Unity Church Marketing

As church leaders, we talk about it all the time to anyone who will listen. We make slogans about it. Ministers are apt to talk about the group using such terms. Ministers, church leaders and others are usually telling people that it is something that your church desperately want to become a part of. And there are times when we stretch the limits of the programs and/or events we put on to say they qualify for it.

What is “it” you ask”??

Simply put, it is about getting your church involved in the community. Perhaps the only challenge greater than getting your church involved in your community is getting the community as it were in your church. But you need one to get the other. And without one, you can’t get the other.

Your church being a part of the community.

On a global basis, churches have always been instrumental to such projects as the Peace Movement and other similar causes. Today’s church’s are eager to start reaching out to their world more locally with both good news and works. As such they are searching for appropriate ways to integrate both into their ministry.

There is a growing movement of innovative churches whose leaders are thinking differently about what church could be and/or should be. They have readjusted their focus from inward thinking outwardly and how their influence can manifest in their community. These churches are making great strides as to what and how they are measured or represented and ultimately valued within their communities. In the end, they are changing how people view church in general.

Sounds good, but what could my church do?

Korean churches have been active in the community for years by supporting such efforts as:

• educational and financial support for students, particularly for college students.
• caregiving and activities for the elderly
• marriage and family strengthening programs, parenting education, and children and youth programs
• support and mediation to address intergenerational conflicts among 1st, 1.5, and 2nd generation Korean Americans translation and education to address the language barriers of immigrant families

I am not going to advocate that these are the only cases in point of churches being a part of their community. For the list is as long as your mind can wander. But here are some demonstrations that I think can have your church viewed differently in your neighborhood.

• Church holding community campfires – Check out the article in the Issaquah Press http://tinyurl.com/kvknrk
• Donating to hospitals – Let’s be real here. There are a good number of churches who volunteer at hospitals. But this church really gave it the personal touch when they created the “Caring Hands” program and handmade shawls as reported in the Somerset Reporter http://tinyurl.com/nqqlzr
• Another church committed to helping every third grader read at grade level. They also facilitated breakfast for these kids to insure they were at their best.
• Another church asked those in the church to live on beans and rice for a week and give the savings to feed the hungry.

This doesn’t even take into account the myriad of ministries that churches can offer to fulfill challenges in their area.

Are there activities or events that don’t fit?

In my opinion, yes. There are events and promotions that your church puts on that doesn’t put you into the community as an organization of value. Contrary to popular belief among a lot of churches, a garage sale doesn’t qualify you as part of the community.

The questions you want to ask yourself if you are truly being part of the community?

Does it have redeeming value? You may think the community campfires are a challenge to measure, but you will see the rewards in how you are viewed as a church and also as an attendee.

Listening is the key

In the end, it does comes down to listening. Listening to the needs of the community. Churches are usually better telling what they are offering and hope it fits than to listening hard to the real needs around them. Rather than trying to impose your will through services and ministries that you offer that aren’t a good fit at this time, think of things that are of real value, that represent what your church and its’ values stand for.

In doing so, you build your church brand and will truly become a part of the community.

Every church has a story to tell about itself, the ministries and the people within it. And some of those stories are not only inspiring and motivational, but in a word “amazing”. But the stories don’t become quite as amazing when they are told by the individual ministries. How can it be that churches with such vibrant ministries seem dysfunctional when getting their message out?

25 Players / 25 Cabs

I often use the analogy of the 67 Red Sox when churches talk about their ministries and their seemingly lack of cohesiveness. 

When someone asked a player on the 67 Red Sox if the team did things together after a game, the reply was: “There are 25 players on this team. When we leave there are 25 cabs waiting to take each of us to where we want to go.”

It is interesting that one church that has a myriad of ministries, which are forever linked through hundreds of shared Sunday messages, long hours of planning together, through shared moments of joy and disappointment and do a wonderful job on their own can’t effectively communicate in concert about the church.

Sometimes churches seem like they have multiple personality disorder because every ministry communicates a different message. Kind of like the 25 players/25 cabs mentality.

That is where it takes leadership to help create an effective brand.

What is a brand?

The American Institute of Graphic Design defines a brand the way that many churches could use as a foundation. They define brand as

“a person’s perception of a product, service, or company.”

Company in this case could be your church. That definition has nothing to do with a mission statement, a logo, a tagline, a color palette, or typography. Instead, a brand is defined by a perception, good or bad, that your customers or prospects have about you.

