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September 29, 2005

Port Adelaide Uniting Church Web Site

(Filed under: Peer Review)

This week we continue our international peer review theme with a look at a church web site from Port Adelaide, Australia. Share your constructive feedback in the comments.

Samples:

Screenshot:

(portadelaide.unitingchurch.org.au)

Continue reading "Port Adelaide Uniting Church Web Site"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:55 AM
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September 27, 2005

Christians Aren't the Only Immitators

(Filed under: Graphic Design)

We're not the only ones. Today I opened my Time magazine and saw this "Islam Inside" T-shirt. It reminded me of an entry I wrote a while back lamenting the flood of imitation designs among churches. Apparently Christians aren't the only ones producing copycat designs.

(And I realize a ton of parody logos exist, but there's a big difference between turning a corporate logo into a bathroom, drug, or sex reference and turning a logo into a religious reference.)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:49 PM
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Tony Morgan and Church Marketing Resources

(Filed under: Interviews)

This weekend is the fourth annual Innovative Church Conference at Granger Community Church in Granger, Ind. In 2002 Granger started WiredChurches.com, a resources and training arm of the church that seeks to share what the church has learned with other churches. Tony Morgan is the Pastor of Administrative Services at Granger and the Executive Director of WiredChurches.com. I talked with Tony about WiredChurches.com and the Innovative Church Conference.

What prompted you to launch WiredChurches.com?

Tony Morgan: We were starting to get overwhelmed with leaders from other churches contacting us to ask about how we were doing ministry at Granger Community Church. We decided rather than trying to help leaders on a one-by-one basis, it would make a lot more sense to be proactive about offering resources and training experiences to help equip other churches. I'd like to say we were forward thinking with the whole deal, but WiredChurches.com was really a reaction to a problem that needed to be fixed. Now, I think other church leaders get better help, and I think our team can stay more focused on our primary mission: helping people in the South Bend area take their next step toward Christ.

Continue reading "Tony Morgan and Church Marketing Resources"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:32 AM
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September 26, 2005

Philpott Church's College Outreach Ad

(Filed under: Peer Review)

A Canadian church (hey, we've gone international!) offers an ad for a campus directory—give your feedback in this week's peer review.

Samples:

Continue reading "Philpott Church's College Outreach Ad"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:09 PM
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What's Working in Church Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

You want visitors to come to church? Invite your friends. Overwhelmingly, word of mouh invites were the most effective marketing method for bringing new people to church with 65%. That's nothing new, but it helps to hear it again. It also helps to make sure you're encouraging invitations.

The second interesting tidbit from this week's survey is that 12% had no idea what marketing method works best. Now it could be that we've got a lot of folks who simply aren't in a position to know. But if that's 12% of church staff members who don't know what works, that's a sorry sign. You can't improve if you don't know what works.

Beyond that we're dealing with leftover change. 8% for special events (and yes, I accidentally put special events in twice, thank you), 5% for the web site, 3% for something else, 2% each for postcard/direct mail, newspaper/phone book ad and creative promotion, and 1% for location.

It doesn't mean we should ignore any of these other methods. Special events may provide an opportunity for a personal invite. A web site may confirm that the church isn't a bunch of Kool-Aid sipping freaks. Marketing efforts usually work together. Just remember what works the best.

Now that we know what's bringing people to church, how many are actually coming each week? This week's survy asks how many first-time visitors come to your church each week.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:23 AM
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September 22, 2005

Event Guest Blogging from Kem Meyer

(Filed under: News & Updates)

Say hello to Kem Meyer, the Communications Director at Granger Community Church, who has graciously stepped in with some event blogging from last week's MinistryCOM church marketing conference in Houston. She presented a few workshops at the conference and was happy to share some of what she learned from the event. Hopefully we can rope her into doing some more guest blogging in the future.

If it seems like we've been introducing guest bloggers left and right, well, that's because we have. We can't do everything around here, and we wouldn't want to—there are a lot of smart folks out there who know more than we do. And we're happy to get them on board.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:26 PM
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Church Marketing is Not Easy

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Churches are terrible at communicating. We know that.

