Church Marketing Strategies For The Body of Christ by guest blogger Theresa Croft

Church marketing for your corporate body of believers involves implementing strategic marketing to help fulfill the Great Commission of reaching out to save the lost. The church marketing plan discussed here is NOT about developing fancy flashy material, or expensive advertising campaigns with a “fast talking” preacher-salesman mindset. It is about using sound marketing principles and applying them to your church as you fulfill God’s call.

In fact, church evangelism and basic marketing have some of the same purposes. It’s to get the “word out”, to make others aware of a service or product offered to potential clients (or members for the churches), and to motivate them to “buy” or take part.

A preacher or evangelists already has some great skills of selling. Instead of making a deal for a product, they are attempting to “close the prospect” in accepting Jesus as their Savior!

Hence, ministry marketing is put into place to reach out and attract the lost for salvation first, and then to teach and train them to play a vital role in your church’s vision to impact the world.

This church marketing plan involves accomplishing what Jesus said in Mathew 28:19-20:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the sonand of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you….”

So where do you start your own church marketing?
Clarify Your Vision
Identify what you believe is your church’s vision or destiny. What part are you going to play in making disciples? Is your focus on the homeless on your city streets or the rich and famous?

Define and Write Down The Marketing Plan
Church marketing planning will help connect you to your desired goal and destiny for your body of believers. Having a written ministry marketing plan will put you in the top 5% of ministry marketers, according to Chris Forbes, the “Ministry Marketing Coach.”Write out the goals and make a time table to accomplish them in one year to 18 months. Praying and asking for a “God-inspired” ministry marketing principle or a marketing anointing is a great place to start.

Find Your Focus Group

Focus on the “WHO” you want your specific church marketing to reach. You have to know who you will be talking to, in order to effectively communicate and speak to their needs.

For example, in my days of working at the Christian radio station, we knew based on Arbitron ratings and other studies, that are main listening audience base consisted of women in a certain age bracket. So we aimed our promotions and ministry marketing focus to reach out and help that particular group. When I was on the air, I knew I was mostly talking to this targeted group of women, so I spoke in a way where I tried to minister to their specific needs and concerns.

So take the time to write down characteristics, demographics and any information you can to identify your target group. Study and learn as many things as you can about them. As you get to know your target audience more and more, you will be able to connect and communicate to the people you want to reach.

Branding
Branding is what differentiates you from other ministries. Sometimes the religion of your church is what creates a branding. Non-denominational churches don’t have this as much as say, a Baptist or Catholic church.

So branding is not about trying to get your focus group to choose your ministry over another, but to show them you have a definite solution to their need.

For example, I used to go to a church where people who ride Harley Davidson Motorcycles were accepted without a blink of an eye. Any given Sunday, you’d see many come through the church doors with their leathers on and some with their black Tee-shirts saying, “These ARE my Church clothes”. This is a good example of how branding can attract the kind of people of which you desire to teach and minister.

When you have a good branding in your marketing approach, you know your message is clear, you have established credibility, and you have found a way to emotionally connect with your target audience. The result is a motivated group of people who are loyal and want to help you to accomplish your vision.
It’s interesting to note that the branding of your ministry often resides within the hearts and minds of your church members. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence.

Promotion and Using Video Ministry

Your church marketing plan obviously will have an element of promotion in it. But I am not referring to the kind of promotion that costs a great deal of money, such as advertising and expensive billboards. You can promote through learning to write news releases and sending them regularly to your local media outlets. Get the word out through Community Calenders, Public Service Announcements which many Christian Radio Stations offer, and local involvement in areas where your target audience is likely to be found.

Back to the example of a targeted group that includes Harley Riders, or Bikers. Find out when they have their regular rides, meetings and special events. You can find ways to use these events to connect with them. Have a special “Biker’s Sunday” to invite more motorcycle riders to your church.

One key element in this promotional part of Church marketing is a website. Having a professional website is a must in a church marketing plan in today’s fast pace world of technology. Almost everyone is on line. The audience you can reach there is incredible!

But let’s make one thing clear. It’s not just about having a website for the sake of saying you have one! It must be professional and exemplify excellence in all facets. Having a fancy web site with blinking animations and scrolling text is NOT what I mean.

Content is what keeps keeps people coming back and new people finding you on line. Write great content to meet the needs of your church body and your target group. Tell them not just what’s happening at the church, but what is going on in heart of your pastor, worship leader or youth pastor. Ultimately they are desiring that you speak life into their daily challenges with words of hope and instruction from the Word.

