Marketing Template
How to Market Your Church
Workshop, May 9, 2012
Review Your Church
• Church of the Heavenly Secret, located in
beautiful downtown Anywhere, USA
• Currently has 72 members, 40 regularly attend
• Average age is 62
• Website needs work, communications (internal
and external) are poor
• Active and engaged vestry
• Ready to invite and accept new members and
change
Review Your Market
• The real estate commission is showing an
increase in sales in single family homes near
the church.
• The census reports an increase in young
married couples in the area.
• A recent survey by the local seminary showed
that what most people are looking for is an
opportunity for spiritual growth.
Review Your Competition
• It’s not the other Episcopal Churches in the
area!
• There’s a mega church 20 miles down the road
that packs them in every Sunday.
• The service most attended by young couples is
the 8:30 or 9 a.m. time slot.
Goal and Objectives
• Goal: Grow the Church
• Objectives:
– Increase the number of visitors by 40% to the 9
a.m. Sunday service
– Target young couples, with and without children
– Increase the attendance at adult education by
35%
– Convert 15% of visitors to members
Strategies
• Strengthen the 9 a.m. service to be the most visitor
friendly
• Bulletins explain Episcopal liturgical practices and
include all of the educational opportunities at your
Church
• Greeters at the doors
• Options for children
• Create a robust, interactive, and flexible adult
education program
• Rectors and vestry are available for conversation after
the service
Positioning
•
•
•
•
•
Advertising
Public Relations
Direct Marketing
Website
Social Media
Advertising
• Online is the best value for reaching your target
audience: Google Adwords, Facebook, Yahoo
• Get on the lists: Yellowpages.com,
superpages.com, churchangel.com, your local
CVB
• All advertising roads should lead to your website
• Use print ads for special services, programs,
events, listings in the religion section
Public Relations
• Take your local paper’s reporter/editor out to
lunch
• Provide accurate, brief releases that will
appeal to their audience
• More (releases) are not better
• Press release template is provided
Direct Marketing
•
•
•
•
•
Targeted
Flexible
Tangible
Measurable
Cost-Effective
Website
• The single most effective way to attract
visitors
• Does not have to be expensive or complicated
• Does have to have a dedicated content
manager
• Be aware of what content your audience
wants, not what your staff wants
• wordpress.com, blogger.com, or the Episcopal
Church’s template
Internal Communications
• Knowledge is powerful
• Creates a firm foundation when everyone is
on the same page
• Empowers your membership
• Switch to e-newsletters where appropriate,
they are efficient and cost-effective
• Again, drive everyone to your website
Social Media
•
•
•
•
•
The new “word of mouth”
Recruit ambassadors
Blogs, Facebook, Twitter
Think of it as your virtual “coffee hour”
Photos and videos can give real, tangible
insight to your Church
Action Plan
• Budget
• Volunteers/assignments
• Schedule/benchmarks
Evaluation
• Tracking your web traffic - Google Analytics