November 21, 2008

Marketing to the Last Generation

You've probably been to some church event with "next" in the title. Whether it's "the leadership filter for what's next in the church" or "the mega super definitive conference for the next-generation church bathroom." We like to (over)market as focused on the next generation.

But that's less than half the battle. Daily, we dialogue what an aging population means for social security, our own wallets and every aspect of life. Except church.

Well did you know Christianity Today has a blog called Building Adult Ministries? And they just ran an article entitled Is Your Church Senior Sensitive? taking a look at why churches overlook the older population and what they can do about it.

The “age wave” is rapidly approaching! Those churches that are not prepared will be swamped by the sheer numbers, diversity, and impact of these older adults. Of, if they are prepared, they will get out their surfboards and catch the ride of a lifetime!

Or, those seniors will like, totally stop coming! It won't be the ride of a lifetime, it will be a disgraceful disconnect between the older generation and the younger generation. Your church will have to walk the fine line of communicating vision so older people understand why you're doing what you're doing and younger attenders understand the importance of hearing from an older, wiser generation.

It's one of the big marketing problems on the church's horizon. What is your church doing about it?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:36 AM
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November 20, 2008

Why Do You Do What You Do?

I see too many people in ministry, whether it's a pastor, media director or office assistant who would have a difficult time telling you why they do what they do. Sure, they could give you the right answer ... but they'd have a difficult time telling you the truth without admitting they're simply stuck.

If you resonate with that at all ... consider doing what Mark is doing. Mark is doing what the world would call 'the wrong thing.' You see, he's living in Los Angeles but he's not there for fame and fortune, he's not "living the dream."

Mark Horvath has broken the mold. He is not doing what makes sense, he's not doing something that even pays the bills--he is living out his passion and doing what burns deep inside of him. Mark has developed invisiblepeople.tv to tell the stories of the homeless, something he knows all too well as he once lived among them.

Continue reading "Why Do You Do What You Do?"

Posted by Michael Buckingham at 7:20 AM
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November 19, 2008

Trojan Horses, Purple Cows and Broken Windows: An Ode to Mark Batterson

"The greatest message deserves the greatest marketing."

That's a quote that Mark Batterson repeats again and again, and he lives by it. But that's not all he has to say about marketing. He has three terms that represent ideas he really loves to drive home, and if you haven't been exposed to them, you should. So today, we have an exhaustive dictionary of Mark Batterson marketing terms, although the terms did not necessarily originate with him:

Trojan horse (n.)
Etymology: The idea appears to have originated with Mark Batterson and has been communicated by him on numerous occasions.
Definition: A method used to bypass the innate and learned defenses of individuals, specifically in regards to their tendency to use defense mechanisms when faced by the local church.
Examples: Servant evangelism, more comfortable locations for services, use of familiar technology or creating a welcoming atmosphere.

Continue reading "Trojan Horses, Purple Cows and Broken Windows: An Ode to Mark Batterson"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 7:23 AM
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November 18, 2008

Church Hiring Poll Restuls

Who should we hire? That's a problem churches run in to all the time as they grow. But how to hire isn't a question with an answer that's readily available. And hiring the right person can be a cornerstone of your marketing strategy.

53% of you feel that it doesn't matter where your church gets someone from, it just needs to get the best possible person. You don't care if they're a lifetime church member or if they're from the county jail.

28% of you are strong believers in hiring from within. You think it's a lot simpler to hire from within so you can properly vet new hires and shorten the process of them catching your vision. But it really shrinks your talent pool.

A meager 9% of you think hiring from outside is the best bet. There are seven billion people in the world, and you think there might be a factory worker in China with the gifting and ability to be the best possible worship leader at your church. There's nothing wrong with that.

And a final 11% of you are in churches who only have the budget to fire, not hire. Well, should you end up on the losing end of that deal, we'd have to recommend the Job Lab and Freelance Lab for you.

This week, let us know what you think of the Church Marketing Lab. RSS folks can click on through to the main site and vote in the right sidebar.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 1:02 PM
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Tony Morgan Thinks Churches Should Stop Marketing

Tony Morgan, chief strategic officer at NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C., co-author of the Simply Strategic Series, former pastor at Granger Community Church and author of the soon-to-be-released Killing Cockroaches (and we've interviewed Tony and linked to him on dozens of occasions), says that marketing is evil and your church should stop.

So what is Tony talking about? Essentially, he says ministry trumps marketing. If we try to fix the church's problems with marketing, we're going to fail:

"Direct mail won’t fix your problem. Billboards won’t fix your problem. Neither will platform announcements or bulletin ads or bumper stickers. At some point marketing may be a good option, but until you answer the right questions, marketing could be what’s preventing your success.

If your church has stopped growing, marketing is not your solution. If you have stopped seeing life change, marketing is not the answer."

And to that, we say amen.

