« September 2006 | Main | November 2006 »

October 31, 2006

Tips for Writing an Effective Press Release

by Kevin Peterson, Guest Blogger

1. Just the Facts, Ma'am Don't rack your brain trying to craft some clever lead. Just get to the facts. That's all the reporter wants anyway. If you've gotten all your facts down and the information lends itself to a catchy lead then write one.

2. Put the Most Important Information First
   Editors are busy. If your press release doesn't grab their attention in the first paragraph it will never see the light of day. So don't bog down the first paragraph with event details like registration deadlines or contact information. Save that for the last paragraph. Give your news angle in the first paragraph.

3. Use Short Sentences and Paragraphs
   Why use a comma, when a period will do the same thing? You are not trying to emulate a Pauline Epistle here. Keep your sentences short and to the point.

4. Always Use Active Voice
   A press release is a call to action. Use strong, vigorous language. Don't say, "Won't you consider joining us for revival next week?" say "Come to First Church next week for an inspiring revival."

5. Avoid Jargon and Cliches
   Don't use "Christian-ese" in your releases. Don't use "VBS", say "Vacation Bible School." Don't say "he was saved in 1985," instead try "he became a Christian in 1985."

6. Proofread, Proofreed, Proufread
   Obviously anything you submit for publication should be proofread. Find someone to proofread your release. Then find someone else. You aren't going to catch your own mistakes, but someone else will.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:37 AM
| Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 30, 2006

Church Marketing Lab Lighting Round

by Brandon Meek, Guest Blogger

- Brochure Front

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab Lighting Round"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 8:38 PM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack

Halloween Poll

Last week we asked about the fall holiday that can cause some controversy in Christian circles. 34% welcome the opportunity Halloween offers to get to know their neighbors. 30% still participate but prefer to go with "Fall Harvest" instead of the villainish "Halloween".

11% prefer to just eat candy all night long, and that's not a bad plan.

This week we ask about how churches should respond to elections, since, uh, next week is an election. So far the straight and narrow answer of just reminding congregations to vote is out front with 55% of the vote.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:10 PM
| Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 27, 2006

I Help Pastors Blog

Cory Miller is doing the ultimate Blogging for Pastors series over at Church Communications Pro. So far he's got 44+ five-question interviews with prominent church bloggers (including all your favorites: DJ Chuang, Tony Morgan, Mark Batterson, Gary Lamb, Kem Meyer, Perry Noble and so many more), as well as 23+ entries on how to blog.

It's a great place to send your pastor, especially until that much talked about blogging church book comes out.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:07 AM
| Comments (5) | TrackBack

Canceling a Church Service to Do Service

This is what church is supposed to be.

Gateway Community Church in South Riding, Va. had "The Big Event" on Sunday, October 15. Instead of a typical Sunday morning worship service, the congregation went out and did volunteer work for 61 area homes. One member even blogged about the experience.

The event included business sponsors, a web site and balloons and yard signs to mark the "winners"--the homes that received the free work. While all those extras help maximize the impact of the event, I just love the simple idea. (link via Church Tech Matters)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:37 AM
| Comments (14) | TrackBack

October 26, 2006

9 Lists for Web Designers

Some of these lists and resources are older, but they age like fine wine and can still offer some help and hope to church web designers.

• 8 Web Design Cliches of 2006 - Odd names and misplaced dots and gradients, excessive use thereof are my favorites.

• 9 Ways to Misunderstand Web Standards - This one's pretty techie in nature, but if you're a designer you've got to understand (and not misunderstand) your web standards.

• 5 Techniques for Picking a Domain Name - Some great ideas and tips for how to pick that pesky but all important url.

• The Worst Web Design Techniques Featured on Web Pages That Suck in 2005 - Don't do what they do.

• 5 Steps to Building Better Web Sites - A few basic ideas for starting a site right.

• 75 Helpful Web Design Resources - More resources than you can handle.

