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November 28, 2008

Texting to Keep Members

(Filed under: Technology)

Target Marketing Magazine recently published a case study called Retaining the Flock. They take a look at the way one church is making their church more sticky--text messaging. Their pastor had this to say:

We had a series that we called TEXT. It was a study of the Bible, a play on the word, obviously. What we wanted to do was to help our people get to interact more with scripture on a daily basis. So we tried to find an apparatus to communicate with them that was relevant, already ingrained in their daily life. So we said, 'Well, what if we text message them Bible verses for the day?'

Church marketing isn't good for too much if you can't keep people involved after they arrive, and this is just one way churches are using technology to focus on closing the back door.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM
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November 25, 2008

Church 'Walls' with Graffiti

(Filed under: Technology)

I received an e-mail the other day from someone—I'll call him Dave—who is struggling with the idea of using social media sites like Facebook for their church community. He was conflicted because on one hand he sees Facebook as a great way to communicate and dialogue with people who are a part of the church. On the other hand, he sees some organizations on Facebook with profanity on their "walls" and other user-generated clutter that seems to distort the intent of the group.

Dave's assumption is that the church is accountable for what ends up on their "walls." He even thought about limiting "friends" to members. "But when you have 2,000 members, this really doesn't help so much. Get 2,000 people involved and you've got your share of chowderheads and gadflies who will post anything."

Dave feels he's between a rock and a hard place. "If you limit the social interactivity, then you are left with one dimensional communication and the question 'What's the point?'"

I understand Dave's dilemma. I like to think of Facebook as the mall where you go meet people, not the church building where they come meet you. You don't control what stores are in the mall or what music is playing or how people are dressed. But you can guide the conversation. You just might need to talk a little louder over all the noise, or move the conversation to another environment altogether.

People are messy. And because of this, we should be discipling people to better belief and behavior, not creating or controlling environments. How this translates online might look like digital discipleship, not digital construction. Let's build people, not places. Just like we can't control everything offline (graffiti, filth, vandalism, etc.), we can't control it online either.

But we shouldn't ignore malls or Facebook just because they're messy.

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:47 AM
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Church Marketing Lab Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

85% of you know how fond we are of the Church Marketing Lab. (And another 15% of you are either first-time visitors or a little inattentive.) But we wanted to get a better feel for your thoughts about the Church Marketing Lab, so we decided to ask.

A third of you think it's awesome and love it, and another 15% of you think it's great, but it needs a little help. So that's about half of you who really enjoy the Church Marketing Lab, even though you think it might need a little bit of work. If you have any ideas or suggestions, you can always e-mail us your ideas and opinions. But the best thing you can do is to stay active in the group to encourage the growth and strength of the community.

A quarter of you like the idea of the Church Marketing Lab, but you're too intimidated to get involved. It's a fine line to walk to critique without being too harsh, but we have a great team of moderators to help out with that issue. You'll be able to submit work or add comments without being berated or belittled, but you will get some constructive criticism. So don't be afraid!

Another 10% of you think it's decent, but it isn't your thing, and that's all right too. But the 4% who don't like it and the 15% who don't know about it, you guys have to get your act together.

If you need more convincing about the Church Marketing Lab, just stop in for a visit.

This week, since it's Thanksgiving, we want to know: Which Center for Church Communication project are you most thankful for? Click through your RSS reader to let us know!

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:26 AM
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November 24, 2008

Getting Generous With Your Offering

(Filed under: Church Business)

Waterfront Church has a unique model of marketing themselves as a generous church. They are giving away 100% of what they receive in their offerings to local charities.

...members do the unthinkable after passing the plate on Sunday: They give it all away to charity. Rev. Jim Semradek, founder of the new Waterfront Community Church in Schaumburg, hopes the novel concept will draw people turned off by constant appeals for money and concerned about how it's spent ... few churches are taking as radical an approach as Waterfront. Using a missionary model, eight sponsors cover Waterfront's expenses, including salaries and rent, so all of the weekly offerings go straight to the community.

(link via Generous News)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:50 AM
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November 21, 2008

Church Marketing Around the Web

(Filed under: Link Round Up)

Here are some of the stories from the past week that have caught our eye but not quite made it all the way to becoming posts, just in case you need a way to sharpen your skills and pass the time.

