Marketing "Big Days"

We received a question recently from Ben Abu Saada, Worship Director of Grace Church in Overland Park, Kansas, who asks:

I was hoping to find an answer or a summary on the strategy Fellowship uses to market the “Big Days” throughout the community.  Does Fellowship have a strategy available for folks to look at?

Great question, Ben! We've found a number of tools to be successful in getting the word out to our community. But first a word about "big days." Ed will often say that we have 52 big events a year - we treat every weekend like there is as much at stake as with any one-time event. Of course, there are undeniably strategic times when we want to make sure people know what's going on (Easter, Christmas, Back to School, etc.).

Although we continue to use traditional techniques like direct mail, banners, newspaper wraps, etc., we're convinced that word-of-mouth is the best marketing tool we have. We make it as easy as possible for our members to invite friends, neighbors and co-workers by:

• Delivering a "Wow" experience every weekend. This is by far the most important part of any church marketing strategy.
• Including tear-out invitation cards occasionally in our bulletins. They are about the size of a business card, and feature bold graphics (often the look of the upcoming series) along with service times and a map.
• Offering easy-to-use e-invites on our Fellowship Church website that users can send to friends and neighbors.
• Promoting upcoming series with short preview video clips during the weekend service.

We'll keep sharing what FC is doing to reach our community and we'd love to hear what you're up to as well!

Comments

[Ben]

Thanks so much for answering my question! You guys are quick and such a great encouragement to local churches.

Thanks again!