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Tasks for Ministry Marketing Coaching: Deliver the Message
By chris | December 6, 2006
Ministry Marketing is much more than media planning and creative production. Usually churches start their marketing plannning with promotional strategies. But through ministry marketing coaching, you can help them develop a fully customized ministry targeted at specific needs in their community.
When churches work to understand their context and develop ministries that are solutions to perceived needs of the people in a specific target audience, the promotional work is much easier. Not only do you know who you are trying to reach with your media, you know what you need to say in the content of your communications. When your ministry meets people at the point of their actual needs, they can’t help but talk about your church. The word-of-mouth everyone says they want really begins with people with satisfied needs.
Meeting needs and bridging the messsage of the Word to people is the starting point. I like what I recently heard Dr. Ed Stetzer, co-author of “Breaking the Missional Code“ say at the conference I am at this week:
“The most important part of evangelism is not where we start, but where we end up.”
And on being relevant to the culture…
“Every church is relevant to some culture, either to the one that is outside the church, or to a negotiated peace with the one inside it”
Do Churches You Coach Contextualize in Style or in Substance?
As marketing coaches, I would like us all to be a part of helping churches do what Stetzer calls “contextualizing and contending“. That is, I don’t want to help a church contextualize without contending for God’s word and the Gospel, nor do I want to help them contend without contextualizing to culture. I believe when you truly understand the people you want to reach, when you really comprehend their needs, you can develop ministry that is more than just contextualizing in style as so many are doing nowadays. You will be able to contextualize in substancial ways that are beyond current fads, because you understand the core of the culture you are reaching into.
Below are the tasks for delivering effective communication, we will have several posts on this topic when we get to that part of the seminar.
Match the Media
In this phase we will identify which media will best gain access to your audience. To use media most powerfully, consider sending your message through a variety of media. At this point your church may consider developing relationships with strategic partners for developing and buying media for your church.
• Review your present use of media and determine if any changes are needed to fit better with your target audience. Audit your use of media (print, web, etc)
• Develop a “Creative Worksheet” that can be used by your team and strategic partners for ministry communications. This document would be needed for media developers and agencies.
• Develop a rough draft media plan of media you would like to consider using in marketing your church. We will determine the best fit for your church and your audience.
• Consider working with a strategic partners (advertising agency, professional graphics designers, etc) Develop an RFP to send to them to get bids on media and “creative” development.
Share the Good News
Now we are ready to develop our plan of action. When you know your target audience, have an understanding of their needs and have developed a message that is a solution to their needs, you are ready to share the good news! Your communication will be good news because it meets a need!
Together we will lay out a marketing plan that shares the G.O.S.P.A.: with Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Plans, and Actions. We will hammer out a plan and bring the marketing communication of your church to life.
• Brainstorm communication goals, objectives, strategy and plans (working with strategic partners, church staff and other leaders you determine)
• Develop a written marketing plan for the next 18-24 months (by month) that includes action plans for each week.
• Determine what Guerrilla Marketing activities might be used in your plans. A lot of marketing can be done without spending much money. When you don’t have money, you need to deploy time, energy and imagination.
• Develop plans for the use of Public relations for the next 18-24 months
Topics: Deliver the Message |
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