Seriously, your head starts to swim with ideas, colors, and imagery for representing what you’re all about and what you have to offer.  Those are all good things.  Write those ideas down somewhere so you’ll remember them during your planning phase.  In fact, I like to keep an Evernote notebook full of ideas so that I can pull them up whenever I need inspiration.

At this point in the marketing process, a church or ministry may decide to hire a marketing professional, web designer, graphic artist, or all three.  Again, another great move!  It’s not wise to try and do it all yourself.  Just because your youth pastor has a pirated copy of Photoshop on his laptop doesn’t mean you’re good to go.  Designers spend years honing their craft and a well done, professionally designed logo or website can be an immense asset to your marketing efforts.

So far, so good.  It’s usually the next step where organizations make the wrong move…

For some reason churches and ministries feel the need to form a large committee when moving into new marketing territory.  There are several reasons why this is detrimental to your efforts and I’m going to give you a four…

It slows down the process.  Large committees equal long meetings where everyone wants their voice to be heard.  They were asked to be on the committee to share their opinion and they’re gonna share it.  When it comes time to review the artwork, it can take several weeks before everyone on the committee has a chance to look at it and get back to you.

It can drive up the cost of the project.  Time is money and when you have to make revision after revision because you have a couple of sticklers on your committee, you’ll pay for it.  Your ministry has other pressing financial needs.  You don’t need to throw money away because one of your committee members wants to see the logo in a slightly different shade of yellow.

It can obscure what you’re trying to communicate.  Let me explain.  If you’re the lead pastor, executive director, or president of your organization, you are going to be the most intimately acquainted with the vision.  It burns in your heart.  You think about it all the time.  You are going to be the most effective at communicating with your designer the concepts you would like to be represented in your artwork.  No one else will be able to do that like you!  Having a committee do that for you is like having your interior designer decorate your house based on third hand information.  You wouldn’t want to do that, would you?

Too many cooks spoil the broth.  In the end, no one is really happy with the design.  You end up compromising the vision to keep committee members happy, no one is super happy on the committee because it took too long, and your designer is now hoping you never call him again because of the frustration caused by working with your committee.

So what do you do?  Keep your team small.  Just you or you and one other person is perfect.  Remember, your designer is part of that team.  He’s not just a human computer mouse.  He has a ton of great ideas that will add massive value to your design.  Trust him.  This is what he does for a living!

Keeping it small will save you from frustration, save you money, and produce a product you will be much happier with for a long time!

You may have noticed (or will soon notice) a new login page for your WordPress site(s).  This is made possible by a genius plugin created by the folks at Plugin Buddy.

The reason we’re making this little change to our sites is so that we can communicate important updates, as well some great tips and tutorials for our fantastic clients.  Just keep your eye on that little news widget below the login form.

As always, I’m grateful for all of you and am available if you have any questions or comments.

Many blessings!

Lee Bezotte

Our next Free Social Media Workshop is coming up on Thursday, February 17th!

The focus of this workshop is on blogging.  If you’re a ministry leader or pastor, you NEED to be blogging!

In this workshop, we’re going to show you:

How to set up a first class blog for little to nothing

How to blog so people will actually read the thing

How to foster interaction with your readers (it’s about making connections!)

How to get people to spread the word about your blog

How to get your blog readers to come to your church (if they don’t already).

It’s going to be a great night!  Bring your laptop, connect to the free wifi, and follow along.

The workshop starts at 7:00pm and goes until 8:30.
We’ll be meeting at The Center
1411 Brady Street in Davenport, Iowa

Email me or call 309-269-7408 if you’d like more information.

See you there!

Oftentimes, when a church prepares a marketing piece, decorates the foyer, creates a new logo, or builds a web site, the leadership reaches out to get input from people who all have the same perspective.  They ask the insiders, those with a front row seat to the church.  These people usually have similar opinions and tastes as the leadership and the marketing becomes inbred.  It appeals to those that have already bought in, instead of those the organization is trying to reach. These campaigns usually end up looking culturally out of touch and outdated to outsiders and are a complete waste of time and money.

So what can be done?  Here are a few suggestions…

Get input from people who do not go to your church. It’s so easy to become isolated in our own little church world.  Step outside of it and get input from other people!

Get input from unbelievers. I’m not sure why we shy away from this one.  Corporations spend lots of money to get insights from potential customers so why can’t we?  Ask your seeker friends what they think of your marketing materials.  Ask them point blank what turns them off about it.  Your seeker friend is your target audience so his or her input is extremely valuable!

Give them permission to be honest. So many times, we work hard on a project and really hope people will like it.  When we ask for opinions, people sense that and are afraid to give an honest answer.  Let them know it’s OK to say that it stinks.  It will help you produce a more effective campaign and save you from wasting a bunch of money.

One more thing.  Here’s a great idea for church leadership wanting to get a fresh perspective on their church.  Ask someone who’s never been to their church before to visit and give an honest critique.  Have that person take notes about the friendliness of the hospitality team, the placement of the chairs, the quality of the children’s ministry, the cleanliness of the restrooms, how well the platform was lit, the volume of the worship, etc.  An anonymous walk-through like that can shed a lot of light!  If your friend has a hidden camera, that would really help too!  (I have one that I use from time to time.)

So remember to gather many perspectives.  Each one matters and will make a difference!