Powerful testimonies of what God is doing in Church members lives should be featured and updated often. Testimonies will do more to “sell” the benefits of your ministry than anything else. Create a section in your website where you get members to speak into a camera and testify. This is one ministry marketing strategy that hits a “home run” every time.

This leads me to one passion I have in using video ministry and multimedia tools. We live in a media saturated world. According to comScore, 75% of Internet users watched online video in May 2007, averaging 158 minutes per viewer. Nearly 8.4 billion videos were streamed online in the month of May. That’s a lot. And it’s increasing day by day.

I started a Video Production Company a few years ago to help churches and ministries use video to promote themselves and to use on the front page of their website. I have also worked with Christian schools producing powerful video marketing promotional tools. You can check one I did recently by clicking here. I can think of no better way to illustrate this type of Promotional Video tool that can help in your branding and marketing than to show it to you….ON VIDEO. This is one of my favorite ways to help with ministry marketing.

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Traffic Plan For Ministry
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Soon to be released, Ministry Marketing Productions will present the Book, “Ministry Marketing Strategies For Today’s Christian Ministries”.
Check out a preview with this video:
Ministry Marketing Video Series Teaching The Power Of Social Media (Part 1)
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We’d love to provide more information to help you in marketing and information concerning the latest online strategies.

Video is proving to be a key element in any market plan. Why not take advantage of it. You don’t have to be a “YouTube” channel, but you can provide powerful videos on your church website or on your own church’s video channel!
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Click here to return to Ministry-Marketing-Strategies HOME Page.

http://www.ministry-marketing-strategies.com/ministrymarketing.html

PR with Pam Perry PR COACH

Clients and colleagues often tell me that they want to earn Oprah’s attention or have their stories told on National Public Radio or Good Morning America. I applaud these intentions and suggest that they consider their hometown media first. Why? Because earning media “ink and air” in your own backyard is the first step towards earning the credibility to secure national media placements.

Putting all of one’s eggs in the national media placement basket is a risky strategy at best. The editors and producers at these national media outlets sift through thousands of story pitches every day in search of just the right stories to share with their audiences. The chances of your story rising to the top of the stack without the credibility of prior hometown media coverage are slim.

And, earning national publicity is not for the faint of heart. It takes time, research, great storytelling, planning, tenacity, follow up, patience and a lot of pluck. Some clients are fortunate to earn Oprah’s attention in a heartbeat, though most toil for many months and even years before earning their moment in the spotlight. All the while, these business owners still need to turn a profit and make magic happen in the marketplace in order to keep their doors open for business.

And even when you make a persuasive and compelling pitch to the local media, sometimes, for whatever reason, the daily newspapers will pass on your story. That is when you have to dig deeper and consider your options.

For example, while working with a local Vietnamese millionaire and motivational speaker to promote a big event in Seattle, I came up empty with both the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post Intelligencer. Undaunted, I approached the Northwest Asian Weekly about doing a story about this local entrepreneur. I also approached the Beacon Hill News and the Madison Park Times with similar story ideas because my client got his start in residential real estate working the Beacon Hill neighborhood and he lives in the coverage area served by the Madison Park Times.

Guess what happened? His story earned front page coverage with bold, color photos in all three local newspapers, just in time to attract interest and boost attendance at my client’s big event. And, those prominent stories were persuasive and compelling in my efforts to earn three radio interviews that targeted just the right audience of potential guests to benefit from this client’s message before the event took place.

Now, my client has some powerful print and broadcast support posted to the press room on his event Website to lend credibility to future events. This makes it easy for future event guests and reporters to visit the site to learn more about what he offers. And when the national media come to call, he already has earned both the credibility and support of his hometown media, making it that much easier to tell his story to a national audience.

In addition to earning ink and air for your business, local media opportunities offer you the chance to practice sharing your message and refining your interview skills before the national cameras and reporters come to call. Those bright camera lights can be daunting to the uninitiated, and you sure don’t want to make any message or performance mistakes when the national press is at your door.

My best advice is to start at home while you also swing at the national media fences. Brainstorm your own “top ten” list of premier media placements in your own backyard, and begin the process of appealing to those editors and writers whose job it is to inform, inspire, and serve the media consumers where you live and work.

Yes, please reach for the stars by working to earn the attention of O Magazine, National Public Radio, and Good Morning America. And remember that telling your story to your hometown media outlets can be pretty powerful, too.

