Step 2 - Know Your Target Audience

Perhaps this (and the points that follow) should be listed first, as they are critical to the crafting of your church ministry marketing (evangelism) plan, but it is important to impress upon you the necessity of having a well-thought-out, balanced, and written plan in the first place.

This point and those that follow are however all key points in the creation and execution of your evangelism and marketing plan.

When asked about their target audience, churches, ministries and pastors will usually say that they want to reach EVERYBODY (after all, the Great Commission does say "to make disciples of all the nations ...", does it not?).

And while it is certainly true that the gospel message is for everybody, as a church or ministry, and as a church or ministry with decidedly limited staff, time, and resources, you must start somewhere.

You must strive to focus your efforts in those areas that will do the most good, or which are most supportive of your overall central vision and stated organizational mission.

Not every prospective member or worshipper will read, listen, or watch the same thing, or even respond to the same message in the same way. Therefore church advertisements and marketing efforts must be tailored and customized to their intended audience or recipient.

For example, a young person or youth will have different interests, perspectives, and problems than will a more senior or elderly person. What will the tone and content of your ad be? Serious? Humorous? Fun? Scholarly? Reflective?

A young prospect is more likely to hear your message on a radio station playing "his" or "her" kind of music, or perhaps on the Internet, or on television, or from signs or posters in places where they hang out.

They may respond to messages that offer fun, an opportunity to socialize with their friends, or that offer some source of guidance and direction to them as they attempt to find their way in the world.

An older prospect may be more likely to read the newspaper, watch the news, listen to an "oldies" radio station, or read a direct mail piece. They may also respond more to a serious or reflective, inspirational message.

Adults with families are likely to be concerned with bringing up their children in healthy ways, in family-oriented environments. They may be interested in participating in missions projects in the community or in other parts of the world, perhaps in response to some recent event or disaster in the news.

Once you have a specific target audience in mind, or have at least broken it down into identifiable categories, you need to learn as much about each group as you can.

What are they like? What do they read, listen to, or watch? What message, program, or activity will be of most interest to them? What is it about your church that they will be most interested in, and most likely to respond to? How can you make it easy for them to become involved, or to participate?

Some suggested resources for helping you in gathering this information are included at the end of Part 4 of this report.

You need to develop a sense of openness and a willingness to learn as much as you can about the people you most specifically and immediately want to reach. Making un-informed assumptions will not be productive, and may even be counter-productive to reaching the people in your community.

For example, the needs, concerns, and culture of a poor, inner-city multi-ethnic community will be markedly different than an affluent, homogenous suburb, and different from a small-town, rural, or farming community.

Demographics specialists and professional church ministry marketing consultants can help you to identify and acquire the demographic information that you need for your specific community and target audience.

You can also conduct your own surveys. Just walking around the area where the people you want to reach live, work, and play, can give you a lot of information as to what is important and relevant to them, and how best to reach them.



Step 3 - Match the Media Channel to the Target Audience

We touched on this briefly in the paragraphs above. It is vitally important that you put some time, thought and effort into properly matching your ministry communication and marketing to the needs and preferences of the people you are trying to reach.

Often, churches will produce forms of media simply because they think that they "need to" or "should", without giving much thought as to the appropriateness of the form, content, or ultimate message.

One example is the ubiquitous church brochure. It seems like a good thing to have, and generally it is a good promotional tool, something to give to visitors and prospective visitors, or even to new members, but it is of little value if the target audience really doesn't like to read.

Slick, expensive, pretty-looking brochures are a waste of money if they don't say anything or communicate any useful or motivational information, that would cause the reader to respond.

A church website is one of the latest high-tech tools for reaching people, but what if the majority of your target audience doesn't yet have Internet access, or a computer?

Newspaper, or radio ads? Which newspaper? Which section? Which day? Which radio station? What time of the day? What kind of message?

The more that you know about your target audience (or target sub-group) the easier it will be to answer these questions, and the more savvy and sophisticated a buyer you will be when talking to the advertising reps at those media companies.

What about billboards, or church signage? The possibilities are endless.

Next: Getting Started...