Evangelism Marketing

God wants your church to grow. As the Apostle Paul wrote about the Church in Colossians 2:19, “The whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow” (NIV). Yet today, even churches that want to grow are in a challenging environment, where seeds are too often choked out by all the weeds in our society (Mark 4:18, 19).

If you want to see God’s church grow, there is one thing you absolutely must do. If you want to reach people where they are at, if you want to punch through the communication clutter all around us, you cannot speak softly.

You must be provocative.

A well-crafted message will reach you right where you are and provoke you to act. Provocative speech is a tool we as the Church use well at times. Unfortunately, we tend to filter the bold promises of God as soon as we leave the building.  Provocative speech is a tool we need to harness in our outreach efforts, too, in order to get heard.

Jesus clearly used this tool in His day. For example, read His words in Matthew 5:27-29: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (NIV).

The words of Jesus are bold, with the consequences so very real. It is that bold language that encourages movement. In fact, it demands it.

Are we willing to compete?

You will not hear a car commercial ever use the phrase “better than average” or “middle of the road”. Every car manufacturer offers multiple models at multiple price points, yet every ad would have you believe the car in front of you is the right one for you. It is the “best in class” or offers “Top line performance” This aggressive language hits us right where they want. They have practiced and polished this message to ensure that we will respond.

Or think about the insurance industry. They don’t paint a picture of minor inconveniences. They want you to know that the end is coming, and they’ll be there when it does. When your house caves in or your town is flooded, don’t you want to be in good hands?

But whose hands are better than God’s? Should someone buy a car or insurance before they make a decision about their eternal relationship with their Creator? We have the best answer—the only true answer—to the crying needs of a hurting world, so we need to be willing to paint the same picture and offer better results than the rest of the world.

Perhaps our confidence has been shaken by some who don’t know how to temper their words with love. In fact, most of what I’m saying is not in regard to Christ’s assault on the pride and sin of “religious” people, but His strength in knowing the answer to all things comes from the Father. Some who claim to speak for God have focused on messages that tear down, rather than build up, that discourage action rather than provoke a positive response. This has caused the rest of us to overreact by not wanting to push hard in our church marketing efforts. Yet this approach does not work—and it isn’t biblical.

We need to promote the problem as the world sees it, but provide a solution they didn’t see coming: a relationship with Jesus.

God’s way solves relational issues, protects marriages, keeps us from over-spending, and gives us hope in times of trouble. His Word speaks truth into the hearts of all who will listen.

So how do we do this? For starters, here are ways to improve any direct mail marketing piece:

5 keys to effective, provocative messages

1. Understand how people decide to attend. Understanding how people make a decision is an important step in leading them through that process. By knowing who reviews the mail (statistically it is women), who leads the conversation about attending (again women), and determining who could road block the decision (here is where the men fit in) we understand what to say and how to say it in language and visuals that make it through every step in the process.

2. State the offer, sell the benefits. The offer is a large matter-of-fact statement that reaches into people’s core like “Stop feeling tired”. The benefits build a case on how it gets done. “Learn exercises that will increase your energy,” or, “discover foods that build stamina” are both good examples that match the offer.

3. Develop rapport with your reader. People want answers, but whom should they listen to? Everybody today claims to be an expert. Focus on the ways that you can develop trust and tones of concern and relationship in your mailer. If the reader believes you want to help, and have the answers, then they are more likely to attend your event. Don’t waste marketing real estate without a reason. If you don’t have a great photo and aren’t known in your area, then your picture and bio will do little to add credibility. Instead, try adding faces of happy attendees similar to your target reader.

4. Understand and remove objections. Objections are simply reasons to say no. Take those away and you are more likely to get a yes. Childcare, food during mealtime hours, and easy directions on your mailer are all ways to overcome basic objections. One of the biggest challenges comes in presenting too many dates on your flyer. Keep in mind that if the reader is busy on just one of those dates, then they will have an easy out. Remember the purpose of the mailer is to get people to the opening night. You don’t want to trick them, but you do want to remove objections.

5. Call them to action. After you have taken every step and precaution to invite your neighbors through a mailing you must follow that up with a simple action step. Ask them to pre-register, call a phone number, visit a website or put it on their calendar. Any of these are good. You can offer multiple ways to accomplish a task—phone or website registration is a good example—but you should only focus on one specific act. Too many options will paralyze the reader, reducing action not increasing it. Be deliberate and ask for what you want them to do.

