Creating a Church Marketing Plan
Do churches need a marketing plan? I realize even using business language bothers some church people, but personally, I think we need to learn to better market our message. Earlier I posted the need for the church to market like the local grocer does (Read that post HERE), but we also need a comprehensive marketing plan. We are trying to tell people our story about the love of a God they do not know in a way that captures their attention, when many times they don’t even care to listen. Sounds to me like we need a plan.
Here are a few steps to creating a church marketing plan:
Define your target market – Whom are you trying to reach as a church? You can’t reach everyone. Our church will not appeal to some, but we have to know the group of people to whom we will try to appeal.
Learn the market – Once you know whom you are trying to reach, learn everything you can about those people. A church needs to understand the culture, language, interests and desires of the people it is trying to reach.
Identify your competition – You need to know what has the people’s attention you are trying to reach. (Just so I’m clear on this one….it’s not other churches!) This is important because again, they are not necessarily listening and you are competing for their attention against a crowded world of noise and activity.
Plan strategy – The next step is to develop a plan to market yourself to the people you are trying to reach. That could include advertising, social media, websites, etc. For us, our major marketing strategy is our people speaking on our behalf to people they know, but we need to consistently remind them to do so and encourage them to be in the community where the people we are trying to reach are located.
Evaluate your plan – Any good plan includes evaluation. Consider what is working to reach your target market and what isn’t working. Make changes as needed.
Do you have a marketing plan for your church? What would you add to my list above?
