Marketing is not the sole preserve of commercial enterprises; churches and non-profit organizations are also well advised to attach importance to good PR. The term church marketing encompasses the importance of various marketing activities with which churches can increase their attractiveness and reach new visitors. In this article, we explain that good marketing and the Word of God are not mutually exclusive.
Why church marketing? - How churches benefit from strategic marketing
Marketing is an instrument to increase the popularity of companies and their products or to better position themselves in competition. For companies, marketing clearly has economic reasons, but churches also benefit from a clear positioning and a modern strategy to communicate their message.
Just a few decades ago, congregations simply flocked to church services and the church had a firm place in the lives of the entire population. Today, however, churches find it more difficult to reach their members and expand their audience.
This means that churches must also look for new methods to reach people. Church marketing is not profit-oriented and does not attempt to turn the church into a capital-seeking company. Rather, it is about maintaining and cohesion of the congregation, reaching out to people in need and also about raising the profile of the individual church. Priests or pastors can present themselves here, special projects can be presented or the preservation of classic architecture can be promoted.
Church marketing helps to better communicate the church's message and thus reach potential parishioners. In the search for meaning in life and the pursuit of God, churches today are in competition with each other. This makes a new form of communication necessary that adapts to technical and social conditions - the term church marketing emerges from this interface.
How church marketing works in practice
Much of church marketing still finds its target audience through traditional channels. Whether through baptisms, communions, weddings or services on public holidays, the church is best communicated through its premises, presence and events. Parishioners bring friends and relatives with them when they feel safe in a church. This is no different today than it was a few centuries ago.
But church marketing has also adapted to a fast-moving society. Messages can be put up as posters or signs in the surrounding area, or congregations can be brought together on social networks. A church can run classic content marketing as a blog or show the special work of the congregation in videos and picture series.
Fundraising for regional or national projects can be digitized, church services can be broadcast via live video or the beauty of the church's architecture can be transformed into a virtual tour. All these possibilities show how diverse marketing for churches can be and at the same time help congregations to remain true to themselves and their message.
Marketing is not primarily about business. It is about expanding the target group, reaching the right people, communicating and engaging in dialog. Non-profit organizations, charitable associations and, of course, churches also benefit from all these functions of good marketing.
So why shouldn't a modern church be represented on Facebook, Instagram and in email newsletters in exactly the same way as in the real world?