Many church leaders struggle with building out a major church marketing campaign and seeing it through. As a result, they’re often disappointed with the results. If this has been the case for your church in the past, it’s time to revisit your approach. After all, your church might be doing something good, but you'll always fall short of your goals if you can’t make people see that.

Marketing from a church standpoint isn’t about business; it’s about helping your church grow so that you can make more of an impact within the communities you serve.

Church marketing is about reaching the lost and disciplining the flock.

This blog will take you through the crucial steps you need to build a cohesive marketing campaign for major events, projects, and other initiatives.  

9 Steps to Build an Effective Church Marketing Campaign

As churches adapt to the era of technology, it’s important to maximize these tools to reach out to new and existing members and donors. Not everyone willing and able to support your efforts will attend services every week. And if you don’t reach them, you’ll miss out on the opportunity to help them grow and make an impact for God’s Kingdom. .  

That said, every tool you use, asset you create, and channel you utilize should serve a specific purpose. Moreover, they should all work together to carry out your church marketing campaign from start to finish.  

If you’re struggling to put all the pieces together, following the steps below can help. 

Note: Some of these steps may change depending on the focus of your campaign.  

1. Plan Out Your Campaign with All the Necessary Components

When you decide to create a campaign for a church event, project, or another initiative, you need to start by planning it out. It may seem obvious, but many initially fail to gather all the necessary components. And because of this, there’s often a lot of disorganization and confusion.  

You can set up your church marketing campaign for success by carefully planning it from start to finish. Doing so ensures everyone is on the same page and your efforts are streamlined. 

Here’s what to include:

• KPIs – It is important to identify goals and KPIs to make your campaign objectives measurable and quantifiable. It’s also critical to follow and monitor key metrics showing how far you need to work before reaching your targets. 
• Communication channels – There are several channels churches can use to communicate important messaging, including your website, social media, email, print, podcasting, and media relations. Make sure you develop different approaches for each channel to maximize your reach. 
• Cost – Marketing your church activities will involve some cost, big or small. You can adapt your approach according to your budget. Make sure you identify the most productive channels if you are working on a limited budget to maximize your campaign’s reach. Factor the overall cost for the campaign when doing your ROI (return on investment) analysis.
• Marketing team – You must build or recruit a dedicated marketing team whose sole responsibility is to develop a cohesive church marketing campaign. Make sure you designate the right people who can help utilize your resources to get the message out about your church activities to the right audience.
• Marketing collateral – Your marketing team must develop a suite of marketing assets that you can use to attract the right audience. Examples of marketing collateral include blogs, social media posts, promotional videos, infographics, etc. Make these assets as creative as possible to pique your audience’s attention and relay the campaign’s message. 

2. Use a Marketing Calendar & Map Out All Dates in Advance

A marketing calendar is crucial to any campaign because it helps organize your marketing activities for a particular period. 

When your marketing team is handling various aspects of your church marketing campaign, things can easily get lost in the shuffle. A detailed marketing calendar provides a visual point of reference for the marketing team to know what to prioritize.

A marketing calendar is an easy and quick way to get your team on the same page.

It also shows the small milestones that you are aiming for. Plus, it allows you to plan ahead and stay cohesive in your marketing efforts. You can plan according to the season or any other existing marketing campaigns that are being deployed. 

3. Use Strategic Messaging

Strategic messaging is a vital tool that church leaders and marketers need to focus on—not just for bringing in more people to your congregation but also for promoting your activities. A powerful communication strategy involves consistent messaging aligned with your values and mission.

Strategic messaging also involves focusing on your target audience. After all, you crafted your message for them. For example, if you plan to host a community outreach program, you must use intentional language to appeal to your church members and donor base when marketing it.

You could create unique marketing materials for the event. Encourage your church members to share the marketing materials with their friends, neighbors, or other people they know. Focus on the community element—highlight why people would be interested in participating or contributing to the event’s success. 

When church members share how God is moving, it has a multiplication effect.

Tip: Make sure you don’t fall into the trap of these common church growth killers. 

4. Be Cohesive Across All Channels

Cohesiveness is an important quality necessary for a thriving church marketing campaign. You might use various channels to communicate your marketing efforts, but the messaging and visual elements should be unified.

It’s easy to get caught up in the latest marketing trends, which can cause you to lose your voice in the process. Always emphasize your brand as a church first to help you craft messages that appeal to your audience—and to focus on building relationships with them. 

Consistent messaging and visuals across your blog, social media, or website make your brand recognizable. This cohesiveness also promotes credibility by giving the impression of professionalism and organization. 

5. Use Repetition

Repetition is one of the most overlooked aspects of effective marketing. Do you know the phrase “out of sight, out of mind”? We need to bank on the value of repetition to support brand familiarity. 

In a customer’s buying journey, they don’t necessarily purchase at the initial point of communication with a brand. And the same goes for your church marketing campaign. Just because someone comes across information about your project doesn’t mean they’ll immediately get involved. 

Repeating your message as often as possible is important because it fosters “top-of-mind awareness” among your target audience. The more familiar they are with your brand, the more likely they will respond to your messaging. 

6. Make Sure Your Registration/Donation Process Is Stellar

If you are marketing a church event, it is critical that you fine-tune the registration process. You’ve probably had this happen before: You want to buy a product, but the website is loading so slowly that you can’t even get to the purchase page. As a result, you exit the website and abandon your cart.

Use reliable software for your online event registration to avoid any unnecessary hiccups. The registration should ideally only take a few clicks to complete. And make sure the details of the event are clearly stated on the registration page. 

The same goes for outreach projects you’re collecting donations for. The donation page should clearly state what people are giving to, why they should give, and how they can give. Further, the process should be simple and secure. (Check out donation page examples for inspiration.)

7. Encourage Early Sign-Ups/Donations 

Once you have finalized your event or project details, promote it as early as possible. The sooner you do, the sooner interested individuals can either sign up or donate.

For events, it’s essential that you give people a lot of time to clear their schedules. You can also offer early bird pricing (discounts on registration for those who sign up early). If it’s not a paid event, you can provide other rewards, such as raffle prizes, prime seating, or a choice of volunteer placement.

When promoting a project or other initiative that people can donate to, consider giving them a special gift or another form of recognition for being one of the first to give. 

Always offer something to your audience to give them the extra motivation to commit.  

8. Plan Out How You Will Express Gratitude

It’s vital that you have a way to express gratitude to those who participated in your event or project and made it possible. Gratitude is crucial to the success of your church marketing campaign, and it also fosters donor loyalty. 

Ultimately, gratitude creates a testimony of God’s goodness.

There are many ideas for expressing gratitude to donors, volunteers, or attendees. Here are some actionable ideas to consider: 

• Send a thank-you letter or card.
• Send a meaningful appreciation gift.
• Host a celebration dinner and invite donors/attendees.
• Create a spotlight page on your website to express gratitude.

9. Know How You Will Measure Your Success

As mentioned previously, it’s important to define your key performance indicators before the launch of your church event. These KPIs can include registration numbers, the total amount collected (for fundraising events), or other key metrics. 

Make these metrics quantifiable so you can determine at the end of each campaign whether it was a successful one. You can also use them to help you plan future events and marketing campaigns to increase their success.

Takeaway

Hosting community outreach programs, fundraisers, and events through your church is a great way to connect with your local community—and beyond. It is also an effective way to make an impact among those who are part of your congregation and those who have expressed interest. Take note of these essential pointers to help build an effective church marketing campaign to ensure success in your short- and long-term goals.

If you need help with church marketing, schedule a free consultation with our team! Learn how we can assist with any upcoming projects and help your church grow.