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November 29, 2005

Communicating Through Desktop Wallpapers

(Filed under: Examples)

I love cheap and easy ideas. They don't cost much time or money, and while the benefits may not be enormous, it only takes a small return to make a small investment worthwhile.

Tim Schraeder from Riverside Community Church in Peoria, Ill. shares one of those ideas with his church desktop wallpapers. The church has had desktop images for a while, offering generic wallpapers with the church logo.

But now Tim is taking it to another level, offering monthly wallpapers with the church calendar and upcoming events. It's an especially cool idea for the holidays when there are all sorts of extra services and changing service times.

It's nothing huge. I doubt many people would be willing to change their wallpaper once a month (I hardly change mine once a year), but if it helps just a few people connect with the church and stay in the loop, it's probably worth it.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:51 AM
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Web Standards Junkies Rejoice

(Filed under: Technology)

If you dream of a world where every web site uses CSS and tables are relegated to the Smithsonian, then Godbit.com is for you. If you're scratching your head, it's all about web standards.

Godbit is a site dedicated to helping the church learn how to use and make the most of web standards. It may seem like techno-speak to some of us, but using proper web standards can mean the difference between hand-coding a few hundred pages to change the font and making the change in one single motion with CSS. That can translate to big money savings, and that's only part of the reason why you should care.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:38 AM
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November 28, 2005

Puns in Marketing Poll

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week's poll asked about the place of puns in church marketing, a topic raised a few months back.

The majority (58%) seem to like puns, with the caveat that they're clever and unique. But a sizable minority aren't too pun-happy, and a full 20% don't think puns should be used in any marketing at all. Ever.

So use puns at your own risk. And remember: Puns don't kill people, people kill people.

This week we survey how many churches have jumped on the blog-wagon, which is a fun question after our earlier post about a church not linking to its pastors' blogs. Early results (25 votes) show a resounding no to church blogging (84%).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:42 AM
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E-mail Newsletters vs. Bulletins

(Filed under: Technology)

Tony Morgan of Granger Community Church has some insights about using e-mail newsletters vs. weekly bulletins and even ponders the potential death of church bulletins.

I don't think we'll see church bulletins go away any time soon, though they could lose their position as the primary delivery vehicle for church announcements. E-mail newsletters have great potential for getting the word out, and Tony shares some stats about their e-mail newsletter that are better than the norm.

Granger also sends out a single newsletter to the entire church, as opposed to a different e-mail for every ministry in the church. It's a good way to cut down on clutter, ensure the e-mails are read, and reduce the chances of being considered spam.

It's timely food for thought considering our poll a few weeks back about how often churches send e-mail updates.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:29 AM
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November 22, 2005

Church in a Pool Advertising

(Filed under: Peer Review)

For this week's peer review we go across the pond to Life Church in the UK.

Samples:

Poster:

Flier (front):

Flier (back):

Continue reading "Church in a Pool Advertising"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:59 AM
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Church E-mail Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked how often your church sends e-mail updates, and the majority (38%) send weekly e-mails.

But a lot of churches aren't taking advantage of e-mail: 28% don't even use e-mail and 26% only send intermittent announcements, for a total of 54% that don't use e-mail regularly.

6% send e-mails monthly and only 1% daily, making weekly e-mails the most common practice. Which makes sense: You've got a service every weekend to announce.

E-mail isn't for everyone and with rising spam the effectiveness of e-mail is taking a hit. But it's one more avenue to communicate with your congregation.

This week we ask about the place of puns in church marketing.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:45 AM
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November 18, 2005

CMS @ YS: Check Out Our Booth

(Filed under: News & Updates)

Church Marketing Sucks is at the Youth Specialties National Youth Worker Convention in Nashville this weekend. Stop by the booth if you're there. Not that we'll be there—or anybody for that matter—but you can be there.

Pick up some CMS cards and wonder at the oddity of an unmanned booth. It's kind of like an unmanned spaceship, only a lot cheaper.

Yes, it is a little odd. But we like it that way. Long story short we inherited a booth and made the most of it.

Apparently lots of youth workers are blogging the convention, and I'm hoping at least one will post a picture of themselves hanging out in the unmanned Church Marketing Sucks booth.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:30 PM
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November 16, 2005

Do It Yourself Church Marketing

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Ah. You gotta love this cartoon from CartoonChurch.com. Right on the money.

If you haven't been to Cartoon Church (we've plugged it before) you should check it out. They've got great cartoons you can easily purchase for use in church publications. I like the Make Poverty History cartoon and the cartoon version of the Windsor Report. (Which isn't technically a Cartoon Church offering, but it's still by Dave Walker and it's still funny. At least for someone who attends an Episcopal church like me.)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:29 AM
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November 15, 2005

Priest Idol: Church as Reality TV

(Filed under: Philosophy)

A dying church in a small British town. A young American priest. A mission to revitalize a congregation of less than ten. It doesn't exactly sound like the basis for a reality TV show, but Priest Idol will air as a three-part series in November on the UK's Channel 4. James McCaskill was that priest, stepping in to revitalize the parish of St. Mary Magdalene while the TV cameras rolled. Christianity Today talked with McCaskill about his experience.

