3 Ways to Effectively Market Your Church

Churches and marketing have a rocky relationship. Historically, churches have not communicated effectively to their external audiences. Most churches make the same marketing mistakes: the message is not unique; the content is not inviting; and there’s no long-term strategy in place. If that description fits your church’s marketing, it’s time to make some changes.

Here are three ways to more effectively market your church:

#1 Be Clear – At its essence, marketing is about defining who you are and letting the world know. Before you start creating marketing materials, take a moment to develop a clear message. Ask yourself: What makes our church unique? Every church is different. Make it a point to emphasize what’s different about yours.

Make your church stand out. Do not copy the marketing messages of other churches. That’s not an honest message. If your church is not dynamic and energetic, then don’t communicate that message in your marketing. Identify the heart of your church – your vision – and communicate it clearly and simply to people who may be interested.

#2 Be Compelling – Once you have a clear message, think of ways to deliver it so that it connects with people. Give the person encountering your marketing message a relevant and legitimate reason to engage your church. Paint them picture. Excite them. Awe them. Touch their emotions.

Think of marketing like a person telling a story. When someone recounts every detail and rambles on, it puts you to sleep right? But a great storyteller gives you only the important details. They keep you interested and eager to know what comes next. And at the end you come away with the moral of the story. Great marketing is like great storytelling – it engages and imparts a valuable message.

#3 Be Consistent – Even a clear and compelling message might not be heard. At least not at first. That’s why you have to remind people time and time again. You have to keep throwing your message out there until it sticks. The key word is consistency. All your marketing must maintain a consistent message. It must be consistently consistent.

There’s a marketing concept called The Rule of Seven. This concept states that a consumer needs to hear a message seven times before they react to it. Whether seven is an accurate number is debatable, but the point is a person needs to hear a message multiple times before they respond. Keep your marketing consistent. It may take some time, but people will begin to hear your voice.

More and more, churches are recognizing the positive impact marketing can have on their congregations. By creating clear, compelling and consistent marketing, your church will see surprising results.