Marketing and web strategy for the web is something that I’ve had the novel pleasure of doing for Fortune 50 businesses and my experience is long and wide.

But that’s where it ends.  The problem is that it’s not as deep as I’d like it to be.  It’s an area of weakness that I’d like to make better and perhaps 2009 is a good enough time to start as any.

In the meantime, there are many individuals who actually get paid to do this type of stuff and are far more intelligent and experienced than I.  One of those is Kent Shaffer, whom many of you may know and probably just as many do not.

Kent owns, among a number of other very cool properties, ChurchRevelance.com, a premier site and blog for churches that are interested in being more effective in their efforts to reach others.

Period.

Doing it with style is just a plus, and Kent and his team does it.  I had a quick opportunity (but not enough… I want more!) to shoot him over a few Q’s and he was super fast in his response.

Take some time to pick his brain and hit up his props… he’s worth a follow and a gooreader too.

1. So, who are you in 140 chars or less?

I am an organizational strategist that enjoys helping churches and other organizations become more effective and efficient.

2. Can you give us an overview of the blogs and/or sites that you manage and what they cover?

I co-own a design and marking firm called Bombay Creative (www.BombayCreative.com) and a Web startup development company called Hatchfire.

Bombay Creative includes,
> ChurchRelevance.com = a blog for churches
> evie s. (evie-s.com) = our product line of “beautiful things”
> TulsaLoop.com = a blog for Tulsans

Hatchfire includes,
> AcreScout.com = a commercial real estate resource
> LaunchTags.com = a minipage hub

In addition, I occasionally blog at KentShaffer.com.

3. You’re neck-deep into marketing strategy… from your perspective, how do you see technology and social media both change and challenge the “traditional” avenues?

On a basic level, technology and social media change the popularity and market share of communication avenues. At the same time, these competing avenues challenge “traditional” avenues to improve themselves. For example, print media will never be obsolete. Many newspapers and magazines may die because of the popularity of digital technology. But other print companies will be spurred by the competition, improve themselves, and consequently, be able to survive and compete.

Also, technology and social media create new communication avenues that often bypass the clutter and noise of “traditional” avenues. When everybody uses the same avenues to communicate, the avenues become oversaturated and the listeners become desensitized and stop listening. New communication technology, such as social media, is fresh and free from clutter when at the ground level, which gives early users a greater probability for communication success.

On a deeper level, breakthroughs in communication technology change culture in two ways:
1. They control how fast culture is spread.
2. They control how much culture is spread.

This is important because the intersecting of different cultures breeds innovation. Essentially, technology and social media are catalysts in a self-feeding cycle that changes the world. Intersecting cultures lead to breakthrough insights which lead to communication advances that creates new cultures and enable us to spread culture at an even faster rate and in turn increase the rate of breakthroughs ideas.

To put it simply, technology and social media change and challenge people’s way of life and what effectively reaches them.

4. Where do you think the future of marketing for the church is headed?

With more churches learning the importance of marketing, I think the next big trend for churches is learning how to have balance between their mission and their marketing. If not careful, it can be easy to take one’s marketing to an unhealthy extreme.

Marketing encompasses a church’s unique calling and every touchpoint it has with people. Once this is realized, the next step is to learn how to fine tune one’s marketing so that it truly enhances the results of one’s mission.

5. Who do you consider some of the strongest influences (people and technology)?

Some people and things I recommend keeping an eye on are:

THE CHURCH SECTOR
Bobby Gruenewald (http://swerve.lifechurch.tv) & Terry Storch (http://www.terrystorch.com) :: LifeChurch.tv
Brad Abare :: ChurchMarketingSucks.com
Catalyst (http://www.catalystspace.com)
Chuck Missler :: Koinonia House (http://www.khouse.org)
Church IT RoundTable (http://www.citrt.org)
Gabe Lyons & Jeff Shinabarger (http://www.jeffshinabarger.com) :: Fermi Project (http://www.fermiproject.com)
One Prayer (http://www.oneprayer.com)
Rick Warren :: Saddleback Church (http://www.saddleback.com)

THE CORPORATE SECTOR
Cisco Telepresence
Facebook
Google
Microsoft Seadragon and Photosynth
Nanotechnology
TED Conference
Wired magazine

6. Where can we find you on the interwebs?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=26401962
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kentshaffer
http://twitter.com/kentshaffer