THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH

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THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH
PART ONE WHY YOU SHOULD MARKET YOUR CHURCH
Jake Dell Office of Communication September 15,
2012
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Some questions to started

• Do you like advertising?
• Do you like being sold to?
• Is there such a thing as good marketing?
• How would you measure good advertising?

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Do you like any of these? Is this marketing?

• Chrysler 300 Commercial Advice
• Old Spice The Man Your Man Could Smell Like
• Advent Greetings Julia La Roche
• Episcopal Church Thads Santa Monica
• Madison Area Episcopal Churches Remember
• Faith Street SAINT BARTS

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Goals for these sessions

• To explain why a parish would want to market
  itself
• To explain how a parish can market itself

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By the end of this session, you should be able to

• Give a simple explanation of why a church should
  market itself
• Identify the five basic elements of a marketing
  plan and give an example of each

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What I wont cover

• Branding and creative development
• How to write ad copy
• How to do social media

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So, what is advertising?

• Advertising is salesmanship in print John E.
  Kennedy
• The great ones all agreed good advertising sells
  product
• Albert Lasker, Lord Thomas
• Claude Hopkins, Scientific Advertising
• David Ogilvy, Ogilvy Mather
• Are you advertisers?

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Is Luke 11-4 an advertisement?
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the
things that have been fulfilled among us,2 just
as they were handed down to us by those who from
the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the
word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have
carefully investigated everything from the
beginning, I too decided to write an orderly
account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so
that you may know the certainty of the things you
have been taught.
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Is Luke 11-4 an advertisement?
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the
things that have been fulfilled among us,2 just
as they were handed down to us by those who from
the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the
word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have
carefully investigated everything from the
beginning, I too decided to write an orderly
account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so
that you may know the certainty of the things you
have been taught.
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Yes, Luke 11-4 is an advertisement!

• Luke acknowledges his competitors
• Tells us his gospel is based on eyewitness
  accounts
• Tells us that he himself has verified the sources
• Assures us that this account of Jesus life can
  be trusted even if the others cant be
• Isnt this salesmanship in print?

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Church advertising

• Evangelism in print
• Or, evangelism by another medium
• Goal is to get people to become Episcopalians

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Brief history of church advertising (2,000 years)

• Jesus sends his disciples to preach the kingdom
  of God
• Epistles and gospels
• Preaching revolution 12th 13th centuries
• Printing revolution and mass communication
• Evangelical missionary movement 19th 20th
  centuries
• Mainline indifference, rise of mega churches,
  1970-2001
• Today ...

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Brief history commercial advertising (100 years)

• Traveling salesmen
• Catalog and direct mail (copy writers)
• Creative revolution (1950s to present,
  television, Mad Men)
• Digital
• Ironically, commercial advertisers are often
  called brand evangelists

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Evangelism and advertising share common roots,
then diverge

• Person to person (salesmen, evangelists like
  Phillip)
• Print (epistles, gospels, tracts, ad copy, mass
  marketing)
• Creative revolution (television, church sat this
  one out)
• Digital
• Can the church jump back in the game?

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Marketing and advertising

• Advertising is a marketing process
• Good marketing triggers a response

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Conversion funnel from prospect to customer

• Purchase intent
• Brand consideration set
• Sale

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Conversion funnel from prospect to Episcopalian

• Intention I might like to go church
• Consideration I might like to go to your
  church
• Evaluation Ive gone to your church
• Conversion I will join your church

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What is marketing?

• Marketing is a coordinated strategy of sending
  messages to people so that they purchase your
  product
• Church marketing is a coordinated strategy of
  sending messages to people so that they join the
  Episcopal Church

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Measuring success (commercial and church)

• Number of inbound leads
• Number of units sold / Number of confirmations
• Why do I say number of confirmations and not
  number of baptisms, pledging units or ASA?

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Examples of inbound leads

• The classic pew card or visitor register
• Traffic to your website
• Facebook likes
• Twitter followers
• Word of mouth
• Referrals
• Walk-ins
• If you market your church well, you will increase
  the number of inbound leads you get in each of
  these categories

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Talkback

• In one sentence, why should you market your
  church?
• Can you afford not to market your church?

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Contact
(The Rev.) Jake Dell Manager, Digital Marketing
and Advertising Sales Office of
Communication Domestic and Foreign Missionary
Society of the Protestant Episcopal
Church jdell_at_episcopalchurch.org (212)
716-6264 Twitter _at_jakedell73 and
_at_EDNTweets Blog http//preachingscarf.blogspot.co
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