Nancy S. Juetten is a Main Street Media Savvy expert who owns Nancy S. Juetten Marketing Inc. and is the author of the Media-Savvy-to-Go Publicity Toolkit which helps business owners get heard, seen, and celebrated in their own backyards and beyond through the power of free publicity.

Learn more about her award-winning PR Products by visiting

http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/?af=1083888 today

She’s interview on my Synergy Energy Show: http://bit.ly.com/SynergyEnergyShow

www.e-junkie.com/pamperry

and see www.ardyssintl.blogspot.com

Renowned media consultant and author David Mathison has assembled a who’s who of new media experts and compiled this essential guide to the “personal media renaissance.”

Until recently, publishing books, music and film required years of education and the expensive assistance of publishers, labels, studios, distributors and lawyers.

Today, artists can leverage low-cost tools and new methods of distribution to connect with their audience directly, and keep more of their royalties and rights.

This book covers everything from how to blog and podcast to the ins-and-outs of social networking and internet syndication. Specific chapters help authors, musicians, filmmakers, and journalists.

Buy BE THE MEDIA right now, and you’ll gain access to the “Blockbuster Media Success” package with $10,000 in BONUS GIFTS provided by over 100 media experts:
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Also see www.e-junkie.com/pamperry for PR products

Writing my book was the easy part – getting the word out was a completely different “story.”  Before taking Pam Perry’s PR Boot Camp, I had no idea where my book was headed or how to get it there.  Through the PR Boot Camp I acquired tips, tools and resources that serve as my publicity GPS..  I learned how to develop an effective marketing plan, identify my platform and establish my brand.

I also learned how to use the internet to get tons of free publicity and drive traffic to my website using social networks, Twitter and by blogging.  In addition, I learned some of the best kept secrets on how to attract media attention.  Now, I am equipped to navigate my way through the labyrinth of book publicity with skill and confidence.

Venus Mason Theus, author Brown Paper Bag, a novel

see www.prbootcamponline.eventbrite.com

Is it taking you longer to write your book

than you ever expected … a lot longer?

If so, you’re invited to a free telephone

seminar on Thursday, June 25th with a woman

who’s developed a unique system for writing

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To your success,

Pam Perry, Your PR Coach

P.S. For PR tools and resources go to: http://www.e-junkie.com/pamperry (Get free mp3 for PR Boot Camp Orientation call) Next Class starts July 14!

Despite the economy, many people are pursuing their dreams and succeeding by playing with a new set of rules

In what looks like a scene from an old science fiction movie, many people appear to have stopped dead in their tracks when it comes to moving their business forward, paralyzed by fear and unable to take action. There are still others who have lost jobs in industries undergoing dramatic shifts yet they continue to pursue similar opportunities within the same industries, only to find out repeatedly that those once familiar opportunities just aren’t there anymore.

Yet on the flip side, there are an equal number of people who appear to be thriving in this new economy, seemingly unaffected by the doom and gloom being reported. Why is this so?

The rules are changing for entrepreneurs and small business owners and those who are embracing the new models and taking action are thriving. Here are some of the basic strategies:

• Pursue your passion. It’s not just about making money anymore, it’s about doing something you love. Customers want authenticity and know that you have their best interest at heart at all times. This happens naturally when you’re being true to yourself. Additionally, coming from this place of high service leads to prosperity in business.

•Build a support team. The “Lone Ranger” syndrome is not sexy anymore and could be a formula for disaster. Learn to ask for and RECEIVE support from those that have taken a similar journey. Allow Mentors to show you the ropes, open doors for you, inspire you and help you be accountable to yourself.

•Create Multiple Revenue Streams. This is a time to stop trading time for dollars and start packaging your skills and talents to create products and services with varying price points. Maintain your premium price points and begin adding lower price point items or begin bundling services to provide additional value. Even Starbucks recently announced new price points and product combinations yet still maintains a high level of service and brand integrity.

•Build a subscriber base. People are more likely to buy from those they have an existing relationship with. That’s difficult to do unless you have the opportunity to regularly communicate with a potential customer. It’s important that businesses take the time to collect basic contact information from everyone who crosses their path and use the latest technology tools that allow for regular follow up via phone, email or snail mail.

•Collaborate with others for promotional purposes. The “dog-eat-dog” model of doing business has fallen by the wayside. Those who are succeeding are creating win-win opportunities for cross promotion and bundling of products and services. It’s crucial that we support each other by formulating ways to build value for our customers, endorse our colleagues, and tap into each other’s markets.

