I was asked once to lead a Sunday morning church service for a high school football camp I was working at. I spent 2 months planning my lesson and was really excited. I worked hard and hoped for a big turnout because there were over 200 campers. When the big day arrived I ended up with just 6 kids that showed up. There’s nothing that takes the wind out of your sails like putting your heart into something and have no one shows up. Now don’t get me wrong, the 6 students and myself had a great time. But looking back there were a lot of things I should’ve done to get more people to come. In our 21st century digital age you can compare my shortcomings to the parable of the talents. I was so proud of the lesson I had to share. It was something that was written deep on my heart. It was interactive, entertaining, not overly long that a high school student would fall asleep in. And the best part...there was food! But my inability to advertise the gift that I wanted to share was similar to the servant who buried his talent and scattered no seeds. It sounds like a pretty harsh charge to compare churches that don’t effectively advertise with the servant who buries his talent. But I don’t think churches intentionally bury their talents, if anything they simply scatter seeds in all the wrong places.
According to the Capterra Church Management Blog, one of the reasons we overlook as to why churches are losing influence is advertising. Trust me I am no expert on this subject. But what validates the suggestions I offer is simply the fact that I have learned from countless mistakes. I am an expert mistake maker in several areas of life, but especially when it comes to advertising. I’m the guy that throws a birthday party but wonders why nobody shows. Then I realize I probably should’ve handed out some invitations. I remember fielding several phone calls from people wondering why key family members weren’t invited to my wedding. “What do you mean? Didn’t they see my post on Facebook?” I guess my 90 year-old Grandma still hadn’t heard of social media (I probably shouldn’t have told my wife that when it comes to invites she should just worry about her side of the family and I’ll worry about mine). Perhaps you’ll find my failures validate the suggestions I offer. Maybe even more than the professional marketing strategist with years of experience. After all, perhaps it’s sometimes best to get wedding advice from the divorcee rather than the perfect couple. To get advice about staying in school from the high school dropout rather than the PhD. Or perhaps my suggestions won’t do much to help you. My only intention is to merely offer some thoughts to consider while advertising your forum. 1)Appeal to youth explaining “the why.” *Let’s face it, one of the great divides in our society is the generational gap. One characteristic of baby boomers is that they are more likely to attend church simply because it is what people do. A retired business friend of mine once reminisced that he couldn’t afford to ever miss church Sunday or his business would shut down. Everyone was simply there. As a result, many church events are unintentionally marketed toward the over 50 crowd. But terms like bake sales, bible studies, and potlucks aren’t in the vernacular of people below 30. This is also a characteristic of an inwardly focused church. Don’t just advertise to your members who will likely already come. Appeal to those outside your doors. Millennials, as they’re often called, want to understand the why behind the event. This is actually a great opportunity for advertising because oftentimes we need to understand as well as simply state the why behind everything we do. For instance, are you having a potluck because well that’s just what people do? Perhaps you could advertise it as sharing a meal together with an opportunity for generational interaction. Create icebreakers and communicate directly about what people need. In this manner, advertising your forum must directly communicate what you need from people as well as explain why. And it’s “the why” factor that has the best opportunity to catch people’s attention, especially the youth. Don’t recycle someone else’s reason. Explore with your congregation and leadership team why you decided to have a forum then communicate it the best way you can. 2)Go back to the basics. Ok so let’s back up a second. If you’re reading this post looking for the quick fix I’m sorry to let you down. Truth is there’s no poster, website, or tweet that can guarantee the word will get out about your event. But maybe the most effective way to get the word out might surprise you. A study from Lifeway.com found that 77% of people say word of mouth and personal relationships are the best way to spread the word. Facebook, websites, and church signs can certainly be effective, but is anything more powerful than a personal invitation? Going back to the basics is good news, especially if you are a small church who operates on a small budget. Emphasize spending your advertising energy on something you can control, personal interactions. 3)Who you know matters. I’ll never forget the last piece of advice my high school football coach taught me. He was a hall of fame coach who we all respected. At our end of year awards ceremony, it got very quiet as he shared his last words of wisdom: “Gentlemen!” I lean forward promising myself I won’t miss a single word. “Remember this one thing as you live your life.” The auditorium fills with complete silence. A knowledge bomb is about to be dropped on us all. Coach continues, “It’s not what you know in life that counts, but who you know that means everything.” Wow well said, Coach!...Wait, what does that even mean? To this day I don’t know why prompted him to use these words as his last piece of advice, but it’s definitely stayed with me. In his book The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell describes a special type of person who knows several people regardless of their cultural background. He calls these people connectors. Connectors are people who “have a special gift for bringing the world together” and a unique talent to “make friends and acquaintances.” (More info about the book here). Maybe Coach was right, who you know sometimes means everything. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad. Nevertheless, if who you know counts, then who are those social connectors in your community? Those people that have a knack for bringing people together. It’s probable that the best thing you can do to advertise your church forum is to find and utilize a social connector. 4)Have an online presence that allows people to participate. Despite the importance of making personal contact and utilizing social connectors, advertising your forum online can be extremely effective. In fact, having an online presence is one of the ways we evangelize today. In fact according to Pro Church Tools founder Brady Shearer, first time visitors to your church will have already checked you out online (More info on Pro Church Tools here). Think about this. First impressions are important, but today they are more likely to happen online. How does your church do at first impressions? One way you can enhance this impression of your church online is by inviting people to participate. Don’t simply post about your event, ask people to engage with it. For instance, create a poll to gauge interests about topics. Let people propose the best day and time to hold the forum. Ask them to submit discussion questions. Design fun and friendly quizzes to spark interest in various topics. An online presence also serves as way to continue the conversation about your topic after the forum concludes. Invite guests to evaluate the forum leaving suggestions for improvement. Allow them to an opportunity to continue to ask questions and voice their feelings (encourage healthy rhetoric of course). Tap into the effectiveness you can have using the web. Don’t underestimate the power of first impressions!
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