Marketing your small business like a church

Most people don’t think of a “church” as needing marketing – but your local community church is in fact a small business.    Most churches- like most small businesses- rely HEAVILY upon “word of mouth” advertising as the primary means of marketing their “small business”.

The blog “Your Ministry Helper” shares the video below which was created by Beyond Relevance in the post “What if Starbucks Marketed Like a Church”  The video helps to show those in ministry what a first time visit to their church might look like from a “visitor’s” point of view.

The sad thing is, my family has been “church shopping” for the past year and the video above hits the “problem” right on the mark.

Because I spend most of my time “online”, I can’t help but think of how many business websites are just like the “church business” featured in the video.  From pop-up windows  to instructions telling visitors to re-size their computer’s settings so they can view the website, many small business websites remind me of the”church” in the above video.

Over at the Beyond Relevance blog, Richard has a great article on the importance the “little things” play in the marketing and branding of a typical church.  In Inconsistent Artwork he writes:

Most churches are not consistent because deep down, they don’t know who they are, whom they are called to reach, or how to reach them. When a church does, consistency becomes the natural outflow of our successful communication with those people.

Wow!  Your local church has a LOT more in common with most small businesses than I ever imagined!!!

Churches – just like small business – need to know who their “customers” are in order to speak effectively to them.   Members of a congregation have GDP (Goals, desires and problems) just like the customers of your business have.  Church marketing messages – just like your small businesses marketing messages- have to address those goals, desires and problems in order to “break through” the clutter of daily life.

In my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results, I walk small business owners through the steps of identifying their target audience.  Once you know who your target audience is – then you can begin focusing on their goals, desires and problems as you create a marketing message which inspires them to do business with your business.

How long has it been since you’ve taken a fresh “look” at your marketing materials?    Set it and forget it is NOT a smart small business marketing strategy for a church OR a business.