We have all been through it at one point. The tour guide walking through foreign streets or the audio guide at the local museum, the content delivered is watered down to try to satisfy every conceivable taste, background and education level. The explanation for creating these ho-hum experiences is a lack of resources to develop lively and engaging content for every market segment. With the cost reduction of technology and use of free online services, like MustSee, resources can be diverted to producing content.

Segmenting your audience to provide the right type of content and language for a tour will provide a satisfying and enjoyable time. You could segment your guide audiences based on their age, language, educational level and interests. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has produced an Audio Guide for Kids so that the content, themes and language are relevant to young people.

The Chicago History Museum and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art produced audio guide tours created by teenagers for teens. If you remember your own teen existence like I do this makes great sense, as we typically like to get information from our peer group. The Chicago History Museum’s In Our Own Words Teen Audio Tour was developed by a group of teenagers that researched Chicago events with recorded interviews and personal stories.

Museum Hack is a New York City tour guide company that offers highly engaging and interactive tours to museums that targets young professionals and company events. PBS NewsHour profiled MuseumHack and the way they bring cultural spaces to life for the digitally savvy millennial generation.

Understanding your audience first and then developing the content can be powerfully effective at achieving your mission. People don’t expect a one-size-fits all approach, and with the cost of technology taken out of the equation, producing a guide can now be done to every segment you want.