Push Marketing
In Membership Recruitment, you are trying to reach people who don’t currently participate in a faith community. You are trying to influence their behavior.
Those people aren’t waking up Sunday and wondering where to attend church that day. They probably don’t think about church at all. Their question, if any, is likely to be, Why bother with church?
Many have negative perceptions of churches, as stiff, judgmental, unwelcoming, obsessed with raising money and, therefore, too expensive to join. Certain denominations, moreover, carry specific baggage, as “the folks who fight about gay bishops,” for example. Congregations have other negatives.
Just announcing your presence -- Worship at 11:00am on Sunday -- doesn’t reach them. You need to “push” a new message -- multiple messages -- out to them. Not all at once, not in defensive apology, not in a plea for support, but carefully chosen words designed to address the questions that people are asking, to establish yourselves as helpful and “thought leaders,” to undo the negatives by communicating positives, and to engage in dialog with your marketplace.
Your primary tools are known as “push marketing,” in which you push messages out to achieve brand awareness, to engage diverse constituencies, and to communicate specific offerings.
For push marketing to work, you need:
Lists: names and e-mail addresses of leads to whom you can send multiple messages over time.
Multiple targeted messages: picture the market as highly segmented and not reachable with a single message. Each segment requires several messages tailored to its needs, interests, questions and characteristics. Generalized messages -- “We’re a friendly church” -- mean little. Targeted messages -- “Got a question about which kindergarten to choose?” -- have impact.
Multiple delivery systems: group e-mails, e-letters, blogs, mailed invitations, social media initiatives, tell-a-friend campaigns. No single delivery system will do all the work.
Detailed strategy: you can’t leave it to chance.
Metrics: use technology tools like Google Analytics, e-mail trackers to see which messages are read, which lead to action, which develop pass-around.
