Some churches spend thousands of dollars in advertising to reach out to people who don’t go to church and find only a few responses from these promotions. Church leaders want to connect with people who are not yet believers through mainstream media so they can share the gospel with them, meanwhile, they send out a weekly newsletter of their own making to a list of people, half of whom are not active in church.

It’s true, look at your church newsletter mailing list. If you have a list of 1000 names, chances are great you are like most churches and only 400-500 of those people actually attend your church. Your church already has a large audience of unchurched people and you may not realize it!

I once conducted a survey in the state of Oklahoma for my denomination and found that 86% of the unchurched in the state had been in one of the denomination’s churches in the last five years. Meaning, if I wanted to mail a letter directly to the unchurched, I could have used the church newsletter mailing list of these denominational churches.

Don’t Ignore the Unchurched People in Your Church Newsletter Mailing List!

Each year, churches have several activities that are designed to reach unchurched people. I have never understood why, considering all the work put in to reaching new people, the names of these prospects are merged into the general mailing list of the active church member database. Think of it this way, the people on your church mailing list are people whom God has given you stewardship to serve and minister the gospel. Use your mailing list for what is it meant to be, as a list of names of people to whom your church ministers the Gospel.

A lot of people are bemoaning the flagging growth of churches in the United States. The critics blame cultural trends, lambast evangelism approaches, and rake each other over the theological coals, all while the real reason is—people fail to follow-up on the people they have made contact with through their church!

Many people miss the point of church marketing. They look at church promotions as a way to bail out the church and help it get growing again. But marketing can only help a church make contact with more people. Once the contact is made, the real ministry begins!

Some churches even become exasperated at the people on their mailing list for not attending church. They call for the church database to be purged of all inactive names. That is the most ridiculous thing I can imagine. Don’t purge the inactive unchurched from your database! Don’t drop old inactive people from your church rolls—go and minister to these people!

Another pet peeve of mine is when churches want to save money by eliminating their print newsletter because it is “too expensive”. Let’s look at this. You have a list of names, half of whom are the ones your church claims it wants to reach most, and you want to trash all those contacts, so you can go and get more contacts to ignore to death?

When some tells you church newsletters don’t “work” it usually means they don’t work the church mailing list. You will waste far more money in mainstream media advertising trying to reach new people, than you could ever waste in your entire lifetime with a church newsletter!

Unchurched-Friendly Church Newsletter Ideas

One way to improve your church newsletter is to take a look at how other organizations use their newsletters. I receive newsletters from an insurance agent, a realtor, and a local mortgage broker. These newsletters don’t only have content about their business angle; they also have content and news I can use in other ways. Your church can do the same thing.

Since you have the names and address of the people on your mailing list, it’s is easy to get to know your audience. Study the list of names, pull demographics from the zip codes, call and interview a few people on the “inactive” part of the list telling them you need help making the newsletter more useful to everyone.  Your research will help all your church outreach improve. Make your newsletter work for you!

• Instead of a sappy meaningless article targeted at active church members from the pastor, (Sorry, it’s true in most church newsletters!) how about something of substance in the article? Recap the sermon with a brief application and tease the full audio version on your website.  Half the people in the audience didn’t hear the sermon!
• Put content into the newsletter that helps people in their lives through the week. One idea, how about creative activities for bored kids who are home for the summer?
• Make an offer. Offer something people can request through the newsletter like a free book, or audio CD
• Make a theme and publish content like a magazine. You don’t have to fill the newsletter with only information from the church calendar.
• Include the gospel in the newsletter and/or point people to a place on your website with a gospel presentation.

Besides the people who read your newsletter who are on you mailing list, your newsletter can have what magazines call “secondary readership.”  Active and inactive members often inadvertently leave their newsletter laying around at home, in coffee shops, offices, drop them accidently, and leave them other places. People who are not in your mailing list find your newsletter and read it.

If you make your newsletter of better quality, you may find your members will request more copies so they can give them away. Imagine, people who are active in your church using the newsletter as an outreach tool!

Before plunking down any dollars, consider avenues of free publicity. Learn to write news releases and submit them for publication, as well as short public service announcements for local radio stations.

Every day—or week in smaller towns—your city’s newspaper must fill its pages with local information. This means that well-written news releases represent a major source of free publicity.

Media outlets will often publish these releases, although they are likely to appear in edited form. Still, 50 to 70 percent of many newspapers’ content originates with some form of news release.

Releases can lead to publication

Well-written releases have a better chance of getting published. You don’t have to be a Pulitzer-prize winner. Simply write out the “who, what, where, when, why and how” of your ministry event.

This can be done in sentence form or by simply listing some of the basics. In either case, editors can use this background information to write a short article or use it in a community calendar.

Be sure to include contact information, including office and cell numbers so a reporter can easily reach someone if needing more information. Then mail, fax or e-mail it to an editor.

Write a shorter piece—something that can be read in 15 or 20 seconds—and send it to radio and TV stations, including cable access channels. All air public service announcements (PSA) for no charge.

