At my church we are trying to prepare for an onslaught of new employees at Fort Meade through Base Relocation efforts in the works. Some are hoping that new people in town will translate to more people in the seats on Sunday. Some do not share in that hope. "We're okay the way we are." (I hate that notion, but that's a different post for a different day.)
I fall into the camp of open-armed members that would love to have some new folks with us each week!
We are located close enough to the base that we should be able to attract attention, but I certainly can't find any! When I google phrases that I think should pop up our beloved church, I get others that are farther away.
Being that we're a medium sized church we don't do much in the way of advertising. The denomination is slow to perform in that area too, which is disapointing. I have seen the UCC and United Methodist advertisements and they get my attention every time. Jealous? Yes.
I know that I have some churchy folks that read my blog from time to time and so I pose this question:
How are you using the web, specifically, to bring in visitors?
What other types of advertising do you do?
You need to check out www.churchmarketingsucks.com. Seriously, it's a great resource for ways to reach out to your community and bring in new members of your congregation. Silly name, but great stuff.
ReplyDeleteThere is a place for marketing in the church, but I am as unsure as you are about what it is.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is you have to ask, "who is your target audience?" Is it Christians who have no church? Is it the unchurched? Is it the spiritually interested? Is it to reach the lost?
It's a tough call, and I think it depends a lot on who your church is and what it wants to do. In your case, with an influx of people from the base moving, there will be Christians who need a new church home - they might be worth running an ad for.
But the other thing I would ask myself is "why are we advertising?" Are we just fishing for new tithers, to support our programs, or are we wanting to offer our fellowship, our love, to people who need a place to grow in their walk with Christ? What can we do to help them know Christ better?
If those types of questions are not answered then the advertising will be fruitless.
Thanks Natalie! I've seen their stuff before and it's great.
ReplyDeleteThanks, too, Shane for the good questions. It's essential to decide the reasons for advertising before marketing! We are facing several non-unique issues all at once. It will be fun.
Also, an update: I have been co-tasked with a possible website overhaul! We really need to get the site up to snuff before we go out advertising anyway!
rob, what is the url? I can probably give you some tips to at least start getting you ranked on google, yahoo and the others.
ReplyDelete