Key Church Marketing Strategy & Tactics you Can Easily Apply
At Chmeetings, we know how valuable effective church marketing can be to get new members and engage existing ones. In particular, the internet provides an opportunity to connect with church-goers in ways that might not have been possible.
As an online church management system, we are greatly in touch with what churches need to grow – online and offline. But first…
What is a church marketing strategy?
A church marketing strategy is a specific approach taken to promote a church, whether in the real world or online. Of course, it may not sound very appetizing to think of it as “selling” your church, but in a sense, that’s what a marketing strategy involves.
But a church marketing campaign can be both honest and effective, leading to a higher church turnout, higher engagement, and making it easier to spread the word of the lord. All you need is the right mindset and planning.
The best church marketing strategies
Below we’ll explore some great marketing strategies to help promote and grow your church, including generating online leads, crowdfunding, and using social media effectively.
Create and develop a website
If someone wants to find out more about your church, they’ll likely look up its name on Google. You should have a high-quality website ready for potential churchgoers to find more information. You will also want your website to rank high on Google searches (more on that later) in your local region.
You can use a website builder to make the process simple yet effective. Popular website builders include:
So what does it mean to build and develop a high-quality website? Here’s what we recommend for making a great church website:
- Modern and up-to-date template.
- Include relevant content.
- Make it easy to navigate.
- Ensure it is mobile-friendly.
- Event sign-up forms.
- Add a church calendar so people know when you’ve scheduled events for.
- Integrate your social media (more on social media shortly).
- Ensure you spread the word of the lord effectively. After all, when you market a church, you are also marketing Christianity.
- Have a contact details page.
- Perhaps even include a virtual church (i.e., livestream church services).
Grace Sterling has an example of a great church website. The multicultural church from Sterling Heights, Michigan, used Reach Right to redesign their website.
Their improvements included:
- A video background of the church.
- Embedded livestream offering a virtual church experience.
- Mobile-friendly navigation.
- Simpler approach to organizing events on their website.
Grow a newsletter
As part of building a website, we recommend setting up an email list to send out weekly or monthly newsletters. Newsletters are an excellent way to keep churchgoers informed of upcoming events.
Here’s an example of a church newsletter we like:
Sometimes email newsletters can go on and on. But as the example above shows, it’s best to keep each topic to one paragraph. You can then include a ‘click to read more’ option with each paragraph. Otherwise, the reader can move on. Including a pastore note is a great way of engaging people too.
You can measure your newsletter’s success by considering the following points:
- Open rate – How many people actually view your newsletter.
- Clickthrough rate – The number of readers who click on a ‘call-to-action button’ featured in the newsletter (e.g., Donate).
- Sharing rate – How many churchgoers are sharing your newsletter.
- Unsubscribe rate – The number of people who have lost interest and unsubscribed.
Have an accessible app
Along with a strong website, you may want to build your very own branded app. You can do just that with Chmeetings. A church branded app is a great way of staying connected and ensuring your congregants always stay up-to-date.
Use social media effectively
Sticking with technology, social media is a fantastic way of marketing a church online. Here’s a few ways you can use social media to market your church:
- Share regular church updates.
- Promote public events on Facebook/Twitter.
- Share funny and interesting content about church events.
- Share announcements about your church.
- Engage with other churches and fellow churchgoers.
- Publish ads on social media sites like Facebook or YouTube.
- Create an online brand that will attract a fanbase around the church.
- Make posts several times a day on Facebook and Twitter.
- Engage with your followers regularly.
- Tell stories about your church (e.g., how your church came to be).
- Have a data-driven approach, but don’t forget to have fun!
If you want to grow your audience on social media, there are two things you can do: be funny or interesting (or obviously both).
Here’s a great example of social media post we love that has gone viral with over half a million likes by being funny and relatable:
@natemc1911 When yo stank face gets caught in church! #churchtiktok #baptistchurch #stankface #devotion #fyp
Be findable online
Another key aspect of marketing and developing a website is search engine optimization (SEO). This is the process of making yourself more visible on search engines. Target queries that people search for on Google when looking for your church.
In particular, local SEO (focused on your surrounding area on Google Maps) is perfect for the average church.
We also recommend setting up a Google Business Profile. This is what people see when they Google the name of your church online.
You can use a Google Business Profile to share information such as your address, phone number, and opening hours. Churches can also use this approach to share images. Don’t forget to also update your profile over time whenever necessary.
Here’s an example of a church Google Business Profile:
Engage with the community through interesting initiatives
While you want to stand out online, don’t forget about real life engagement. For instance, regular involvement in fundraising is not only a Christian thing to do, it can improve your profile among the local community and provide an opportunity for church members to engage with members of the public outside of service.
Beyond that, we recommend involving churchgoers in events and social media. As for the latter, this might mean posting images and captioned text from interviews of churchgoers with their permission.
You might want to do this in the style of ‘Humans of New York’, a popular Facebook page which has been running for over a decade.
Press-worthy events
We also suggest arranging interesting and noteworthy initiatives that can capture the attention of the local press. We recommend holding meetings to brainstorm a range of ideas.
But for now, here are some church newsworthy initiatives in the past:
Use Marketing tools
There’s plenty you can do on your own accord to market your church, as we’ve shown with the points discussed above. However, online marketing tools can take church marketing campaigns to the next level.
Put simply, marketing tools can help you automate and scale your marketing processes. They help you essentially achieve more with less effort.
Here are some prominent examples of marketing tools:
- Mailchimp – Great option for church email marketing.
- SpyFu – Best choice for Google Ads management.
- AgoraPulse – Great all-in-one solution for church social media marketing.
- Buffer – Another great all-in-one tool.
- MobileMonkey – Perfect for chat automation.
- Tailwind – Ideal for Instagram and Pinterest.
- Crowdfire – Solid option for Twitter and YouTube.
Marketing tools can help increase your brand’s image, enhance lead generation, and accumulate important information about customers.
When it comes to marketing a church, you, of course, need a sufficient budget. One way of reducing costs and making your church run more smoothly is an online church management system.
Chmeetings is one such example. Our service has a range of features that make it easy to manage and grow your church.
Our features include:
- People – Create/track user profiles and manage churchgoing family accounts’.
- Groups – Assign employees or volunteers to certain groups making communication, working, and planning easier.
- Events & Check-In – All your event management in a single and easy-to-use location.
- Giving – Enable members to donate online and offline.
- Member Access – Let members update relevant data about themselves, contribute online, and sign-up for events.
Other features include creating/customizing action lists and setting up and sharing forms.
Sign up to ChMeetings today and start using our software for free!
Use referrals
Referrals are a great way to grow your church. If you can convince newsletter subscribers, donors, or general website users to make a referral, it will significantly improve your church’s online reach.
After all, a Nielsen report showed that more than 90% of people trust referrals. Of course, referral incentives are less likely to fit a church, given that it is fundamentally different from a business such as an online store. But developing something akin to a loyalty program is worth considering in order to have an engaged membership.
Sign up for ChMeetings today to help manage your church
Today we’ve looked at nine marketing strategies to promote and grow your church. If you’re ready to begin your marketing journey, ChMeetings can support you with the essentials and more.
We are one of the most decorated and respected online church systems on the market. Our cloud-based church management software has received many awards, such as Capterra’s 2021 best value and best ease of use awards. Software Advice also ranked our service as its most recommended software for 2021.
Get started with ChMeetings today without spending a penny!
Good luck and God bless.
