Every week I hold online office hours and answer questions from folks like you. This week we’ve got a question about marketing budgets and bulletin advertising. Take a look and be sure to join me every Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. CDT for online office hours!
What would you say to pastors is a good Internet marketing budget (monthly)?
My response:
Coming up with a definitive number for a question like this is difficult. There are many extenuating circumstances that can affect how much money goes where. You dig?
In light of that, here’s what I’d suggest: Try an experiment. Take three months and apply a portion of your print budget to Internet marketing and see what happens. Make sure it’s healthy enough to make a difference (I’d suggest no less than 50%) and you give the experiment enough time to work (thus, the three months).
This accomplishes a few different things: 1.) It ensures there’s no “extra” resources needed. You’re working with a budget that (hopefully) already exists. 2.) It allows a no-pressure scenario where you can see what works online and what doesn’t.
If you don’t have a budget established for print marketing, try freeing up resources from somewhere else. Once you see the results, you’ll either be able to make a better case for resources. Either way.
Just ask this question: “What do I do with the Yellow Pages that show up on my front doorstep?” You throw it away. That’s what. Print marketing isn’t dead, but it’s taking a backseat to digital. Just remember that!
Do you have any marketing statistics that speak to the effectiveness of church bulletin advertising?
My answer:
One of the best case studies I’ve read on the topic comes from Tipping Media. It’s not bulletin-based, but it does involve church mailers. The two pieces have different purposes, but the data works generally when comparing online and print-based mediums.
Thanks for the great questions everybody! Hopefully this information will help you get from where you are to where you want to go. See you next time in the office!
