According to Wikipedia, the first telephone book was issued in 1878. So can an idea from 130 years ago still help your church today?
Almost a quarter of you say yes. You still advertise in the local phone book, and it is a big win for you. But the same number of you say that phone book advertising just isn’t worth it for you. Not enough people are seeing you in your local phone book to justify the cost.
Over half of you don’t bother buying ads in the local phone book, but you are proud to be listed there, right between Jane Doe and Joe Schmo. Probably even those of you who purposely don’t advertise are still listed–seems like a silly marketing move to go out of your way to be unlisted in your local area.
Phone book success story? Or a good reason to file to be unlisted? Let us know in the comments.
This week, we’d like to know, what do you think is most important in your marketing?
Rev. Matthew Whitehead
July 1, 2008
Phone book advertising depends on your local market and your target demographic.
I lived for 5 years in Dallas TX and 2 years in Raleigh NC. These are very technologically advanced cities, and I never kept a phone book in the house because most businesses and churches had easy to find websites. I moved to Hot Springs AR this year, and I use the phone book almost exclusively because nobody uses the internet here.
I pastor an Anglican parish, and our demographic tends to be older… which means little or no computer skills. Some folks in my parish refuse to own a computer! A large percentage of this town is made up of retirees. For those reasons we don’t do much with our website (much to my chagrin), but I’m really emphasizing advertising in the phone book and newspapers.
Matt Whitehead+
St. Chrysostom’s Reformed Episcopal Church
Hot Springs, AR
Cameron
July 1, 2008
Our church sits somewhere between the first two options. We share a reasonably prominent listing with other churches in our denomination in the same phone book area, but it’s not a huge win for us. We wouldn’t be without it though.
Rich Kirkpatrick
July 1, 2008
I think phone book is crucial. But, the problem is that we look for a 1-1 ratio. People may never say they see or refer to it as their reason for coming to your church. However, it is a net that I think you need to have to capture and reinforce other marketing such as your website.
If you laptop is closed and you are gonna turn to the phone book, why not make your church easy to find?
Lex
July 2, 2008
We’ve always done a small ad in the phone book, and I could never figure out why we wasted the money. It seemed so pointless.
But over the past couple years, I’ve been shocked at how many people visit the church, love it, and stay – all because they found us in the phone book. Weird, but go with what works I guess.
Ted
July 2, 2008
Everybody new to the area opens up the yellowpages to find what they need. Pizza, carpet cleaning, property, and churches.
Most ‘churched’ folks stick to denominations they know and rarely visit non-denoms. New converts are open to any for the most part… that’s what we’ve found for the most part.
Rosemary
July 3, 2008
I respectfully disagree that everyone new to an area opens the yellowpages to find what they need. I haven’t opened a phone book since I was in high school. When I move to a new area these days, I search Google.