The current prevailing thought about marketing a brand-spankin’ new church plant seems to go something like this::
TARGET YOUR MARKET.
SPEND A BUNCH OF MONEY TO REACH YOUR MARKET.
I’m not anti-target-market… (in fact, I’m quite the opposite… without a target, there will be an ambiguous focus, no metrics to gauge the success of a strategy, and most-likely will lead to frustration in the leadership).
And I’m not anti-spend-a-bunch-of-money… (but I feel strongly that we must spend a bunch of money on the RIGHT things)
Every church (and every business) has some form of a marketing strategy. Even NO STRATEGY is a strategy (and a miserable one at that). I have also witnessed several church planting campaigns that had to have cost between thousands and many more thousands. Finding BALANCE in our Remedy Church marketing strategy has been a major focus of mine as we have moved from PRE-LAUNCH to LAUNCH to POST-LAUNCH.
In the past 10 months, we have spent ZERO DOLLARS on “traditional marketing” strategies (newspaper, radio, phone book, billboards, etc). This has been by necessity… as much as by design. I read this article by a church leader at an established church who has led her church to move away from traditional marketing. When I read articles (like the one I just mentioned) it leads me to re-evaluate our marketing strategy and our initiatives and to consider whether (or not) we are effectively finding BALANCE in our Remedy Church marketing.
My primary focus for our Remedy Church marketing has been (and will continue to be) centered upon relationships. The best marketing initiatives that we have launched are less market-driven… and more conversational. I love to see our Remedy Church pens, and invite cards, and monthly Remedy Updates, and yard signs floating around the city. I love watching people grapple with visualizing where (and how… and why) a church would meet inside a movie theater. I love hearing people ask “what is a church that smells like butter?” I love hearing stories of our people ridiculously tipping waiters, waitresses, bowling alley attendants, and gas station employees.
In the end… the best and most cost-effective marketing strategy for Remedy Church (has been and) will continue to be OUR PEOPLE.
Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
-Seth Godin (Seth’s blog)
Word of mouth is viral. Word of mouth is infectious. And the best marketing funds that we can spend are marketing funds that lead those who believe in Remedy Church’s vision to share that vision with their enemies, their friends, their family, their co-workers… and the world.
Our church building (Regal 16 Cinemas @ the Salisbury Centre Mall) brings immediate marketability and a great source of immediate connection with those seeking (and some who aren’t seeking) a place to worship. Beyond investing in our people (through coaching, training, mentoring, friendship, discipleship, and accountability in our Remedy Groups), here are some initiatives that we have been working with recently::
+ Remedy Church Online (my friend Jeremy Heslop from OmniTechPro.com has been a giant asset to us in this arena for RemedyChurch.me… we are currently in the midst a web re-design that will add more functionality and simplicity to our site)
+ Remedy Church Twitter (we snatched up the Remedy Church twitter handle last year and have been using it as a main flow of communication from PRE-LAUNCH to today… follow our Remedy Church updates on Twitter @ twitter.com/remedychurch)
+ Remedy Church FaceBook FanPage (this has been an amazing tool for Remedy Church… check out our FaceBook Fan Page HERE… and don’t forget to become a fan at facebook.com/thechurchthatsmellslikebutter)
+ FaceBook Ads (we experimented with this around Easter and plan to do so again in the near future… FaceBook ads are solid because you can tweak your target market, control spending, and the metrics are tracked meticulously by FB)
+ Invite Cards (3″ x 3″ full color generic business cards with basic church contact info and integrated space for our people to write their contact info)
+ Message Series Invite Cards (half-sheet and smaller message-series-specific promo cards for our people to give away)
+ Digital Menu Board (we have been featured in the Regal digital menu board at the crossroads of I-13 and I-50 since PRE-LAUNCH)
+ Coroplast Yard Signs (9″ x 12″ full-color corrugated plastic signs with the Remedy Church logo, location info, and web address)
+ Posters (featured in the Regal 16 “Coming Soon” poster slots for a couple of weeks PRE-LAUNCH)
+ Printed Pens (monogrammed ball-point writing utensils with “RemedyChurch.me” and “The Church That Smells Like Butter“)
+ Sponsoring the summer-long “FREE Family Film Festival” at the Regal 16 Cinemas (aka: the Remedy Church building)
Our sponsorship of Regal’s FREE Family Film Festival has recently placed us in several print mediums (color flyers, newspaper ads, etc) and in their radio spots alongside the couple of other sponsors throughout the summer. Honestly, I have been extremely surprised by the amount of marketing that our small sponsorship of “FFFF” has generated. Choosing this marketing initiative was a decision that I prayed about and contemplated with our staff for several weeks… and it was a great decision. Here’s one of the radio spots for your listening pleasure::
What have you see and heard that’s working for churches in your community?
