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TELLING YOUR STORY WITH MARKETING The church has always been involved in marketing. Consider Jesus'
description of the disciples as fishers of women and men. Like fishers on the
In its broadest sense, marketing is the service of fulfilling people's
needs. According to one definition, it is "the identification of the
needs of a target group or audience; the development of a product or Marketing Fulfills Needs Marketing succeeds by research, advertising and informing. Marketing succeeds by finding out peoples' needs, presenting a product in an attractive way and by letting people know how they can obtain the product. Marketing is essential to the mission of the church because we have something people truly need: the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news about marketing is that you can do it. All you need is the willingness to step back and look at how your church is marketing itself and the gospel. There is no single skill or ability that makes for successful marketing. Whatever special strengths you bring to your marketing efforts will contribute to your effectiveness. Carrying out a marketing plan is a way of organizing the work you are already doing. What follows is an outline of how a marketing plan is developed and implemented, and what elements often go into a marketing effort. You may find you cannot incorporate all of these features into your own efforts. As long as you plan how your church will be promoted, involve the pastor, the church staff and other members in your planning and efforts, and take the time to evaluate how well you have succeeded, you will be an effective church marketer. Planning is essential to marketing. The best way to ensure responsible and thorough planning is to develop a written marketing plan, a clear statement, agreed upon by all, of what you are doing and why. A written plan will be invaluable when it is time to evaluate your efforts. Finally, a written plan serves as a guide to keep everyone's efforts coordinated and focused. Successful church marketing is a partnership between the local church and the community. Generally, the more involved people are in the creation of a plan, the more they will invest in seeing it carried out. Remember, you are telling the church's story. Sample Marketing Plan Step One: Define the mission of the church in a succinct mission statement no longer than 25-35 words. Include who you are, whom you serve and what needs you want to satisfy. Step Two: Research the market and determine your target audience(s). Include: demographic information such as geographic characteristics; information about population shifts, age, ethnic background, language, religious affiliation, income, education, and length of time in the community. Consider the strengths and weaknesses of your church and how your church is perceived by the community. What are other churches doing to appeal to the same target audience? How effective are their efforts? List the characteristics of the groups and organizations the church currently works with to accomplish its mission. Include their needs and wants. List characteristics of the segment of the population you are trying to reach: Who do they know? Where do they meet? What do they watch? Read? Listen to? Your Chamber of Commerce, public library and city government are all excellent sources of information. Consider sending out a survey or forming a focus group of 10 or 12 individuals to brainstorm possibilities. (Check with other agencies of the church.) Step Three: State your goals and outline your objectives. Your goals should expand upon your mission statement, attempting to more clearly identify needs and how you would like to satisfy those needs. Your objectives should be clear and measurable, such as: increase church attendance or decrease teen suicide. Step Four: Develop strategies. Start by knowing your target audience. Develop a clear statement of the difference between what you offer and the other alternatives. List the reasons why your target audience will want to choose what you are offering. Step Five: Establish programs and tactics to carry out your strategy. These are specific actions and tactics you will use to meet the objectives, such as an advertising campaign to get people in their twenties and thirties who have "dropped out" of church to become members again, or a crisis hotline staffed by teens. Step Six: Determine resources and people. List the tools, resources, people and facilities that are available to promote, advertise and distribute your message. Keep in mind you already have a very important vehicle for reaching your community the people who are already members of your congregation. It will be important to motivate the entire congregation to participate in this important process of communicating the gospel to their friends, neighbors and co-workers. Communication tools for marketing
Step Seven: Make schedules and assignments. This is determining who does what, where, how and when. Remember to allow time for brainstorming and for the creation and revision of plans. Step Eight: Establish a budget. Include here all of the money and other resources necessary to meet the objectives. This is often a much-needed "reality test." For additional funding, form a partnership with other committees of the church (i.e. evangelism, missions). Start your project. Step Nine: Measure the results. In evaluating a marketing effort, you will need some concrete information to judge the results. This might be quantitative, such as the number of new church members, or qualitative, such as testimonies from the users of a crisis hotline. Step Ten: Build in a procedure for updating and evaluating the plan. Evaluation is an important, but often overlooked part of the marketing effort. Use the following questions to evaluate each program or tactic in your strategy: 1. Was the program successful? Also, some intermediate or "midstream" evaluation can be invaluable. It will give you the opportunity to refine or even overhaul the marketing effort to strengthen or improve a marginally-successful program. These ten steps can be applied to many situations. For example, a community service such as a meals-on-wheels program would benefit from a marketing plan that let potential participants know of its existence and how to use it. The target market need not be the general public. You can market the services, activities and message of the church to its members, with the aim of increasing participation or energizing involvement in the church's programs. In any situation, remember that the marketing plan is a tool, not a constraint. Let the plan serve you, not you the plan. Above all, be flexible! Finally, in formulating and carrying out your marketing plan, your communication network will be invaluable. Maintain good, ongoing relations with your pastor, layleaders and the rest of your congregation. These people should be seen as sources of information, avenues for communication, suppliers of resources, and beneficiaries of your work. In a word, they are your partners in marketing the church's message of hope. |