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February 28, 2005

Church Offers Free U2 Tickets

You could win tickets to a sold-out U2 concert from a church. Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Ariz. is giving away the free tickets on their web site. Hopeful U2 fans in the Phoenix area (or looking for a road trip on April 15) can enter online and return daily to increase their chances of winning.

The promotion doesn’t require visiting the church, though they are hoping to promote their Easter service, which is more of a family fun day, including an outdoor service, free food, and a carnival with inflatable games, face paint and more.

In addition to promoting their Easter service, the church is also offering a link to a list of commonly asked questions about Christianity, in hopes of sharing the Gospel with curious U2 fans.

With all the spirituality infusing U2 and their music (see Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2), as well as their world’s biggest rock band status, this seems like a smart promotion. They’re tapping into the word of mouth power of a world famous icon, yet it’s limited to a local level. It’s also a low-risk outreach—it’s easy to tell friends about and there’s no catch forcing someone to attend a church service in order to win.

Though a little skepticism is necessary. Contests aren't always marketing homeruns, suffering from potentially diluting the brand, upsetting the losers, and not paying off. Successful contests often let everybody win at least something and give away whatever the company is selling (so as not to distract from the company's brand), though the latter is more difficult for the church.

We'll have to wait and see. As for me? I know I could go for some free U2 tickets—too bad Phoenix is 1,800 miles away.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:00 PM
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February 23, 2005

The Relevant Church

The twentysomethings hipster publisher Relevant brings us The Relevant Church, a look at 15 different churches across the country that are definitely not the parish next door. Written by a leader from each congrgation, these are churches that don't like to be called churches. They meet in bars and coffee shops and spin records and ride skateboards. They're interested in being the church, not going to church.

While the book has little to do with marketing, you can get plenty of good ideas about what church could be, as well as a reminder of the importance of authenticity in everything a church does.

Continue reading "The Relevant Church"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:19 AM
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February 22, 2005

The $14,000 Sermon

Loud gasps were heard in the 125-member Newsong Church in Grove, Okla. when Pastor Steve Dyer handed out $14,000 in cash. Adults received $100 bills and children $50 bills, and the congregation has seven weeks to invest the money before returning it to the church to support missionary work (though the church isn't keeping track of who received money).

It's all part of the best sermon illustration ever. Dyer preached on the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-28. Church marketing isn't just postcards and phone book ads, it's anything that helps communicate the message of your church. And a sermon worth talking about can easily spread that message.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:38 PM
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February 18, 2005

Supporting Pastors Is Good For Marketing

Recently stats have been floating around the Internet that point to the difficulty of being a pastor, including numbers like the following:

• “80% of pastors say that ministry has negatively affected their family.”
  
• “70% say they do not have a close personal friend.”
  
• “37% say they have been involved inappropriately with someone in their church.”
  
• “70% say they have a lower self esteem than when they started in ministry.”

Let’s state up front that these numbers are not necessarily accurate. I eventually tracked some of the numbers to a 1984 study by Dr. Archibald D. Hart and Ph.D. student Rick Blackmon from Fuller Seminary. Before we go spreading these stats across the web, it’s important to know that they could be more than 20 years old—which brings their reliability into question.

But despite questions about their reliability, these and other statistics point to the problems the modern pastor faces. Leading a broken, stumbling body like the church is no picnic, and our pastors, priests and rectors deserve a lot of credit. They could also use a lot of help.

What have you done to help your pastor?

Continue reading "Supporting Pastors Is Good For Marketing"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 2:41 PM
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February 17, 2005

A Cool Jesus Sucks

Don Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz and Searching For God Knows What, hits the nail on the head in this interview with the Wittenburg Door. Trying to make Jesus hip or cool is not good marketing. Distorting who or what you are is dishonest, inauthentic--and it sucks.

DOOR: How do you react to evangelicals that present Christianity as being cool and hip?

MILLER: I think the Gospel is the message that Jesus wants us to present, and we don't need to be God's marketing machine. We need to present the Gospel accurately because that's what God has asked us to do. I think if somebody passes from this life thinking that Jesus was cool, that's not very helpful. They need to know that Jesus was the Son of God who died to forgive them of their sins, and enter into a relationship with God. I think the church has bought into this idea that if we make Jesus look cool we win. But what these fellows are trying to do is make themselves look cool, not Jesus. They're looking at a culture that rejects the idea of Jesus, they say "But I want to be a Christian and I also want to be cool so I'll try to make Jesus cool." That's about you, not Jesus. We certainly need to repent of that.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:26 AM
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February 15, 2005

Designing Web Sites For Teens

Not all teens are techno-geniuses, according to the latest study from usability guru Jakob Nielsen. Youth workers designing sites for teens should pay attention to the results:

Design – While teens do pay more attention to a site’s design than adults do, they tend to like clean designs. Glitzy sites were often hard to use, and thus not used.

