Church Marketing Sucks

Church communicators wear approximately 6,742 hats, and while we may have at least some knowledge about most things we do, PR is typically not something we’d have listed at the top of our résumé.

I don’t know about you, but I’d never written a single press release before I got hired at my church, and I certainly had no idea what to do when a news crew showed up unannounced one Tuesday afternoon.

This month, we’ve assembled a giant bundle of press-related stuff on Courageous Storytellers—with a healthy dose of crisis communication tips tossed in for good measure. (I hope you never, ever need them.)

Public Relations Resources

In addition to a bunch of done-for-you social graphics, here’s our new stuff this month:

• A webinar from Justin Dean, along with a free download of his book, PR Matters.
• A template for a church social media policy.
• A how-to-guide for building your church’s public relations strategy.
• Help for crisis communication, including must-have tools; steps to defusing potential PR disasters; two, real-world sample crisis communication plans; and tips for building your own crisis communication procedures.
• Suggestions for responding to cultural movements like #metoo.
• Practical wisdom for handling negative feedback on social media.
• Thoughts on creating a believable, media-worthy ministry.
• Everything you wanted to know about writing press releases and building relationships with the media.
• Four ways to get “press” without a press release.

There are so many resources available to church communicators that it can feel a little overwhelming. At Courageous Storytellers, we deal with one topic each month to focus your learning so you can take your ministry to the next level—by leaps and bounds or baby steps. We also offer a supportive community through our Facebook group. Learn more about membership today.