No items found.
It is finally the new year. The Christmas lights are down, the holiday season has faded away, and a new year full of possibilities has come!
If you are a part of a church organization, the past few years have surely been a whirlwind. In 2020, we had to learn to completely change how we think about the church. The pandemic was a difficult time but it was also an opportunity for our churches to press into new ways of reaching, serving, and communicating with people.
As we went into 2021, we had to continue to press into these new ways of reaching people while also learning to integrate our physical churches into the mix. As we continued into 2022, we began to develop a bit more of our bearings on how to navigate this new world of the hybrid church.
Now we find ourselves in 2023 and the need for effective and innovative marketing strategies has definitely not gone away. With the rise of social media and digital marketing, churches need to think outside of the box and take full advantage of all the opportunities available to them.
We want to make it possible for your churches to reach new members and strengthen ties with existing ones. Here are 25 of the best marketing strategies for churches in 2023:
An active online presence is one of the most integral first steps in being successful in your church’s marketing strategies. There are many different ways to establish this, but a great start is a quality church website and social media networks.
Through your website, you give potential visitors a sneak peek of what your church is all about. Through social media, you can connect with others and also share about who you are. Both of these methods help to promote your church, its values, and its activities.
Video is the king of content right now and it is an important element in any long-term marketing strategy. Videos work brilliantly to tell a story about your church’s mission, services, and events.
Sharing short sermon snippets, behind the scene videos, and personal stories are all great ways to use video. Remember, your video content does not have to be of perfect cinematic quality, it just matters that it showcases your church’s vision and heart clearly.
Events don’t have to be confined to a physical space or time. The online world has opened up so many possibilities for what events and meetings look like.
You can host virtual seminars, classes, or even Bible studies to give members a chance to stay connected to one another. Although in-person events are important, it is nice to have a variety of digital options for those who cannot always attend in-person ones.
You read that right — email marketing is still alive! There are many forms of communication out there, but email is a reliable one that is very advantageous to your marketing efforts.
Email is helpful when it comes to conveying important information to many people at once. Through email marketing, you can send subscribed members emails with updates, upcoming events, and other important church news. You can even use email to share church surveys, sermon videos, and other resources.
Digital marketing is not the only marketing method out there. There is nothing quite like the power of word of mouth to really spread a message. Sharing invitations and event information online is highly important, but taking the step to extend a personal invitation takes the cake.
This form of marketing is 100% free and can have a huge impact on your church's growth. Simply ask members to spread the word about your church in their networks of friends, family, acquaintances, and coworkers.
In a nutshell, SEO is a method that helps to increase the visibility of your organization in online search engines. Through SEO methods, you can optimize your church’s website and content in order to reach more people who are searching for a church like yours.
Many people do a Google search when looking for a new church to attend. SEO makes it so your church can be at the top of users’ search results!
People don’t just like to be marketed too, they want to know that your church is trustworthy and reputable. One way you can boost your trustworthiness is by leveraging local influencers in your area to partner with.
These influencers can offer an honest, reliable review and viewpoint of your church to those you are trying to reach. Just as with word-of-mouth marketing, getting a personal viewpoint is extremely effective.
The church is all about community, so a great way to reinforce this value is through collaboration with the people and organizations outside of the 4 walls of your church.
Partnering with local businesses, schools, and even other organizations can help to promote your church. Not only does this help to promote, but it also builds true comradery between you and your local community.
Advertising can seem like a dirty word in the nonprofit world, but when it is done right, it can be an excellent marketing tool.
There are so many options when it comes to advertising your church online and a great place to start is your social media channels and search engines. Simple, engaging online ads are the perfect way to increase awareness of your church.
No one likes a website that looks like it’s straight out of the 90s. No one likes a website that is impossible to find things on either!
When it comes to your website and social media, it is not just about the content, but about the ease of navigating that content. A simple way to boost your marketing efforts is to have online pages that are simple to use and navigate. Getting a quality web developer to make sure your website is efficient and easy to use is highly recommended.
Email isn’t dead… and local news isn’t dead either! Another simple way to promote your reach in your community is by utilizing local media to reach it. You can contact local newspapers, radio stations, and other news entities to collaborate with and promote your church.