Select the name of the proper editor by checking the masthead on the inside pages of the newspaper or logging onto the newspaper’s (or broadcast station’s) web site. If still in doubt, call the outlet and ask who handles news releases or PSAs.

Smaller newspapers especially are open to using a good photo to help illustrate your article. Though they will appear in black and white in the newspaper, clear, sharply-focused color photos are acceptable.

Contact editors for more information. As part of your marketing plan, contact the respective editors of particular sections or calendars. Ask about their deadlines, whether they use photos and their preferred method for submitting releases and pictures. Ask if they can offer any guidance on photographing your event for follow-up coverage.

A few tips to help relate to reporters and editors:

• They are people too. Pray for them and make friends.
• Always be polite, even if they get the details of your story wrong.
• Don’t ask them to contact you when your story runs. It is your church’s job to monitor the media.
• Offer newsworthy copy. Send releases that relate to some current event of local interest or that apply to more than just your church members.
• Don’t tell a reporter anything you wouldn’t want to read in the paper the next morning.

Reaching out beyond the media

Releases are often how churches get listed in the religion pages of the newspaper. But have you also seen church events listed in a community calendar from city government or chamber of commerce and thought, “Why didn’t ours make this listing?”

The secret is simply that these ministries send their information to the city and the chamber, just as they do the local newspaper.

Newspapers aren’t the only outlets for free publicity. Chambers of commerce and other community organizations often will post free information about local events, such as the ones in your church.

Such news adds value to their publications and resources. Whatever the publication, they like to carry as much local news as possible, which means they welcome accurate material from community organizations.

In addition, it’s good business. People tend to buy the publications featuring their church.

Some chambers of commerce require membership before posting calendar information. Since a membership costs money, it’s not a free marketing tool. However, it can be considered “nearly free,” since membership for a non-profit organization is often nominal.

As a chamber member, they can help by including your church’s information in their directory. They also may list some of your events in their public calendar.

Besides these services, the chamber offers useful information about your city—facts, statistics and other information that may help shape your outreach efforts.

Many host networking meetings several times per year where you can get to know local business leaders. These provide great opportunities to tell others about your church and possibly share your faith.

Action Points

• Contact local news media, both print (newspapers and magazines) and electronic (TV, radio, website) to find out where, how and to whom you can send press releases.
• Research what community calendars exist in your city. Find out where you can mail, fax or e-mail events to be placed in those calendars. Investigate the possibility of joining your chamber of commerce.

• Years they were born:  1980-1996
• Number in the segment:  86 Million (28% of US population)
• Key Characteristics: Ambitious, Authentic, Relational, Collaborating, Civic-Minded, High Energy, Self-confident, and sometimes, a little Vain

Generation-Y is still coming of age in the United States. The youngest of them is twelve years old. This ambitious group of young people is also called “Echo Boomers” because their size (86 Million) is even larger than the Boomer population. Their numbers are only partly due to the size of their Baby Boomer parent’s generation. Since Boomers had much fewer children that their parents, the Echo Boomer generation is also the product of the rapid increase in immigration in the United States. This generation is more culturally and racially diverse than other generational cohorts in America.

The fact that Gen-Y is also known by another name, ”Millennial Generation”, so that you can call them what you want, is a reminder that one thing that marks this generation, their ability to choose among a range of options for just about everything they want or need. Millennials have a mind-numbing range of options for their consideration because they have grown up in a consumer-driven era where the various products and services around them were always striving for market-share by differentiating themselves with endless value-added benefits. Echo Boomers are used to a lot of options and tend to be very choosy customers!

A typical Gen-Y childhood experience of going to the dentist is an illustration. Besides what dentist they go to, they have their choice of several mouth wash flavors, color of disposable sanitary bibs, headphones music styles (if they forget their iPods when they come) what kind of sunglasses they want to wear as the dentist shines the light in their mouth, the color of rubber bands in their braces, etc. The list could go on!

Besides having multiple choices for every situation, the Millennial Generation has also been constantly encouraged and uplifted by their parents and general society. They have been protected by the school system from any feeling that they may in any way be inferior to others. Everyone seems to have been telling them from their earliest years that they are of special intelligence, gifted with talents no others have, and they can be or do anything they set their mind to. As a result, Millennials are the most self-confident generation in history. This confidence lends itself to powerful feelings of ambition, Echo Boomers truly think they can achieve anything.  Sometimes their self-confident tendencies express themselves in outright vanity.

Their approach to life is not with trepidation and caution, instead they boldly seek to drain every bit of benefit out of every experience and every activity they attempt. They are not afraid to try new things and are at times too extreme in how close they get to the edge.  This is exemplified in the many Y’ers who choose to get extensive tattoos and body piercings, adopting radically dangerous pastimes such as skateboarding down stairway handrails, bicycle flipping, and even “surfing” on the hoods of cars. They feel what could happen to them, the world is their oyster?

