Consulting, Coaching & Chatter

Over the past couple of years, we’ve been telling church leaders that getting into the mass media advertising game is, by and large, a colossal waste of money – unless your church can afford to spend upwards of $25,000 per campaign (per event you are advertising).  Some of the reasons for this are pretty obvious, but some are not.

Let’s start with your target audience. Most of the time, when a church advertises, they are trying to reach the likes of “Saddleback Sam.” If you’ve read Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church (and if you haven’t, you should stop reading now and go get a copy at Amazon.com), then you know I’m talking about the unchurched guy or gal whom your church is likely and able to effectively reach. For most churches today, that target is often a poorly defined “Unchurched Young Family with Kids” kind of target. If that’s who you’re trying to reach, then before you invest so much as a dollar in advertising you need to get someone to walk you through the demographics and psychographics process and match that with the level of targeted guest hospitality of your congregation. Why? Because if you get your “Saddleback Sam and young family” to walk into the door of your church and they are “exposed” to a worship service with pipe organ, ancient hymns, cryptic language, an understaffed or inadequate nursery or children’s program, they may not stay, and they are pretty unlikely to ever return.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you know exactly who your Saddleback Sam is. The thirty-something “nuclear” family, married with children, double income, watches Big Bang Theory and Office, prefers Alternative music, some discretionary income, has significant debt, and is buying a home. How are you going to market to them?

Before you answer, remember that the average USAmerican sees well over 3000 ads per day. The rule of thumb is that someone has to see or hear your ad at least five times before they are able to recall the ad (before it’s made the slightest impression on them), and between seven to nine times before they are familiar enough with the ad that they consider making an inquiry. With the exception of rural towns, newspaper readership by our aforementioned Saddleback Sam is at an all-time low. According to the Nielson Rating folks, television viewing continues to expand – and there are a number of mid-sized churches who are interested in getting into the cable television market, since the cost seems pretty reasonable. But let’s take a look at what the Nielsons are saying. The average USAmerican household receives 118+ channels. Of these, the average person watches only 16 of them as much as 10 minutes per channel per week. With bulk television ads running as low as $4-$5 a spot, it seems like a great deal – and admittedly, that is a great price. However, let’s do the math. Five-hundred ads spread out over a month (which is typically what congregation’s are willing to invest in) works out to about seventeen ads per day. If you advertise on a 24 hour television channel, your ads will be run at all hours of the day and night. You can “count” on your ad running once during the morning peak and once during the evening peak. You might get lucky and get two in each, but you shouldn’t count on it because there are fewer opportunities for local stations to run their ads during peak periods (typically only 2 minutes of local advertising per half hour segment during peak viewing periods). Many of these television marketing packages will place your ads on multiple channels – if you want to specify the channel, you may well be asked to pay more per ad. With 118 channels to choose from and the bulk of your ads running from 9 AM to 4 PM and 10 PM to 5 AM, what are the odds that your ad will be seen five times this month by an adult member of the household who may only tune into your “channel” ten minutes per week?

In the words of the Television advertisers though, “Wait, wait … there’s more!” Advertising a Florida vacation to Disney World or a hot new Camaro is one thing. Advertising anything that has to do with church is yet another. Let’s remember that the church doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation in the West these days and successful advertising depends on at worst a neutral audience and at best a receptive one. And before you start running the “our church is [better, more authentic, more conservative, more liberal, more open, yada yada] than theirs” kind of ads, consider that each time an unchurched person hears this kind of advertising, they get the message that the church is divisive, judgmental, and dis-integrated. And in any event, negative advertising generally only works on those who are interested in your “product” in the first place.

Let me be clear here, I’m not opposed to a great advertising campaign for a church. At this point in time, a well-run campaign still has a good bit of draw. However, to get your church’s message before the right people enough times and in enough ways for them to even notice, let alone make a conscious decision, takes a war chest, not just a bank account. In today’s church world, it really isn’t unusual for a church to go through $25,000 or more per campaign – and by a campaign, I’m talking about spending that kind of money is less than 90 days, and in reality, often less than 60 days.

