Ministry Marketing CoachMinistry Branding and Marketing that Works

The last couple of posts were designed to separate a little of the “wheat from the tares” of Vocational Evangelism marketing. I may have gotten a little close to the tender spots for some tastes, but I feel some straight talk is needed for some.

I have found that when people want to talk ministry marketing they tend to expect talk about promotional tactics. The problem with that is promotion is only part of what you need. Promotion is only a fourth of what you do in marketing!

I tend to focus on the areas that are not promotion when I research why response is not clicking with the intended audience. If people are not responding, more often than not, the reason is not that you have not promoted well enough. If people don’t respond, it is often because they don’t want to respond.

Promotion and word-of-mouth don’t happen if what you offer isn’t much in demand. So, no matter what you are trying to promote, finding out more about what connects with the people you want to reach makes more sense than dropping more money into slick design and advertising. If you take the time to get the other things right, the response comes more naturally.

Having said that, and after looking at the marketing of some Evangelist on the web, I have these tips for you to consider for promoting your ministry.

Make the promotion speak to the needs of the people you want to reach from their perspective.

If people read your site and it’s all about you they won’t be as attracted as if what they find there is about their needs. Check out this post on the difference between “You Marketing” and “Me Marketing”

Talk about the benefits you offer to the people you want to reach.

When you speak to your audience, you need to talk about the impact you can help the church make. This is an expansion on the topic of “You” oriented marketing verse “Me” oriented marketing. Here’s an example of what I mean using copy adapted from a website.

“Evangelist John Doe is a dynamic man of God who brings messages that help people grow in the basics of the Christian life. These lessons give practical tips on how to become the kind of Christian that God desires for us all to become.”

VS

“How to be the kind of Christian God wants you to be”: Grow in the basics of the Christian life with these practical tips from Evangelist John Doe.”

In the first example Evangelists John Doe is the star of the show. It is a classic form of “You” marketing. In the second example, the focus is on “Me” and my needs. The second example is far more appealing to the reader.

Take more time and make your website work for you, not against you!

Looking at many sites, I was amazed that even on the most popular Evangelist’s websites it was hard to find how to contact the Evangelist. That strikes me as strange since I presume the reason they put a website on the internet in the first place is to get more contacts. Go figure!

Here are a few other tips

• “Welcome to my website, feel free to look at it” is not marketing copy, it is nonsense. Would you say to someone knocking on the door to your house, “Welcome to my door! Feel free to look at the hinges, the door knob, and the carvings on the front!”
• Make it easy to understand what you offer. Some of the programs offered by Evangelists have great names, but they don’t explain what they are. How can you know if you want a “Festival” in your church, if you don’t know what is involved in the festivities?
• Hey, now that you have a website, it’s a good time to write out what you do. Some sites have such little information; it’s hard to understand why people expect their website to work for them as a promotional tool.
• Update your photo and use a quality picture! Hey if you are 55 years old, it’s time to stop using a picture of you when you were 35.
• While we are on the subject, it’s also time to talk about RECENT ministry experience. If the examples on your website are from 20 years ago, it doesn’t make the case that you have relevant things going on TODAY!
• But be careful that you talk about what you do in the copy on your website from the perspective of how you help the church. If what you write on your site sounds like bragging, you send a message that isn’t going to attract people.
• Break up copy with headers. Some copy on the sites I saw was very heavy and long. If you want longer descriptions, make sure you break them up with headlines and subheadings to help the reader.
• Post audio and or video samples of you preaching (or performing) online. You can use YouTube.com—it’s free!
• If you don’t have a calendar that is booked with a few dates, don’t have a calendar on your site. I don’t know why people have calendars on their site anyway. If your calendar happens to look empty, then it makes you look like you are not much in demand. Drop the calendar!
• Eliminate “Under Construction Pages” it makes you and your site designer look incompetent! If you don’t have copy for a page on a site, either stay up all night and write some, or don’t post the page until the copy is ready!