Now we are ready to start putting some outreach marketing plans into action for your ministry. Note here, promotion is not the place to start, you end up here after you lay the ministry foundation. Before you start doing the marketing outreach for your programs, be sure you are centered on ministry to people. Don’t get lost in just working to increase participation in programs–if you don’t have your ministry objectives clear before you start programming and promoting, you might end up initiating programs that don’t even fit with what you are trying to accomplish.
The saddest feeling for me as a coach is when I talk to a ministry that is staging events, but doesn’t really know why they are doing the particular things they are doing. The point is not just to fill up the church calendar with stuff happening at the church. One of the reasons some people stop attending church is they have trouble figuring out what is the point of it all. The reason they have trouble figuring that out is, nobody else is trying to make sure everything has a point. Don’t let that happen to your ministry!
Don’t let the ministry marketing program tail wag the spiritual ministry dog!
Finding the point of your programming is good for your spiritual health as a ministry leader too. I don’t know of many ministers who got into ministry thinking, “I think I would like to get involved in planning pointless church events as a lifelong pursuit.” No, most ministry leaders get into ministry because they care about the spiritual progress of others. They wanted the world to know more about who Jesus is. They got into ministry because they wanted to make the world a better place by taking part in the healing of the wounds caused by sinful mankind.
I have met very few ministers who looked at ministry as a means to get in touch with their inner P.T. Barnum Circus promoter. If you just start marketing your ministry with a bunch of promotional activities without stopping to make sure they are on point, you could lose your way. You could “become” something you are not.
I don’t care what kind your ministry is, or what size it is, if you are just cranking out programs and resources without being able take the time to see how they contribute to the spiritual growth of people and the advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven–stop!
What is the Purpose of Your Ministry Marketing?
Take time to get what others may be missing, have a point to all your marketing and don’t just line up a random string of events, programs, and attempts to get a bunch of people in your front door. Define what you want to accomplish with your promotional efforts.
Direct your promotional strategy toward achieving your ministry goals. When planning ministry communication, revisit your church’s vision, mission and core values statements. If you don’t have these, think prayerfully about the direction and priorities of your church and write them down, along with some ministry goals for achieving them. Many times, marketing and advertising efforts fail because ministry leaders don’t have specific communication goals in mind.
Whatever marketing outreach you do, make sure what you plan is consistent with your calling and goals. Too many organizations get side tracked with events and promotions that seemed good at the time, but really had nothing to do with the vision and mission of the organization. A good plan for your marketing outreach is to tie everything you do (mission) to who you are called to be (vision). Makes sense to me!
Hopefully by now, if you have done your homework, you will know enough about the people you want to reach to answer a few questions about what they know, feel, and expect when they encounter communication from your ministry. Now, add the point to all your promoting.
For each event, promotion, or outreach ask yourself these questions:
- How does this event, program, promotion communicate who we are called to be to other people? How does this help us accomplish the mission we are called to achieve?
- Who is this for, who are we targeting with this activity?
- What is the action we hope the targeted people will take?
- What do we hope to help people feel or believe that takes them closer to where they need to be?
- What information will people have as a result of this communication that will contribute to getting them to where they need to be?
- What are the perceived life-application benefits that will make the people we reach want to participate?
- How does the entire package of this event, program, or promotion tie-in to the other plans of this ministry?
- Where does this item fit in the list of priorities for this ministry?
- What is the hypotheical outcome of the event, program, or promotion?
- If all things go as planned, how does this point people toward taking the next step spiritually? How does your plan lead into follow-up and assimilation into the life of the ministry and the body of Christ?
Leave a Reply