Living Past The Past - On Purpose

re·search: NOUN: 1. a detailed study of a subject, especially in order to discover (new) information or reach a (new) understanding. (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, © Cambridge University Press 2003.)

In order for the church to market effectively, she must understand who she is trying to reach and why she is trying to reach them. I have come across several churches that have a specific age group or cultural group in mind that they are trying to reach. Although, there is nothing wrong with targeting a specific people group in your evangelical efforts, be careful being too closed minded when establishing your church and who you will reach. God did say to go to all nations and we better open our eyes when He begins to give favor with a certain audience.

With regards to research, I will stay focused on researching effective marketing strategies and media outlets. I will assume all the demographic data was gathered before you actually planted your church. If you are in an established church and don’t know the demographics of your community then check out your denominational resources like NAMB Demographic Reports (SBC), Church of the Nazarene Research Center, or a host of free (Chamber of Commerce/SCORE) or fee-based services you can find on the Internet.

When deciding to market for your church in anyway, it is a good idea to take out those demographic reports and look at the Community Tapestry Reports. If you don’t have a Tapestry Report…find it, buy it, borrow it, finance it. Do whatever you have to do, just get one. Tapestry just means complexity. It is a very concise and complex report on the age, income, race, home value, occupation, educational level, marital status, lifestyle preferences with regards to consumer habits, technology, hobbies, recreation and religion for that particular community. It is broken down by percentages and real numbers and divided by where the people actually live. It will tell you how many and what percentage of whatever type of people your looking for live within a certain radius of your target area. And this is just a short sampling of what you can get with a Community Tapestry Report. Businesses use these reports to better serve, understand and get promotional results from their consumers. IT IS WORTH THE INVESTMENT and why should the church be inferior to what the secular world is doing to reach people. Don’t just read the numbers; how many live in your town and how old they are, find out about their lifestyle!

Once you clearly understand your community, where they live and what they like or dislike (Are they readers, movie-goers, computer geeks, TV addicts, hi-tech nerds, outdoor oriented, music buffs? This will determine your future advertising like radio, TV, print, billboard or community events), then you can more effectively develop a marketing strategy. REMEMBER, marketing is not just advertising, it is effectively communicating who and what you are from the inside-out!

The next step in researching from a marketing perspective is determining the right media outlet for your group. Not all radio stations reach your demographic, even if they are cheap (Don’t discount Christian stations. Many non-christians and new move-ins tune right in. More on that later). Not all TV is effective, especially if you can only afford the cheap cable package rates when only a dozen red-eye viewers are watching. Billboards won’t do it if you can’t afford to change them on a frequent basis (people can only stomach reading the same thing so many times. Events might work.).Direct Mail might not get seen and the yellow pages is a service directory not an advertising outlet. You get the idea. Anytime you talk with a broadcast or print media company don’t be afraid to ask how many viewers/listeners or impressions they get a week. Ask what the best day of the week is, the best time of the day and make sure to ask for the data supporting their information. Also it’s very important to ask who their target demographic is and what they do to market to the demo.

Remember guys, this is Kingdom work. Don’t just assume because you are excited and proud about an upcoming sermon series, the ingenious title and the awesome artwork you have developed, that you can throw it on 20,000 mailers and the lost and unchurched community are going jump out of their recliners and bass boats, come running to your church on the weekend and hail you as the greatest thing since “motor-powered vehicles”. The cost of that one-time mailer might not get you the same return as a well thought-out, well researched plan might get you over the course of several months or years. God has blessed you and annointed the work, now go let the world know. More to come tomorrow!

Be Happy!

Bryan
www.imforgiven.com