• Church is sorry. One church is making no secret of their shame with a campaign to say they're sorry for how they are perceived by many in their community. (Ed. note: That billboard is a broken window.)
• Real church marketing means life change. We're completely on board here. Cody Thomas shares (via convenient bullet points) his belief that the best form of marketing is changing lives and turning those folks on the loose in your community.
• What do you call your church gathering? Is it an experience? A celebration? A rally? A service? An experience? Kent Shaffer digs into this a bit and what it says, and he even endorses the proliferation of Sunday school! You don't hear that too much these days.
• Nike and the swoosh. The church and the cross. This might not be a practical day-to-day manifesto, but it's got great insights into the power of marketing on the brain and the use of symbols.
• On signage. From the folks who asked you, What if the church marketed like Starbucks?, we have a great little exposition on the power of signage. A quick read that could make you think twice when you walk past your own signs.
• When churches close their doors. This big local church closed their doors for a weekend of service. Perhaps not having services for a better purpose will end up growing your church more than having services will.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:14 PM
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Marketing to the Last Generation

(Filed under: Think Ahead)

You've probably been to some church event with "next" in the title. Whether it's "the leadership filter for what's next in the church" or "the mega super definitive conference for the next-generation church bathroom." We like to (over)market as focused on the next generation.

But that's less than half the battle. Daily, we dialogue what an aging population means for social security, our own wallets and every aspect of life. Except church.

Well did you know Christianity Today has a blog called Building Adult Ministries? And they just ran an article entitled Is Your Church Senior Sensitive? taking a look at why churches overlook the older population and what they can do about it.

The “age wave” is rapidly approaching! Those churches that are not prepared will be swamped by the sheer numbers, diversity, and impact of these older adults. Of, if they are prepared, they will get out their surfboards and catch the ride of a lifetime!

Or, those seniors will like, totally stop coming! It won't be the ride of a lifetime, it will be a disgraceful disconnect between the older generation and the younger generation. Your church will have to walk the fine line of communicating vision so older people understand why you're doing what you're doing and younger attenders understand the importance of hearing from an older, wiser generation.

It's one of the big marketing problems on the church's horizon. What is your church doing about it?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:36 AM
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November 20, 2008

Why Do You Do What You Do?

(Filed under: The Christian Walk)

I see too many people in ministry, whether it's a pastor, media director or office assistant who would have a difficult time telling you why they do what they do. Sure, they could give you the right answer ... but they'd have a difficult time telling you the truth without admitting they're simply stuck.

If you resonate with that at all ... consider doing what Mark is doing. Mark is doing what the world would call 'the wrong thing.' You see, he's living in Los Angeles but he's not there for fame and fortune, he's not "living the dream."

Mark Horvath has broken the mold. He is not doing what makes sense, he's not doing something that even pays the bills--he is living out his passion and doing what burns deep inside of him. Mark has developed invisiblepeople.tv to tell the stories of the homeless, something he knows all too well as he once lived among them.

Continue reading "Why Do You Do What You Do?"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:20 AM
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November 19, 2008

Trojan Horses, Purple Cows and Broken Windows: An Ode to Mark Batterson

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

"The greatest message deserves the greatest marketing."

That's a quote that Mark Batterson repeats again and again, and he lives by it. But that's not all he has to say about marketing. He has three terms that represent ideas he really loves to drive home, and if you haven't been exposed to them, you should. So today, we have an exhaustive dictionary of Mark Batterson marketing terms, although the terms did not necessarily originate with him:

Trojan horse (n.)
Etymology: The idea appears to have originated with Mark Batterson and has been communicated by him on numerous occasions.
Definition: A method used to bypass the innate and learned defenses of individuals, specifically in regards to their tendency to use defense mechanisms when faced by the local church.
Examples: Servant evangelism, more comfortable locations for services, use of familiar technology or creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Continue reading "Trojan Horses, Purple Cows and Broken Windows: An Ode to Mark Batterson"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:23 AM
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November 18, 2008

Church Hiring Poll Restuls

(Filed under: Poll Results)

Who should we hire? That's a problem churches run in to all the time as they grow. But how to hire isn't a question with an answer that's readily available. And hiring the right person can be a cornerstone of your marketing strategy.

53% of you feel that it doesn't matter where your church gets someone from, it just needs to get the best possible person. You don't care if they're a lifetime church member or if they're from the county jail.

28% of you are strong believers in hiring from within. You think it's a lot simpler to hire from within so you can properly vet new hires and shorten the process of them catching your vision. But it really shrinks your talent pool.

A meager 9% of you think hiring from outside is the best bet. There are seven billion people in the world, and you think there might be a factory worker in China with the gifting and ability to be the best possible worship leader at your church. There's nothing wrong with that.

And a final 11% of you are in churches who only have the budget to fire, not hire. Well, should you end up on the losing end of that deal, we'd have to recommend the Job Lab and Freelance Lab for you.