It’s no question that social media is an integral part of your marketing strategy (and if not it should be!). Aside from paid advertising, posting regularly and engaging with your followers will help to ensure they stay informed.
Maintaining a healthy online presence will help you reach more people who may not be reached by other forms of marketing or advertising. Besides, social media is completely free and widely used by those you are trying to reach.
There’s an app for everything… But is there one for your church? If you don’t have one, why not!?
Church apps are wonderful tools that can be used to convey information to your existing church membership. Church apps can also allow members to interact with each other, stay up to date with the church’s activities, and even partake in giving. A simple mobile app can be another helpful tool in your marketing toolbelt.
Speaking of giving, yeah, giving online is the new thing… Everyone is doing it. As we move into a digital world, the traditional “passing of the plate” is becoming a thing of the past.
Having online giving options is an easy convenient way for those in your church to offer their tithes and offerings. Make sure your website has a concise giving page and you can even set up mobile giving services where members can text in their giving each week!
Marketing is about much more than just getting information out to the masses; it is about building relationships. Even as a church, our marketing strategies should be chock-full of fantastic “customer” service. A practical way to do this is to respond quickly (on social media, email, etc.) to questions and concerns to ensure a positive experience.
Sometimes with marketing strategies we tend to throw everything at the wall hoping something will stick. Instead of just hoping for the best, it is important to take a good hard look at what is actually effective or not.
You can utilize analytics on your website’s and social media accounts to better understand their performance and to determine what’s working and what isn’t. These numbers don’t lie and they will help to guide you on what area of marketing you need to improve on, continue with, or let go of.
Marketing always has one ultimate goal: engagement. Every social media advertisement, website feature, and email newsletter should lead your audience to do something with it. This is why it is important to make sure your marketing messages have a clear call to action.
It can be giving toward a certain fund, signing up for an email list, or participating in an upcoming event. Whatever it is, make sure your marketing piece makes it simple and easy for those seeing it to engage.
Public relations is an area of marketing that we don’t often think about but is vital in building a relationship between you and the public. Press releases are one of PR’s best tools and they serve to provide information about your organization to local media outlets.
These can be used specifically for major events and news happening in your church, such as the launch of a new location, a community charity drive, or other “newsworthy” event.
Churches are meant to not just exist for themselves, but they exist to benefit and participate in the greater community they find themselves in. Participating in local events and festivals can serve to increase your reach and create a stronger bond between your church and your community.
Who doesn’t like free stuff? Your church surely has some incredible resources that can benefit the community and the members in your church. You can engage and reach these people through offering free content such as ebooks, Bible study devotions, or webinars.
The Internet is a busy place and there is a lot of content to consume on any given day. Even if you have the best social media ads or engaging videos, some people may just completely forget about something of yours they have seen. Or maybe they have visited your site or social media before and did not answer the call to action. This is where retargeting ads come in!
These ads specifically reach the people who have visited your social media pages or website and can be used to remind members about upcoming events or news in your church.
As we’re sure you know, there are a ton of different social platforms on the market today. When creating marketing content, you need to be mindful that each of these platforms serve different purposes and reach different audiences, so that means your contact needs to differ too!
In your marketing strategy, make sure to develop unique content for various types of social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.
Is your message captivating your audience? When it comes to nonprofits (especially churches!), people want to get behind causes that they really believe in. That is why it is important to ensure that your church’s message is inspiring, captivating, and purpose driven. This will aid in keeping members engaged, motivated, and eager to participate.
While video is growing in popularity more and more everyday, the written word is still extremely important for the way we share stories. Creating a blog for your church is not only a huge SEO booster, but it also creates a new medium to share stories and post updates about your church.
Marketing is not a 1-way street where we just feed consumers a ton of information — it is about building relationships! A great way to strengthen this relationship is to ask members for feedback on how the church can improve its services. This not only helps you do better as a church, but it also shows your members that you genuinely care about their viewpoints. Sending out a concise church survey is a simple and easy way to generate feedback.
By utilizing these marketing strategies, churches can reach new members and build relationships with their existing members too. Overall, churches should focus on providing quality content, engaging with members, and offering services that meet their needs in order to be successful in 2023.
Need help with your marketing, book a meeting with our team at PMF Creative.
Sign up for marketing tips, growth hacks, and exclusive offers from Pro Media Fire & Pro Web Fire.
.png)