But I find a small measure of comfort in the fact that we're dealing with a difficult message. God is amazing and mysterious and enormous and frustrating. It's not like selling sugar-water ("Mmm... tastes good... hot girls notice me...") or cars ("Mmm... car go fast... hot girls notice me...").

Telling people about Jesus is not an easy task.

If a professional marketing expert admits he's rarely had a job as rough as marketing the church, well, that's at least reassuring. It's not like we're drowning in the kiddie pool.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 12:02 PM
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MinistryCOM 2005 in Review

(Filed under: Events)

by Kem Meyer, Guest Blogger

Just got back from MinistryCOM 2005. I have to admit, I was somewhat of a skeptic going into it. As a matter of fact, if I wasn't presenting two workshops, I would have been pretty outspoken about the fact that a "church communications" conference was the last place I'd choose to spend my training budget on continuing education. Why would I go hang out with a bunch of church people to learn about the best practices or innovative tactics for marketing and communications?

And, yet, over 130 people registered for this event with less than 4 months notice and no advertising. What in the world?! Why were these people coming? How did they hear about it? The suspense and curiosity was killing me.

Continue reading "MinistryCOM 2005 in Review"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:40 AM
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September 21, 2005

New Guest Blogger Alex Seidel

(Filed under: News & Updates)

You can wish a warm welcome to the newest guest blogger here at Church Marketing Sucks, Alex Seidel. He's the Director of Communications for Timberlake Christian Fellowship in Redmond, Wash. (and yes, they are working on a new web site). Alex will be contributing thoughts, wisdom and tips on technology and the church.

Check out Alex's bio for more or read his first entry, Making the Most of Technology for Churches.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:51 AM
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Making the Most of Technology for Churches

(Filed under: Technology)

by Alex Seidel, Guest Blogger

The Body of Christ has traditionally been slow to implement technology to further kingdom objectives. Fear of change as well as fear of the unknown have definitely hindered work in this area. Even a recent post about how churches use technology set off a debate about the place of technology in churches.

But technology is simply a tool. Like any other tool, it can be put to good use or it can be abused. So then, what are the best ways use the web, blogging, and other technologies as effective tools?

Continue reading "Making the Most of Technology for Churches"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:48 AM
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September 20, 2005

An Atheist Marketing Jesus

(Filed under: Mass Media)

There's an interesting story in The Australian about the Jesus: All About Life marketing campaign we covered last month. Apparently one of the guys behind the campaign is Angus Kinnaird, a self-described "non-believing humanist."

"I've had lots of clients wanting to update their image," says the Melbourne strategy director of FutureBrand. "But I don't think I've ever come across one that has quite as many problems as the church."

Ouch. Yet so true. The article goes on to talk about the details of the campaign, including some specific numbers: 250,000 postcards, 140 TV ads, 200 radio spots, 30 billboards, 7 newspaper ads; so far 1,500 have requested the Jesus: All About Life booklet and 8,500 have visited the web site.

Continue reading "An Atheist Marketing Jesus"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:43 PM
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Web & Blog eBooks from Seth Godin

(Filed under: Technology)

The bald-headed marketing master Seth Godin (author of Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside) has released two free eBooks worth checking out:

• Knock Knock - It's a 41-page PDF (and the pages are small) billed as the "Incomplete Guide to Building a Web Site that Works." Godin encourages designing web sites with a singular focus, especially for taking advantage of keyword marketing and other situations when you know where the traffic is coming from. If you have a Google ad pitching a Saturday service, send people to a page specifically about that service, not your home page.

  Godin never really explains how these singular focus web pages gel with a traditional web site and the importance of navigation, but he does have a good point when it comes to specifically targeting audiences.

• Who's There? - This one is 45 pages (still small so it's a quick read) and is the "Incomplete guide to Blogs and the New Web." It's the basics of blogging, Seth Godin style. If you're familiar with blogs there's not a ton new, though it's always interesting to get Godin's perspective.

Godin promises a third free eBook in late September and you can also check out an earlier eBook he offered for free, The Bootstrapper's Bible.

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

Church Branding Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

In last week's poll we asked if churches had a recognizable brand. 66% didn't have one, though 27% are working on it.

