Ministry Marketing CoachMinistry Branding and Marketing that Works

The topic of Word-of-Mouth (WOM) promotion is very popular these days in ministry marketing circles. I think it is great that many leaders in ministry are now showing interest in this important subject.

Word-of-Mouth really is the best form of advertising. If your church is motivating and inspiring people to talk to their colleagues, friends, families and neighbors–congratulations! It’s great when people are buzzing about the great things your church is doing.

So what is the word on Word-of-mouth marketing? Word-of-mouth (Also known as Buzz marketing) is the spontaneous passing of information from person-to-person about a topic that result in promotion of the topic.

In church marketing, it is getting people talking about your church, your programs, the gospel, and anything else your church is doing. When good buzz is happening, your church reaches more people in effective ways that are the most credible to seekers.

Here are some of the ways Word-of-mouth gets going…

• People get to “Buzzing” or “Going Viral” using tools like 2.0 Social Media (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, text messaging, Blogs, email, message boards, IM, etc) talking about your church, your event, program, etc
• Personal recommendations or invitations of individuals in daily conversation catch people’s attention in many ways. Research shows most people would respond if they were only invited to church by one of your church members
• Testimonies of people (formal or spontaneous) make people stop, listen and consider looking into your church
• Noticeable public response of any kind to your outreach makes people wonder, “What’s going on over there, I’ll think I need to investigate”
• There are many ways people spread ideas!

In our wired and connected world there are many more tools available these days that can be used in Word-of-mouth marketing than previous generations had. A church can get a lot of attention and get people all “abuzz” about a topic very quickly. So get buzzy learning how to use them in your ministry!

How to get Word-of-Mouth Going

You can create Word of mouth with your members by giving them the tools they need to tell their friends about what is going on at their church. Here are a few ideas

• Make sure you make it easy for people to talk about you by creating digital tools they can use when they are inspired to talk to their contacts about your church. Put your promotional materials on the web and make them compatible with 2.0 media
• Give church members pocket sized invitation cards, post cards, yard signs and other tools they can choose to use to invite people and talk up your church.
• Make it easy for them to communicate with people by writing understandable and memorable copy so they can use your phrases in conversation
• Ask (key word “ask” not “push”) people who are willing to share a testimony in your church and in other media. Make sure they are people who are freely offering their endorsement and choose people who have a mature faith and who also represents Christ well in the way they live
• Always get permission before using a church member’s picture in promotional materials. When you use their image, you are implying their endorsement.
• If you are going to have a special event that’s worth talking about, remember to alert the media with a News Release (more on PR in later posts)

When I ask church leaders in my seminars if they know why their members don’t invite others to church, they usually sit up and lean forward in their chairs hoping for a piece of secret advice. Then I tell them the truth that is no secret: The reason your church members don’t invite others is….they don’t want to.

The real secret to getting real word of mouth advertising from your church is to treat people with respect and meet their needs better. Many churches are so busy looking for the next person they want to invite to their church, they overlook the active members and let lapsed attendees slip through the cracks.