(c)(3) groups up to $10,000 a month in free search ads.
• Share and follow up. Always link back to the website, and share other members’ posts each week. It’s a team sport, not meant for only an individual contributor. Answer new contacts within 15 minutes, then move people from visitor to member, volunteer, donor, and legacy giver.
• Measure and adjust. Spend 30 minutes a month looking at what worked, then do more of it.

Event Ideas Built for Highlands County

Brown also suggested events that bring people in and create content at the same time. Ideas included a Highlands History Passport for March of Museums, “Sebring Before the Race” exhibits and walks for the 75th Twelve Hours, “Voices of the Heartland” lantern tours, a “Rails, Roots & Recipes” series in Avon Park’s depot rail car, oral-history film nights, and group tour days for car clubs, motorcycle clubs, RV parks, and church groups. And Family Fun Days – once per month at each organization. Coordinate them with HCA so they don’t step on each other. One member suggested Sunday afternoons.

A 90-Day Challenge

Brown closed with a 90-day plan leading into March. In November, groups fix the basics – their websites and social channels. In December and January, they build a posting habit and pitch the press. In January, February, and March, they run their events, follow up, and report results to the Heartland Cultural Alliance. He asked each group to make four commitments: join the passport, post one event page, post three times a week, and book one group tour.

“All your good work should be shared so you can grow your impact and continue changing lives,” Brown said.

Attendees can get a free PDF of You Are the Media Now and the presentation by emailing Mike@RMichaelBrown.com.

Purchase a copy of You Are the Media Now – 8-Step Content Marketing System to Boost Your Sales

About R. Michael Brown

R. Michael Brown is a writer, producer, journalist, educator, and media strategist with more than 30 years of experience building brands and growing audiences for Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, media, and government. At IBM, he founded the company’s first multimedia studio. At Motorola, he led global multimedia campaigns for the Nextel launch. He also founded Palm Beach TV. Since 2007, his firm, R. Michael Brown LLC, has offered content marketing, brand storytelling, and production. Brown teaches communications at Florida Atlantic University and South Florida State College and writes features for Heartland Living Magazine. He lives on Lake Huntley in Lake Placid and is producing a documentary on historian Albert DeVane. Learn more at RMichaelBrown.com.

About the Heartland Cultural Alliance

The Heartland Cultural Alliance supports arts, culture, and history organizations in Florida’s Heartland and hosts the free “All the World’s a Book” festival.