•Incorporate Web 2.0 and Social Media strategies. If you haven’t tapped into this new paradigm or plan to, you’re absolutely missing the boat.  The power of this medium was evidenced during the last presidential campaign as Obama stunned McCain’s camp with his ability to quickly raise large sums of money, mobilize millions of volunteers and regularly get his message across to the masses. Social Networks such as Facebook and Twitter, in addition to some of the other Social Media tools, have made it virtually effortless to connect to potential customers, employers, as well as movers and shakers in your industry.  Large corporations have even tapped into this resource to track market changes and quickly survey customers so they are constantly staying ahead of the game. The barriers have come down and the playing field is more “even” online so what used to be considered an afterthought should now be at the forefront in any marketing plan.

•Provide solutions to problems. It’s not just about selling more stuff. It’s important to regularly communicate with your market to truly understand what their immediate needs are and to then craft products and services that are true solutions to those needs. The more in alignment your business is with this philosophy, the more in demand you’ll be.

•Automate your marketing platforms. There are a variety of methods you can employ to reach your market but whatever methods you employ, you want to systematize and automate your processes to allow you to reach the masses with increased frequency. More often than not, customers respond by making a purchase only after multiple encounters.

•Celebritize yourself. Become an authority figure, the media “go-to” person and the face of your company. People connect with people, especially those who can quickly establish their credibility. There are a plethora of media opportunities for those who have a story to tell or an expertise to share.

One of the most important things you can do as an entrepreneur is to give yourself permission to do your dream and realize that success is possible for anyone who allows it. Challenges are usually related to your own limiting beliefs that get in your way. Learn to break free of them by planning to succeed!

About Maria Simone
Maria Simone is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, conscious business “architect” and marketing expert who has been featured in the media for her expertise. She has helped thousands with the exact “next steps” they need to take to package their ideas, attract investors, develop a steady stream of customers and create revenue. Her book “Passion 2 Prosperity: Instant Ways To Profit From Your Skills and Talents”, with bonus gift offerings, is a how-to of setting this type of system up for yourself and can be found at www.passion2prosperitybook.com

Hear the recent SYNERGY ENERGY SHOW where Maria Simone was a guest

Click here to hear the interview!

You hear it all the time: Getting on The Oprah Winfrey Show is just like winning the lottery. And it can be. But as you probably know you have fierce competition-a lot of it. Thousands of others like you want to be on the show just as much as you do. The only thing that stands between you and them is knowledge, skills, and abilities.

The good news is that some of these things can be taught. The bad news is that others cannot. You need to have expertise, good timing, and a certain set of skills, to even be considered by the Oprah producers.

Maybe you’ve already tried to contact the Oprah producers and have not received a reply. Maybe you believe you’ve got just the right talent or expertise for Oprah, but you haven’t been able to get the Oprah Show’s attention. Maybe you know you’ve got a story that is so incredible the Oprah producers are sure to call you up in a flashŠbut they haven’t.

Oprah Winfrey

If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to any of  these questions, I’d like to invite you to explore The Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah: Super Training kit from my colleague Susan Harrow, respected media trainer & marketing strategist who is also the author of Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul, considered by most to be The Bible of all publicity.

Harrow, along with her team of experts, the best publicists in the business, show you how to get on America’s #1 talk show.

Collectively, they have worked with high profile people, best-selling authors, top experts, famous speakers, successful entrepreneurs, well-known non-profits, and people who are doing remarkable things inspiring others and changing the world. The kind of people Oprah’s producers want.

Harrow’s team has not only gotten guests on The Oprah Winfrey Show, but virtually all the national TV talk shows that matter. Their clients have been on Oprah, Larry King Live, CBS’ 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, The Today Show, Rachael Ray, Donny Deutsch, Montel, Ellen, E! Entertainment Channel, ABC’s 20/20, CBS’ 48 Hours, NBC’s Dateline, MSNBC, CNN, even Bill O’Reilly, and Fox & Friends, and more.

Harrow’s personal clients paid her thousands of dollars for creating pitches and for extensive media training. Now she has encapsulated all that advice, and their experiences, into a definitive guide – one that’s not available anywhere else, on or off the Internet.

This is invaluable information if your goal is to be on Oprah. And it’s important to take action right away since many people who make it on to the show have a timely topic that’s current in the news…and you never know when that will happen.

To find out how to be a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show go here now:

http://budurl.com/oprahpr

P.S.  Also, see the must-have PR tools at: www.e-junkie.com/pamperry

Next Online PR Boot Camp is June 16. Be Oprah-READY!

www.prbootcamponline.eventbrite.com