Over in the Church Marketing Lab, one church has a problem that lots of you would love to have. How would you spend $5,000 on marketing?
Here’s how some folks have weighed in:
“one idea. small flyers, stickers, posters directing people to a separate website offering hope, progress, change (maybe something like AccessHope or AccessChange dot com). create a “movement” beyond religion. soon you’ll have closet gays, bible college students, homeless (they’ll look you up on the public library computers), young families who just lost their house, people who don’t seem to fit in else where.”
“Stamp your url on 5000 $1 bills. Start handing them out to people who need them. “
So what do you say? How would you spend the $5,000? Head to the Church Marketing Lab and weigh in.
Paul
December 9, 2008
It really depends on the community and culture where applied to make a good suggestion. I think spreading out 5k is a mistake. It just weakens the overall effect of your message. A website could be a good use in the right community, or if there is a family in need, you could sink the whole portion in helping them. Just a few ideas.
J-M
December 9, 2008
Speaking as someone who has done the flyer thing on a college campus, I know that it doesn’t work well. I am very curious if giving out $1’s with a message on them would be more successful. I wrote a quick post about this idea and testing it out with $100 with CARPOOL at Texas A&M. I’ll let you know how it goes.
seanPdesign
December 9, 2008
Pouring the money back into the community is the best investment.
Wesbsite can be covered in a facebook.
post cards are annoying and impersonal.
Banners are tacky.
Adverts are gaudy.
Practicing what you preach is the best form of marketing.
Eddie Johnson
December 9, 2008
As a veteran church-planter and someone who has had success with direct mail in the past, I can say with complete confidence…in this day and age…that I would put the $5k into making my environments or systems more irresistible. Invest it in your children’s ministry, your signage or into your main auditorium.
I now believe in “trickle-down economics”. Great environments are hard to not talk about.
Jeff Goins
December 9, 2008
I suggest, if you don’t have any really great ideas, investing it into long-term returns:
1) Invest into product development – whatever that looks like in this context. Do something to enhance the experience of what is being offered. Maybe it’s something flashy; maybe something simple. Regardless, the intention is to show your constituents that you value them.
2) Invest into really good PR. In my experience, PR goes so much further than advertising. Hire some people to write articles about your church. Get someone to do a newspaper piece on why your church is different (you may actually have to do something different in order to do this well). People gravitate towards stories (esp. in the church “market”) more than they do advertisements. It’s hard to market churches well without sounding cliche. Introducing compelling stories is a good way to do this, I think.
3) Website may not be a bad idea. I’d try to do something, however, that’s going to have long-term returns and continue to bring in fruit for years to come. Building an SEO-optimized site with lots of content (probably a site in the form of a blog would be ideal) will only increase in web value over time.
Bobby Hassel
February 12, 2009
I think it all depends on what you have already in place and what your church is trying to accomplish with its marketing. Unfortunately for the readers of this that are looking for a cookie cutter answer…there is no cookie cutter answer. The best thing to do is find a marketing company that understands churches but still knows current trends. You can find companys like this online through google. Some of these companys include Artistry Marketing http://www.artistrymarketing.com and Signia Marketing http://www.signiamarketing.com
No matter who you go with make sure they care about the church and its vision and not just a paycheck.