For churches that can’t afford to compete in the mass media pond, there are ways the smaller church can still make a splash in their community – and sometimes a really big splash (if you’re creative, you don’t need to pay for local and national attention).

I’ve covered a number of these in a number of formats before, but here’s a reminder.

• WOMM. Word Of Mouth Marketing is still the most effective marketing on the planet. The problem is, it turns out the Western church is suffering from low self esteem and there are proportionately only a very few church members who feel good enough “about” their church to actually invite their friends and co-workers. Here’s a reality axiom: if your members won’t invite guests, you will not grow your church.
• Website. The numbers keep rising. Over 85 percent of those who “look” for a church start with the Internet. The heart breaking thing is that most churches put more money into their YellowPages ads than they do into their website. Instead, they get a volunteer who has little time and often less commitment to build the church’s website and once it’s “done” it rarely gets updated. I’m constantly amazed at how many church’s sites don’t have their location and times of worship services on the Home Page. And I won’t even go there about those who have pictures of their building on their banner … (think smiling, happy, people!).
• The Church Sign. Cute and pithy is a colossal waste of time and money. “Ch_rch: The Only Think Missing is U” will not bring one person through your door (ever notice that McDonalds never puts “Hamb_rgers: The Only Thing Missing is You” on their sign? Hmm.). On the other hand, “Bullet Proof Your Marriage: Sundays in September at 10″ just might bring in a guest or two. Your sign is a marketing tool, not a poetry or proverbs page. Use it accordingly.
• Your Newsletter: Most church newsletters get sent to both members and former visitors, but has virtually nothing of interest for the visitors. Guests readers really don’t care whose birthday or anniversary it is, how much money your deficit budget is (go ahead, scare them away permanently), who won the 4-H cooking contest, or how pretty the flowers were on Sunday. Oh, and they especially are not impressed when they read a pastor’s column that addresses some conflict or another in the church (thanks for letting us know just how bad things are there!). If you want to impress both your visitors and your members, fill your newsletter with articles on how to develop their spirituality, how to make Godly decisions when times get tough, and news of upcoming events and sermon series that are both relevant and specifically helpful.
• The Public Service Announcement and the News Release: Here is where creativity can beat a $25,000 advertising budget. Do something positive that no one else is doing, do it consistently, do it well, and then let the media know. Our church made it to Good Morning America with Charlie Gibson back in the day by setting up a card table on Monday mornings, giving out free cups of coffee, and waving cheerfully at early morning commuters as they drove from the burbs to Atlanta. Of course, we waved every Monday from 5 AM to 7 AM in rain, snow, and thunderstorms, but it got a lot of attention locally and nationally. And yes, we did see guests from the event. In Seattle, we made International Public Radio’s Marketplace, plus the front page of local papers, mentions on television, and a number of articles in magazines when we “paid” people to come to worship in order to evaluate our worship services. And that time we didn’t just grow – we started our church from the crowd.

  No one cares much about your church’s yard sale or cookie drive. That’s only news in rather small communities. But do something totally out of the box (again, keep it positive) and once you’ve got it going, let the media know. You’ll fall on your face eight out of ten times, we certainly have tried a lot of things that didn’t make a splash over the years, but when you nail it those two times, you’ll be set up to capitalize on the attention.

You don’t have to have a war chest to get the word out. But if you’re going to consider mass advertising, you’d better have a stupendous budget. The rule of thumb for most churches is … don’t.

I get to see a lot of church newsletters pretty regularly. Some come by email, some with a stamp, but what they all have in common is that I get them. Since I’m not a member of most of these churches, I have to surmise that I’m not the only non-member who’s getting their news. In fact, I suspect that most visitors who bother to leave their contact information probably end up on the mailing list … that’s just good practice. Well, it should be good practice, but for many of the churches who are sending me newsletters, it would actually be a terrible practice.

