Online Marketing for Ministries and Christian Authors
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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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book promotion with pam perry

This is from my PR friend and colleague, Dee Stewart. We were both participants in SORMAG’s online conference.  This is her “discussion” from the conference on the SORMAG blog.

I was a guest on Yvonne Perry’s podcast, and I just love her blog. She is a great PR colleague and resource.

Here she writes about marketing promo pieces! Yaay!

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Postcards and bookmarks are a handy tool for giving people information about your book using as few words as possible. They may be used as handouts at speaking engagements and book signings, or as giveaways with the purchase of your book. You can include one in the correspondence you have with clients, friends, or co-workers. I have even enclosed them with my bill payment. After all, someone has to open the envelope to log in your payment, which means a connection with a potential reader.

As a marketing piece for a book, the postcard or bookmark should have these items:

· Your book cover photo
· Book title
· Author’s name
· Very brief book synopsis
· URL to purchase

If you have enough space in the layout, you can add an endorsement from a celebrity (if you were fortunate enough to garner such an endorsement), or someone who is well-known as an expert in the topic of your book. If you don’t have an endorsement that carries clout, pull something from your best book review and use it as an excerpt. Be sure to give credit to the person who gave you the endorsement or wrote your book review.

Once you’ve got an idea of what you want to include on the bookmark or postcard, you’ll need to find someone to design and print them for you. If you design them yourself, you can take them to Kinko’s or your local printer. Call first to get their upload specifications. Some will accept an MS Word document, but others prefer a PDF and will charge an extra fee to open a Word document.

There are plenty of companies online that can design and print the cards at an affordable price. I’ve made a list of places to get the bookmarks or postcards printed. This came from a social networking site where several folks chimed in.

One person was very pleased with the results when they used http://www.48hourprint.com/ and stated that she found their prices to be the most reasonable; they shipped quickly and the quality was very good.

http://www.earthlycharms.com/ has author-related items. They also have stickers that read Autographed Copy, Local Author, or Award Winning Author.

I’ve personally used http://www.vistaprint.com/ for business cards, postcards, tee-shirts, and check printing. Use their designs or upload your logo to create your own design. This company offers several other promotional items free with purchase. I’ve been pleased with the quality of their products and their customer service.

PS Print http://www.psprint.com/ has several promotional items as well as postcards. Even though I haven’t used this company, others in my network report they have quality service and reasonable pricing. A bulk of 500 color 4” x 6” postcard run about $0.08. This company also provides mailing services.

http://www.gotprint.com/ for full color, high gloss products such as bookmarks, postcards, business cards, and brochures. Their work is outstanding and the shipping price is low.

Yvonne Perry, is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of highly qualified writers and editors with many years of experience in writing for articles, books, ad copy, media releases, PR kits, Web text, biographical sketches, and newsletters. Editing, proofreading, book review, and book evaluation services offered individually and as packages. Find us online at http://www.writersinthesky.com

Follow WITS on Twitter: http://twitter.com/writersinthesky

Get more FREE info at www.e-junkie.com/pamperry

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:
http://www.bethemediabooklaunch.com/bookpromo.html

Also see www.e-junkie.com/pamperry for PR products

Web 2.0 Recommended Reading List

1. Taking Your Business To the Next Level: An Essential Step-By-Step Success Plan for Small Business by Frances McGuckin

2. How to Be an Entrepreneur and Keep Your Sanity: The African-American Handbook & Guide to Owning, Building, and Maintaining Successfully Your Own Small Business by Paula McCoy Pinderhughes

3. Complete Publicity Plans: Create Publicity That Will Spark Media Exposure and Excitement by Sandra Beckwith

4. Branding for Dummies: Discover a Dynamic System for Brand-creation & Management by Bill Chiaravelle and Barbara Findlay Schenck

5. The Brand YU Life: Re-Thinking Who You Are Through Personal Brand Management by Hajj E. Flemings

6. The New Influencers: A Marketer’s Guide to the New Social Media by Paul Gillin

7. The E Code: 34 Internet Superstars Reveal 44 Ways to Make Money Online Almost Instantly – Using Only Email! By Joe Vitale and Jo Han Mok

8. Advanced Email Marketing: How to Deliver the Right Message to the Right Audience by Jim Sterne

9. Blogs, Wikis, MySpace, and More: Everything You Want to Know About Using Web 2.0 but Are Afraid to Ask by Terry Burrows

10. Permission-Based E-Mail Marketing That Works!: Everything You Need to Know by Kim MacPherson

11. What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting: Real-Life Advice from 101 People Who Successfully Leverage the Power of the Blogosphere by Ted Demopoulis

12. Red Hot Internet Publicity: An Insider’s Guide to Marketing Your Book on the Internet by Penny C. Sansevieri

13. From Book to Bestseller: An Insider’s Guide to Publicizing and Marketing Your Book! by Penny C. Sansevieri

14. Publish & Market Your Christian Book in 10 Easy Steps by Tamika Johnson-Hall

15. The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott

16. Blogging for Dummies: Set up, publish and maintain a blog that draws readers by Brad Hill

17. Amp Your MySpace Page: Essential Tools for Giving your Profile an Extreme Makeover by Eric Butow & Michael Bellomo

18. Be The Media: How to Create and Accelerate Your Message…Your Way by David Mathison

19. You Want Caviar but have money for Chitlins: A Smart PR Guide for Those on a Budget by Karen Taylor Bass

20. Syndicating Web Sites with RSS Feeds for Dummies by Ellen Finkelstein

Prepared by: Pam Perry, www.MinistryMarketingSolutions.com & see www.e-junkie.com/pamperry

for products
President of American Christian Writers/Detroit Chapter*

*FREE ACW/Detroit Meeting every Third Monday
(except during the summer) held at
Greater Grace Temple City of David, Conf. Rm. 200 C.
23500 W. Seven Mile Road (near Telegraph) – Detroit, MI 48235
313.543-6000
Next Meeting: Monday, May 18 meeting at 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Topic: Publishing & Dream Management with Cliff Hubbard
All authors, writers and aspiring welcome!