• 8 Web Design Warm Fuzzy Feelings - You didn't think techies were warm and fuzzy, but this is what makes them smile.

• 50 Redesigns from Scratch - Soon to be a series of 50--you guessed it--redesigns. So far it's only two, but the new designs and detailed explanations are insightful.

• The Next 35 Sexiest Designed Web Sites You've Forgotten - Ignore the tongue-tripping copywriting (and what was that about gradients?), and check out some web design that doesn't make your eyes bleed. You can also check out the first 35.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:19 AM
| Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Church You Know

You've got to check out The Church You Know, a site that spoofs the NBC 'The More You Know' public service announcements with hokey digs at some goofy church practices. The site is all about poking fun and drawing attention to some of the things we do in the church that don't really matter. The things we get hung up on and really aren't the point. If it sound like a kindred spirit, I think they are.

And best of all, you can get a Christ is the Head ... I am the Rectum T-shirt. (link via Bob Franquiz)

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:10 AM
| Comments (4) | TrackBack

October 25, 2006

Worst Nightmare Poll

OK, so we're a little behind on the poll results this week. Sorry. I was in Los Angeles for a little business meeting/vacation (including a visit with a Darth Vader himself!) and didn't get back until last night. Now I need a vacation from my vacation.

But the polls must go on!

Last week we asked about your worst nightmare on a Sunday morning. And the number one answer was having half the congregation left behind. Not far behind that was having the pastor not show up.

We also let you write in your own answer, which 14% chose to do. One answer that appeared several times in various forms was not having God show up on Sunday morning. Yes, that would be quite the nightmare, but taking the poll seriously just doesn't get the same laughs. Like this response: "Ex-stripper guest speaker turns out to not be so 'ex'" Now that's funny!

This week we asked about that favorite October holiday, Halloween (OK, how many were thinking Columbus Day?).

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:06 PM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 17, 2006

18 Word of Mouth Marketing Tips for Churches

by Marcus Neto, Guest Blogger

At a recent Word of Mouth Marketing convention several bigwigs sat down and came up with 40 ideas to boost word of mouth marketing in 40 minutes. As leadership in a church shouldn't we be thinking about these same types of things? What are we doing to refocus our congregation on relationship building, evangelism or servant evangelism? What tools are we putting in their hands to make that happen? So often we forget that as leaders we can reach a few people, but if we empower our congregations they can reach exponentially more people. It's how the church works.

So without further ado here is my list of Word of Mouth boosters for churches. Some of these are taken directly from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association list (link via Brand Autopsy) as they apply in both instances. And some are originals. I whittled the list down from 43 to 18 as I felt some of theirs were redundant or did not apply.

1. Identify the Connectors (see Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point) in your church and encourage them to do what is natural.

2. If you train your congregation in the ways of evangelism, they become better recruiters. Teach them about servant evangelism, enable them to make friends in the world, make evangelism easy. Bring it back to the way that Christ modeled.

Continue reading "18 Word of Mouth Marketing Tips for Churches"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:07 AM
| Comments (13) | TrackBack

Phone Book Advertising Poll

Last week we asked about advertising in the phone book, and it looks like it's a dying art. 40% asked if the Yellow Pages were still around. A majority do have a presence in the phone book, with about 32% going for more than a basic listing.

This week we ask about your worst nightmare on a Sunday morning. So far havng half the congregation be left behind is out front, though we're also getting some fun write-in responses.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:00 AM
| Comments (6) | TrackBack

October 9, 2006

Firing the Help Poll

Last week we asked about that tricky situation of disposing of volunteer help that's not so helpful. What would push you over the edge and ask a volunteer to stop volunteering? 54% thought drawings of Easter Bunnies on the cross in the first grade Sunday School class would be worthy of a firing. The newsletter editor using the word "sucks" repeatedly received the next highest votes with 18%, which isn't very encouraging. Less encouraging is the 13% who wanted to boot a volunteer driver for racking up a speeding ticket while driving for a youth event.