This week, let us know what you think of the Church Marketing Lab. RSS folks can click on through to the main site and vote in the right sidebar.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:02 PM
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Tony Morgan Thinks Churches Should Stop Marketing

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Tony Morgan, chief strategic officer at NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C., co-author of the Simply Strategic Series, former pastor at Granger Community Church and author of the soon-to-be-released Killing Cockroaches (and we've interviewed Tony and linked to him on dozens of occasions), says that marketing is evil and your church should stop.

So what is Tony talking about? Essentially, he says ministry trumps marketing. If we try to fix the church's problems with marketing, we're going to fail:

"Direct mail won’t fix your problem. Billboards won’t fix your problem. Neither will platform announcements or bulletin ads or bumper stickers. At some point marketing may be a good option, but until you answer the right questions, marketing could be what’s preventing your success.

If your church has stopped growing, marketing is not your solution. If you have stopped seeing life change, marketing is not the answer."

And to that, we say amen.

But as much as we love Tony, he's a little off base.

Continue reading "Tony Morgan Thinks Churches Should Stop Marketing"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:42 AM
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November 17, 2008

Denominational Marketing Campaigns

(Filed under: Examples)

Across the nation, denominations are finding themselves in financial and ethical trouble. As they look to maintain a centralized model of connecting individuals with local churches, they face problems ranging from finances to what stances to take on hot-button issues. So a couple of denominations are turning to advertising campaigns.

We looked at this idea over the summer with the Episcopal Ad Project, but will either of these new initiatives go down in history like the pithy copy of the Episcopal Ad Project?

We are Southern Baptists.
The plan: exude confidence and communicate, "Hey! We're not so bad! Look at what we're doing!" Throw in some ugly font treatments and that commonly-used "We are" advertising starter, and you've got all the makings for an ad campaign to reinforce the status quo. We Are Marshall was inspiring. We Are Southern Baptists? Not the same.

Rethink church.
The United Methodist Church is launching their campaign in the spring, but it will center on the question "What if we began thinking of 'church' as a verb instead of a noun?" The campaign will roll out on World Malaria Day, April 25th. This is actually a new idea to most people who have been turned off by churches, and I think it will complement their "Open minds. Open hearts. Open doors." campaign well. Only time will tell if denominations will struggle when they let the cat out of the bag that churches are not actually buildings.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:34 AM
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November 14, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Annual Reports and Quarterly Newsletters

(Filed under: Peer Review)

It's not only flashy postcards, sermon slides and intro videos that can be submitted to the Church Marketing Lab. Even something as mundane as an annual church report needs good design.

It's a testament to dedication when even your yearly church report is submitted for design tips. If every church dedicated themselves to this sort of excellence in design, maybe there would be a few less giggles at the expense of church's design abilities. (Exhibit 1: What if the Church Marketed Like Starbucks?)

And there's more where that came from. Here's a little bigger taste of what we've seen this week in the Church Marketing Lab:

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Annual Reports and Quarterly Newsletters"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:44 AM
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November 13, 2008

A Church Marketing Podcast

(Filed under: Resources)

If you're the podcasting type, you might want to check out a new podcast that's starting off by hitting on church marketing.

It's essentially just two friends who don't agree on whether church marketing is theologically appropriate, and they discuss the issue. One interesting note is that both are involved with youth ministry, and so they look at an aspect of marketing that we haven't covered much--marketing to young people. Currently, they only have 20 minutes to listen to, and there is more to come later. Your mind won't be blown by the first podcast, but much of it is introduction (with a sprinkle of love for your favorite blog about church marketing that sucks).

So if you're looking to fill up a 20-minute gap or are just hungry for a deeper discussion of church marketing and you don't feel like podcasts are dead, this conversation could be a great resource for you.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM
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November 12, 2008

Thinking About Churches

(Filed under: Philosophy)

Overheard on a local college campus:

Person 1: Are churches really non-profits?

Person 2: They aren't taxed, I'm pretty sure they are.

Person 1: Hmm... I guess I don't ever really think about churches.

Too often, we misdiagnose our church's problem of not reaching more people as something wrong with them, something wrong with our church or something wrong with our attenders. But there's a much more likely scenario.

Most people just don't think about church.

I don't really think about mosques or temples in my city. You probably don't think much about the penguins in Antarctica. And Average Joe doesn't really think about the churches in their area. It's not a felt need outside of life's more difficult services.

People don't wake up on Sunday and think, "I'll go to church today!" They don't spend Monday through Saturday in anticipation of Sunday. Church never crosses their mind, and when it does, it likely seems irrelevant.

As a church marketer, that's your task: get people thinking about church, and convince them that it matters to them.