Tech Savvy – Contrary to popular opinion, teens are not savvier than adults when it comes to technology. When asked to complete a perfectly feasible task, only 55% of teens could do it, compared to 66% of adults. Nielsen blamed poor reading skills, less sophisticated research strategies and a bigtime lack of patience.

Boredom – It’s the kiss of death for teens. They have a short attention span and want to be entertained.

Reading – Teens aren’t big on reading. Text that’s easy to scan and using graphics to illustrate concepts are good ways to deal with their dislike for reading. Teens also don’t like small font sizes, not because of poor eyesight, but because they often sit back from the computer.

So what works? Nielsen recommended the following features that give teens a chance to interact with a site:

• Online quizzes
• Forms for providing feedback or asking questions
• Online voting
• Games
• Features for sharing pictures or stories
• Message boards
• Forums for offering and receiving advice
• Features for creating a website or otherwise adding content

For more read Nielsen’s Alertbox column, the Wired story, or you can just buy the entire 129-page report online.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:48 PM
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10 Easter Outreach Ideas

Rev magazine offers 10 Easter Outreach Ideas.

I especially like their introduction which hints at the idea that many churches will be doing Easter outreaches and we don't need to compete with one another. If the church down the street is doing an Easter egg hunt, do something different that will draw a different crowd. After all, the goal of outreach is to bring people to the Church, not just your church.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:38 AM
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Resources For Not Sucking

We've added a list of free resources to our Don't Suck page to help you on the path towards better church marketing. If you know of a resource we missed, feel free to drop us a note in the comments.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:33 AM
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February 11, 2005

Now 17% Less Judgmental

A few months back we had a post about a church T-shirt that included the statement "We suck." Chris Mikesell (aka Rhinoguy) of Blachly, Ore. commented that a better slogan might be "Now 17% Less Judgmental."

A new church in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada called The Annex has taken Chris up on the idea and used the tagline. Read pastor Robin Bailey's article on the reaction to the slogan.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:39 AM
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Pastor as Manager

Managing a team can be one of the many roles forced on a pastor that they're sometimes not prepared to handle. Business management isn't always a skill taught in seminary. But smartly managing your team can reap great benefits for your church, whether your team includes administrative staff and assistant pastors or a loose-knit collection of volunteers. Check out the free 18-page PDF "How to Manage Smart People" for tips on better managing your flock.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:02 AM
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February 10, 2005

Billy Graham Preaches to the Choir

I've been seeing Billy Graham's face on some of the web sites I regularly visit: ChristianityToday.com and Crosswalk.com. Both are Christian sites and both are carrying ads for a Billy Graham TV special.

Let me get this straight: They're doing a TV special to present the gospel (what else does Billy do?), so they advertise on sites with primarily Christian audiences? And there's no 'invite a friend' spin to the ads, it's just 'watch Billy'. Seems like the BGEA is off the mark this time.

Usually they're right on the money: Earlier this year I saw ads on the homepage of CNN.com hyping a TV special featuring Franklin Graham. At last year's L.A. crusade the organization spent $1.4 million on advertising, most of it in non-English media and they backed it up with 12,000 volunteers trained in 19 foreign languages, along with 17,000 translation radios for the event itself. A few years ago ads for BillyGraham.org appeared on spiritual-related sites, all pointing to the organization's online spiritual help section (Full Disclosure: I worked for the BGEA from 2001-2003).

The lesson? Spend advertising dollars actually reaching your target audience. If you want non-Christians to come to your church, don't advertise in the local Christian paper, advertise in the alternative weeklies. Otherwise you're just preaching to the choir.

Update (Feb. 15, 2005): The inside scoop on this story is that thanks to sweeps month the BGEA was unable to buy time slots on any national networks, so they went with several Christian cable and satellite networks. Since Billy Graham would be appearing on Christian TV, they decided to advertise on Christian sites with more of an awareness campaign (though I can't help but wonder how much awareness Billy Graham needs). More than awareness, it seems the BGEA should be mobilizing people with the 'invite a friend' angle they're usually so good at. Watching with a non-Christian friend may be the obvious next step for a Christian, but you can't spend advertising dollars hoping people will make that mental step. The lesson still stands: spend your advertising dollars reaching your target audience with your target message.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:46 PM
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Web Sites Hook Young Families

An article in Church Executive Magazine is a good reminder of the value of web sites, especially in hooking tech-friendly young families. The author takes his time getting to the point, but then it's good stuff:

1. If you're not on the web, you don't exist.
2. The first impression of your congregation will be from the web.
3. A poor web site will actually turn people away.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:23 AM
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February 9, 2005

Are Unsolicited Church E-mails Considered Spam?