When it comes right down to it, your church brand is not as much about you, but as to who you are serving. You have to get to that point of finding what it is that your church does and then go about doing it in excellence.

So, the question to help build your church brand is the following:

In what areas/ministries/services is my church putting a stake in the ground and proclaiming to all that will hear that “This is what we do. This is what we do well. This is what we are good at”?

Keep in mind that if we don’t put intention to this, others will in fact do it for you. In this day and age, if we are not defining ourselves, others will do it for us and that those perceptions can be very misleading.

How does a brand get watered down?

I am sure that everyone has heard the phrase “jack of all trades, master to none”. Well, when your church (or substitute the word “brand”) ministries try to be all things to all people, the end result for most churches is that a lot of them are just not very good.

And when you offer a lot of ministries/offerings that aren’t very good, then what your church stands for gets watered down as well.

And unlike convenience stores, people just don’t come to your church because of the location. They may come once, but to have them continually return means that you are in some ways meeting their needs by serving them.

How do you know if your brand is watered down?

Simple…ask several congregants separately what your church stands for? Another way of asking the question is to name the top 3 ministries or things that your church does better than any other church in the community. Still another attempt at getting the answer would be to ask:

-        What groups does your church service?

When there isn’t any consistency to the answers, your brand is currently watered down or “diluted”.

How can you stop a “church brand” from being diluted?

To begin with, get specific about the following:

This is what we do  
This is what we do well
This is what we are good at

Once you have defined that for the church as a whole, have each ministry in writing specifically detail what it is they do to support the church brand. 

The church’s intention will then become each ministries intention, which will follow down to each congregant.

In some ways, that will become each ministries mission statement. Keep in mind that the purpose of any ministries is not about the product/service that they offer. Rather it is about the experience that comes from that interaction with your church brand.

It may sound harsh, but if a ministry doesn’t support the church brand, I am of the belief that either that ministries leadership needs changed or you should discontinue that ministry.

What is a brand experience?

In a word…consistency! When visitors experience a consistency of all parts of your church (welcome ambassadors, services, events, etc) and deliver that regularly, you are creating a brand experience.

Who owns the “church brand”

In reality, everyone does. The responsibility doesn’t just fall on any one person or ministry. This is how you know if the  ”this is what we do, do well, are good at” mantra is working.  You will know it when you ask the question and get consistent answers.

In the end, if your objective is to have stories and experiences that come out of your church seen and heard as vibrant and energy giving, consider what is said above. The Law of Attraction is a universal law and is always working. If you aren’t getting the results you want, the law is still working. But your branding may be working against you.

As Twitter increasingly becomes more of a social phenomenon, there is a lot of emphasis on drawing new followers. Churches have been the precursor for a lot of things, so it is no surprise that they are doing everything in their powers (and budgets) to amass new followers.

Let’s be clear, it is a lot easier to get hundreds or even thousands of followers on Twitter than it is to do so at your local church.  That being said, if you were going to build a playbook on how to get new followers into your church, I would be looking at these steps to begin to get your church on the road to success.    

Step 1. Focus your efforts!  There is a reason that advertisers go after the 18-34 year old market. We have been taught that this is the demographic that has disposable income. And that may be true. But the real answer is that this is the time when consumers (and church goers) develop their brand identity. Surveys show that people generally settle on their faith sometime between 24 and 36. Faith based efforts shouldn’t be any different!  

Step 2. Be prepared by doing your homework and have something of value!  A survey found that 62% of 18- to 34-year-olds consider themselves spiritual, and another 43% have prayed in the past two months. If you get that and most of your church messages/programs are for another demographic, you may be missing a great opportunity. If your current audience is other than this for lack of a better term “sweet spot”, don’t forget them. Just make sure you also have something of value that will interest and then inspire that target market for longer than just a visit.  

Step 3. Meet them where they live. Social media is increasingly getting everyone’s attention. But it is “the” big attraction for the demographic you are going after. I love what Tony Stewart with LifeChurch says about how his church “meets that at their place of need” So you should be thinking how you can interact with these folks. Tools such as Twitter and Facebook make that more possible. Those same tools put you on a more level playing field with the mega churches. It begins to build the relationship. Maintain the thought that a relationship through the age of 36 will probably result in a lifelong relationship.  

