Church Marketing Sucks

So today I stumbled across this little pornographic video from PETA and blogged about it on my personal site. Don’t worry, I’m linking to my blog post and not the video, both to deny PETA the link love and to keep us one step removed from the controversy (if that means anything).

The video features a woman proclaiming the great things PETA has done this year in a ‘state of the union’ style, while she strips. Yes strips. By the end of it she’s sportin’ the Eve look, sans cleverly placed leaves.

As I pondered the whole thing and wrote about it for my personal blog, lessons for church marketing came to mind. It’s a stretch, I know, but bear with me.

Exploring PETA’s Tactics
I see PETA’s ‘State of the Union Undressed’ and I’m offended. I don’t understand how their message justifies freely available pornography.

I see PETA’s ‘I’d rather go nude than wear fur’ ads and I think, “So don’t wear fur. Nobody’s forcing you to–what’s the big deal?” Their message seems irrelevant.

In the end I finally realized my frustration with PETA came from the fact that they were more interested in making noise than connecting. They wanted to make a shocking splash with the striptease video and intentionally offend people. They’re so convinced about the evils of fur that they have to go so far out of the way to make their statement. Rather than convince me of the need to be kind to animals (a noble aim) they were driving me away with their extremism.

Sound familiar?

Communication that Doesn’t Connect
When a Christian tries these sort of tactics, it drives people away. And I’m not talking about Christians making porno videos, I’m talking about Christians being so incredibly offensive or irrelevant or self-absorbed that people would never listen. In the extreme, it’s the Westboro Baptist Church (the ‘god hates fags’ folks) approach. It’s the same thing as our recent discussion on avoiding unnecessary offense.

And it doesn’t have to be that extreme to turn people off. The ‘I’d rather go nude than wear fur’ ads aren’t that offensive. But the message doesn’t connect. It reminds me of the Christian T-shirts I used to wear and wonder why they didn’t spark immediate conversations and conversions. There’s a difference between making a statement and making a connection. Statements don’t usually accomplish much. Statements promote a defensive posture as opposed to a receptive posture. Which reaction do you think is more beneficial to sharing the good news?

So What Does Connect?
It reminds me of a phrase from the sermon at my church on Sunday (roughly paraphrased): there’s no DVD or program or book that will convince someone to become a Christian. It requires the simple love of everyday Christians like you and me, something I so utterly fail at.

Imagine what it would take for a PETA volunteer to convince you to support them. For me it wouldn’t be in-your-face antics, it would be reasoned and sane conversation. The same sort of tactics will be more effective for the church as well. More than a shocking ad campaign we simply need to love people. So the question isn’t how can we create an in-your-face message, but how can our marketing and communications promote opportunities for genuine interaction?

There’s no easy answer, but I think that’s where church marketing needs to go.

Different Strokes for Different Folks
It brings to mind a quote from the Puritans:

“The same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay.”

The Puritans (!) apparently realized that the same preaching wouldn’t be effective for everyone. Different sermons and even different methods are needed for different people. Which makes me wonder why there’s not more diversity in the church and why so many balk when we consider doing something other than a sermon, but that’s another discussion.

The in-your-face church marketing of picketing or edgy ad campaigns or irrelevant statements will only connect with so many people. Which is good—let’s connect with them. But I’d wager those tactics will only connect with a small minority. We need to try something else for the rest of us.

(link via thoughts and the Donor Power Blog)