What is your take on the BALANCE of church (and business) marketing?
(ps… this article from ChurchMarketingSucks.com might be of some help as you are seeking some marketing BALANCE…)
…………………………
//rweaver//
Ryan,
Like it a lot. Good stuff.
Donnie…
Thanks friend. What are some things that you are doing right now to market Centerpoint Church to your community in Annapolis?
http://www.love-gives.com campaign. It gets our name out without them constantly seeing Centerpoint Church. We are also doing a summer cookout series in 4 low income neighborhoods. It’s a step below a block party. We show up with a gas grill, hot dogs, hamburgers, glow sticks, water balloons and bible story on the side. We are also doing a free give outs for the love gives campaign. Tomorrow we are giving out 100 bottles of water on West Street annapolis.
Donnie…
That’s great stuff! So exciting to see fellow church planters tearing up some servolution with us! Great idea on “love-gives” site (plus the stories are excellent).
I think you have found an excellent balance – great model, great heart behind it!
Nice post Ryan! Our church has tried a couple different things but we’ve not found one thing yet that we can say has “nailed it.” we did door hangers in our community to invite people to Christmas events but didn’t see great responses. We’ve done all the traditional media promo and have had some success depending on what we were promoting. We’re getting ready to do a massive postcard invitation to a couple thousand people in our community that we’ll hand to individuals while serving at the big Marion Popcorn Festival community event. The postcard will invite them to our awakening event 3 weeks later.
I agree with Ryan that personal marketing is best. Any growth we’ve experienced or attendance to events has been from personal invitations. Motivating our people to truly always be ambassadors for Christ all the time is what I’ve got to figure out. If they lived out their faith in real ways, then people would be asking what’s going on!
Earl…
Thank you my friend… the model is only as good as the APPLICATION.
@RSTRO (aka:: Ryan)…
Thanks for posting your previous ideas and up-coming ones as well. We have found decent success in seeing our people taking message series invite cards and giving them away (very similar to your awakening event concept). Our last message series initiative with the cards was during our God @ the Box Office series. We saw some great success with that because the artwork on the card was simple… and (most importantly) we were all very, very excited about the message series. Keep us posted on how the experiment goes!
Everything I learned in college is soooo wrong. I knew I was being ripped off! Seriously, it makes a lot of sense.
@MosierJoe (aka:: Joe)…
Haha… I’m sure there are a few things you have retained and redeemed from your good old conservative college days. For example:: You will totally be able to implement the “walking on opposite sides of the road rule” with Mal when she’s in her teen years. Right?
Good article man! We are doing some of those things that you mentioned above, but as a Seth Godin fan I am a huge believer of letting your “customers” market for you. We see about 10%-15% of our visitors come from website, signage, phonebook ads, etc. BY FAR most people come to our church because a PERSON asks them. That’s not to say, the pens, ads, facebook pages, etc. aren’t contributing factors though. They are part of what I like to call: “Oh, I’ve heard of that”. That is quite important.
Another marketing strategy is to be a church that impacts the community to such a degree that the community begins to market for you. We recently did an interview and had an article published in some of the local papers. We had a guy come to church last week because of that. Also, the Wor. County School Board recently presented Pastor Daryl with a recognition for SonRise on supporting the youth of the community. You can’t buy that type of marketing!
I have a few thoughts here –
One thing I tried to do, and I think most of you have done from early on is strive for cleanliness & consistency.
