14550 Lee Rd, Chantilly, VA 20151

Newsletter — May 2018

Building Momentum

Dale Spaulding, Director, Passion for Planting

Let’s face it, one main ingredient every church plant needs in order to be healthy is people. Without people there is no church. So how does a church planter go about drawing a crowd of people to plant a church? Every planter should wrestle with this question because attracting people, especially non-believers, won’t happen by accident.

So the question stands – how can a church draw a crowd? What marketing methods should they use to tell their story and invite their community into that narrative? While the methods are many, they should all be contextualized to fit the vision and geography of the church.

That’s why at Passion for Planting, we encourage church planters to develop a comprehensive pre-launch Marketing Strategy that’s focused on starting conversations in their community about the new church. Every church has a story to tell about God’s redemptive work. That story is too great not to share. It’s too great not to market.

We’ve filled this newsletter with tools and resources to help you develop an effective marketing strategy, so more people in your community can hear about your church and find their place in God’s story.  I hope you find it helpful.

–Dale Spaulding, Director

May 2018 – Contents

  • Start Conversations
  • Marketing Strategy Template
  • Marketing Dos and Don’ts
  • Church Website Best Practices

 

Starting Conversations

Church marketing: is that really a thing? Isn’t marketing reserved for businesses that are trying to sell a product? We don’t think so. We agree with Mark Batterson when he says, “The greatest message in the world deserves the greatest marketing.”

At Passion for Planting we believe every man, woman, and child deserves repeated opportunities to see, hear, and experience the life transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s your church’s responsibility to provide those opportunities. To help you with this we’ve put together this list of church marketing ideas that you can implement to start conversations with your community about your church and the gospel.

Marketing Strategy Template

The most effective church marketing campaigns are authentic, consistent, surprising and strategic. They don’t happen by accident but require intentional planning. While church planters make a lot of mistakes when it comes to marketing, two big ones include putting all their marketing eggs in one basket and not connecting the dots between their marketing touches.

To help you avoid these mistakes and think strategically about how you’ll spread the word about your church in your community, we’ve created a Marketing Strategy Template that will guide you through the steps to creating a comprehensive church marketing strategy. Download yours for FREE today.

Marketing Dos and Don’ts

Recently Carey Neuiwhof sat down with Jeff Henderson, a former marketing executive turned campus pastor, to ask him how churches can be more effective in their marketing efforts. What he shared is priceless. Along with describing how his church created a buzz in their community, he also offered basic principles that can guide you as you consider the best ways to connect with your community.

One quote from this episode was: “The more people that can carry the vision, the more people that will cast the vision.” For Jeff’s church, that meant developing a marketing campaign that grabbed their community’s attention to help them realize the new church was for them. With this attractive vision, word about the church spread like wildfire. Could your church do something similar? Listen to how Jeff’s church did this or just get the highlights at Carey’s blog.

Church Website Best Practices

In today’s digital world most people will visit your church’s website or Facebook page before they visit your church – those are the new front doors. When people hear about your church, they’ll check you out online to help them decide whether they should visit your church or not.

What this means is that your website is critical. It’s too important to think any old website with basic information about where you gather will suffice. The reality is not having a website is better than having a terrible website that gives people the wrong perception of your church. So what can you do to improve your church’s website and create a positive impression with those who visit it? Check out the article 3 Church Website We Can All Learn From by Pro Church Tools for a few basic ideas to implement and improve your website.  Note that the typical answer given by a first time guest when you ask, “how did you find us” is, “I checked out your website”.