It’s not surprising that many people involved in church media, be that social media, emails, newsletters, logos or whatever, look at general marketing resources. They often contain points which are true no matter what the context is. General good points like “speak plainly” or “have one call to action” are true for church communications just as well as for profit businesses.
However, I sometimes feel very strange when I see people directing articles to others involved with the church which are heavily focused on making sales and similar business specific goals. While there is nothing inheritor wrong with making sales and providing paid resources can be great for everyone involved (How many free ebooks have you got which you haven’t read? How many free courses have you signed up for then not finished? Contrast that with things you paid for.) But the church should be focused on more than just sales. We are in the business of changing lives and helping people to enter into a relationship with Jesus so here are a few things to think of instead of sales.
1) Giving
Money can help make things happen. That doesn’t mean it should be the ultimate end goal but I’m sure everyone will agree that if your church has a surplus of cash, you can do more things, put on extra events, upgrade the equipment and so on. I’m not saying you should do that but maybe you should and if you don’t have the cash you don’t have the option. Encouraging giving helps provide that situation.
It also is good for church members. Whenever I’ve been more generous, I’ve worried less about money and been more in control of my finances with a great awareness of where money is going. I know I’m not alone there. Plus investing money in something makes you give it more attention.
Encouraging people to give (responsibly of course) to you church or ministry helps everyone…just make sure you’re a good steward of those donations.
2) Sign Up for Our Email
Getting people connected to an email list is a good way to help people informed about the different events, occasions, prayer requests and needs in your church. It can help enhance communication and facilitate all the other activities we’re going to mention.
3) Download a Free Resource
Giving away a free resource is a great alternative to selling a resource as you guarantee that money will not be an obstacle for people to access it. If you want to make sure the greatest number of people can access it, then make it free and give it away. Using this as your call to action is a great idea.
4) Join a Community
This could be online or in person but encouraging members to join communities will help get them more connected and more involved In your church or ministry. Tools like slack and Facebook groups can be a great way to do this online, or having home/cell/small/mid-week groups as part of your church can help too.
5) Sign Up for Event
Events can be a great way to serve/grow deeper/encounter God/learn and more. There’s something powerful about attending something live, especially in person and often the conversations around an event can be as transformative as the event itself. Using your call to action to get people to attend an event, as a participant or volunteer is another alternative.
6) Volunteer Your Time/Gifts
Another great call to action is to volunteer in someway. Many people are looking for ways to help out and be more involved. People don’t want passive servings of spiritual wisdom which leads to no changes in the rest of their lives, they want to apply it and see changes in themselves. Using a call to action to get more volunteers is another option, however, be prepared for responses of “I’m too busy”. Although people want to volunteer and be more involved, they also often don’t want to give up their time.
The Ultimate End Goal?
In every single area we need to consider what our ultimate end goal is.
Is it to just keep the church running, make sure we have lights on, a service happens etc or is it to help people encounter God and be changed by that?
Of course, money can help that happen but when we share a general resource focusing on sales, we have to remember that we have a bigger goal in mind. Maybe non of these ideas are applicable for you, in fact I’d love your ideas of what calls to action should be on church websites, social media and email newsletters.
Speak your mind...