I guess I should expect churches to be out to lunch on this one, though a brand seems like such a no-brainer. It makes everything else easier because you already have a logo and a specific look and feel. You don't have to come up with something new all the time. On the plus side, 34% of churches claim they do have a recognizable brand. At least some of them are getting it.

This week's poll asks what's working to bring visitors to church. The early leader, not surprisingly, is word of mouth invites with 64%. And yes, we did notice that we put special events in twice (there's special events and then there's special events). Oops. By the time we noticed the mistake 35 people had already voted and our software forces us to delete all responses if you want to edit the question. I figured I'd rather look dumb and keep those 35 responses—it's not their fault I'm a little slow this week.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:07 AM
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September 15, 2005

Church Advertising in the UK

(Filed under: Advertising)

There's an odd flux of church advertising in the UK making the news this week, from secular firm Fallon to the Alpha program to Che Guevara.

Che Guevara
The Churches Advertising Network (CAN) released their 2005 Christmas campaign, complete with Che Guevara-like poster and radio spots. The goal behind the Guevara poster is to show a powerful Christ and dispel the idea of Jesus as a "wimp in a white nightie." CAN has been doing ads since 1991 and you can check out the archive on their site for some edgy ideas (What would love do now?, Christians make better lovers, etc.).

Continue reading "Church Advertising in the UK"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:15 AM
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September 14, 2005

New Song Fellowship Gift Tags

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Check out the design for a gift tag that comes with a 'welcome to the neighborhood' gift from New Song Fellowship church and share your thoughts in this week's peer review.

Samples:
Front and back:

Continue reading "New Song Fellowship Gift Tags"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:38 AM
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September 13, 2005

Church + Technology = Barna Study

(Filed under: Technology)

Barna released his report today about the extent to which churches are using technology. From a church's website and e-mail blasts to its use of a projector and video clips, some of the highlights of the survey include:

• Nearly six out of every ten Protestant churches (57%) now have a website. That is up from just one-third of all Protestant churches in 2000, an increase of 68%.

• Among the churches most likely to have a website today are those located in the western states (62%), large churches (84%), and churches whose congregation is primarily white (62%).

• More than six out of every ten Protestant churches (62%) presently use a large-screen projection system in their communications. That is up 59% since 2000, when just 39% used this technology.

• A majority of churches sends e-mail blasts to their congregations. Such technology was relatively inaccessible to churches at the start of the millennium, but 56% now rely on the process for reaching their people.

• Six out of ten Protestant churches (61%) integrate video content into their worship services. That is double the proportion of Protestant churches that did so just five years ago. Incorporating live drama into worship services is also typical these days, with 62% of churches using such presentations in those settings.

George Barna unsurprisingly concludes that "during the next half of this decade we expect increased broadband access, podcasting, and ubiquitous adoption of handheld mobile computing devices by consumers to further alter the way churches conduct ministry.”

Posted by Brad Abare at 9:53 AM
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September 12, 2005

Poll Results: How Cool is Your Church Web Site?

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week's poll asked how cool your church web site is. The results can only confirm the common perception that the church just isn't very cool. 22% were proud enough of their church web sites to say they were better than this site. That may not be saying much, depending on what you think of this site, but it at least says those are sites worth bragging about. The vast majority of churches—78%—don't have bragging rights.

40% need to hit the drawing board, with 9% that don't even have a web site and 31% who thought their church web site needed a mercy killing.

37% responded with the equivalent of a "meh": It's OK. Sadly that's where a lot of church web sites are (though mercy killings are getting close). It's not good, but it's not bad either: it's right in the middle. Sounds vaguely familiar. And not in a good way.

Be sure to check out this week's poll asking if your church has a brand.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:05 AM
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Poll Results: How Big Is Your Church?

(Filed under: Poll Results)

A couple weeks ago we asked what size church you attend. 42% say the attend a "medium" size church, 32% attend a "mini" church and 19% attend a "mega" church. Of course we didn't define each of those words numerically, so it's anybody's guess what all that means (hey, we're still learning).

But it did prompt an interesting discussion. Justin Broome pointed me towards the stat that 85% of churches have fewer than 200 people in attendance. (It comes from a statement by Rick Warren that if your church has more than 200 people, you're in the top 15% by size. It's backwards, but I think the math still works.)

