When
the Mennonites launched Panorama Community Church in Langley, BC., they chose
people who had no current church connection as their target group. How do you
reach them? By advertising. So from the very beginning they put $8,000 a year
into their budget for advertising. It is now a very thriving congregation. That's
marketing.
Almost every month I receive a glossy full-colour flyer in my mail box telling me about a specific event at a nearby Baptist church - a special family service, a hot dog roast on the lawn, a musical Christmas presentation. I would have to drive past a church of my own denomination I seldom hear from, but if I was church shopping, I'd try them out first. That's marketing.
When the Centre had a contract with an Anglican church in a community just outside Edmonton, we heard about a Lutheran church that was attracting attention. We tried it out one Sunday. There were more teenagers in church than you could count. There were activities for every member of the family. I signed the guest book, out of appreciation for a good worship experience. Two years later, I'm still on their regular mailing list. I know what is happening at that church to the point I feel almost like one of the family. That's marketing.
Marketing is sharing Good News
Marketing is the label we give to all of the activities involved in connecting a product or service with its consumer. The message we in the church have is the Good News that Jesus shared with us. For 2000 years we have pretty much treated the consumer as a homogeneous unit, assuming that the same message is good for everyone. That worked well up to and including the Industrial Era, but we are now in the Information Age ? a time of specialization and unprecedented personal development.
The process of 'marketing' a congregation requires connecting two elements - (1) what is it that your congregation has to share, and (2) a clear understanding of the people you want to share it with. You may have several different participant groups, broken out by age, education, geography, interest, etc., but it is important that you recognize the reason each of these groups come. In marketing language, how you deliver your message has to focus on the needs of the specific segment of the market you are targeting.
Target Consumer
Let's begin with the possible participants. In our experience the people who are missing from mainline denominations are in essence adults from 25 to 45 years old and their families. Demographically when we look at these age groups they break down into several groups. The first is the generational divide - those born before 1964 are considered Baby Boomers and those born between 1965 and 1980 are Generation Xers. The demographers have identified some very specific differences between these generations and the ones that follow (Generation Y) based on the time they have lived. There are of course several different groupings within each of these different generational groups.
For example, if you are trying to reach Baby Boomers, you need to be clear about where they are on their life journey. Are they married, single parents, never married, empty nesters? Are they tree huggers, or world travelers, risk takers, or pet lovers? The way you frame your message and how you will support each of these different groupings may be different.
Michael Adams, in his book about Canadian demographics Sex in the Snow, breaks each cohort down into what he calls tribes. He identified three tribes in the over 60's, four in the boomer generation, and five in the post-boomers. We are becoming more diversified and specialized as we continue to move into a world that offers us so many choices. Adams suggests that today's generation see "the ability to experience lives of energy and intensity in a more ethical world, as the most desirable end in our society."
What do we share?
What do we have to share with those who do not have a connection with a congregation? That is the question you need to explore in your congregation. While we in the Christian Church are all sharing the Good News that Jesus taught us, we live that out in many different ways. Some congregations are like families, some are places of learning, some have music as their core gift, some are safe havens - each and every congregation has different strengths and passions to share. You have to know what yours is if you are going to share it. In marketing language, this is the product or service that will attract people, once they know about it.
Understanding the needs of those you serve ensures that the message shared and the ministries offered are going to be perceived as relevant by them. How do you do that? It's a bit of the chicken and the egg question. Do we need to find out what we have to offer and then figure out who needs it; or do we find out what the needs are and then set about to meet them. Actually you have to walk both roads at the same time and find where they interconnect. When you do, you will get a sense of being what you are called to be and know that God is guiding the process.
The place to begin is doing your research. Ask those in your congregation who are part of these target markets what it is that draws them in, what would they like less of, more of, etc. You might also consider calling together focus groups of people who belong to particular segments so they can tell you about their values and needs.
Couples being married in your church can be a source of information about what the needs of newlyweds are today. Baptisms can provide insight into the needs of new parents.
A word of caution ? if you don't have expertise in doing research, hire someone to do it for you. It is important that you learn what people's real needs are, not what they think you want to hear or what they ought to tell you.
Marketing Strategy
When you have a clear understanding of the needs and are able to articulate and share your gifts, strengths, and passions you are ready to create a Marketing Strategy. It will look at the four main P's of marketing - Price, Place, Promotion, and Product.
Product You have to define your product or service in a way that truly communicates with your intended customer. The language you use, the icons or pictures you create, the colours you choose all create a perception of the value of the product/service to the consumer.
Price Is there a price that the consumer will have to pay to have your product? It is important that you are clear about your expectations of the consumer, and how much you are willing to invest.
Place Where will the programs or ministries take place - your place or theirs? What hours will you be available? Can they get there? Can they park? All of these factors can either make it easy for your consumer or create barriers to entry.
Promotion We live in a culture that inundates us with more than 2,500 messages every single day. If you want people to consider participating in the life and work of your congregation you can't be a secret. You have to know what TV station they watch, which radio station they tune in to, what newspapers they read, how they use the web, etc. You have to put your message where it will be seen - many times. Research says that the consumer has to see a message 13 times before it might actually register today. Delivering flyers to the mailbox once is not going to cut it!
Once you implement your marketing strategy it is important to assess how it is working. The first question I tell my business students to ask is, "How did you hear about us?" When you know which of your efforts are working, you can do more of that.
Marketing research and strategies need to be updated every year or so because the needs in our community continue to change, and our congregations will continue to evolve depending on who is participating.
Many in the church have ignored or resisted the concept of marketing because they feel it buys into the cultural dynamic of consumerism. What we have to remember is we are the culture we have created and if advertising and promotion are what it will take to let people know that God loves them, I think Jesus would be very supportive.
Congregational News August 2005 Vol. 11 No. 5