Does Church Marketing Still Suck?: 3 Tips & Stats from Tony Morgan

July 8, 2014 by Tony Morgan

Editor’s Note: Today we’ve got longtime church communicator Tony Morgan giving his take on our 10-year anniversary series asking if church marketing still sucks. We’ll be discussing this question all month long, so check out the other posts and share your thoughts. He’s also sharing some research about how churches communicate.

Does church marketing still suck? That’s an interesting question. I think it has improved over the last 10 years, but there are still opportunities for growth. Churches can take the following three action steps to improve their marketing:

1. Produce Engaging Content Marketing
So much effort is wrapped up in the Sunday services that little, if any, intentionality is given to dripping content out on social media for people to engage and share with their friends. The priority of church marketing shouldn’t be to distribute information; it should be to engage a response. Churches should strategically think about how their marketing can offer content that fuels discipleship and mentoring relationships.

Any organization that doesn’t focus on reaching new people has already started to decline.

2. Understand and Focus on the Target Market
Many times marketing strategies are implemented with no knowledge and understanding of the target market. Churches still want to reach “all” people. The problem is that when you try to be all things to all people, you become very ineffective at doing anything. Every church, whether they want to believe it or not has a target market. Everything a church does or communicates should point to this target audience.

3. Create Outwardly Focused Marketing Strategies
Any organization that doesn’t focus on reaching new people has already started to decline. Marketing should be intentional about reaching people outside the church and outside the faith.

When it comes to church marketing and communication, many churches are stuck. That’s why The Unstuck Group recently paused to ask 186 churches about their marketing and communication. We have analyzed the data and produced a free report that will enhance the way you communicate in five key areas: