Publicize Your Church for Effective Outreach
— Part II –

In our last column we focused on three key benefits of church publicity, as well as some simple concepts associated with beginning the advertising process.  Now our attention shifts to specific publicity ideas.  In a general sense these are advertising strategies which, given the individual objectives, needs, and resource of the congregation, will form a balanced approach to marketing the local church effectively.

Publicity Ideas

While it would be impossible to mention every type of advertising outreach, allow me to focus on a few.

1. Direct mail. Most people complain that direct mail will not work. Let’s stop and think about that statement. The very fact that we are bombarded daily with such mail should convince us that it does work. Companies are in business to sell their product or service and to make a financial profit. If direct mail did not work, these successful businesses would not be spending their advertising dollars in this way.

I once read a report from the Direct Mail Marketing Association which stated that only 25 percent of the people who recently contacted them wanted less “junk” mail. The other 75 percent requested more.   

Author Steven Dunkin, in his book, Church Advertising:  A Practical Guide, reports that first-class mail has a predictable response somewhere between 1 and 3 percent, with 1 to 2 percent being normal.  Translated, a well-done, first class Easter invitation sent to 1,000 homes should yield between 10 and 20 new faces on Easter Sunday as a result of this effort!

2. News release. Because you cannot promote everything your church is doing, you need to think long and hard about what to promote as well as how to promote. If you want to know what a newspaper will print, read what it does print. Stories must capture genuine reader interest. Just because the up-coming event is important to you, that does not guarantee that it will be of interest to the community. Releases involving unusual human interest and/or important people will receive the greatest chance of being chosen and printed by your newspaper.

3. Newspaper ads. Most churches construct their ads focusing on programs or features. A better suggestion is to emphasize benefits. Instead of information (how large the choir is, how many buses are operated by the church, etc.), stress motivation (why people should attend, how they will be helped, what the church can offer their family, etc.).

4. Broadcast advertising. In terms of cost, radio advertisement is the practical option for the average congregation (as compared to television). Do not invest your hard-earned advertising dollar until you do adequate research relative to each station’s audience profile (those who listen to the station) and the size of the audience (the “reach”). Such important information should be available from area radio stations or Arbitron. One final thought concerning radio: only focus on one main thought per ad. Do not try to tell everything about your church in one brief 30 second ad.

5. Website.  Stop and think of the 10 most prominent churches in America.  How many of them do you believe have a website?  You do not have to bother looking—they all do.  The reason is that in our technology-driven society, a well-designed website can be one of the most effective publicity tools for a church.  When creating your website, you want to have a clean, uncluttered design that highlights the most important information about your church (location, service times, ministries, pastor and staff, etc.).  Look at other websites for design ideas, as well as typical information to include.  You may have a technology “savvy” person in your church who can help you in designing and hosting your website.  There are also companies that sell webpage “templates” with pre-designed pages you can customize for your church.  Of course, you can always hire a graphic design company to build you a custom website; however, this is typically more expensive than purchasing a template website.