Church Marketing Sucks

It’s that time of year to look back and decide what’s the best in list form. We’d like to share our top 10 posts of 2015.

We don’t have a scientific process to determine our list. It’s subjective. We certainly take popularity and numbers into account, but we also focus on how engaging, helpful and powerful the posts are. It’s the best of the best. Hope you enjoy.

There’s not room to mention every post, but we do have a couple honorable mentions first:

• Best Flimsy Excuse to Talk About Something We Love: Star Wars & Church Communication
  It’s the biggest movie of the year and you question how we could find a connection? We find your lack of faith disturbing.
• Best Free: MLK, Easter, Daylight Savings, Mother’s Day & Father’s Day
  Free social media graphics continue to be popular. We’ve now collected them all on one page.
• Best Techie Fun: 404 Error Pages
  Who knew something as nerdy as a tech error page could be an opportunity to communicate?
• Most Popular Podcast Episode: The Website Content Episode
  We talk with copywriter, marketer and storyteller Mike Kim about how your church can write effective copy.

The Top 10 Posts of 2015:

10. Prayer for a Church Website
We offer a prayer for woeful church websites that need a holy helping hand.

9. 7 Reasons Why Your Church Needs Mobile Giving
Stats and perspective on how mobile giving can impact your church’s budget.

8. 7 Complaints When Visiting a Church Website
The #cmschat community offered their insight and expertise on church websites for a real world dose of what works and what doesn’t online.

7. 25 Christmas Stories: How Does Your Church Do Christmas?
In celebration of our new Christmas book, we asked churches for their Christmas stories and shared some of the best.

6. The Best Easter Strategy: Stay Calm
This practical advice about tackling Easter one bite at a time will be helpful again this coming year.

5. 18 of the Most Popular Social Media Posts for Churches
What does it take to create popular social media posts? We asked churches for their most popular post and shared 18 examples your church can learn from.

4. Kill Your Bulletin or Make It Better
We had two competing posts about church bulletins that were both popular. One argued for the death of the church bulletin. The other argued to save the bulletin and make it better.

3. A Different Approach to Church Signs: It Is Going to Be OK
Should church signs advertise upcoming events or groan-worthy puns? One church decided their sign could do something more: give hope.

2. It’s Time for Your Church to Quit: 30 Ways to Be a Quitter
Inspired by Bob Goff, who quits something every Thursday, we did an entire series about quitting. What are the things your church needs to quit?

And our top post of 2015…

1. Church Bulletins: 20 Insights & 10 Great Examples
Bulletins were popular this year. About seven times more popular than any other post. This one collected ideas and examples from the #cmschat community for a truly helpful approach to the church bulletin.

More of the Best:

• If you like reading the best, you can always check out the top posts from previous years: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 (our archive goes back farther, but our lists of top posts don’t).
• Don’t forget to check out our top CFCC news of 2015.
• Want more church marketing goodness? Check out our resources.