Not all Echo Boomers live on the wild side, but most of them have a galvanized sense of community that is in many ways similar to the values held by the WW II “Greatest Generation” when it comes to having a civic mindset. The aftermath of the attacks of 9-11 seared in this generation that the real heroes are the civil servants like policemen, firemen, and soldiers who have been celebrated in the public forum as long as they can remember. This generation truly wants to give back like the civil servants of our country. Even the musicians and celebrities they admire are giving back.

They are polite, hard working, and ambitious, so whatever organization they work with get’s their best efforts.  In fact, in the workplace around the United States, Boomer managers have fallen in love with the Y-Generation. They admire their youthful outlook and their sense of civics so much, that in many places this Millennials are getting promoted past the Generation-X.  Because they are in demand, Echo Boomers tend to skip from place to place when opportunities for advancement come up. And why shouldn’t they take the opportunities? After all, despite their lack of skills and experience, they honestly feel they deserve it. What’s not to love about them?

The last thing an Echo Boomer wants to hear is that in some way they don’t measure up. For this reason, the thing that bothers them most is to be told they are not experienced enough or skilled enough to do something.

Gen-Y is hardly out of the gate and already they have contributed technology advancements that are multi-million dollar international blockbusters. Two examples, Facebook and MySace are leading the pack (not ironically, two web-based media tools that help advance one’s ego in cyberspace) with a seemingly endless stream of new social media applications being developed. The Echo Boomer generation is a generation of tinkerers who have known no period when technology wasn’t readily available to them. As such, technology is not as daunting or impressive to them as it is to other generations.

Ministering to Millennials

• They are Multicultural! This generation is large, but they are very diverse. Once-size-fits all programs will not work with them. They are very sensitive to the wide range of cultures and lifestyles “out there” and are turned-off by one sided parochial thinking. Many of them have cross-cultural skills that will make them ideal missionaries and outreach leaders.
• Keep it real! Authenticity is the defining halmark of the Gen-Y. They admire people who are open about who they are and willing to share what they are going through. Echo Boomers may have a vain streak from being over-hyped by their parents and society, but they don’t tend to misrepresent themselves. Confident to a fault, they border on “over-sharing” with others.
• Give them something big to do! Echo Boomers are very ambitious. They want to try it all and do it all and expect to be rewarded for their efforts. They don’t believe they necessarily need to “pay their dues” to get where they are going. They are working now for their big break. To them leaders are achievers.
• Stay in constant contact! Gen-Y’ers don’t have remember to keep in touch with people because they tend to be in almost constant contact with the people they are closest to through instant messaging on the social web and text messaging via their cell phones. Social media like Facebook and MySpace are important tools for cultivating relationships to Gen-Y. Many in their generation have abandoned email and using telephones. With tools like Twitter they can even stay in their social network through text messaging.
• Don’t assume everything has to be digital! They are as not as impressed with your video presentations and high production values as you might think they are. Remember technology is not a big deal to them, they can become victims of “digital fatigue.” Besides, your media presentation may not even be to their taste anyway, so don’t hang everything you do on reaching them with digital media. You can dial down the techno and still reach them–just be real. They’d rather go rock climbing than surf your church’s church website, taking their cell phones with them of course so they can text everyone and send a shot of themselves at the summit to their Facebook page.
• They are customizers not customers! Give them options. They are not likely to accept anything you give them at face value. They will tend to alter just about everything to their specifications.
• Command-control is a bad idea! Millennials are relaxed around authority figures because they have been raised to think they are inferior to none. They come across as poised and relaxed around leaders. If a leader is seen to be a competent achiever, they want to get to know them personally and think nothing of approaching them directly.
• Tap into their network of friends! Echo Boomers have a cadre of friends in their network that can help them solve problems. Their ease of communicating in social networks makes them natural collaborators in problem solving situations.

Further Reading

• After the Boomers
• Mind Your X’s and Y’s

• Years they were born: 1965-1979
• Number in the segment: 66 Million (21% of US population)

• Key Characteristics:  Balanced, Self-reliant, Skeptical, Entrepreneurial, Savvy, and Efficient

Generation-X came of age in the shadow of the Baby Boomers. Also called the Baby Busters, this generation is much smaller than other generational cohorts in the United States. The smallness of their numbers is due in part because in the late 1960’s and 1970’s (when they were being conceived) there was a widely held belief that overpopulation was ruining the planet (much on the same scale as global warming is the planetary concern of today), also the expanded use of the birth control pill (made available since 1960) contributed to the fact that fewer babies were being born during the years Busters were being born.

Throughout the seventies and early eighties divorce became more common in the USA with nearly half of all marriages ending in divorce. This generation was the children of these divorcées. They became a generation of “latch-key kids” who learned to become self-reliant taking care of themselves after school until their working parents came home from work.

Growing up in divorced or blended homes also caused the generation to seek to prioritize the balance of work and family when they reached adulthood. Busters seek the right balance in life, being careful to not neglect their families while working for organizations or causes that employ them.

For the Generation-X, the perspective on life is not as optimistic as the generations before or after them. They tend to feel that the economy never seems to have given them a break because they have had to struggle and delay their opportunities to be leaders or attain prominence in the working world. Further exacerbating the perception is the unwillingness of the Baby Boomers to yield room for their generation inside the organizations where they have established predominance.