Today I wanted to briefly hit on a super basic marketing principle.  Instead of talking about tools like social media, web sites, branding, etc. I want to get to the core of what marketing is all about.  Here is comes…

Marketing is managing the perception that others have about your organization. Why is perception so important?  Because a person’s perception is their reality.  If a person perceives your church to be one that’s unfriendly to newcomers, it doesn’t matter how many pictures you have of hugs given and hands shaken on your web site; that person’s perception will be their reality until convinced otherwise.

One key goal in marketing is to get people to know, like, and trust you.  Why is that?  Because if they know, like, and trust you, they’re more likely to accept your product.  Since our product, as Christians, is literally a life (and eternity) changing product, it’s important that we remove unnecessary obstacles from being likable.  (Please don’t be offended by the term product.  I know it’s much more than that.  I’m just speaking in marketing language.)

So what are a few ways we can manage perceptions and get people to know, like, and trust us?  Here are a few practicals that don’t even involve a new logo or video:

Pay your bills on time. Businesses appreciate it and it gives them the perception that you appreciate them and are responsible.

Tip well at restaurants. A nice tip from “church folk” on Sunday afternoon really goes a long way in the “know. like, and trust” department.

Get involved in the community. Simply having a life outside of the church gives us opportunities to build relationships, manage perceptions, and show the community we care.

And tons more. Keep your lawn mowed, be polite, be patient on the road, return your shopping cart to the “Cart Corral”, get along with other believers, etc.

We’re always marketing (managing perceptions) even when we don’t realize it.  Lets do a good job of it for His glory!

What are some other practical ways of marketing our organization?

Where Facebook is about affiliation (who you know or have known) Twitter for me has become about affinity (what do we have in common?)  I really like finding others with common interests and passions and following each other.

That said, unless you’re a major public figure, you’re probably finding followers the way most people do; by searching for like-minded individuals, following them, and see if you get a follow back.  If you do, you’ve made a connection.  Good day!

So let’s say you’re trying to expand your Twitter community and you’re having trouble getting people to follow you back.  Here are some reasons why this might be happening:

1. A user name that’s difficult to understand. Zboy1509YO might mean something to you, but it doesn’t do a thing for me.  Try keeping your user name as close to your real name or organization’s name as possible.

2. No picture. The Twitter bird is cute but I don’t want to see that graphic all up and down my time line.  Use a picture of YOU.  I’m interested in connecting with other people, not their dog, car, or favorite beverage.

3. Incomplete bio. I’m going to let you in on a secret.  I like to follow people back who share my same interests and affinities.  If I see that you’ve followed me, I’m going to check your bio to see if you’re someone I’d like to follow back.  Add a link to your blog (not your sales presentation) there.  If there’s no information there, I’m going to assume we have nothing in common and not follow you back.  The key is to make me work as little as possible to find out if you’re someone I would like to follow back.

4. A protected profile. Sometimes I like to read a few of your tweets before I decide whether or not to follow you back.  You send me a follow.  I click on your name to see your Twitter profile and I see a padlock.  “Tweets are protected.”  How do I know you have anything interesting to say?  I’m not taking any chances on a protected profile.  No follow back!

5. All of your tweets include a link. If I see links on all of your tweets, chances are I won’t even read them to see if they’re interesting.  When 100% of your tweets are links to your web site, chances are you’re only interested in driving traffic or selling something.  I’m in it for interaction and community, not to read 140 character commercials every few minutes.  With that said, I do follow those links when posted by people who have other things to share too.

6. You’re building a fan club. One of the worst Twitter travesties I’ve seen is when people thin out the number of people they’re following to cause a greater gap in their followers to following ratio.  Look, if you’re a major celebrity, it’s understandable to have 100,000 followers and only be following 25.  The sad thing is that I’ve seen people in ministry drop followers to appear more popular (or something).  It’s one thing to unfollow others who aren’t following you back but come on!  Unfollowing people who are following you because you want a Twitter ego boost?  Shame!  Twitter is about connection and community, not about building up your fan base. Ministers should be especially aware of this.  So, if you unfollow me, don’t expect me to keep following you back.

The key is to represent yourself with clarity and, as I said earlier, make it as easy as possible for people to discover if you’re the kind of person they’d like to follow back.  It’s about affinity and community, a really cool thing in this day and age.  Keep building your community (not your fan club) and we’re in for a great time together.

What are some things that cause YOU not to follow back?

We’ll be giving another free social media workshop on Thursday, April 15th at 7:00pm.

This time, we’ll be talking about Facebook, and only Facebook.  This powerful social networking site holds thousands of dollars in marketing potential and it’s free!  Learn the ins and outs so that you can effectively strengthen connections and communicate with your audience.

Bring a laptop computer and your best thinking cap to:

The Center
1411 Brady Street
Davenport, IA

Email contact@insparket.com if you have any questions

1. From the main Microsoft Outlook window, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.

2. In the Mail Format tab, click the Signatures button.

3. In the Signatures and stationary window, click New.

4. In the Enter a name for your new signature box, enter a name.

5. Under Choose Default Signature pick the email address you are associating with this signature.

6. In the Signature text box, type the text you want to include in the signature.

7. Highlight the text you would like to link to your web site or blog and click the Insert Hyperlink button (the little globe and chain).

8. In the Address field enter the web address you want to link to.  Make sure to add the “http:// ”

9. In the Text to display field make sure the text reads exactly the way you want it to in your signature.  Do this after you input the address, because it will change to match the address field when you’re not looking!

10. Click OK.

11. At New Messages and Relies/forwards select the name of your email account.

Click OK and you’re done!

Your signature will now appear at the bottom of all your outgoing emails!

I hope this little tutorial helps!  Enter your email address in the subscription box on the right to be notified when more helpful hints are posted!