1 of 3

One Friday and Saturday, church leaders from Grace Community Church stood outside a large supermarket in their area. Individually, they asked random shoppers, "Have you heard of Grace Community Church?" If the answer was no, the person was thanked. If the answer was yes, the person was then asked, "What do you know about Grace Community Church?" If the person expressed some interest in the church, then they received a brochure inviting them to come to a multi-generational money management seminar at the church.

Church leaders were astonished at what they discovered. Among the hundreds of people interviewed, most had never heard of the church, or had confused it with other churches in the area. Among those who had heard of it, most could not identify specific ministries or staff members (though they might know someone who attended the church). More troubling, however, was the leaders' astonishment. They incorrectly assumed that nearly everyone knew about their church.

Why the discrepancy between perception and reality? Many church leaders have no idea how invisible the local church is to their community. When two-thirds of Americans indicate they do not attend church regularly, and nearly one-half of those have no church affiliation, churches have a formidable, and exciting, marketing opportunity.

People are barraged by thousands of messages from newspapers, radio stations, Internet service providers, television networks, billboards, banners, and signs. They pay attention only when it matters to them. And it matters to them only when the message is cast in terms of intangible and tangible "benefits" that are both compelling and entertaining.

Churches historically have not had to do much marketing, because people knew about churches and the benefits they offered, and there were relatively few denominational "brands" to choose from. Now, there are countless choices among churches, but there is a diminished sense of relevance and benefit that people associate with church. Today, each church must create a unique message targeted to a specific group of people.

Frequently, church marketing programs begin with the wrong question: "What do we want to tell people about our ministry services and programs?" The first question needs to be: "To whom are we marketing, and what do they want and need to know about us? What matters to them?"

The first step in developing a marketing approach, then, is to clarify the message and the target audience, making sure that the two are carefully matched. In identifying the audience, the church should distinguish between its internal and external audiences or run the risk of a message that has no value for those who hear it.

One denominational church, for example, ran television ads geared to new parents who are unchurched, stressing the importance of having children baptized. All scenes were set in the church and the commentary focused on theological issues that only parents who already had some expectation of infant baptism would understand. But if the parents were not already believers, then why would the message be relevant to them? It was all about church, not about their interests, needs, and feelings from their standpoint. The message was relevant only to existing members and reminded them of this baptismal obligation.

next page... |  1 of 3

share this page