Online Marketing Vs. Traditional Marketing + and ideas...

[dlcjonathan]

(I wasn't sure where to place this topic so don't shot me.)

Our church has done lots of traditional marketing in the past; mailers, flyers, postcards ect. but i have found its a giant cost with little return. All that to say Im looking for ideas for online marketing. Facebook, google, Sponsored ads are some basic ideas. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what has worked or hasn't worked for them.

thanks!

[greg4god]

The last two times I moved, one of the first things I did was hit google maps, center it on my new location and did a search for "Church"

I then went to the website of each church that was nearby. The first thing I looked for on each, a statement of their beliefs. next was to determine what type of service, I prefer more contemporary. Then I pretty much scoured every page of their site trying to learn about them. Then I picked ones to go visit.

I know there are many other areas to "market" a church to people, but there is a sample of how a geek like me looked for a new church.

Make the site itself findable, make sure there is good content to draw people in, and make sure it easy to navigate to what people would be looking for.

(Big tip, get someone who doesn't even go to any church to review it for you).

Get listed on many community websites -- Chamber of commerce, city sites, visitors bureau, (thank goodness for google's autocomplete on that word, I always misspell it).

Hope this helps some, even though not exactly what you were asking for

-Greg

[dlcjonathan]

I feel our site does all that...or at least i hope. (see for yourself on my sig.) but i guess i was more looking for paid advertisement. Like PPC - Pay Per Click stuff. Or any other ideas people might have.

[tedanderson]

Content is the key. The message that your material conveys is what's important. Not so much the medium that they read it on.

If your direct mailings look just like everyone elses, then it will get discarded with the rest of the junk mail before anyone even looks at it. Secondly your flyers and mailers need to go out consistently. I can tell you from experience that it usually takes 5 to 7 runs before the positive responses start coming. When your printed material gets into someone's hands once a week for 2 months, they start to paying attention to it. Marketing with flyers and handbills really works. You just have to be more persistent than all of the other people who market the same way. You are always competing against the commercial enterprises so it would be in your best interest to have your stuff in someone's mailbox on the day that they didn't get any other mail. There always seems to be more discussion about that one item in the box, whatever it is.. the conversation always starts out as, "That's the only thing that came? Gee, what is it?" and then you have successfully reached your customer!

Pay per click works pretty good too.. but the trick to this is that you need to create a landing page (or what they also call a lead capture page) where your audience will be required to submit their information. Then we will call them on the phone in 24 to 48 hours (before they forget that they had been to the site). We get a good 15 to 20 solid leads a week and then by the time we call them all back, 7 to 8 of them actually show up. Also when we talk to them over the phone, we encourage them to bring a friend or family member with them. It's very effective if you do it right. Getting people to look at your web page isn't that hard. But making them stay long enough to want to come to your church is part of what it takes to make it work.

[dlcjonathan]

Where do you guys advertise for PPC?

We have done tones of mailers (at least 10 i would say) but it seams like only a hand ful of people show up because of it. Thats allot of money for 2-4 people.

[tedanderson]

We have done tones of mailers (at least 10 i would say) but it seams like only a hand ful of people show up because of it. Thats allot of money for 2-4 people.

You might want to examine what exactly is on your mailers. When I get postcards from from local businesses and organizations etc. I usually see the following problems:

1. I can't understand what the heck they are talking about. Is this a bingo game or a cabaret? As mentioned earlier in the thread, have someone completely impartial look at it to see what they are able to make out of it and/or if it makes them want to come to church.

2. Too wordy. While it is important to get as much information out there as possible, it's much easier to say more by saying less. The verbiage should be in large print, easy to read, and the phrase should be short enough to be able to read it in less than 6 seconds.

3. Poor choice of color values- e.g. running yellow text against a white background or using red in the foreground and green in the background. Black text on a white background, although plain, gets the message across much more effectively than a full color design that's too busy.

4. Not enough information - In contrast to it being too wordy sometimes the post card will tell you everything other than what is pertinent to what the audience needs to know.

[delivron]

Church Marketing

All the things you are doing are very good. If I was looking for a church in you area you would be in the running.

One very important thing in church growth is your membership. There is nothing like asking someone you know to attend an event at your church. The takes a mind set of the people to become proactive.

I - 3 minute look around your web site. It is relevant, current and the information can be found.

Yes Click ads are relevant as are links from other sites. Marketing needs to be accomplished every area for successful growth.

[gregdpowell]

Originally Posted by dlcjonathan

(I wasn't sure where to place this topic so don't shot me.)
Our church has done lots of traditional marketing in the past; mailers, flyers, postcards ect. but i have found its a giant cost with little return. All that to say I'm looking for ideas for online marketing. Facebook, google, Sponsored ads are some basic ideas. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what has worked or hasn't worked for them.
thanks!

Hey Guys, sorry to bump an old thread but I just saw this. I'm in a cool position getting to work with a lot of different ministries and checking out how they go about media and marketing. Here is what I see is the #1 problem - lack of planning around a goal.

It's exciting when you an event, new series or even open a new building. Everyone is pumped and ready to get the news out. Traditional media is the norm and easiest for some (because it's a tangible product). However, the flipside (interactive/web/social) media is a mega power medium because people now want to search for their news and also have it find THEM. I actually like a blend of the two, if it accomplished ONE goal. If it's church growth and getting people through the doors then it's important to deliver a 'call to action' and engage a response - like, come check out our church! A lot of it really is standard marketing. Not that it's a bad thing, because achieving our goals in ministry is great, but it gets a negative connotation due to the 'realm' marketing is usually placed in.

I actually wrote a blog post on this a while back on our website (BMCFerrell.com) Good questions, I think the answer is a little more involved than facebook ads and PPC, although those can both be effective in a media plan.

[vance172]

I know this thread is old, but I thought I would pipe in. I work for a company called sermonView, and we specifically help with church marketing. We are incorporating social marketing and online PPC campaigns for local church events. We don't have a lot of feedback yet, but it looks promising.

Also, traditional marketing (print) can work, but you have to be trained to get the message out in a way that really reached people. We offer a monthly newsletter and have some solid articles on our blog about the subject. try sermonview.com/cart/wp/?cat=4, if you are interested.