| Today’s guest blogger is Kevin Hall. A graduate of Cedarville University (B.A.) and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Adv. MDiv), Kevin is a current PhD student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a former police officer, and he and his family served in Mexico as missionaries. He is married to Bethany, and they have three children.
The basic goal of marketing is to reach people with your product. Jay Conrad Levinson’s Guerrilla Marketing is a national bestseller full of strategies on how to grow one’s business through marketing.[i] While the church is not in business to rake in revenue, we do have the assignment of reaching people. And, what we offer is much more than a “product”: it’s salvation through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
We should all agree that we aren’t in a numbers game for the sake of numbers. However, numbers do represent people – and biblical church growth is about reaching out to people, seeing them come to know Christ, and then discipling them into mature Christ-followers. Numerical growth is the natural result of these efforts.
Here are a few marketing “take-aways” every church, whether established or a new church plant, should consider:
- Follow-up – “repetition is paramount” (p. 6) and “guerilla marketing preaches fervent follow-up” (p. 6). Every church needs a plan for follow-up. Churches should follow-up not only with first-time guests, but also with members in order to keep them from trickling out the proverbial back door.
- Don’t quit – “your competition won’t quit” (p. 47). A lot of religious entities, churches, and cults claim to have the answers but lead people astray. Frankly, they often do a lot better job reaching out to others than those of us with the Truth.
- Strive for excellence- “tap the power of a pro” (p. 78). Spend the extra money on a professionally designed website, a creative ad, or artwork. Have a standard of excellence that others will clearly see and appreciate. People are not drawn to mediocrity.
- Seek knowledge – “creativity comes from knowledge” (p. 54). When you know your target audience and local demographics, you will be better equipped to market to and reach your community. Without creative marketing, many may never even know you exist.
- Track your numbers – “you must track your responses” (p. 177). Track your audience so you know how to best minister to them. Keep track of the church’s growth statistics so you can monitor and evaluate what you are doing. This tracking helps you examine the best use of your money, time, and efforts.
In our effort to make disciples of all nations, we need to be doing everything we can to reach people. Boldly go and announce Jesus as the greatest gift anyone could ever receive.
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