Five Elements of Effective Church Marketing

Small businesses, churches, nonprofits, and ministries all have to have an effective marketing plan. Although they have a marketing plan, the people they target is different depending on what they want to achieve. Despite their differences, they have several things in common.

They all want to raise funds: businesses — additional revenues; churches — donations; nonprofits — fundraising; and ministries — money for missions or services. They all want to grow in people: businesses want new customers; churches want new congregational members; nonprofits want volunteers; ministries want people for missions and to study about God. All of these similarities can be achieved with an effective marketing plan. Here are some elements necessary for effective church marketing.

Optimized Website

In today’s digital world, you must have a website. That is where potential new members will go first to find a church. Therefore, you have to make sure people who are searching for a church can find you. The way to do that is to optimize your website. This means you have to have the right meta tags, headers and content. You have to use the right keywords and make sure they are written in the content naturally.

A website won’t work unless people use it to call you. Even if they call you, the right content would convince them to call you. Many factors go into search engine optimization. That is why it is important to have the right website. Your website should include a calendar of events so people can pick and choose what they want to attend. And, these calendars are searchable.

Social Media/Smart Phone

Everyone talks about social media, but few know how to use it correctly. You want to have a completed profile on all your social media. For churches, you want to establish groups, such as Bible study, volunteering at events and pastoral councils, etc. You will be able to engage your audience more effectively and find out what their spiritual needs may be.

That is how you can entice social media users to attend your services. However, you also want to post events, ask the audience to share your information with their timelines and post pictures and videos. Beyond social media, you want to use smartphone technology as much as possible because younger members will be using smartphones for everything. You can post to your social media through smartphones, but you also can advertise on smartphones. Reach out through texting or through video games.

Print Marketing

All churches use printed materials, but they usually stick with their congregation. You need to expand the people who receive your printed materials if you want to grow your membership or spread your message. For example, if you are having a fundraising dinner, you could send a press release and put flyers in public places.

Invite people who are not in your congregation but live near your church. Do the same with prayer cards, postcards, bookmarks and other printed materials you want to distribute. Make sure they go to places other than the back of the church if you want to be effective. Door hangers announcing a community event at your church or a mailing in your Zip code would be effective to spreading your message. All printed materials should include your social media and website information.

Radio/Television

We all know the television evangelists who have made a lot of money by being the face. While you don’t have to be as elaborate as that, you still should be on television and radio. Find a Christian podcast and be a regular guest where you can talk about what your church is doing and what is exciting.

Use Facebook Live and other streaming technology at your events to share on social media and invite those who might be watching to come. They might not come to that event, but they might come to another. But, by live streaming, you are getting your message spread to new members who might join your church. By talking on the radio, you would be reaching out regularly to possible new members. Mention your website and social media for the radio’s audience so they can check on you later.

In-Person Marketing

Visit other churches and their events. Talk to their pastors. Find out if you can work together on events or ministries. In Baltimore, all Christian churches follow the steps of Jesus’ last hours on Good Friday. They are all different denominations but they unite because Good Friday is important to all Christian churches.

Do something similar in your area. Help the other churches when they need help and have them help you in return. This will build a Christian attitude of loving one another. Then, you can rely on the other churches to promote your event or message to draw people to be part of your church. Also go to homes in your Zip code and invite them to your services. Ask the people if you could do anything for them. They will be more likely to support you later. Provide a welcome basket to new members and ask them to invite friends to your church.

While some of these marketing ideas do not cost anything, others do. Make sure your parish budget includes an amount for marketing. Also, figure out where you can save and put money toward something else. You will be successful in adding members to your church or ministry.