Bonus Marketing Nuggets (Secret #10)

What else should we do to build our funnel?

There are so many more topics than we can cover in one book. Marketing and advertising is always changing, so I am sure we will have a follow-up book later at some point. In this chapter we won’t go as in-depth on the concepts, but I wanted to share a few more strategies from a high level. 

Can we talk about online reviews?

Not long ago, my team was studying the web analytics for a church we work with in San Francisco. When we checked the stats for their organic web traffic, we were shocked. They received a ton of traffic from Yelp. Like, a ton. This was eye opening to me. I had not deeply considered that Yelp would play a big factor for a church’s marketing. I was wrong! Yelp brought in more than double the traffic of Instagram or Facebook. More than double!

Although this was surprising to us, it totally makes sense. We are in a review-driven culture. Before I personally buy something online, I usually read the reviews. It is just part of how we make online decisions. Even though choosing a church is not a purchase, it still is a decision. Your church should make a big deal about getting more reviews—hopefully good ones. It may seem weird to ask for reviews, but they can be a deciding factor in the decision-making process. 

Many churches don’t want to ask for reviews, because they worry about the negative ones. We all know that people online can be brutal, and sometimes totally inaccurate, but most people are savvy enough to filter through oddball reviews. Even some of the most popular movies, books, and restaurants receive negative reviews. When I am looking for reviews and I read some of the negative ones, I can instantly tell when someone is credible or not. I honestly don’t think that your church will be greatly impacted by someone spewing inaccurate and crazy reviews.

What you need is volume. You want as many reviews as possible. It’s better to have a 3/5 star rating with tons of reviews, than it is to have a 5/5 star rating, with only three reviews. If you only have a few reviews, people know that those were just from you and your mom! You aren’t tricking anyone. 

The way to up your review game is pretty simple: you just have to ask. In the secular world, they teach entire classes to marketers about following up and asking for reviews. When someone is asked, they are way more likely to leave a review. Find ways to ask your people for a review. Use an occasional Facebook post, or put it in your bulletin. It is much more about the number of reviews than the actual content of each one. 

Pro Tip – Put a QR code on the screens before your service. Direct people to a landing page on your website where they can have a direct link to Facebook Reviews, Google Reviews, and Yelp for your church.

What about print mail?

Church leaders ask me every week what my advice is about print mail. It’s a tricky one to answer. Print mail is a big pill to swallow because it is so darn expensive. With digital ads, you can expect to pay around $0.03 per impression. With print mail, you will spend $0.40 or greater per piece. That’s a really big bill when you start doing 30,000-piece mail campaigns. Ouch. Expect a big print mail campaign to cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000, depending on your volume. So yeah, it is expensive. However, you can’t argue with the results. Print mail does work to get people in the door, especially if it is done surrounding a big event or has a really great and unique message on it. 

I suggest doing two big print mail campaigns per year. One for Easter, and one for your second biggest event each year. You might have a huge fall festival, or you might go all out for Christmas Eve. Whatever your second biggest event is, this should have a mailer as well. Some people respond better to mailers than they do online ads.

Your print mail campaign will be most effective if you are strategic with the image and message. If your special event is a big family event, make the message and visuals directed at kids. Use visuals and verbiage that would make the kids beg their parents to take them! As a parent, I hate myself for even writing that, but it works. Win the kids, win the family. The more specific you can make your postcard, the better.

Pro Tip – Instead of traditional mail companies, use Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM). This is a service provided directly by the USPS. It is cheaper than going through a third-party print mail company. EDDM puts the mailer in every single mailbox in the postal routes that you select. You don’t even have to leave a spot for a return address. This gives you more space to promote your message.

What do you mean when you talk about big Sundays?

Your marketing will be way more effective when you use big Sundays as the draw. A “big Sunday” is a service when something special happens—something outside the usual weekend service at your church. This might be as simple as the launch of a new teaching series, and you make a big deal about it. Or it can be an event like your church’s annual birthday celebration. Something that gives a person a little FOMO (fear of missing out). 

With any middle of the funnel ads, you will see a much better conversion rate when the ask is for a big Sunday. People need a big event to feel like it makes sense to stop by for the first time.

Intentionally make a big Sunday happen every single quarter. Any more than that and it loses its effectiveness. Start promoting and talking about your upcoming big Sunday around five weeks in advance, both online and in service. Build excitement, and encourage your people to invite guests for this specific big Sunday.

Pro Tip – Any time you can have a special party happening for the kids, you will see an overall boost in attendance. Advertise that you are having a special superhero character visiting, or you are doing a bounce house. If the parents are getting begged by their kids, you know you’ve got a great chance for them to show up.

How do we promote our message series?

Every new sermon series is a big deal. In fact, make it a huge deal. Set a precedent that your church goes all in on sermon series. This way people will get excited when you are about to launch a new one. 

Most churches use themed message series, but they really don’t do anything special. They may teach on a similar topic, but they could do so much more to build excitement. Increase people’s anticipation and expectation by treating your series like the launch of a brand new product. Every series needs a creative main graphic and bumper/promo video. Every week, create quote graphics and recap videos that have the message series designs within them. Have banners created to hang in the foyer of the church that are specific to that series, helping to make it feel like a big deal. People love theming, and it helps them visually remember the content that you teach. This isn’t a gimmick, this is us understanding how the human brain works. 

Here’s the best way to promote a new series. When you are two or three weeks away from the launch date, make a Facebook event for the first day of the new series, then share it from your church Facebook page. Use the promo video in the Facebook event. Also film a short, one-minute video of the lead pastor sharing the vision and overview of the series. Use this video as a middle of the funnel retargeting ad in the weeks leading up to this launch. Your call to action should be for people to plan their visit for this new series.

It’s also a good idea to have some merch created just for your series. Some people in your church will be really moved by a certain message series, and they will want an apparel item as a reminder. Give away unique invite cards or keepsakes with the theme and main points of the series to really make it stick for people. 

Pro Tip – Create a set of Instagram story highlights specifically for each series. Save all the quotes and caption recaps from the series, that way people can look back months or years after the series is over and be reminded of the great content that they learned.