When I was brought on – or rather when my creative input began to gain clout – we were operating in a communicate the message by any means necessary environment (Word templates, handwritten signs, scissor cut hand-outs, etc).
We had a logo, but it lived on one computer and not many were sure how to get to it or integrate it into promotional pieces.
In other words you could look at the “marketing” pieces from 3 different areas of our ministry and really believe that -
#1 they were done by the children we were reaching.
#2 that these children all went to different churches.
Its not easy to change that culture – I still see things that make me cringe from time to time – and this is the number one reason why – lack of (complete) planning. (LOCP)
Planning the marketing for events/outreaches/etc. is less about getting dates and times on a calendar and more about what are you giving them once they come – because that’s the stuff you think of last minute – and the stuff that looks like you thought of it last minute.
I try to look at each event as a bridge to the next – sometimes the next is Sunday morning and sometimes its another event. This is effective simply because getting something in their hands that they can take with them once you’ve got them there starts conversations that you don’t necessarily have access to. Word of mouth coming from different mouths. That’s viral.
Additionally, acts of service can be your greatest (and cheapest) marketing tool. We have gotten great responses by going and serving people where they live – and here’s a quick example.
Our little league fields are home to about 600 kids every spring. On opening day we buy 600 drinks from their concession stand and hand out tickets for free drinks compliments of HighTide Church (with our info on the back) to the coaches. The tickets are good any time after opening day – so they have to hold onto them for at least a week.
At the end of the day:
We’ve contributed to the success of the concession stand.
(remember it costs them nothing)
We’ve reached coaches, players, parents, and grandparents.
(by taking care of the kids)
We’ve gotten our information in the home.
(by instituting the delay)
We’ve invited them to check us out on Sunday.
We’ve gotten our people involved in the marketing of our church.
Win, win, win, win, win.
Kyle…
I can’t remember where I heard/read this, but I recently snatched (from somewhere) that it takes between 3 and 5 touches with a “brand” before an individual begins to recognize the brand and what it represents. That’s the “Oh, I’ve heard of that” marketing in action that you are referencing.
Also… I love the way that SonRise Church has become imbedded within the fabric of the community in Berlin and West OC. Great thoughts my friend.
Wilsey…
That’s great stuff on the “Lack of (Complete) Planning”… and great point on looking at the marketing as “bridge events”. I dig it. What steps did you take at HighTide to reign in the unfocused branding and bring things under a more singular (or defined) direction?
Great Stuff Wilsey!
Every organization needs someone to be the official guard of the branding. If you maintain consistency in the personality your branding presents, you set yourself up to be heard. Stray from your branding and you will only distract people from the message you want to communicate. Too many distractions and people will stop listening. Whatever your marketing strategy is, you must establish your branding and then find someone to GUARD THAT BRANDING!!!
Ryan-
Great blog! I am a big fan of marketing effectively to the community you serve. Too often I see churches spend lots of money on the traditional forms of marketing only to be disappointed in the returns. Direct mail, television, radio, newspaper ads, and phone book ads are an old form of advertising and marketing. I am not saying they are not OK forms of marketing, but can be a big expense, and drain a church marketing budget quickly.
From a Theatre Church perspective, I think you have nailed what it takes to effectively market a “Balanced” approach, and have creatively spent your budget in a way to get the most bang, while working a plan. Here are some of the things I think are important in marketing a Theatre Church:
Having a “functional” website is one of the most important things in launching a church, and by “functional” I mean clearing stating when and where you meet, as well as including important information about the staff, and the missions and values of the church. Make the site “culturally relevant” and include visuals (picutres & videos) to make your site inviting. For church planters, websites can seem daunting, and expensive, but Most visitors whether invited by church guests, or marketed to in some fashion will visit your website before coming to your church. Clover Websites offers easy to build, good looking sites at a great rate. Social media is probably the next thing to consider. Facebook and Twitter are just about as important as a good website. Make sure you are clear about communication via these avenues, and stay diligent to updating. Website and social media should be the backbone of your plan. If you are a theatre church, embracing the theatre environment is extremely important. One of the quickest and FREE ways to promote your church is to have great signage when you are set up each Sunday. Make sure you you take advantage of the exposure your church will have as the movie goers are coming in for early morning shows (especially in the summer months). Make sure to strategically place the signs (of course working with the theatre) so that when movie goers walk into the theatre, they are exposed to your church. I hear numerous stories of how people came to the church just by seeing that they meet in the theatre as they were there for a movie. The free family film festival sponsorship is a great way to get exposed to the families in the community, and get the word out about your church. One last great marketing tactic for theatre churches is PR… The idea of a church meeting in a movie theatre is still a news worthy story and still a new concept. Use that to your advantage! Most local newspaper, radio, and television stations will have religion writers who will find your concept interesting and write an article on your church. I think you guys at Remedy are doing a great job!