Growing up seeing the high profile failings of leaders in positions of authority in everything from politics (Watergate), to business (Enron), to religion (PTL Scandal) has made this generation cynical when thinking about leaders. Busters are not impressed with credentials and position. It has been said this is a generation that doesn’t believe in heroes. To gain credibility with the Buster, one has to demonstrate competence, show results, and lead a balanced personal life.

Because opportunities have not been forthcoming for them, Generation-X has become entrepreneurial in their outlook, seeking to build their own opportunities. As pragmatists, they want to see results at the bottom line. But they envision a working world where people matter more than organizations and they will not commit themselves without reserve to any organization.

The Gen-X contribution to present day society includes family-friendly concepts such as popularizing home schooling, paid maternity leave, and stay-at-home fathers. Busters are known for their creative workspace environments with space to play games, change scenery, and have private conversations. Generation-X brought the world Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and eBay.

Ministering to Generation X

• “Show them respect!” they have been told all their lives they are “slackers” who don’t have what it takes. Take them seriously please!
• “Get real” with them! They like leaders who are genuine, honest people who are not impressed with their position. Take a self-effacing approach with them.
• Help them experience life balance! Don’t overload them with church programs they value their family time.
• Don’t waste their time! Canned presentations, unnecessary meetings, junk mail and spam turn them off!
• Try some new things! Don’t assume old programs that used to work will work with Gen-X, the last thing they want to do is prop up some old out-of-date system. They are not denomination brand loyal-deal with it!
• Diversify! Generation X is very open to leaders who have racial or ethnic backgrounds that are different from them. Make your church a place for all races and nationalities. And show it by recruiting leaders from all kinds of people.
• Empower them to make decisions! Too many ministries want them to sign up for what the Boomers decide to do; they don’t like the same things as Boomers.
• Get Glocal! They have a growing sense of how Global issues impact them. “Think Global, Act Local” with them. There are plenty of problems that need fixing. Gen-X feel they have been saddled with the world’s problems thanks to their indulgent fore bearers–show you care too!
• No cheesy stuff please! Programs and slogans are not likely to motivate them. Too much promotion turns them off. They have a finely-tuned and highly sensitive “hype radar” so don’t blow any smoke!
• Use quality production in video and design! X’ers do appreciate competence. What you do should not look thrown together and sloppy.
• Transparency with money and power! Gen-X are not great givers of money because they fear its abuse. Make sure you keep them in the loop with how money is used. Staff ministry leaders who receive a lot of perks really turn them off! (Do you really need those cuff links anyway?)
• Give them great experiences! Generation-X prefers great experiences over acquiring great material wealth. Frankly, they couldn’t care less if your church grows bigger! They are more interested in impact than income in ministry. Give them something hands-on to do where they can make a difference. They’ll jump on increasing your church’s community influence, not  so much your building’s size!
• Don’t pressure them or become demanding! Gen-X believes in accountability, but they have trouble putting faith in the integrity of others. If you put too much pressure on them to do something, they will avoid you, or find a work-around you. Gen-X finds it hard to commit to any organization because they have such a low view of institutions and leaders.
• Let them be entrepreneurs! They are more likely to trust themselves than trust others. Don’t take it personally; let them take matters into their own hands. (One of the reasons church planting is so popular with them is too many Boomers are hogging the spotlight and running things into the ditch with ineffective programs at established churches!)

Further Reading

• After the Boomers
• Mind Your X’s and Y’s

Baby Boomers

• Years they were born:  1946-1964

• Number in the segment: 78 Million (25% of the US population)
• Key Characteristics: Optimistic, Moralistic, Educated, Passionate, Team-oriented, and Self-Developing

Baby Boomers came of age in a time of unprecedented prosperity in the United States. Their optimistic attitude comes because they tend to take material things for granted.  Their generation has always been the focus of interest in general society as they have had the starring role during every phase of their development. Rather than aspiring to the American Dream, Boomers have been born into it.

They are the most educated generation in American history. Boomers tend to be learners who are constantly on a quest of personal development.

Boomers have brought sweeping social and cultural change to the United States throughout their lifetimes. They have a more informal approach to life that changed the business world from formal suits and ties to “business casual.” They prefer to work in teams. Their tastes in music, movies, and design have shaped the present American context.

In addition, they have changed the social values in the United States with regard to women’s rights, racial equality, changes in sexual mores, and the rearing of children. Baby Boomers have a strong need to define what they do in terms of morality and right and wrong. They are the force behind movements from the Hippies and Free Love– to the Jesus People and contemporary Christian music.

As the first generation that was raised on TV, they have shaped the world with technological innovations like the invention of the personal computer, the internet, satellite networks, etc.  Most of America’s technical engineers are Baby Boomers. They also have innovated in just about every area of learning especially in science, sociology, psychology and business.

Warning: Don’t Ignore them!

