Marketing The Church

Barbara Gauntt/The Clarion-Ledger New Jerusalem Church advertises its two congregations on a billboard on I-220 in Jackson. Though church leaders say they attract most new members through word of mouth, many say it's still important to advertise in the community and on the Internet. FAST FACTS Though most churches care greatly about appealing to newcomers, a Barna Research Group study found most churches have overlooked one important matter: no one is answering the phones. Barna made five separate attempts during business hours to call 3,400 Protestant churches randomly selected from across the country. The group found that 55 percent had no person answer the phone. 19 percent had neither a person or answering machine respond to calls. 16 percent had an answering machine in each of the five attempts. 20 percent had either an answering machine or no answer. Source: Barna Research Group.

After driving by one too many billboards on I-220 advertising alcohol, the Rev. Dwayne Pickett thought his church should put up its own ad.

"I just decided we needed to put a billboard there inviting people to church," said the pastor of New Jerusalem Church in Jackson. "It's relatively inexpensive and it works for you 24 hours a day."

Though church leaders agree the best advertising is word of mouth, many acknowledge the need to make their presence known in the community.

Church marketing techniques vary widely from congregation to congregation and include everything from a modest Yellow Pages ad with service times to denominational-level marketing campaigns with professionally produced TV commercials.

"Across the board they feel pressure to do something," said Missouri-based church marketing consultant Michael Daehn. "Some say they need a Web site. Others buy a mailing list. They will find a tool."

Some churches may rent billboard space to advertise a special event such as a Christmas concert, said Marty Elrod, vice president and general manager of Lamar Advertising in Jackson.

Costs for leasing a billboard along an interstate highway range from $800 a month south of Jackson to $4,000 a month for a north Jackson billboard, Elrod said.

"Some just do it to let you know they're there," he said.

DOOR-TO-DOOR

Before Turning Point Church opened in Pearl on Palm Sunday in 2005, volunteers fanned out across the community knocking on 11,000 front doors and leaving "door knocker" cards behind when nobody answered.

The church credits its members with helping the congregation grow from 30 to 140 people in less than two years, said youth minister Jared Shows.

Last January, the church offered a $100 gift certificate to the member who brought the most visitors during a 13-week drive.

"We had over 70 visitors," Shows said. "Fifty stayed with us."

Member David Dilmore, a Brandon home inspector, won the competition.

"You get out and meet people and tell them how awesome the church is," he said.

Groups such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses have grown mainly through door-to-door evangelism.

Getting people through the door is key to building membership, Daehn said. But rather than simply inviting guests to check out a worship service, Daehn advises congregations to invite neighbors to "neutral" events such as concerts or festivals.

"It's kind of awkward to walk into a service where you don't know anybody," he said. "It makes sense to say come to a cookout event and bring your kids."

Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison hosted Christian comic Chonda Pierce this year, drawing more than 1,500 people to the performance.

And the church's October fall festival attracted close to 2,500 people, said associate pastor of administration Barry Hardy.

"It's just exposure to the community," he said.

Broadmoor's active participation has grown from 1,000 to 1,900 people over the last three years, Hardy said, adding many new members say they got acquainted to the church through special events.

Like many churches, Broadmoor employs a variety of tools to reach new members, including newspaper advertisements, mailings and most recently a revamped Web site.

Designed by the California-based company Christian-Internet.com, the site features live streams of worship services, downloadable sermons and staff profiles that resemble something you might find on MySpace.com.

"It's more like us than what we had before," Hardy said, explaining the church's old Web site was functional but plain.

Businesses that cater to churches often provide services below market cost.

Christian-Internet.com charges from $475 for an eight-page Web site to $1,300 for 25 pages. Monthly maintenance ranges from $20 a month to $150 for major changes, owner Dave Hallahan said.

"We're a Christian outfit," he said. "We consider most of what we do a ministry."

Even small churches mount marketing campaigns.

At Clinton Church of Christ, preacher Robert Berch said his congregation fans out into surrounding neighborhoods at least once a year to promote guest preachers or revivals.

The church's latest campaign invited neighbors to a five-day gospel meeting with a visiting preacher and offered a free DVD of Bible lessons.

Volunteers from the church's 60 active members distributed fliers and denominational literature to 1,450 homes in the area.

"We got a good response," Berch said. "We probably had 15 to 20 visitors every day."

TARGET AUDIENCE

Though it was rated in 2005 one of top 100 fastest growing churches in the country, Pinelake Church in Brandon has done very little advertising until its recent launch of a satellite campus in Ridgeland.

"We have experienced phenomenal growth strictly from one-on-one contact," said Jeff Christian, Pinelake's executive director of communications.

Outreach Magazine ranked the church No. 35 on a list of the top fastest growing 100 U.S. churches, with a gain of 1,125 members in one year.

Weekly attendance at Pinelake's Brandon campus exceeds 5,000 people, and its new Ridgeland campus now draws 500 people.

Launched in late September to serve the Madison/Ridgeland area, the satellite church meets at Ridgeland High School.

"To get that church off the ground we've been doing a little bit of broad public advertising," Christian said.

The new church's marketing campaign includes targeted newspaper advertising, billboards to build name recognition and plans for a direct mail campaign.

"More and more churches are seeing the value of high quality professional communications," said Christian, who worked for more than 12 years in advertising and marketing before leaving the business world for ministry.

Along with Christian, Pinelake's communications team includes a graphic designer, a video director and a staff assistant.

Because Pinelake is so large, Christian said the team focuses much of its work on internal communications such as creating weekly e-newsletters, producing Sunday worship guides and expanding its interactive Web site.

"We're not having the challenge of getting people in the door," he said. "Our challenge is how to communicate effectively to 5,000 people on a Sunday morning."