Unity Church Marketing

The Merriam Diction defines the word “slacker” in the following manner:

1: a person who shirks work or obligation; especially : one who evades military service in time of war

2: a person and especially a young person who is perceived to be disaffected, apathetic, cynical, or lacking ambition – slacker adjective

Easy enough to define and understand. Now comes the hard question… Is Your Church either a slacker or slacking when it comes to its’ marketing?

I think more churches qualify than would want to admit it. There are a lot of churches (and many businesses as well) that have this “build it and they will come” attitude. You can no longer just throw out your church carpet so to speak (or throw up a website for that matter) and expect that to generate new members.

How to determine if you’re a church marketing slacker?

Maybe you aren’t consciously shirking your church marketing obligations. On the other side, you may not be experiencing the results you are looking for in terms of new visitors, members or church exposure. Here are some things to consider to determine if you are a slacker

When was the last time your church website was updated?

Want an easy example of being a marketing slacker? When was the last time you updated your church website with new content? OK. I see some hands may have been raised. Let’s see how you are with the next question…

Have you totally re-designed your website recently?

If your church hasn’t re-designed it web-site in the last two years, it is time. And oh yeah, you are a marketing slacker. Like it or not we live in an age of instant gratification. Part of that gratification comes in the form of websites that are up to date and that are appealing to come back to.

Given any thought to adding video to your website?

The web has voted and if you don’t have video’s…well you won’t be voted off the island, but having them provides a greater opportunity to get your message seen and heard more often.

Have you introduced your church to Web 2.0?

You know what I am talking about here. Facebook and Twitter are the mainstays. Be thinking about YouTube as well. If you haven’t at least done that, consider yourself a marketing slacker.

If you have found yourself looking and feeling like a slacker, take heart. All is not lost. It just means that you aren’t keeping up with the times. And your church is paying a price for that. You don’t have to do all of the above immediately to no longer be considered apathetic marketing wise. Take one item and incorporate it over the next quarter. The following quarter take on another item that you see here or incorporate something completely new.

Are you going to see overnight results? Probably not. But you will begin to see the rewards as you put more and more of the above into place. More people returning to the website. More interest in your church and you will probably add some members as well. And in the end, you will probably have more fun with your church and its’ members as well.