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Marketing:
“To
be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal”
– Simone Weil.
Often
misunderstood or mistrusted, marketing is not about making
your ministry into a “business” or “institution”,
it’s about getting your message out to the people
you want to reach. In teaching church leaders on this subject
at leading Christian conventions we’ve seen an interesting
phenomenon: often ministries say they “don’t
market” or “won’t do marketing” – as
if it’s something bad -- yet they are regularly sending
out newsletters, offering products, advertising events,
and sending email blasts. They are indeed daily marketing
their ministries, and usually with an ad hoc approach that
at best lends itself to less than optimal results, at worst
does more harm than good in the big picture.
Much ministry marketing underperforms greatly because the well-meaning person
doing it is chosen simply because they were a faithful worker or friend, a graphic
designer or perhaps had a little advertising or sales or writing experience (these
are good qualities, but not necessarily good qualifications).
We’ve seen this countless times. One of our friends -- a successful writer
and church consultant -- says that “marketing may be one of the most misused
techniques and disciplines in the church today” and he further suggests
that when it comes to ministry/church marketing the best definition may be “simply
placing the church or ministry in the best possible light”. That’s
good advice.
The American Marketing Association offers this most recent definition of Marketing:
"the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating,
communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers,
clients, partners and society at large."
We’ll help you unravel marketing and put a practical eye to it. Marketing
is also about community and relationships. Additionally, we still believe in
metrics (systems of measurement) that allow us all to be better stewards of the
resources we’ve been graced with: fundamentals like market research, sales,
revenue, margins and so called market share. These are not words to shy away
from, but tools for growth and accountability.
Frequent communications, telling your story well, deftly positioning your products
and services – these are critical. Yet sending newsletters or postcards
and wondering if they are getting any results is a common occurrence that can
be remedied with simple metrics within a good plan.
Marketing
is both art and science, and there are many new trends you
can utilize such as social marketing and so called viral
marketing. We'll integrate your marketing
plan with all you do and make it organized, effective and easy
to carry out. It can be fun and challenging. Your “customers,
clients, partners and society at large” are simply the
people you are reaching and we’ll help you reach more
people, more effectively.
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