Regardless of your organization’s size, marketing is a vital component for getting the ‘good news’ out in new ways. Marketing done right can do that for you.
Church marketing is different than traditional marketing. Instead of selling, the primary focus involves branding, increasing your overall reach within your community and extended community, and getting new members to your church. One primary way to do that is by pairing your Sunday sermons with modern marketing tactics.
Remember, even Paul used a form of marketing when he sent letters to the churches he visited to motivate, inspire and correct them in their walk with God. You too can spread that same kind of uplifting motivation from God’s Holy word using modern tools. It all begins with social media.
Socialize It
You’re probably already familiar with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Many churches are taking advantage of them — videos of your service, a pastor’s message, when the next potluck will be and more. Yet, social media extend messaging opportunities to spread your sermon as well. By employing church marketing tactics, you can create original memes, inspirational messages or even relevant posts that are all designed to reinforce the message of your weekly sermon. Yet, this is not the only church marketing tactic you could use. Blogging is another great option to consider.
Blog It
More churches and religious organizations are engaging in blogging than ever before and for good reason. As technology improves, we have to find new ways to adapt and move with it to keep up, to gain traction and to reach out to others. Not everyone has time to manage a church blog, though, and that’s understandable. A church marketing professional can help with this and improve the impact of your blog by enhancing it to boost your rankings with search engine optimization and share-worthy content.
Share It
Speaking of share-worthy, sharing your content on another website as a guest post is another great way to give your church more traction. Guest posting involves writing an optimized blog or article and publishing it on another website. Perhaps an online article for Guideposts, Christianity Today or Crosswalk, MyGospel.info for example? Or, you might consider guest posting to a local, regional or national organization or website that your church supports. Any of these would make a wonderful opportunity and may provide you a byline, biography, or a link back to your organization’s website. Submitting guest posts isn’t hard, but church marketing experts can take the guesswork from it.
E-mail It
Although you may not have considered it, establishing an e-mail subscriber list is another great tool for maximizing your sermon and it compliments your blog, guest posts, and social media efforts. E-mail newsletters allow you to share the “good news” with subscribers. While it may sound like a lot of extra work, it’s much easier than you think. E-mails have broad reachability for a potential audience and because your audience willingly subscribes to your list, they want your message. No guesswork on whether or not your message went to the right audience. This one is warmed up and ready to listen.
Get Appy With It
Some church marketing tools get literal when it comes to your fingertips and applications meet this criteria well. Yet, we’re not talking about Bible apps or sermon apps. We’re talking about apps customized to your specific church and fully recognizable to your members. We’re talking about apps that connect your church with your parishioners and community. Secure, faith-based apps with scripture on each page allow you to communicate information and offer another option for charitable giving. It’s not about the money. It’s about employing technology to bring your organization to the fingertips of those wishing to give through digital means. Yet, not all church marketing efforts need to be digital.
Publish It
We don’t always consider traditional publishing of religious-based material as a form of marketing, but it is still vital and boosts your organization’s brand while spreading the messages God intended. Devotionals and other books encourage and improve our understanding of God’s word. They also teach us how to apply scripture to Christian living, which is critical today. That is precisely why some are led to author devotionals and other books. It’s kind of like showing someone how to put together a puzzle while using the Bible as the master blueprint that it is.
Church marketing doesn’t need to be challenging. It needs to be about using the right tools for your organization at the right time. It’s about maximizing your sermons by using modern marketing tools and tactics to bring God’s messages of love, hope, peace, joy, kindness, and obedience to a broader audience.