Barry…
Great feedback. Our relationship with NCM and Fathom has been integral in the early phases of Remedy Church. And you are correct in stating that websites can be daunting. We are currently redesigning and restructuring our website for this very reason.
As a church planter I am constantly asking two questions “if no one hears the message are we being faithful to what God has commanded us to do?” and “how creative can we be?” these two questions have helped shape the marketing of our ministry. Trying to keep our process in order:
1. Branding – we borrowed this from our corporate experience, because churches usually get there name from the Bible we felt it valuable to incorporate a logo that not only communicates what we are about but also is an identifier of who we are. We then incorporated our logo on everything we have done (t-shirts, website, literature, etc.)
2. On-line/Social Networking Presence – clean website (that doesn’t distract from the message), facebook/twitter/blog/vimeo (whatever your team is comfortable with) most people research on-line before visiting.
3. Be in your community (talk to God about the city…talk to the city about God) – Prayer walks, small/community groups, community events, anything but you have to let your context know that your now in the area…word of mouth is the best form of marketing and is more valuable that anything else you can do.
Our second question be as creative as you can be helps us keep the cost low…money usually limits creativity so we start off with how can we do this for free then work to a barebones cost but never sacrificing our best effort for cost, this has helped us discover how people can use there talents to advance the kingdom…
Alan…
As you prepare to launch, this is a beautiful strategy. Can’t wait to see the impact that Life Fellowship will have on the greater Waldorf, MD area!
Great stuff here. I tend to agree with Barry with the traditional forms of marketing being old school and to focus more on an online presence. Social networking and marketing strategies can not only be cost effective but can offer instant measurement of its effectiveness (ie Ryan’s note of Facebook ads having great stats and feedback). I encourage any church wanting to connect with today’s generation to focus on a website that really shows off not only who they are and what they do, but keep up to date with relevant content and media from the church. Remedy’s facebook page has really nailed that down with recent pictures of events happening in the church.
It has been a great pleasure to work with Ryan in setting up Remedy’s site and helping bring their vision to life online. I’m sure we’ll incorporate feedback from everyone here moving forward. (:plug: and if you need someone to help with an online strategy don’t hesitate to email or call :endplug:)
@JeremyHeslop…
One of the best by-products of a church having a consistent and strategic online presence is the feeling that we (as the consumers/market audience) KNOW the church before we ever show up on a Sunday morning.
We just had an individual visit Remedy Church for the first time, and when I introduced myself before the service launched, I recognized her name from Twitter, FaceBook, and 4Square. We both laughed like old friends who already knew one another… then I introduced her “live” to a handful of Remedy peeps who were also her “friends” on those web applications. She was connected immediately to our community at Remedy! She even made some comments like:: “I feel like I already know all of these people”… and “It’s great to finally see you in real life”… and “I pretty much knew what to expect at Remedy since I follow you on 4Square and FaceBook.”
The best part:: She went to lunch THAT DAY with a bunch of our Remedy leaders who were in her online community… and she has remained connected at Remedy over the past couple of weeks.
Instant connectivity… it’s a beautiful thing.
@ryanweaver – initially it was me against the machine – as I started to pull things down and recreate them a few feathers were ruffled – but I was careful to explain why I was doing it – some people got it and turned into more eyes on the brand – some didn’t – some still don’t but that’s ok.
