Church Marketing Sucks

Our mission is to frustrate, educate and motivate the church to communicate, with uncompromising clarity, the truth of Jesus Christ.

How to Submit
We welcome unique submissions and queries for Church Marketing Sucks. All submissions and queries can be submitted online. All submissions must include complete info and author bio. We assume all rights for any submission and will publish accepted entries at our discretion. Submitted entries should not be printed or posted anywhere else (i.e., don’t post something on your site and then submit it to us). Payment is publication, your two-sentence bio and our many thanks. We reserve the right to edit, accept or reject any entry for any reason.

What to Write

• We’re looking for blog entries about church marketing and communication. We favor the practical over the philosophical, though we will consider philosophical entries. General marketing or communication tips or news are fine, though they always must be tied in some way to the local church.
• We focus on the church, so we’re not as interested in marketing as it relates to nonprofits or para-church organizations—unless you can tie it back to the local church.
• We have a worldwide audience, so keep that in mind as you write.
• We prefer a personal, conversational tone.
• Length is dependent on the topic. Some entries can be as short as a single paragraph or even sentence if that’s all it warrants. Others can be much longer, though the content needs to justify the length. As a rule, shorter, bite-size content is better.
• Read several months worth of archives to get a feel for the type of topics we cover and how we cover them. Be aware of what’s been covered in the past—we only like to repeat topics if there’s a new angle or twist to consider.
• Try to anticipate the arguments or objections your post may raise. Sometimes the objection is a huge well-known issue we’re constantly debating—in this case it’s fine to just acknowledge it.

Mechanics

• All submission should conform to AP style and professional writing standards.
• We’ll accept entries of any length, though shorter entries usually work better. Longer entries must have subheads and bulleted lists when appropriate.
• Include any relevant links to outside sites or other Church Marketing Sucks entries as well as any necessary hat tips (we like to give ‘link via xxx’ credit when possible and appropriate). Give credit where credit is due. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
• Let us know if you have graphics to accompany your post and we will contact you to obtain them.

Bio
If we choose to post your entry we will include a two-sentence bio. Please include some mention of your connection to the church (i.e., Joseph Jones has attended a Baptist church for ten years, Pete Sanchez is a priest at St. Sebastion’s Church in Muncie, Ind., Sally Ryder has a love/hate relationship with church and currently attends one of those funky house churches, etc.)

You are welcome to include links in your bio to appropriate sites (blogs, businesses, churches, etc.). We reserve the right to edit your bio.

Blog Fodder
If you have news tips, links, ideas or other blog fodder but don’t want to write it yourself, we’d still love to have it. Send it our way.