Boomers are not going away any time soon and any ministry that neglects to prepare for the future that is about to be visited on the church is going to suffer! Boomers will shape the future of ministry, between now and 2015 the people reaching retirement age will increase 54%. Boomers are not going to hang up their hats! Senior adult ministry will be the next “new thing”, forget your tat-laden angry Postmodernists—get ready for two waves of hip oldsters 38+ million strong as the Boomers come to traditional retirement age between 2011-2020, then again as 38+ million “Generation Jones” (a subset of the Boomers) hit 65+.

Ministering to Boomers

• Don’t talk to them like they are getting old. They don’t anticipate age or health to slow them down.
• Focus on the future! Boomers see limitless horizons ahead of them, show them a long-range vision
• Be relevant in the here and now. Boomers are “now” oriented, that’s why they spend rather than save (and why they didn’t see social change happening under their watch in the church—but I digress!)
• Include them in the faith conversation, don’t assume they are sketpical “hippies.” 1/3 of them have values that are nearly identical to Evangelical Christianity (see Yankelovich’s “Straight Arrows”). 45% of them attend church already.
• A majority of them are “black and white” thinkers with a strong sense of ethical clarity
• Don’t assume a college education, but do assume an agenda for personal fulfillment and improvement.
• They are not big on working through traditional institutions , rather they like working outside the system.
• Programs, campaigns, slogans, big movements get them pumped up
• They are “technology immigrants” that love/hate gadgets. (Hence the digital device often seen growing out of their ears that they think is both stupid and cool!)

Further Reading:

• Ageless Generation by J. Walker Smith, Ann Clurman
• The American Marketplace

The Church’s Annual Missed Opportunity

It usually happens like this: A church has a block party to promote the Vacation Bible School the following week. Everyone praises the Lord when scores of kids enroll in the VBS! The church carries out the VBS and hosts a family night service. A couple of new families join the church. All in all, a great event!

Since everyone is tired from the block party and VBS, the church leaders all take the next week off. When they get back into action it is time to start planning the back to school calendar. They also know they need to follow-up on the families of the kids from VBS. But they haven’t even had time to evaluate the block party, let alone the VBS, who knows what else, needs to be done!

The church leaders decide to do some evangelism training to prepare them for the follow-up of the VBS. They take three or four weeks in their mid-week Bible study to prepare. Then, on the fourth week or so, a trained church visitation team (often comprised of people who didn’t have anything to do with the VBS or block party) goes out two-by-two and visits in the homes of the parents of the kids who came to VBS. But a problem arises; each team is met with resistance. None of the families seem as open to the church as they were during the VBS. None of the teams were able to bring a single parent of the dozens of kids to visit in the church!

What went wrong?

• The block party was a great way to get kids into the VBS.The parents appreciated the VBS program for the kids.
• But the church didn’t do any thinking about how to meet the needs of the parents.
• In addition, they were not ready to follow-up on the parents until 5-6 weeks after the VBS. Many of the parents had forgotten about the VBS and had lost the good feelings they had about the church.
• The church could have used the block party and VBS to learn more about the parents in the area to try to determine their needs.
• The church could have built-in ministry that introduced the parents to the new church.
• The names and addresses of the parents could have been used to send out special letters or other materials to keep the name of the church in front of the people so they would not forget the new congregation was starting.
• Perhaps the personal testimony of the two families who joined the church could have been a part of the marketing plans
• They just had a block party and a VBS without thinking beyond to what comes next for the families

What can you do to improve your church’s VBS follow-up now?

• Don’t take a break after VBS, get to know the families during VBS. VBS is a time to get to know parents as much as it is a time to get to know kids. Start cultivating relationships and making friends now!
• Take a longer point of view and think about what VBS could lead into (much as the block party leads into the VBS). Perhaps you could have your fall calendar ready and introduce the parents to your fall ministry programs at this time.
• Don’t think you can’t plan ahead. VBS comes every year. You have twelve months to plan the entire outreach emphasis! So while you are recruiting VBS teachers, you can just as easily recruit (and train) a follow-up crew!
• Make a DVD of the VBS musical and hand deliver it with a picture of the parent’s child when you visit them. (You could even include a brief message about your church from the pastor in the video). Delivering the video is a great reason to visit and it beats a “cold call” visit 5-6 weeks after VBS anytime!
• Send out a mid-week newsletter update about the VBS to the parents who send their children to VBS. Make sure it’s not filled with insider-speak, but targeted at people who are new to your church.
• Involve visitation teams in the block party and VBS so they can get to know the children and parents.
• Develop a brief survey about community needs or “test market” ideas for new ministries of your church in a brief questionnaire to parents.
• Stay in touch with parents. An idea, keep sending your nonmember-friendly newsletter to the parents for three or four months after VBS. Include helpful parenting tips, fun community event ideas (besides your church’s), kid movie and book reviews, even recipes kids can do with their parents. If you work on this during the year, you can write the articles anytime of year for use during the summer and back to school months.