Confession time: That was me.

This week we ask how churches are using the time-honored method of phone book advertising.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 9:52 AM
| Comments (7) | TrackBack

October 2, 2006

Seth Godin on Church Marketing

Simply strategic guy Tony Morgan interviews marketing guru Seth Godin. Here's a quick excerpt:

Nearly everyone who markets something suffers from the following conceit: other people do marketing, but my product is so amazing and magical and important that marketing isn't necessary.

Nowhere is this idea easier to embrace than in a church. After all, marketing seems contrived or selfish or callous. If you really and truly believe that your faith is the one and only right faith, how dare you market!

But I don't think the "one and only right faith" is accurate. No one is particularly chosen or blessed or better. A look at history makes that really clear. So you need to get over that if you're going to grow.

So, yes, if you want to grow, you need to market.

Of course then Godin finishes with this, when Morgan asked him what insights church leaders could gain from his latest book, Small is the New Big: "I have no business at all telling church leaders much of anything. I hope they'll find a nugget that resonates, especially if their goal is to spread kindness and openness. We need more of that."

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 7:35 PM
| Comments (2) | TrackBack

Church Outreach & MySpace

by Joe Suh, Guest Blogger

In the real world, preaching to the choir is as effective in outreach as preaching to the choir. Community within church walls is great, but it makes for an easy excuse to avoid outreach outside the church building.

The digital world is no different. 80% of church visitors come because they were personally invited by friends. Now we have a fancy term for it: social networks. And now we have an incredible way to engage our social networks: MySpace.com.

You can choose to believe or reject the latest numbers about MySpace demographics. In taking surveys before creating MyChurch.org, I also found that MySpace users were older than what we originally thought. Social networking isn't just for teens and twentysomethings. The point is there has never been an easier way to connect with the congregations' social networks in history.

A year ago, we canvassed church flyers at the local shopping mall. Today we manually post bulletins and church events on Craigslist and blogs. In one year, we’ll be automatically syndicating widgets of the church event calendar and sermons onto MySpace profiles. It may seem ironic, but our purpose of creating online community at MyChurch is to drive content outside of that community. Shouldn’t that be the purpose of every church, both online and off?

Technology will continue to change. The need to outreach and evangelize to the un-churched on their own turf will not. MySpace is the new mall hangout.

Archbishop William Temple once wrote, "The church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of its non-members." We love our church communities. But it is not just for us to love.

Posted by Guest Blogger at 6:06 AM
| Comments (25) | TrackBack

The Church Van Poll

Last week we asked what should be printed on the side of church vans. It makes me wonder how many churches even have vans. My current church doesn't own any vehicles, though the church I grew up in had both a van and a bus (and probably still does. Interestingly, the church I grew up in is smaller than my current church, though I would guess the vehicle issue is more one of city vs. suburbs). But if your church does have a van (or bus or moped or means of conveyance upon which you can advertise), what's the best way to make use of that marketing space?

The church's web site received the most votes with 43%. Seems like the obvious, easy answer in today's digital age. Interestingly, putting nothing on the side of the van grabbed the second most votes with 19%. This is a curious response and makes me wonder if those who went with this response need to screen their drivers better. Or perhaps their riders. Rowdy youth groups in the back of a church van can do wonders for your church's reputation. Slapping a Bible verse on the side of the van received the least votes with 4%. Apparently not much of a holy-roller crowd.

After we posted the church van poll we received this picture from David at Jesus Metropolitan Community Church (you may remember them from the 'Would Jesus Discriminate' campaign). Too bad it came in late because I think it could have given the church web site a run for its money.

This week we ask what situation might necessitate the "firing" of a volunter. As much as we love those volunteers you never know when they're going to paint a vision of hell on the side of the church van.

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 5:43 AM
| Comments (0) | TrackBack