Conclusion

Each of these 5 keys is fundamental in the success of a campaign. If any one of them is overlooked then the entire promotion can crumble. Each one needs to be thought through and developed within the overview of the goals you have for your event.

In the end, we must find a new way to speak a classic message to this generation, and we must be willing to compete with the hyperbole of today’s marketing without compromising the truth of our claims. Thanks to Jesus, we have the ultimate offer, and talking it up should come pretty easy.

Many churches want to break through the noise of today’s busy culture to reach people for Christ. But even if they do break through, too often it is for just a moment, and the connection is lost before they can build a long-term relationship.

After eight years of helping thousands of churches improve their communication, I have seen one practice that is far and away the most effective approach to outreach communications. Yet it is consistently ignored by most churches. As a result, churches waste money and minimize the results of their community campaigns. By adopting this one approach to church communications, you will become more effective at getting noticed by your community and build a rapport with the families in your neighborhood.

So what is this practice?

Momentum through consistency. Communication momentum means that people have heard of you, and maybe even have an opinion of you. When you have momentum, you can put fewer resources and less energy into your outreach marketing while maintaining your results.

However, many church leaders seem to believe lies that impair momentum. These beliefs may not be spoken out loud, but are often embedded deep in the culture of the congregation. Some of these beliefs include:

• Reaching the same person more than once gets diminishing returns.
• Once people say no to an invitation, they won’t ever say yes.
• It is better to reach as many people as possible once (quantity) rather than reaching fewer people more often (quality).

Once these ideas invade your church outreach philosophy, you’ll find strong headwinds to ever getting heard.

Airplanes use considerably more fuel during takeoff than they do while cruising. Once they are at cruising altitude, they can travel using substantially less energy. Multi-stop flights have a higher average cost per mile because of the shorter cruising period and additional take offs required. Airlines account for this phenomenon when determining their flight costs.

Marketing efforts follow a similar pattern; allowing for you to conserve on resources once you have full air-speed. This proven model is used by today’s fastest growing companies and non-profit organizations, and you should follow it for your church outreach efforts, as well. With it your initial investment in a campaign will allow you to reach more people in your community over time for less money.

This is where too many churches get off course, when they opt to conserve their budget for one or two big draw items: Christmas, Easter, VBS, or a big evangelism campaign. They spend lots of resources and attention on getting seen and heard one time, and then miss the opportunity to maintain that channel of communication throughout the year.

This can have multiple adverse effects on your church outreach.

1. You waste money. Gaining momentum is costly; maintaining it is cheaper and easier. You waste financial resources by taking off once or twice a year without doing something more with it.
2. You expend energy. Not only do you waste money by not maintaining momentum, but you expend a lot of creative energy coming up with new concepts from scratch.
3. You never gain credibility. When someone receives regular communication from your church, you can gain the credibility that comes from becoming recognized for your ongoing ministries.
4. You miss ministry opportunities. When you don’t create an ongoing stream of communication, you miss the opportunity to touch a person during their specific time of need.

With such compelling evidence against inconsistent promotion, why do churches still engage in the practice? Because anything that involves momentum requires patience and discipline. And although we may be good at applying these traits to our spiritual journey, they often don’t make it into church administrative issues.

So how do you increase the long-term effect of your outreach without heavily impacting your budget? Here are a few questions to consider when addressing your upcoming outreach efforts:

• Do you have a follow-up method? Once you have spent the resources to engage someone in the community you should be able to do it again for less. But the key is to move closer into the person’s communication circle. This means email, Facebook, or even phone numbers can be your new form of communication with this person for other upcoming activities. If you don’t collect any contact information you’ll lose any momentum you have with that person.
• Do you have a follow-up activity? Do they know what to do next to stay engaged with your church?
• Do you have a follow-up person? Having the first two elements are great, but if no one is there to handle this aspect you may lose your opportunity to develop a relationship with your neighbor.

By committing to a consistent program of outreach you can develop a presence with your community that requires less fuel to maintain.

