Well, if you are a neophyte zoo director and you are not totally committed to marketing, you won’t last long. We were spending 10% of our budget on marketing, and at times I wished it was 30 or 40%. I don’t think you can spend enough money telling your story to your audience. You know, there’s been so many studies done, and people will say, “You know, I’m not sure about zoos, but boy, I love our zoo. Our zoo is great.” Or, “You know, I read in a paper where a zoo had to euthanize a favorite- Our zoo wouldn’t do that.” So people have this feeling that their zoo is above any other zoo that exists. And it doesn’t, it doesn’t. But you gotta keep telling your story. You’ve gotta keep making your audience know that you’re doing the very best you can for your animals.