As part of the show a marketing firm came in to help relaunch the church—and suddenly it's clear why we're talking about it. A church taking part in a reality show is another topic entirely, but the role of church marketing in the project is interesting.

Continue reading "Priest Idol: Church as Reality TV"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:44 AM
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Riverbluff Church Web Site Review

(Filed under: Peer Review)

This week's peer review tackles another web site. Share your feedback and suggestions in the comments.

Samples:

Screenshot:

(riverbluff.org)

Continue reading "Riverbluff Church Web Site Review"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:22 AM
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November 14, 2005

Church Business Applied to the Airline Industry

(Filed under: Church Business)

Perry Noble, pastor of New Spring Church in Anderson, S.C. has an interesting blog entry imagining what would happen if church business practices were applied to the airline industry.

It's funny stuff. Sad, but funny.

I'm not sure if there are any easy answers to church business. It seems like there are dangers on every side. But it is kind of funny to look at how we do things from a different perspective.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:54 AM
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How'd You Hear About CMS?

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked how you heard about Church Marketing Sucks, and the results are pretty interesting. The vast majority found us online, 70% coming from search engines, other web sites or blogs. Search engines had the biggest chunk with blogs coming in second. Word of mouth was the third most popular method at 20%.

Based on the marketing we do, that's pretty much what we expected—except for the search engine results being so high. That's a cool surprise.

This week we ask how much e-mail marketing your church does.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:53 AM
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November 11, 2005

National Outreach Convention 2005

(Filed under: Events)

by Greg Atkinson, Guest Blogger

I just returned from the National Outreach Convention in San Diego. As this was just the third annual convention for Outreach, the future of this conference has lots of potential.

Overview:
There were four main sessions, featuring Rudy Carrasco, John Ortberg, Thom Rainer and Steve Sjogren. Each session had worship led by Stephen Newby. Maybe it was me, but it seemed like each main session had less people in attendance than the one before.

There were six workshop slots (each class was one and a half hours long—which is good!) beginning Thursday morning and ending Saturday morning. The class tracks were divided into learning categories such as "Youth Outreach," "Postmodern Outreach," "Outreach Technology," "Community Outreach," etc.

There was an exhibit hall featuring around 100 companies. I think the hours that the exhibit hall was opened could be improved, but all in all things worked well and was a great opportunity to network.

Continue reading "National Outreach Convention 2005"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:47 AM
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November 8, 2005

My Lame Marriage Campaign

(Filed under: Peer Review)

For this peer review we take a look at the "My Lame Marriage" marketing campaign put on earlier this fall in Austin, Texas.

Samples:

Billboard:

Invite card (front):

Invite card (back):

Mobile billboard:

Continue reading "My Lame Marriage Campaign"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:06 AM
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November 7, 2005

Blogging Church Interviews CMS

(Filed under: News & Updates)

If you check out this week's Blogging Church Podcast you can hear the voice of Church Marketing Sucks. Terry Storch interviewed Brad Abare and I as we talked blogs and church marketing in general. We had a good conversation and this means there's a small chance we could end up in a book. Assuming we said something quotable.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:38 AM
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Church Communications Conference Poll

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked if you'd attend a church communications conference and the results are in: 44% said 'sign me up.' Another 4% have already been to a church communications conference and want to go back.

On the not-so-eager end, 37% said it depends on practical considerations like costs and benefits. 15% said they probably wouldn't attend.

This is good news for church conferences, including this weekend's National Outreach Convention, January's Creative Church Conference, the assorted Willow Creek conferences, and next year's MinistryCOM and Innovative Church Conference. I'm sure we're missing a few, and not all of these are specifically about communications. But the bottomline is more and more is available to help church communicators do their job so more people can come to Jesus. And that's cool.

This week's poll asks how you heard about Church Marketing Sucks. I'm always amazed at who's talking about us and where they heard about us. So thanks for coming, thanks for coming back, and thanks for telling others.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:22 AM
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November 4, 2005

More on Mega-Churches

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

Ah, yet another article on mega-churches, this time from Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine (that's where I live!). The Twin Cities are actually a breeding ground for mega-churches. According to the article we have 26 mega-churches, and Minnesota has six of the nation's seven ELCA mega-churches, and Minneapolis is home to the largest Lutheran congregation in the world (though I don't know why that surprises anyone—this is Minnesota).

So we've got a lot of mega-churches. Anyway, the article covers the usual mega-church ground, but it also has a few interesting comments on church marketing, including the idea that brand loyalty among denominations is dead.

But even more interesting is the sidebar piece stuck at the bottom about Greg Boyd, author and pastor of yet another mega-church in the Twin Cities. But Boyd isn't interested in business or marketing tactics. He focuses not on attracting people, but challenging them:

"The danger of any church, but especially megachurches, is that by giving people what they need and want, you reinforce the consumer mindset and Christianity becomes like a McDonald's or Burger King. Where can I go to get the most for the least? The kingdom has to confront that. That's the antithesis of living in a Christ-like mode."