They used the following media:

• Mailed 30,000 postcards to people in the zip codes near their church that they purchased from a Christian marketing company
• Had a graphics designer do a professional full color brochure with pictures of families with children, service times and their mission, vision and core values printed on them
• Sent press releases to the local newspapers
• Bought set of banners to hang inside their new church location.
• Posted a website on the internet with a really cool introduction done up with the latest web technology.
• With the money they had left they bought a small advertisement in the Sunday newspaper on the day of their launch.

The Marketing Outreach was a Flop

The church planting team was very unhappy when they spent all that money and only had two visitors to their new church launch. The Planter pastor became so discouraged and frustrated he wanted to quit. How could they spend all that money on marketing and see such small results?

He called his team together and they talked and decided that marketing doesn’t work .One of the team members who had been against the marketing campaign spoke up and said, “See, I like I said five weeks ago when we started planning this marketing, marketing is not God’s will. God won’t bless us if we use Satan’s ways!” The team huddled together and prayed to God asking Him to forgive them for being so worldly

What went wrong?

• They didn’t match their Media to their Audience. They did their mailing based on zip codes, not according to the target they were best equipped to reach.
• The church is located downtown near the bus station in an old church building that is not in the same area of town they targeted with their mailing. Frankly, the people they targeted with their marketing are uncomfortable to even drive in the part of town where the church planters are locating their new church plant.
• The zip code of 30,000 names sounds impressive until you realize that 63% of the residents in the database of addresses are retired people, 24% Laotian, and 7% Hispanic immigrants and the rest, 6% are lower income families.
• They did not provide a map to the location on their postcard they sent, but depended on the prospects to visit the website to get directions to the location of the church launch.
• The brochure was nice but it had no information about the church address, website, or programs.
• Also, the families in the photos all looked like upper middle class families. The lower income families who received the mailing didn’t see themselves in the images they selected for their promotion. It looked like a church for Anglo upper middle class people.
• The press releases were sent to the Religion Editor of the newspapers. Unchurched people who read the paper don’t often read this section of the newspaper.
• No one saw the indoor banners. Outdoor banners might have been better to get more of the passing street traffic.
• The website was slow loading because the Pastor insisted his 15 year-old nephew developed the site in all Flash. Most site visitors didn’t wait for the site to load and it was invisible to search engines. The site was really cool, but nobody saw it.
• By the time people could have read the advertisement that ran in the Sunday paper (the day of the launch) it was too late. Most of the people who don’t already attend church on Sunday in the community don’t get their papers until later in the morning (evidently they like to sleep in on Sunday).
• Finally, the church planting team planned and launched their entire marketing campaign in the space of five weeks. They were in a last minute rush to prepare all their marketing. Because they didn’t do the due diligence in their planning, they had an ineffective media plan.
• They blamed the Devil or the failure of marketing as a tool for ministry. But didn’t consider they Devil was in the details.

Areas to think about when Planning a Marketing Campaign

Audience: When you buy media you are not buying media per se, you are buying eyes and ears of particular people. Audience comes first in media. When you have done your homework, you know who your audience is and you find the media channels that reach them best. When you don’t have a particular audience in mind, media sales people have a way of convincing you their media is the best way to reach people. Know the people you want to reach!

Use of Media: Think about media as the tools you use to travel to the audience you want to reach. It’s like traveling in a train. Say you wanted to get to New York City by train. You can’t get on just any train to get to New York. Imagine someone saying after failing to get to New York by train, “I tried train travel, but trains can’t get you to New York. The Devil wants to keep me outta NYC!” The fact is trains can get you to New York, if you take the right trains. You have to take a train that is going to New York. In the same way, you need the right media “vehicle” to get to your audience.

Reach and Frequency: In media you can’t get to the audience in one trip. You have to reach them several times before the will notice you. Generally it takes 8-12 exposures to a message in these days, before people start to notice. You need to “reach” the right audience enough times “frequency” to get their attention. In the example above the church planters reached people one time in the mail box and one time in the news paper. And because they lacked planning, they have no way of knowing how many times they reached the same audience, or even if they reached the people they were most likely to minister to effectively even once.

A Bad Use of Ministry Marketing Positioning

Yet, when I see churches positioning other churches as “hypocritical, boring, asking for money all the time, etc” they may think they are doing a service to their church’s marketing, but they are actually hurting it.

Yes, many churches don’t have it together and a lot may be boring and some ask for money too much. There is not a church in the world that is “hypocrite free.” Those problems in other churches are not your church’s marketing opportunity, they are illustrations of your church community’s spiritual health. Let your church set an example for the dysfunctional churches of a better way. If your church is not any of these things, just be good about it, and like Matthew said:

“…let your light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 NIV)

Don’t position your church against these other churches–position your church’s message using an understanding about the perceptions and personal issues that are keeping the people you want to reach from giving church a try. You don’t need to dis your sister church to do that!

When churches use positioning against other churches to attract unreached people by playing to the misperceptions of unchurched people (implying that other churches are bad and not theirs) they actually do more than make people think different about their church. They reinforce the prejudices of people who don’t go to church about church-going in general.