There’s the newsletter I saw just the other day. It was a bit dated with lots of clipart that I tend to associate with the 1970s, but they had used their whitespace well enough. Most of the content was pretty inane for an outsider with lots of thank yous to people for flowers, get well wishes for Bob, and a plea for more ushers. What wasn’t so inane was the pastor’s column. In fact, that was pretty entertaining. Seems like there was some sort of fiasco that went on in the previous board meeting and the pastor was lambasting both those who were there and those who were not. It would have brought a smile to my lips if it wasn’t for the fact that I was pretty sure there were maybe fifty or more non-members who might be reading this rant. I know that if I was considering the church as a possibility for membership, I’d be looking for somewhere else.

So, here’s a couple of tips for you … and if you need a more thorough critique, we can do that too (www.NetResults.org/cart).

Effective Church Newsletters:

• Are positive. Your newsletter is probably being read by more than just your congregation. Ask yourself this question before you approve (or write) any article: Would I really want my unchurched next door neighbor or my district superintendent (bishop, regional minister, etc.) to read this?
• Have articles that matter. If you’re going to write an article, make it worth reading. Newsletters are not the congregational or community source for devotional material. Include articles that move, touch, and inspire. Help your readers to make their faith practical, teach them how to pray, help them keep their marriage afloat, and so on.
• Limit “insider” information. Here’s the ideal: if it doesn’t apply to everyone, it doesn’t go into the newsletter. That’s the ideal. The real world is a bit more flexible, but if you expect your reader to know who Sue is, where the Women’s Parlor is, or what time and where the men’s breakfast is, you’re missing the boat.
• Market upcoming events. If an event is worth doing, it’s worth talking about – but only if it invites and includes those outside the congregation. Don’t use a list  of bullet point events, give the reader some information including why they should bother wanting to come to your new small group initiative.
• Are accurate. There’s nothing worse than showing up for a six o’clock meeting at seven. Make sure your details are spot on.
• Have “testimonies.” There’s an old saying that the best marketers are satisfied clients. Every issue of your newsletter ought to have at least one short article on why someone is involved or joined or comes to your church. Weed out the sentimentalism and include the inspired. That’s a fine line, but one worth heeding.
• Are proofread and proofread again. Don’t send out sloppy grammatically incorrect and typo-filled newsletters. If you don’t have a critical eye, find someone who does. The quality of your newsletter is a reflection on who you are. If you don’t care enough to run spell and grammar check and then carefully read it directly, it really can’t be that important.

So, there you are. A few golden rules for newslettering. Remember, your members aren’t the only ones reading it, so make it great!

I didn’t used to be much of a blog reader, but after conversations with a couple of folk it became clear that blogging, reading, and responding are a social networker’s lifeblood … and since I always fancied myself as a social networker, I’ve started reading a couple.

I was reading Glenn Kelley’s blog this morning and came across an excellent bit on marketing the church. He offered ten bits of advice that include such simple ideas as birthday cards, bumper stickers, brochures, etc. You can read about it here. It may seem like there’s nothing new here, but what he says is not only excellent, but spot on.

Just a note from my own experience in marketing. One of the most powerful marketing tools that a church has available is the local media. Use your media outlets to get your message out. Now, the problem is, most churches send the radio station or newspaper PSAs (Public Service Announcements) on VBS, a special worship service, etc. and when they do, they’re looking for free advertising. But the media guys are looking for news. There’s a real shortage of good local news in most areas (major metro areas excepted) and they’re looking for good news bits to write stories on. The problem is, most churches aren’t doing things very newsworthy … and when they do, they miss the opportunity to toot their horn because they don’t think in terms of “news.”

A good News Release is worth a dozen good PSAs because they are focused on what they media desperately needs. News. So the key to good media marketing is to do something POSITIVE that makes news. Although the axiom “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” may be true for many businesses, it’s definitely NOT true of the church. We already have a lousy reputation in the public’s eye. Do something newsworthy and do something positive.

Gotta go to Pittsburg, so I’ll be on the road. We’ll see what “comes up” as we go and I’ll post from my Blackberry.

See you!