That's definitely a challenge and an interesting debate. But what's also interesting is how Boyd practices what he preaches: Last year Boyd preached a series of sermons challenging the militarism and triumphalism that swept this country after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. The series resulted in about 1,000 people leaving the church and a 20% drop in offerings.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:37 AM
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November 3, 2005

Church Web Sites Linking to Pastor's Blogs

(Filed under: Technology)

More from Mark Oestreicher, this time around the Church Bureaucracy Award of the Month. I know Mark doesn't actually produce these items (like Worst Church Idea of the Month) on a monthly basis, but it must seem that way when you're in a position to constantly hear crazy stories. This time around a youth pastor asked his church leadership if they could link to his blog from the church web site. Here's the response:

The "task force" considered your requests to provide links to your blogs on the Church web site at our last meeting. The following conveys the committee's thinking on the subject at this point.

Whereas blogs are typically personal and should not be controlled, censored, or managed by anyone other than the owner of the blog; and

Whereas links and/or sub-links which may be placed on a blog could have content inappropriate to the purpose and audience of the church web site;

Therefore, the "Information Policy Task Force" of our church states that unless and until the IPTF is able to produce standards to which blogs must conform in order to be consistent with the purpose of the church web site, no blog references will be identified on the church web site.

Continue reading "Church Web Sites Linking to Pastor's Blogs"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:03 AM
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Upstream Logo Review

(Filed under: Peer Review)

In this peer review we're examining some potential logos for a community church plant in Australia.

Samples:

Logo 1:

Logo 2:

Logo 3:

Logo 4:

Continue reading "Upstream Logo Review"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:19 AM
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November 2, 2005

Worship House Media

(Filed under: Resources)

Check out a new resource for creative churches: Worship House Media.

It's basically an iTunes for worship media products. You can purchase all kinds of resources, including software, video, motion graphics, still photos and editable files. A number of products are available ala carte or as part of a larger volume, so you can buy just what you need. They also offer some helpful reviews and articles.

I love the church sign countdown, though it'd be really cool if you could customize the text on the sign. And don't forget the freebie download on the home page.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 1:20 PM
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Is Your Church a Safe Church?

(Filed under: Church Business)

The DesMoines Register covered church security this weekend, a topic that usually doesn't get a lot of attention. Some of those church safety precautions include:

• Training and screening church leaders and volunteers.
• Issuing ID cards for parents that are required in order to pick up their kids from children's ministry programs.
• Installing security cameras.
• Monitoring sex offenders.

Making churches safe should be a no-brainer, especially after the spat of Catholic sexual abuse cases. According to the article, there are more sexual abuse incidents in Protestant churches than Catholic churches. And in the last 10 years churches have averaged 70 child abuse allegations per week.

Continue reading "Is Your Church a Safe Church?"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:35 AM
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November 1, 2005

Faith-Based Marketing Summit

(Filed under: Events)

We're a bit late to the game on this one, but the first annual Faith-Based Marketing Summit meets in Dallas on Friday. It's not specifically about church marketing, but faith-based marketing in general (think The Passion of the Christ), though I'm sure there will be plenty for local churches to learn.

Guest speakers include:

• Greg Stielstra, author of PyroMarketing and former marketing director for a number of best-selling books including The Purpose Driven Life.
  
• Larry Ross, the public relations man for Billy Graham, who will apparently talk about why local churches should be doing pr.
  
• Honnie Korngold, former director of marketing for Campus Crusade for Christ.
  
• Chris Wilson of Wilson Research Strategies, a guy who seems to know a lot about public opinion research.
  
• Christine Bailey of Ground Force Network, who used to be the Nashville manager for Grassroots Music.

And the list goes on. The whole thing is put on by the Renegade Idea Group. (Whose site is currently down "undergoing major improvements in order to serve you better." That's some bad timing.)

Unfortunately, a few folks are claiming to have received spam e-mails announcing the Faith-Based Marketing Summit. That would definitely be a faith-based as well as a marketing no-no.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:20 PM
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Hey Look, a Mega-Church!

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

You've got to love how the press continually rediscovers this odd concept of mega-churches. And they've been doing it for 30 years.

A couple interesting articles from last week on mega-churches, including an overview on Willow Creek's 30th anniversary and an interview with pastor Bill Hybels.

Another article looks at Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Finally we have an overview of mega-churches in Metro Detroit, which includes details on Catholic churches super-sizing to deal with a shortage of priests, and Mormon churches that split when they reach 600 members.

All cool stories of different things churches are doing, though I wish journalists would stop looking at mega-churches with wide-eyed wonder. This isn't a new concept.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 10:15 AM
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First Christian Church Web Site

(Filed under: Peer Review)

This week we check out the web site of First Christian Church. Share your suggestions and feedback in the comments.

Samples:

Screenshot:

(fccterrell.org)

Continue reading "First Christian Church Web Site"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:09 AM
| Comments (23) | TrackBack