Only so many people really respond to that type of church mud-slinging anyway. Many more unchurched see the promotional materials from that church and have excuses put in their mouths for why they don’t attend any church.

God forbid you send out a mailer that says, “Love God, Hate Church?” and it create for some the internal argument that shuts out the idea of going to any church at all. I can see it now, a guy opens his mail box and reads the slick postcard and starts thinking, “Yeah, I love God, but I hate church…that’s it, that’s why I don’t go to church, my intense love for God! Thanks HipChurch.tv–I am staying home for Jesus!”

Before you dismiss the idea that that can happen, consider this analogy from Social Norms Theory a behavior change theory used in Social Marketing. There is real marketing research and successful marketing programs that are based on this exact concept. Perceived societal norms influence people everyday!

An Example from Social Norms Theory in Social Marketing

When students attend college, they may assume binge-drinking is the norm on campus. If they think that, when they see a gathering of students drinking, they think, “There goes some of that normative college binge-drinking behavior”. In short, they would have their suspicions confirmed.

But if media were developed to help students know that only a small percentage of college students are binge-drinkers (which is true BTW), and that such drinking is not normative they would likely “see” the gathering of students differently.

They would think, “Oh, there is one of those gatherings of the minority of students who binge-drink—stay away from that. I want to be normal!” If the media campaign also “packaged” alternative, constructive behaviors for college students, you would see a change in campus life and a decrease in the percentage of binge-drinking among the student population.

It really happens!

When You dis Other Churches You Are Not Doing Your Church Any Favors!

In the same way, you don’t want to inadvertantly reinforce a negative societal norm perception that is damaging to the general Christian church’s outreach. But you can do just that if you send out messages about how “other” churches are mostly “boring, greedy, etc.” You may think you are marketing your church, but could actually be doing counter-Christian propaganda by helping to confirm the suspicions of people who don’t go to church and could be helping justify their behavior of not visiting any church near them.

Unchurched may think that since the majority of churches are bad (thanks to your advertising that they are–and as far as they are concerned, you should know, since you are a church), what is the point of trying? Sure, some may actually believe what you say and go to your church, but many more others may be turned off to church. Do the ends justify the means in this case?

And do you actually believe that your church is so much better than the other ones?

“Pride goes before destruction,a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 NIV)

We need to be looking for an approach to ministry marketing that is compatible with the Bible teaching about how we are all (churches of all stripes) members of one another…

“And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” 1 Corinthians 12:26

In light of this verse, when you dishonor another Christian church, you dishonor your own. I think it is a shame if a church reaches people for their church by perpetuating the false beliefs of unchurched people!

Think about becoming an expert in one of the following areas:

Evangelism Rights: There is a real problem in the public square with the perception that talking about God is off limits and church members are being intimidated not to evangelize. The general media and public sector have created the impression that Christianity should not be talked about at work, in school, and in the marketplace. Someone needs to do the study about the Christian’s First Amendment right to Evangelize.

The First Amendment says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Our constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech is not just for the press, it is really centered on the freedom of religion (and religious speech). Churches will want someone to help lead seminars in this topic.

Relational Evangelism: help church members build confidence in talking with the people they already know. Too much evangelism training focuses on reaching people who are strangers to the witness. Most evangelism that is lacking is Christians sharing the Good News with the People they are closest with. Help Christians understand how easy it is to share.

Understanding the Unchurched Locally: Yes there are a lot of books about what unchurched are like nationally. But when you drill down to the local church scene, the data is not as relevant. You’d be surprised how small the sample size and narrow the research questions are for those national studies everyone talks about. Become an expert in the people in the area where you serve and you will be an in-demand consultant to the local ministers you want to reach.

Forget trying to be a national expert, you’ll get more impact (and bookings) by narrowing your focus to the area where you serve. Help churches become more Missional by doing the missions research for them and sharing what you learn. If missionaries can do it, so can you!

Mentor Youth Leaders and Younger Pastors: There are a lot of older Baby Boomer ministers who are presently serving in Vocational Evangelism. Develop a deeper understanding of the Generation-Y ministers (born between 1980-1994.) This is an ambitious group of young people who crave respectful mentoring relationships.

I’d tell you to try to mentor Gen-Xers (born 1965-1979), but they tend to be cynical and don’t usually respect older leaders—heck, they don’t even respect ministries they start! Start working with the younger generation there are much more of them anyway and they are open to relationships with older dudes.

Baby Boomer Outreach: While we are on the subject of generations, the Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964) are still the largest group of unreached people in the United States. The next few years will see huge changes in focus, as “old becomes the new young.” The Boomers have transformed Evangelical Christianity at every stage of their development.

Now that they are reaching retirement, someone needs to get up-to-date on how to reach them effectively. I believe they will become more open to spiritual matters as they reassess their lives. Already research indicates they are beginning to become more open to social service and leaving a legacy. Show how to evangelize the older Baby Boomer.