Continue reading "Poll Results: How Big Is Your Church?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:27 AM
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September 10, 2005

Blogging Church: The Book

(Filed under: Technology)

This isn't exactly breaking news anymore, but pastor/blogger Terry Storch and web guy/blogger Brian Bailey (both of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas) are writing what looks to be the definitive book on church blogging: Blogging Church: Sharing the Story of your Church Through Blogs (I don't think that's the official subtitle, but it gives you the gist of it, so we'll go with it).

Of course being the only book on church blogging gives it a great shot at being definitive. But seriously, it sounds like a cool and much-needed book. Too bad we have to wait until next year to read it.

Until then you can read the book's blog (what else?), which is full of all kinds of bloggy goodness—and a podcast or two.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 11:46 PM
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September 7, 2005

A Sense of Humor is Great for Marketing

(Filed under: Brand & Identity)

by Jennifer Laycock, Guest Blogger

For more than 15 years I've driven past a church on the way to my parents' house without ever really noticing that it was there. (Most likely because it's located next door to Handel's, north-east Ohio's best ice cream parlor.) A few days ago, I happened to glance at their message board while following a slow car.

It read:

We aren't Handel's, but our Sundays sure are great!"

I actually laughed out loud. I was also interested enough that when I drove by it again the next day, I checked to see what church it was. (Church Hill United Methodist in Youngstown, Ohio if you're curious.) I even asked a few people if they'd heard of it. Alas, when I looked them up on Google, they had no web site.

Which leads to my second point. If you're going to catch someone's attention, make sure that more information is readily available.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 7:41 PM
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September 6, 2005

Why Working Together Works

(Filed under: Evangelism & Outreach)

by Jennifer Laycock, Guest Blogger

What's the great thing about a well thought-out outreach? The way that it can take on a life of its own and go from impacting hundreds to impacting thousands. What's the great thing about not hogging all the glory for yourself? The glory goes to God.

The Old Way
That's what my home church, The Vineyard Church of Columbus learned last week when it gave up its own successful "Single Parents Fair" outreach in favor of joining up with other churches to sponsor a mega-outreach.

My husband and I had worked the event in the past, which included the distribution of free school supplies, games and crafts and even motorcycle rides for the kids and free oil changes, free car washes, free hair cuts, free legal advice, financial counseling and more for the adults. A free BBQ lunch was provided for everyone. Turn-out was always fantastic and it was a great way to introduce the community to the outwardly focused message of the church.

The New Way
But this year, when the church was approached by the team behind Jammin' Against the Darkness to co-sponsor the local version of the event with the First Church of God, they jumped at the opportunity.

Continue reading "Why Working Together Works"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:39 AM
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September 2, 2005

Seacoast Vineyard's Logo

(Filed under: Peer Review)

Check out this logo for a New Hampshire church plant in this week's peer review.

Samples:

Main logo:

Smaller logo:

Continue reading "Seacoast Vineyard's Logo"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:45 AM
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September 1, 2005

Churches Mobilize in Katrina Aftermath

(Filed under: The Christian Walk)

In the aftermath of Katrina I'm just baffled at the chaos. You'd think we could do better.

The one tiny bit of consolation I have is the way churches and ministries are responding. Like the tsunami earlier this year, churches are stepping in. While it's odd to think of this in marketing terms, it's so good to see the church backing our words with action.

Continue reading "Churches Mobilize in Katrina Aftermath"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:47 PM
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Free Gas for First Time Church Visitors

(Filed under: Promotion)

With gas approaching $3 per gallon (I just paid $2.99 in St. Paul, Minn.) Clearview Community Church in Sioux City, Iowa is offering free gas to get visitors in the door. They sent us a press release yesterday detailing the event: First time visitors get vouchers good for three gallons of gas along with a free Bible and a CD during the month of September.

"We are so confident that our worship service will be the best hour of your week," says Pastor Shawn Raloff, "that we are willing to pay for your gas to get here and back. ...

"During hard times church is the first place we need to be," Pastor Shawn explains, "we want people to know that the economy may rise and fall, but God's love remains the same."

Continue reading "Free Gas for First Time Church Visitors"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:31 AM
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