As more and more marketing appeared with a singular look and feel, the unbranded became obvious – and still sticks out. I guess the big thing is you’re never done. Either because there are always new people in the mix or because the brand is simply evolving there’s always something to guard.
@jeremyheslop – I agree about the online/social presence – but it’s relative to your demographic/makeup. As much as I’d like my church to “get” the whole online deal – few do. Facebook is still relatively new to them – they’re coming along – but ever so slowly. The techno-lag can be frustrating – but not discouraging. I just look to Remedy to see where we’ll be in 6-9 months.
@epending (aka:: Wilsey)…
Great points on the “evolving brand”… and that the “unbranded becomes obvious”. Patience is needed all the more when the church is in transition (when is it NOT in transition?).
Ryan- another thing to consider along with a good PR strategy is developing a community outreach program. I agree with most here that typically the majority of the “guests” come from personal invitations. Marketing programs are really a way to establish your brand, and create brand equity and awareness. You mentioned above that it takes 3-5 touch points before someone recongizes you brand. I recently read that that has now increased to 15-17 touch points in business due to all of the market saturation and the increase in social media. That is a lot of touch points!
Instead of going into a community to personally invite people by going door to door, or doing door hangers/ leaflet distribution, think about what either someone or a group of people in the community need. What if you went to your local school and asked if you could help subsidize their kids lunch program, or help with maintenance for a couple of months, or provide school supplies and backpacks to every under privileged kid, or partnered with your local retail store to provide a weekly breakfast for the homeless, helped a couple of families thru a tough economic time, helped rebuild or update a family’s home who is in need, started a scholarship fund, bought books for the local library, helped organize a local community blood drive, etc… Let’s take provide school supplies as an example, here is what I think happens. You talk to the pricipal, who in turn talks his staff, who in turn talk to the teachers, who in turn talk the students, who in turn talk to the parents, who then talk to the neighbors, who in turn talk to the media. All of this is exposure for your church in a fundamental way (like a personal invitation) but instead of coming from the church it is coming from someone in the community. Like in business, people are skeptical of a “door to door” salesman, but if your neighbor tells you that you should buy a specific product you are more inclined to buy.
[...] am trying something new in the area of marketing this month at SonRise. A friend of mine, uses Facebook ads as an inexpensive way to advertise events at his church. So for the month of [...]
Ryan,
Excellent post. I particularly love that you are involved in the FFFF! I love all that your are doing and NOT doing. Kudos for spending wisely! Social media strategy is huge. To draw from the other two articles you referenced I totally agree with what Brad said about building a crowd. And (like Danielle’s post) I have long counseled churches to forget the newspaper and phonebook methods of marketing. Most local newspapers have a “free-for-churches” ad section (but who looks there?: people who already have a church : we had a lady at my old church who thought it was her weekly responsibility to let us know when our church ad was smaller than others, or didn’t include the info she thought should be in there).
What all 3 of you are saying is “Our best billboard is our PEOPLE”
This is what I call Missional Marketing (two seemingly incongruous words)
-Leverage relationships and stories to COMMUNICATE your message
This is a huge part of a social media strategy
(If you simply appear to be selling your product (ie. church) people will be
turned off but if you connect with them on an emotional level through a
similar experience you will draw them into the experience)
-Doing Good in your community
Not only is this BIBLICAL but it should come to serve as your number one
tool for marketing (even if you never focus on that aspect of it). As you seek
to do more and more service work in your community you should find that
more and more “free marketing” opportunities come your way via local media
(tv, radio, and print)
-My only added suggestion is your research (or better yet recruit a church
goer familiar with or willing to) writing press releases and release them to
all the local news outlets about upcoming service events
Share stories and create new ones as a community of faith and you will pretty much have the marketing strategy created by that 3 person marketing firm known as YHWH kicked off with that now incredibly familiar quote “In the beginning…” I think if I could be so bold as to summarize their 3fold approach it would be Word, Flesh, Movement!
I love you bro! God Bless Remedy Church!
Thank sweet 8lb 6oz newborn baby Jesus for butter!
@MichaelMcMinn…
Thanks for adding your thoughts to this discussion… “Our best billboard is our people.” I love it.