Title: Church Marketing 101
1Church Marketing 101
- Scott Vaughan, S.C. Baptist Convention
- Seminar, September 2002
- Chandler_at_vbmb.org
2We are born to communicate
- The multiple cries of a baby
- Tired
- Dirty
- Whiny
- Hungry
- Aggravated
3Yet churches dont work on it.
- Hierarchy of committees
- Finance, personnel, nominating
- B/G, fellowship
- Communications
- A bad newsletter nobody wants to read or write
4Church Start Up 2 or 25?
- Church plant with budget of 50,000
- How much should we plan to spend on marketing?
- If 2k, youll be out of business within 2 years
- What business would spend all its money on
property and inventory and none on advertising?
5Five Building Blocks of Marketing
- Understanding people
- Creating ministry
- Positioning to communicate
- Preparation for guests
- Clean up/follow up
61. Marketing is about understanding people.
- Specifically, about what people want
- Not what they need
72. Communication
- Having understood what people want, we then
define, refine, and create ministries to give
them what they want - you have to catch em before you clean em
- Start with what people want, move to what people
need
83. Positioning
- Branding ourselves
- Developing our niche or reputation within the
community as a provider of services that people
want
9Why are there 5 detergents?
- Gain, Dreft, Bold, Tide, Cheer
- All Procter Gamble
- Segment your market, target your segment
104. Preparation for Response
- Are we ready for the people who show up?
- Attending to the customer comfort of our guests
- Cleanliness of restrooms and nursery
- Signs (external, internal)
- Air temperature (be cool!)
- Inclement weather
115. Clean up, follow up
- Learning from what went wrong
- Are ministries attended?
- Ministries beyond shelf-life?
- Ministering from our strengths?
- Making appropriate on-the-fly adjustments
12we see through a glass, dimly1 Corinthians
1312
- The Mirror
- looking at who you are
- Prayer our calling?
- Understanding our D.N.A.
- The Window
- looking at your community
- Geography (drive time)
- Demographic R.A.G.E.
- race, age
- gender, economics
13Gender 101
- Market to women
- They control the family calendar
- Influence the family
- The women get the family there, the children keep
them there - did you have __ today?
14Econ 101
- Household income is more likely than any other
factor to determine world-view - Under 15k poverty
- 15-35 Lower middle
- 35-75 True middle
- 75-150 Upper middle
- 150-Million Over-class
- Million -- Rich
15Income and Worldview
- Income is closely tied demographically to
education - Education is closely tied to willingness to
receive innovative ministry - H.U.P. you will reach people who are like you!
- Find out where your church is first, then your
community
16A Painful Conclusion
- Fact People will tend to go to church with
people who are just like them - H.U.P. not prescriptive, but descriptive
17Bridges and Chains
- Reality if you are not like the community you
are called to reach, you have to build bridges
and chains - A pastor who looks not like the congregation but
the community it wants to reach
18Five Places to Start
- Marketing 101 priorities
- Will take a budget!
- Typical business spends 3-5 of budget on
marketing - Typical church 0-0.5
- No particular order
191. Do the research.
- Start internally, within the congregation
- Never survey for opinions, only info!
- Then, get local demographics
- School board, chamber of commerce,
www.claritas.com
20How to get research information
- Give ranges (age, income)
- Never, never, never ask church people for their
opinions on a survey! - Once you ask how people feel and they put it down
on paper, it is then fact and they expect you
to do something about it
21Better telephone
- Selling the Invisible, Harry Beckwith
- Call church folk at home
- The anonymity and distance lead to truthfulness
- The conversational format leads to appropriate
expectations
22What church people want
- To know there is a loop.
- To believe that theyre in it.
- Think in terms of communication streams
- Multiple, redundant (8x)
23Build a work-group who will carry out research
assignments.
- Find sales reps, etc. in your congregation who
can tell you about your territory - Have them build relationships with local
officials and celebrities (golf pro) - Include working moms (70)
242. Build local media relationships.
- Make friends with local editors and station
managers - Take the controllers to lunch -- or host
luncheons - Think of publicity (free) as well as advertising
(you pay, but get control)
253. Position your church within the local
community.
- Make yourself known as an organization committed
to building local quality of life - Communicate the benefits of what your church
offers in multiple, redundant ways
26Beyond who, what, when, why, where
- You cant tell strangers the simple facts of what
youre doing and expect them to show up - Many of your own people wont!
- Instead, communicate the benefits of your events
- well teach your child how to pray
27Goal Penetration and Saturation
- Penetration creating awareness of your ministry
- Saturation giving a market all of the ministry
it can handle - Achieved via promotional pressure
28Promotion Pressure
Event launch
Telephone campaign
Personal calls
Best ads, direct mail, reruns
Direct mail, banners, media reps, boards
Where the battle is won (family calendar 6-8
weeks
Bulletin, etc.
Start talking about event internally (keep church
in the loop)
4 months
3
2
1
294. Begin to address branding issues
- Build a consistent positioning of the churchs
image - Avoid crosses, doves, fish, architecture
- Standardize!
- Logo, color, font, slogan, stationery (ie.
McDonalds) - Become hard-nosed on moving away from flyer
mentality - People want you to look professional because it
communicates that you care about what you do
305. Evaluate how you are receiving guests.
- Share spies with another church
- Have a good demographic of people on your greeter
ministry so they can connect with a variety of
people who look like them - Look at creative ways of getting guest info for
database - Nursery, check-writing, giveaways in exchange for
data
31Your Marketing Tone Shark?
- Go into a feeding frenzy when sniffing blood
- Go into a feeding frenzy when sniffing blood
- Eat indiscriminately
- So aggressive that they have been known to devour
their own young - Tough skin will scrape others on contact
32Tone Carp?
- Sluggish bottom feeders that often eat their
weight daily - Considered to be a trash fish not a
sport/fighting fish - Inedible
- Most often used for decoration only (goldfish)
33Sharks violate the relationship in the name of
the Gospel.
- Carp violate the Gospel in the name of the
relationship.
34YES-Instead Market like a Dolphin!!
- playful
- intelligent and alert
- smooth/supple/flexible
- responsive to surroundings
35Smart Marketing
- Will help your church connect
- The Gospel
- Your church
- The community
36Church Marketing 101
- Dr. John P. Chandler
- Courageous Churches
- Virginia Baptist Mission Board
- John.chandler_at_vbmb.org
- Copy right John P. Chandler, 2002