How are you going to do that?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:21 AM
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November 11, 2008

Making Churches Safe

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

If you do something as simple as watch the news for a few minutes, you'll see that this world isn't 100% safe.

Watch for a few weeks, and you'll probably see a story about how even being at church isn't 100% safe. And churches are taking measures to fight against this.

St. John United Church of Christ in Robinson, Texas, is now locking its doors during services on Sunday mornings.

Some churches are going a step further. They are using armed guards to keep watch at their church services. One particularly interesting idea from this article was that "In states where people are allowed to carry concealed weapons, volunteers have become a cost-effective means of providing the security that some churches have come to rely on."

So what's a church to do? Well, like any good reader of this blog, they should consider the message they are communicating with these actions.

Are you marketing fear? If you sat down and asked yourself about your local area, are you sure that it is so fundamentally unsafe that you need to take drastic measures, or are your fears being exaggerated by the fact that the news has to selectively report the scary stories? I would guess most areas aren't actually as dangerous as we think they are based on the stories we hear and the news we see.

Continue reading "Making Churches Safe"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:02 AM
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Church Communication Pro Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

We're all communicating something, but a question we want to answer is, "Who are you paying to do it?" We took to the polls, and here's what you let us know:

The biggest portion of you, 31%, actually have someone that your church pays to take care of communication-related business. That's pretty impressive!

Another big chunk of you treat communication as an extra hat for someone else to wear. For 8% of you, it's the senior pastor. For 12% of you, it's another staff member. This is a step in the right direction, at least you have one person trying to present a fairly coherent message.

Then comes some shady business. 30% of those that responded either have a patchwork of volunteers or your entire staff pitching together to execute a strategy. Sounds kind of like when you get too many people helping to cut up the vegetables and someone ends up losing a finger if you ask me. A motley crew trying to communicate a coherent message leaves everyone in trouble.

And then there's the 19% of you who had a wake-up call with this poll as they'd never realized that someone should manage communication. Well for the record, they should, and go ahead and get off on the right foot--pay someone who is a gifted and devoted reader of Church Marketing Sucks. And use the Job Lab to find them. You'll thank us later.

This week, we'd like to know, How do you feel is the best way for churches to hire?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 3:21 AM
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November 10, 2008

The Illusion of Community, Part 4

(Filed under: Philosophy)

This is part four in a series about the illusion of community. Part one was about online community networks. Part two was about how we're doing at building community in our weekend gatherings. Part three discussed why community 'online' and 'offline' might be an old school way to think. Today, let's talk about why our value proposition is a little backwards when it comes to building community.

I am keenly aware that this entire series on the illusion of community has been written from a very American, very Western, perspective. Our lack of community is embarrassing compared to how the rest of the world relates. My trip to Haiti earlier this year, and to Israel and Turkey last year was no exception.

My wife and I recently watched the movie Body of Lies. It's a great example of the differences between how we in America view community and how the majority of the world approaches community. There are several scenes in the movie with the head of Jordanian Intelligence, Hani Salaam, that contrast the difference between East and West. People may be mean, but they're not means to an end. I regret the number of times I have "used" people as a way to advance my agenda, regardless of how well-intentioned I may have been.

Continue reading "The Illusion of Community, Part 4"

Posted by Brad Abare at 7:27 AM
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November 8, 2008

Internet Ministry Best Practices

(Filed under: Demographics/Research)

by David Bourgeois, Guest Blogger

For the past two years, I have been conducting research on Internet ministry. This has included one-on-one interviews with leaders in the field, case studies, the development of my own church's web site and the implementation of a survey taken by over 300 different ministry organizations. This culminated last month in a presentation on Internet ministry "best practices" at the Internet Ministry Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich.

The Internet Ministry Framework
The Internet Ministry Framework embodies the three different aspects of implementing an Internet ministry: technology, people and process. This is an important definition because many, many organizations looking to start an online ministry immediately focus on the technology and completely ignore the more difficult decisions surrounding the people involved and the processes undertaken to implement and maintain the ministry. None of the three components are any important than the other: all three play an equal role in supporting a successful Internet ministry.

Best Practices
The “best practices” for Internet ministry were developed by looking at what the successful online ministries had in common based on their responses to the survey. This data was combined with follow-up case studies to reinforce these findings.

Continue reading "Internet Ministry Best Practices"

Posted by Guest Blogger at 12:20 PM
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November 7, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Web Sites, New Shirts and More

(Filed under: Peer Review)

This week in the Church Marketing Lab, we've seen a collection of great work. For those of you who aren't involved over there, here's just a glimpse of the type of things you'll see (or could even post yourself):

These invite cards are for a church's winter social.

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Web Sites, New Shirts and More"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 12:59 PM
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What if the Church Marketed Like Starbucks?