Step 4. Be prepared to do more than just social media.  You can start a relationship through social media. But you can’t rely on Twitter and Facebook (and those are just a few Web 2.0 outlets) to do it all. Just like you success on the internet is rarely done with one website or model, church marketing is no different. You are going to have to have all of your oars rowing in the same direction at the same time. Check out what the United Methodist church is doing with the 10thousanddoors campaign! While your church budget may not currently afford network television and radio ads, print, text, email and outdoor events are totally in your realm. Just scale it down to what you can afford. But keep this in mind. Better to do one in excellence than 3 that comes off as lame or less than excellent.  

Step 5. Keep in mind marketing can only do so much.. Your marketing and promotional efforts make a commitment that when someone attends your church, that the church experience they have is going to be better than going somewhere else. If marketing got them to the door, there job is done. They then hand it off and the rest of the church has to live up to the promise. Failure to do so will have wasted the time, energy and monies that marketing spent to get them there.

So, you put a marketing plan together, even got a budget that didn’t have “shoestring” associated with it, ran your campaign and guess what? It all came together. People have started to flow into your church. And if you have read my past articles, you are saying that you are done and have done the warm hand off to others as these folks are on their way to becoming regular visitors and perhaps even members. You job is done…..almost!

Let’s face it, marketing’s job is never done, but there is one thing that you should give some thought to before the marketing team’s job is considered done. And that is a good welcome packet.

Why have welcome packets?

A welcome packet can be a marketing tool to provide new visitors information about your church, its’ doctrine or belief’s and some of the ministries or activities that go on there. It gives the guest something to review when they have left the church and have some time to reflect.

There are several objectives of insuring your guests are given a welcome packet when they visit:

* Makes them feel welcome! You want to express your gratitude for allowing you to share and to also indicate that they are welcome to return

* Understand your structure. One of the reasons visitors come is to learn something about your church. How it is organized. What sets you apart from the other churches in the area. Welcome packets can accomplish that.

* Become familiar with your worship style (is it more singing then they would like?) and church beliefs.

* Review activities calendar. Visitors want to know the upcoming schedule of events and ministry meeting times.

What should go into the packet?

While there is no absolute must have list, here are some ideas that will help to make a great impression and give guests a reason for returning:

1. Video or DVD of your organization

- It could be a video tour of the entire grounds or maybe just a 30 second clip that tells about each ministry in the church. Perhaps it is the vision for where you want to get to.

2. Refrigerator magnets

Are you looking for an inexpensive marketing tool that has long term staying power? This may be better than you think! According to a study at Purdue University, the average American visits their refrigerator 22 times a day. What else could you get that is going to get that much exposure? And strange as it sounds, even if people don’t like them, they tend to put them on their refrigerators.

3. Letter of Greeting from the Minister

Perhaps a personalized message with an invitation to return the following week. Studies have found that a personal interaction with the Minister can have a dramatically positive effect on whether someone returns or makes a church home. (So, don’t forget about the Minister making a personal phone call to follow up the next week either!)

4. Information on the membership process of your church.

Some visitors are ready to become members from day one. They may have just moved and want to keep their denominational affiliation intact. Others just feel good and know when they have found their new church home. It takes the awkwardness out of them having to ask.

5. Invitation for on-line survey.

A quick survey of a visitor’s church experience is good. But they may feel uneasy filling out one in church especially if they are the only guest that day. Online surveys provide an easy way for you to determine how things really are since they are truly anonymous.

6. Audio recording -

Could be a recent Sunday Message or perhaps something more of an invitation. Keep in mind that at the least we are a CD world. Cassettes are dead. Podcasts or downloads are a great way to get them to your website.

7. Informational brochure

- General info about the church and its’ ministries (if you can’t do a video or want to cover your bases). It could also include a brief history of the church, or the denomination if that is deemed important.

8. Calendar of events -

Announcement flyers of public events such as fall festivals, Christmas programs, etc.

9. Coupons!

A coupon to turn in at the church book store or on the website for a free token of appreciation or a discount. I love the coupon that entitles the user for a free cup of coffee with the minister!

10 Tote bags or bookmarks -

Both of these have become very inexpensive and help to keep your church in the guests mind. Be sure to include your website address on these!

While these are not all-inclusive, they do make a favorable impression on any church guest. A good welcome packet can make the difference if a visitor comes back for a second look. It can provide the answers to some of the questions that arise after they have left the church. Of course, nothing beats a personal note or phone call from the minister

How do they get distributed?

Don’t leave it up to chance whether a visitor gets a welcome packet or not. While my experience has gone from having to look for them myself or being told to pick one up on the way out, anything short of personally handing one to me loses some of the welcome packet’s purpose… to make me feel welcome. Make sure your church doesn’t make that mistake!