Several sites have discussed the question of whether or not church e-mail is considered spam. The short answer is no. The Federal CAN SPAM Act went into effect January 1, 2004 and anyone sending mass e-mails would be wise to be aware of its stipulations.

While churches probably don’t need to worry about breaking spam laws, they do need to worry about breaking trust. While it may not be illegal, mass e-mails from your church may quickly be classified as spam by the recipient—and that’s really the person who matters.

E-mail can be a powerful and efficient communications tool—just make sure you’re using it right. Learn some E-mail 101 and avoid anything resembling spam:

• Use clear, helpful subject lines.
• Send your message from a recognizable e-mail address (yourname@yourchurch.org would be good).
• Provide unsubscribe information.
• Clearly identify yourself (give a mailing address).
• Don’t abuse your list. Stick with strictly church business—no forwards.
• Use the ‘BCC’ field for mass e-mails (it stands for blind carbon copy and means everyone’s e-mail address will be hidden).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:40 PM
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Youth Group Computer Lab

The youth group at Simi Valley Presbyterian Church has opened a public computer lab to help students with their homework (read the article in the Ventura County Star, registration required). It's part of an after-school study hall to help students with their homework and give them a place to unwind.

The idea came from the youth themselves who didn't want more activities, but a way to better handle their already busy schedules. Sometimes the best marketing is smart programming--not huge events, but activities that meet the actual needs of your congregation and potential visitors. (What need does a huge event meet in the life of an over-scheduled person?)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:31 AM
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Different... ahem... Strokes

by Andy Havens, Guest Blogger

Murray Qualitative Research (MQR), a marketing research and consulting service, has just released the results of a study that show how women and men respond differently, in terms of romance, to the exact same ad. Yes, we're getting near Valentine's Day. Yes, we already knew than men and women have very different ideas about what constitutes "romance." And, yes, releasing this study now is good PR for MQR (which is another mini-marketing lesson for you). It is, however, a great example of how you need to think about different audiences for your marketing. Because the exact same marketing program may have drastically different effects, depending on whom it reaches.

Continue reading "Different... ahem... Strokes"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:38 AM
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February 8, 2005

Easter Outreach

Breakthrough Media offers a few resources and tools for evangelizing this Easter:

• Why Easter Outreach No Longer Works
• 18 Factors That Can Really Impact Easter
• The Most Overlooked Church Growth Factor

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:30 PM
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February 4, 2005

Homeless Man, Here's A Home

Danny Westneat of The Seattle Times wrote an article earlier this week about "tent city," a traveling collection of up to 30 homeless men who plant themselves in church parking lots at night. Problems arise often is suburban areas when some cities just don't want them there.

This reminds me of something Robert D. Lupton said in his book Theirs is the Kingdom:

Preserve and maintain. Conserve and protect. They are the words of an ethic that has served us well. Over time these values have subtly filtered into our theology. It is increasingly difficult to separate the values of capitalism from the values of the kingdom. Stewardship has become confused with insurance coverage, with certificates of deposit, and protective coverings for our stained glass. It is an offering, a tithe dropped into a plate to be used on ourselves and our buildings. Somewhere on the way to becoming rich we picked up the idea that preserving our property is preferable to expending it for the people. Why should it be so difficult to decide which is wiser: to open the church for the homeless to rest or to install an electronic alarm system to preserve its beauty?

How does your church utilize its resources (limited though they may be) to maximize their potential? Churches that focus more on utility than frugality understand good marketing. This ain't about preserving, it's about serving. I can connect with that.

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:20 PM
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February 3, 2005

Web Pages That Suck

Web Pages That Suck presents the Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004. It includes some great pointers, including the reminder that your web site exists to meet people's needs--not yours. Your site doesn't exist to promote Corner Community Church, it exists so Joe Neighbor can find out what time the service starts, so Sally Mom can check out your children's program. It's a subtle difference, but it can mean the difference between a helpful site and a frustrating site. Is your site meeting needs or just blowing smoke?

Though as much as we like the name, Web Pages That Suck could really stand to take some of their own advice.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:03 AM
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February 2, 2005

Missions=Marketing

"The church exists for mission, and … a church that is only inward looking is not truly the church." -Samuel Escobar, The New Global Mission (via CT)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:13 AM
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February 1, 2005

Valentine's Day, Church Marketing Style

by Andy Havens, Guest Blogger

There's a neat article by Jim Trippon over at the PRWeb on Valentine's Day Tips: "Does Saying 'I Love You' Mean Maxing Out Your Credit Cards?" He's got some truly cool ideas for how serious, loving people might want to celebrate the day in a more meaningful manner than buying shiny rocks or new appliances. I'll leave it to you to check out the meat of the article--it's good stuff, trust me. But I want to suggest that in the two weeks left before Valentine's Day you could actually use this fantastically secular event as a starting point for some church marketing.

Continue reading "Valentine's Day, Church Marketing Style"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:50 AM
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