8 Elements of a Church Marketing Plan

Contrary to popular belief, a marketing plan is not limited to only product or service-based businesses. Many different institutes and individuals, such as church leaders, can benefit significantly from a reliable and efficient marketing plan. 

Let’s discuss the top 8 elements of an effective church marketing plan. 

Team Building

Having an experienced and qualified team is essential to run and manage a successful marketing campaign. By building a reliable team, you can make sure that you can allocate important functions of marketing to team members and achieve the overall marketing objectives. 

There is a high chance that members of your congregation have skills or full-fledged jobs in different fields, such as graphic designing, copywriting, and marketing. You can ask them to help you out in the overall marketing of the church. 

However, it often makes more sense to leave the marketing up to the professionals, such as AlphaGraphics of Alexandria and Arlington. We can help you develop and run one of many different marketing campaigns to drive new souls to your congregation.

Set Realistic Goals

Setting goals is an integral part of any marketing campaign. You should follow the SMART strategy for this purpose. It means setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. 

For instance, if you are setting a goal that says, 'we want to start posting religious quotes on social media,' it will be a vague and non-SMART goal. However, you can turn it into a SMART goal by saying, "we want to post one verse from the Bible on Instagram and Facebook every Friday morning." This will also help you measure the overall success of the marketing campaigns. 

Know Thine Target Audience

The primary audience of most churches is their existing congregation. By focusing on the target audience and providing great service to them, you can expect to create excellent word of mouth among other people in your locality as well. 

Generally, the fastest-growing churches are the ones in which people encourage their friends and family to join the church. Moreover, when you have a strong online presence, you can expect people in your locality to join the church as well. 

Have a Specific Budget

While relying on the existing congregation to spread positive word of mouth is completely positive, you will still have to allocate a certain amount of money towards marketing campaigns, especially paid advertising. 

Running paid local ads through social media and print media can greatly boost membership and help it attract more people to church. However, make sure that you have a clear plan about the amount of money you want to spend on marketing campaigns to avoid exhausting your financial resources. 

Create a Brand Identity

Having an appealing brand identity is essential for companies, businesses, and religious institutes, including churches. Having a unique and appealing brand identity for your church is important to make sure it stands out among the other churches. 

A brand identity includes a wide range of factors, including the church’s visual aesthetics. Ensure that the marketing material you create for the church goes along with its theme, logo, vision statement, and overall mission. 

You should also add complete information about how the church operates and any specific terminology, phrases, or tag lines associated with the church. A cohesive brand identity will help you foster trust and a sense of community in the congregation. 

Messaging 

Once you have designed a specific brand identity for your church, your next step should be to create a consistent marketing message that will make your church unique and different from the other churches. It would be beneficial if you could add reviews and comments from your existing congregation to attract new members. 

Add all of the unique aspects and “selling points” in the marketing material. For example, your church might have a great play area for young ones or a childcare program. All of these salient features of a church should be mentioned in marketing material. 

Utilize Different Distribution Channels

The number and type of distribution channels have considerably changed in the last few years. A major reason behind this is the penetration of social media platforms in personal and professional lives. 

Churches should utilize various distribution channels, such as social media networks, digital ads, and traditional forms of advertising. Understandably, a church might not have enough financial resources to afford marketing through all the channels. In such a situation, the leaders should focus on one distribution channel first and then change it after a few weeks if the expected results are not achieved. 

Church Marketing and Signage in Alexandria and Arlington

Having a comprehensive marketing plan is vital for a church to keep attracting new people into its congregation. Along with the marketing plan, churches also need to have an effective fundraising plan to ensure it has enough money to fund the marketing campaigns—as both go hand in hand.