(Filed under: Off the Wall)

This has been floating around on various blogs, but it's poignant enough that you need to see it or see it again. And there's no more appropriate place than a blog devoted to helping church marketing to no longer suck. Beyond Relevance has posted the video What if Starbucks Marketed Like A Church?

It's absolutely hilarious, and you won't regret taking five minutes to watch it and learn. (And maybe send to your pastor as a not-so-subtle hint.)

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:12 AM
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November 6, 2008

The Power of Story: Compassion Bloggers

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

Last February we talked about the Compassion International blogger trip to Uganda. This week they're doing it again, taking eight bloggers and a photographer to the Dominican Republic to see firsthand the work of Compassion's child sponsorship efforts that help families overcome poverty and discover Jesus.

I love this idea because it's all about the power of story. Compassion International has an incredible story: Sponsor a kid and save them from poverty. But too often those sponsorship pitches feel like guilt trips. One way to overcome that problem is to tell stories. Instead of focusing on the $32 per month and how easy it is to do, you focus on the actual children and families receiving the help. It creates a connection and the immediate question becomes how can I help.

This year it's a smaller group of bloggers and they had the unfortunate timing of traveling during the presidential election. But three kids are along for the ride, including 8-year-old Nick Challies who is blogging his experience and two sisters who described meeting the kids they sponsor. Powerful stories.

What kind of stories is your church creating?

And are you telling them?

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:15 AM
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Election Angle Poll Results

(Filed under: Poll Results)

The election is over! Hooray! Now that we no longer have to see campaign commercials every six seconds explaining how the other guy wants to raise your taxes 78% or sell your children into slavery, let's take a final look at how churches handled the election this year.

A true majority of you, 51%, are just encouraging people to vote. Some churches registered people during services or nagged their attenders on a weekly basis, but their goal was merely to have their people be voting people.

15% of you are asking people to focus on advancing the gospel rather than advancing the government. Your hope is in the cross, and whatever happens in the presidential race will happen.

Two groups of you are knotted at 10%. That's the respondents who are telling their candidates who to vote for or what issues to vote on. And another 10% of you are running from politics like it's the plague. The latter is probably the best for those government-fearing nonprofit status-loving churches out there.

A big 7% of you are outside of the U.S., so you couldn't care less. To you, we say "Cheers" or "Namaste" or "Habari" or whatever your nation likes to say. It's great to have you reading! And 7% of you went with "Something else," which is a great reason for you to go ahead and head to the comments.

This week, we want to know: Who is in charge of managing your church's communication?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:30 AM
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November 4, 2008

What Churches Can Learn from Election Marketing

(Filed under: First Impressions & Beyond)

Nearly two years of election mania comes to a climax today. Get out and vote and celebrate the end of election year marketing (or start prepping for 2012). This has been an incredible year for election marketing and the church could learn a thing or two.

While churches can learn a lot from the pricey presidential campaigns, they may find more in common with the low budget local campaigners. Either way, see if your church can glean a few lessons from the political marketers:

• Marketing lessons from the U.S. election by marketing guru Seth Godin.
• McCain vs. Obama on the Web.
• Yours truly looks at specific campaigns and determines that Election Marketing Sucks.
• Marketing pundits have been hailing the Obama campaign machine for months, so here are two quick examples: Why the Obama Brand is Working and Obama's Viral Marketing.
• And for added fun, MTV points out freebies for voters (though it's illegal in some places).

And don't forget to vote!

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 8:55 AM
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November 3, 2008

The Illusion of Community, Part 3

(Filed under: Philosophy)

This is part three in a series about the illusion of community. Part one was about online community networks. Part two was about how we're doing at building community in our weekend gatherings. Today, let's talk about why community 'online' and 'offline' might be an old school way to think.

I recently spoke at a conference about online marketing and communication. The audience for this particular event was centered around doing ministry on the web so you can imagine their surprise when I suggested that perhaps they shouldn't be online in the first place. What if you came to this internet ministry conference to learn that you shouldn't be doing ministry online? What if your ministry online--or attempt at ministry--is actually a distraction from real world, face-to-face relationship and community?

A gentleman in the back raised his hand and suggested that we stop thinking about online and offline as mutually exclusive terms. The reality, he suggested, is that there is little distinction between the two. The worlds are converging and life online and offline is becoming more synchronous and synonymous. Kids under 10 years old will never understand the difference between having friends (or contacts) online and having them offline. Just like they'll lack understanding for what it means to do their banking offline or listening to music on CDs.

Continue reading "The Illusion of Community, Part 3"

Posted by Brad Abare at 6:38 AM
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