To conclude, here are three ways that SermonView can help your church build momentum through consistency:

1. New Mover’s Cards: Our New Neighbors program offers a church the opportunity to reach people who have just relocated, whether across town or across the country. This card is more than an invitation. It may be a lifeline for a family in a world dominated by isolation. This program automatically mails a card to new movers based on your church’s budget and/or geographic reach. The best part? You receive the list of addresses so that you can follow up with a personal letter or house-warming gift.
2. Bible-study Cards: Sending out a monthly mailing to stay in front of your neighbors can be a good way to develop trust and build recognition. You can send out cards that tell people about upcoming sermon topics or offer people an opportunity to join a small group or one-on-one Bible study. We offer response methods such as website registration and toll-free numbers. By collecting information you have an opportunity to develop a connection with the recipients, and by sticking to a range closer to your church you can afford to send something out more consistently.
3. Rotating Banners: Many of the faster growing churches in our area change their signage regularly. By rotating out your outdoor signs every month you engage local traffic at a very low cost to your budget. Use this tool to communicate upcoming events, invite people to church, or keep them engaged with various seasonal signs. The important thing is to come up with a schedule and make sure to stick with it.

The key to developing momentum is consistency. This applies both to outreach marketing or your church’s volunteer efforts in the community. If we want to see real momentum in the growth of a local church we need to stop thinking in terms of trying to rocket our way to a big turnout and think in terms of developing a long-term flight plan.

Easter is the biggest day of the Christian year. It is the day we celebrate Christ’s love and His defeat of death through His resurrection. On this day, we remember that climactic moment in history, when Satan lost and God won.

It is for this reason that many who normally do not attend church will seek one out to attend. This is the one time a year where you know there are families looking for a church. Therefore it is this time of year that churches should make their biggest push toward outreach through invitation.

Here are some great ideas for doing it cost-effectively and with a little creativity.

1. The personal invitation. The best form of invitation is a personal one. Anytime a person can hand someone else an invitation the value of that invite goes up greatly. This year create an invitation that begs to be handed out. Design a folded greeting card and envelope with a personal invitation built in. People love seeing their name on an envelope and digging inside to discover the words of affirmation awaiting them. Make the card a general sentiment of good will with a little invitation thrown in. Have members of the church grab 5 cards and envelopes each, then have them write the names of the people they would love to invite on the envelopes. This will help remind them to hand these out. A nice-looking card with a positive message will draw members in and help to overcome their fear of inviting someone to church.

2. Put up a new sign. Many churches are located right next to one of their best assets for inviting new families: their road. If your church is located on a fairly busy street, then you have the opportunity to capture the minds of those drivers as they pass by. The question is what do you say? Many churches have opted for fun sayings or basic service times. While these may be effective for the day-to-day of your church, Easter is a special time that requires a special sign. Full-color banners catch the eye, or if you have invested in a backlit sign there are unique materials that can turn it into a full-color sign that will definitely get noticed. The key is to keep it simple and inviting. “You are invited” in big letters is a good way to start. People don’t need to know to everything about your church. Mostly they just need to know it is OK to show up.

3. Mailed invitations. Many churches feel that mail is just too expensive. Although mailing does require some investment, it can be an excellent way to reach people outside of your members’ influence, especially at Easter. A 10,000 piece mailing can run as little as 23¢ per household. During Easter it is very typical that a well-crafted postcard will see 5 families or more per 1,000 postcards respond to the invitation. That is a cost of $46 to get a new family into your church. And this can potentially pay for itself: If one of the five families becomes an active, giving member of your church, their new financial contributions could pay for the mailing within months.

The key to a successful mailer is a combination of great design and a good offer. Check out the best practices for a successful mailing in our previous article, “The 10 Commandments of Church Mailings”

4. Get social. Churches are still in the throws of discovering how to use social media in relevant and effective ways. Easter is a great opportunity to utilize your social network to get the word out about your Easter plans. Design a fun digital invitation that you can post to your Facebook page. Then ask all of your members to “Like” your page and your invitation. They can in turn throw out invitations throughout their network by referencing your invite. The power of social media means that you could reach out to thousands of people in a matter of days, if you can get everyone with an account from your church participating.

5. Email invitations. Every church should find ways to take advantage of the cost-effective world of digital invitations. Create a landing page designed with your specific Easter information, and then develop a tell-a-friend invitation that matches. This way your members can use the email addresses they have to invite people to your church. The invitations still have a personal feel, but generally members don’t have quite the same fear associated with a face-to-face invitation. If developing a tell-a-friend feature seems intimidating, there are a number of online services. (Our team offers a registration page and tell-a-friend for $295.00 that can be used for both invites and to get people to pre-register for a specific service time.)

The key to seeing more people come through your doors this Easter is visibility. The demand is already there, all you need to do is let people in your community know that your doors are wide open.