In the next few years, almost every church, even the ones famous for being young and trendy, will be clamoring to understand how to develop an effective “senior adult” ministry. Stop Obsessing on the Relevant Church stuff! Every one of the “postmodern” or “emerging church” experts will be sucking down prune juice in the next 20 years. Get in there and master the topic of older adult ministry so you can help shape ministry in the real future!

*Note: This should go without saying, but, please, don’t try to be all of these. Pick one! The Evangelist who portrays himself as an expert on everything is a cliche. Most people regard them as experts on nothing.

Five Ways to Establish Yourself as a Recognized Expert on Your Topic

I can’t give you a simple recipe but I do have a few tips for establishing yourself as an authority on the subject you want to use to impact the church for greater outreach. A good book on the topic would also help, read Credibility Marketing by Larry Chambers

Here’s a brief list I developed to get you started…

1. Research your topic to the “Nth” degree: You can’t fake this, you really need to become a genuine expert on what you want to teach. Read everything on your topic. As you go, it will become easier as you become more familiar with the topic to blaze through books and articles on the topic. But it will take hard work on your part to get there!
2. Get a Professionally Designed Identity: Get a good looking logo and design look that communicates the “brand” you are trying to establish. Put your money where your mouth is. Make your website, biz-card, and other materials you use scream, “this person knows what they are talking about!”
3. Write on your topic all the time: If “readers are leaders” what are writers? Just start writing about what you are researching. Start a blog and write at least three posts per week on your topic. Not only will that help you as you study, it will help amass key words for your topic on your site which the search engines will find and that will help bring traffic to your site. Don’t give up it takes a year or two, but you will get to the point that you have a audience reading your site, that is, if you don’t “weenie-out!”
4. Repurpose Content you have written: Your blog posts can become free e-books, articles and seminars. Take what you write and use it in more ways. Get an editor to help you “clean-up” your writing and submit it to other websites and publications. Soon when people are looking for information about your topic, they will find your ideas on all kinds of places on the web and in print.
5. Make Use of Social Media: After you have established your expertise and are able to consult intelligently, post a profile on social media websites like LinkedIn or Plaxo so people can find you in their network. Also, since you are reading the books anyway, go ahead and post a profile on Amazon (see mine) and write reviews of the books you have read. People can find you that way too.

When you preach in a church don’t stop the relationship after the revival services are over, stay in touch with the pastors you meet. Send them friendly notes, forward them links that are relevant to their ministry, recommend books, keep them on your prayer list. Make sure your contact with pastors is not just when you “want something”. If you develop a relationship with the pastors you know, they will remember you next time they hear of a pastor friend who is looking for an Evangelist.

Networking with all types of people you meet.

Keeping in touch with pastors is a good idea. But don’t stop there, stay up-to-date with all kinds of ministry and community leaders. Once you get a person’s contact information or business card, make a note on the card how you met the person and think of one way to keep in touch.

Example: On the back of Principal John Smith’s business card write things you learn about him in the conversation: “Met at fellowship dinner at FBC Lawton. Wife’s name is Marcy. Loves Bible Archeology” Then, stay in touch. If you run into an article you think he would like about Biblical archeology, send it to him. If you are in town and have time, give him a call to say hello, make sure to include his wife Marcy in your conversation. You may end up leading a school assembly, or getting a referral to another church in town from your new principal friend. Or you may find, ideas from your new contact who stays up-to-date with biblical archeology!

Networking is not about you and what you want; it is more about helping people succeed at what they are interested in. If you take the focus off of yourself and truly try to enjoy knowing people, the rest will take care of itself. With a large network of friends who know and trust you, you will find, they will look out for your best interests if you look out for theirs.

Go the “Extra Mile” be a Servant

Some people get mixed up and keep the focus on themselves too much worrying about how they will close the next booking. They get in a rush and forget that the key to their next booking may very well be the bookings they have now. Do your best to give 110% to the churches you serve while you are with them.

Don’t take short cuts! You’d be surprised how some speakers who are highly booked forget and preach the exact same message in the same church years in a row. Keep notes and records of what you do in each church; make sure you don’t leave the impression that in any way you have “coasted” taking the easier route when you are with the churches you serve.

Be a Stickler for Clear Communication

If you have problems with the churches you are booking, no doubt the problem will arise from some form of miscommunication. As you work with churches get as much as you can in writing and double check to make sure there are no misunderstandings about expectations. Too often the “next booking” get’s lost because the Evangelist and the church had different expectations.

The better you understand and fulfill the expectations of the church staff you work with, the more people will be satisfied when working with you. People don’t like surprises. This is not about not surprising them by preaching something they need to hear, you have to preach the message God gives you to share. But, if they expect you to show up for something and you don’t. Or if the staff feel you didn’t listen to their expectations, things can go awry.

One quick example: If you are preaching a conference and the organizers give you a theme they want you to follow that flows with the rest of the conference, make sure you stick to the theme. Don’t discount the theme, and preach from the pulpit an unrelated message. It ruins the momentum the conference organizers are trying to build. The organizers of the conference communicate their needs, make sure you listen to them!

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