But as much as we love Tony, he's a little off base.

Continue reading "Tony Morgan Thinks Churches Should Stop Marketing"

Posted by Kevin D. Hendricks at 6:42 AM
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November 17, 2008

Denominational Marketing Campaigns

Across the nation, denominations are finding themselves in financial and ethical trouble. As they look to maintain a centralized model of connecting individuals with local churches, they face problems ranging from finances to what stances to take on hot-button issues. So a couple of denominations are turning to advertising campaigns.

We looked at this idea over the summer with the Episcopal Ad Project, but will either of these new initiatives go down in history like the pithy copy of the Episcopal Ad Project?

We are Southern Baptists.
The plan: exude confidence and communicate, "Hey! We're not so bad! Look at what we're doing!" Throw in some ugly font treatments and that commonly-used "We are" advertising starter, and you've got all the makings for an ad campaign to reinforce the status quo. We Are Marshall was inspiring. We Are Southern Baptists? Not the same.

Rethink church.
The United Methodist Church is launching their campaign in the spring, but it will center on the question "What if we began thinking of 'church' as a verb instead of a noun?" The campaign will roll out on World Malaria Day, April 25th. This is actually a new idea to most people who have been turned off by churches, and I think it will complement their "Open minds. Open hearts. Open doors." campaign well. Only time will tell if denominations will struggle when they let the cat out of the bag that churches are not actually buildings.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 5:34 AM
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November 14, 2008

Church Marketing Lab: Annual Reports and Quarterly Newsletters

It's not only flashy postcards, sermon slides and intro videos that can be submitted to the Church Marketing Lab. Even something as mundane as an annual church report needs good design.

It's a testament to dedication when even your yearly church report is submitted for design tips. If every church dedicated themselves to this sort of excellence in design, maybe there would be a few less giggles at the expense of church's design abilities. (Exhibit 1: What if the Church Marketed Like Starbucks?)

And there's more where that came from. Here's a little bigger taste of what we've seen this week in the Church Marketing Lab:

Continue reading "Church Marketing Lab: Annual Reports and Quarterly Newsletters"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:44 AM
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November 13, 2008

A Church Marketing Podcast

If you're the podcasting type, you might want to check out a new podcast that's starting off by hitting on church marketing.

It's essentially just two friends who don't agree on whether church marketing is theologically appropriate, and they discuss the issue. One interesting note is that both are involved with youth ministry, and so they look at an aspect of marketing that we haven't covered much--marketing to young people. Currently, they only have 20 minutes to listen to, and there is more to come later. Your mind won't be blown by the first podcast, but much of it is introduction (with a sprinkle of love for your favorite blog about church marketing that sucks).

So if you're looking to fill up a 20-minute gap or are just hungry for a deeper discussion of church marketing and you don't feel like podcasts are dead, this conversation could be a great resource for you.

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:09 AM
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November 12, 2008

Thinking About Churches

Overheard on a local college campus:

Person 1: Are churches really non-profits?

Person 2: They aren't taxed, I'm pretty sure they are.

Person 1: Hmm... I guess I don't ever really think about churches.

Too often, we misdiagnose our church's problem of not reaching more people as something wrong with them, something wrong with our church or something wrong with our attenders. But there's a much more likely scenario.

Most people just don't think about church.

I don't really think about mosques or temples in my city. You probably don't think much about the penguins in Antarctica. And Average Joe doesn't really think about the churches in their area. It's not a felt need outside of life's more difficult services.

People don't wake up on Sunday and think, "I'll go to church today!" They don't spend Monday through Saturday in anticipation of Sunday. Church never crosses their mind, and when it does, it likely seems irrelevant.

As a church marketer, that's your task: get people thinking about church, and convince them that it matters to them.

How are you going to do that?

Posted by Joshua Cody at 6:21 AM
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November 11, 2008

Making Churches Safe

If you do something as simple as watch the news for a few minutes, you'll see that this world isn't 100% safe.

Watch for a few weeks, and you'll probably see a story about how even being at church isn't 100% safe. And churches are taking measures to fight against this.

St. John United Church of Christ in Robinson, Texas, is now locking its doors during services on Sunday mornings.

Some churches are going a step further. They are using armed guards to keep watch at their church services. One particularly interesting idea from this article was that "In states where people are allowed to carry concealed weapons, volunteers have become a cost-effective means of providing the security that some churches have come to rely on."

So what's a church to do? Well, like any good reader of this blog, they should consider the message they are communicating with these actions.

Are you marketing fear? If you sat down and asked yourself about your local area, are you sure that it is so fundamentally unsafe that you need to take drastic measures, or are your fears being exaggerated by the fact that the news has to selectively report the scary stories? I would guess most areas aren't actually as dangerous as we think they are based on the stories we hear and the news we see.

Continue reading "Making Churches Safe"

Posted by Joshua Cody at 9:02 AM
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