Church Marketing Sucks

I’m discovering a trend as I listen to the story of communication directors and staffers: “I didn’t start off as the communication director, I just kinda fell into it.” That’s my story too. I came on staff as a graphic designer/website guy and before I knew it, I was questioning why we were doing so many stage announcements. Thus, I became a communication director.

Principles to Help Manage Communication

What does managing a church communication schedule and strategy look like? While there isn’t a right way to do this and every organization will look different, I believe there are some principles that can be applied in every situation:

• One dashboard: Collect all communication needs into one central location so you can have an ‘at-a-glance’ view of everything you’re expected to manage.
• Define channels: Clearly define what communication outlets (program, website, social, announcement) you have available and maintain a consistency in how each channel is used.
• Begin with the end: Assign items to outlets working from the date of the event backwards. For Christmas Eve, define what an announcement on December 21st looks like and progress backward. This is in line with Stephen Covey’s, “Begin with the end in mind,” philosophy.
• Plan ahead and reevaluate: No matter how far in advance you plan, reevaluate your communication schedule each week to make adjustments. Planning ahead gives you freedom.

While I’ve suggested four items here, in reality, if you could apply just one of them it will bring liberty to how your church communicates.

It’s a lot of fun to jump directly to what tool is best for managing communication. Honestly, that’s where I go. But a tool is only as good as the strategy it helps you to manage. The tool, in and of itself is not a strategy.

Though I didn’t realize it when I ‘fell into’ my communication role, the feelings I was experiencing were normal. I now know that if you put a few dozen church communicators in the same place and then surveyed the room asking for their number one challenge, the response you’d receive would be something like, “how do I know what to communicate where?” I believe the four items above can help get you on the right track to answer that question.

Discover One Way to Manage Communication

Sometimes it helps to see how this plays out in real life. I’ve had other church communicators come and sit in the communication meetings I lead in order to get an idea for what elements they might want to incorporate into their meetings. For this reason, I’m hosting a free one-time only webinar to help bring clarity to managing your communication schedule and strategy. I will walk through the above points in more depth, and I’ll also show you the tool I use to manage week in and week out communications.

If you’d like to get a vision for what your communication schedule and strategy could look like, come hangout with me on Thursday, Nov. 20 at 3 p.m. ET. The webinar is free and there will be an opportunity to ask questions as we go through the material together.

Your Role Is Unique and Requires a Unique Approach

The role of the communication person at a church is one of (if not the most) exciting roles at a church because you have the opportunity to impact every area of ministry and propel the message of your church forward. Sometimes all it takes is having the right principles paired with the right tools to get the momentum you need to take communication to the next level.

Click to register for the webinar