Do You Know the Key to Growing Your Church?


by Steven Lanham - Date: 2007-05-27 - Word Count: 523 Share This!

Church Marketing is the Key
Communication with the outside world is the key to growing your church. It should form the keystone of your church growth strategy. The type of communication you use often depends on the cost. Most things cost money: television and radio advertising, newspapers, direct mail, door-hangers - the list goes on. There is good news, however, for churches looking to grow without spending a lot of money.

The most inexpensive form of communication is also unquestionably the most effective - it's called Word of Mouth Advertising. This is simply a fancy marketing phrase given to something we've all been doing all our lives: talking to our family, friends and colleagues about the things we deem important in our lives: food, movies, people, clothes - everything. It's not just gossip (well, sometimes), it's the free exchange of ideas and opinions. Notice the word "free"? That's the best part. And because it's free, it should be the first choice when it comes to harnessing its incredible power to really grow your church.

Create a BUZZ!
Getting people to talk about their "product" is the primary goal of any marketer and a church is no different. It's called creating a buzz or hype.

Typically, a church or business will invest heavily in traditional forms of marketing such as signage or advertising not realizing that the best (and the most cheapest) form of advertising is (literally) sitting right in front of them. Your current church members form an incredibly powerful "sales force". Instead of you singing your praises (pun intended) with traditional and often costly forms of advertising, you should deliberately and purposely ask your current members to spread the word.

This is called indirect selling and it's very powerful. Instead of focusing on a straight "bring a guest next week" invitation (this can be difficult for some members and it can make potential visitors a little uncomfortable), ask your members to share stories such as the funny remarks made by the Senior Pastor or the fantastic toys they have in the nursery. It's about painting a picture of a place that sounds really great... and inviting.

Another inexpensive approach to growing your church is focusing on an audience that is typically more receptive than most. It's a group of people that have been pursued by marketers for decades. These are people known as new movers or new residents: families who have recently arrived in a new neighborhood.

Marketers know that new movers are more responsive that established residents which makes them an ideal audience for low-cost marketing. This is because the new mover universe is really small, typically 30 - 50 new families in every ZIP code. So, reaching these families is very cost effective.

Like word-of-mouth advertising, direct mail is a very powerful form of direct (i.e. one-to-one) communication. A new movers direct mail program is both convenient and affordable (and it works). If you're looking to grow your church, but you are on a limited budget, a monthly new mover direct mail program is a great place to start.

For more information on a full turnkey new movers direct mail program for your church, please visit http://www.newmoverchurchpostcards.com.

Related Tags: direct marketing, direct mail, church growth, church marketing, new movers

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