Should A Church Have a Target Market?

By David Tonen • January 28th, 2009

A “Target Market” is a marketing segmentation process where an organization defines a particular demographic that they focus their marketing or services toward.  So, for example, when McDonalds does an advertising campaign built around the latest children’s movie, they are aiming or targeting their marketing in that campaign at families with young children.  The point of defining a target market is so you can focus your efforts clearly at one segment of a community so you use your resources to their maximum capacity.

When I ask church leaders who their church is targeting, I almost always get the answer “everyone” or I get a blank stare.  Churches almost always think that they are there to serve everyone.  In reality, a church absolutely is in their community to serve everyone.  The message of the Bible is indeed for everyone.  However, in most cases, most churches are typically targeting one demographic (age group, ethnic group, income, community, etc) more than others…whether they realize it or not.  This is especially evident and true in smaller churches because they have limited resources.  So, if churches are serving one demographic more than others, shouldn’t they define who that is and strategically target this group more effectively?

I am part of the leadership team at a church that launched from scratch with six people in 2005.  We had minimal resources, both human and financial right from day one.  We did some direct mail marketing in our community over the first few years and our marketing was aimed directly at families with young children between ages 5-10 who were not already going to a church.  Were we their in our community to serve everyone who was searching for God?  Absolutely yes, but we were targeting with our programming, our messaging, our services, and our marketing families with young children within a ten kilometer radius of where we were located.

Interestingly, as we have grown, we have a very wide range of demographics represented within our church community.  Yet, our largest group of people are young married couples ages 25-40 with children under the age of 10, because that is who we have targeted with the way we developed our services, our programs, and how we marketed or communicated our message. Consequently, that is the group we have impacted the most. That is where we invested our resources.

So, I firmly believe that churches exist for everyone, but I strongly encourage churches to target a particular demographic so they can use their resources (people and financial) most effectively.  Yes, churches should have a target market or markets depending on the resources available to them.

Does the church you attend have a target market?  Do you think churches should strategize their programming, services, and marketing this way?  Please share your comments below.

Comments(6) Church Marketing, Marketing, Ministry
  • http://www.brandonacox.com Brandon Cox

    David, I’ve grappled with this in the past and have come to the conclusion that part of the answer depends on the particular bent of the leader/Pastor. I thank God for churches that target, especially those that target a hard-to-reach subculture. I’ve adopted a different strategy, however.

    Our church is located in the hometown of Walmart, just south of a large retirement community called Bella Vista. So our two primary people groups are up-and-coming business types and retiring senior citizens. We decided to take a tiered approach in our outreach. We began with our nursery – remodeled and restructured it. Then we brought on a children’s minister, then a youth minister. Next will be college-age. We also minister to the elderly and provide activities for retirees. So, we’re kind of chasing the spectrum.

    As time goes on, we will add new “targets.” For a lot of churches, this approach is a good one. Some churches get to target a subculture, others need to target everybody and be ‘that’ church in the community. But if you’re going to reach everybody, add one target at a time rather than using scatter-shot.

  • http://www.brandonacox.com Brandon Cox

    David, I’ve grappled with this in the past and have come to the conclusion that part of the answer depends on the particular bent of the leader/Pastor. I thank God for churches that target, especially those that target a hard-to-reach subculture. I’ve adopted a different strategy, however.

    Our church is located in the hometown of Walmart, just south of a large retirement community called Bella Vista. So our two primary people groups are up-and-coming business types and retiring senior citizens. We decided to take a tiered approach in our outreach. We began with our nursery – remodeled and restructured it. Then we brought on a children’s minister, then a youth minister. Next will be college-age. We also minister to the elderly and provide activities for retirees. So, we’re kind of chasing the spectrum.

    As time goes on, we will add new “targets.” For a lot of churches, this approach is a good one. Some churches get to target a subculture, others need to target everybody and be ‘that’ church in the community. But if you’re going to reach everybody, add one target at a time rather than using scatter-shot.

  • http://roihunters.wordpress.com Tim Rueb

    Having grown up as a pastor’s kid (PK) and now married to a missionary’s kid (MK) I can tell you many stories of churches, pastors, visiting missionaries, and church leadership that never understood the concept of targeting or focusing on what you do best or what God wants of their body.

    Looking back over the years, I have come to the conclusion that if a church does not become something for someone, that church becomes nothing for everyone.

    The churches and missionaries that I think have done the most, and dare I say best, are the ones that have understood their purpose and applied laser like focus with the talents and gifts that God provided in the location and duration they have in this world.

    David, great post, and thanks for the reminder.

  • http://roihunters.wordpress.com Tim Rueb

    Having grown up as a pastor’s kid (PK) and now married to a missionary’s kid (MK) I can tell you many stories of churches, pastors, visiting missionaries, and church leadership that never understood the concept of targeting or focusing on what you do best or what God wants of their body.

    Looking back over the years, I have come to the conclusion that if a church does not become something for someone, that church becomes nothing for everyone.

    The churches and missionaries that I think have done the most, and dare I say best, are the ones that have understood their purpose and applied laser like focus with the talents and gifts that God provided in the location and duration they have in this world.

    David, great post, and thanks for the reminder.

  • http://navigateyourmarketing.com/ David

    @Brandon: Thanks so much for sharing your church’s strategy. It is nice to see you targeting your resources by adding new targets as your resources allow. You are bang on with “if you are going to reach everybody, add one target at a time rather than using scatter-shot”. Great perspective!

    @Tim: I recently heard this quote:

    “The difference between a flash light and a laser beam is focus.”

    I think, that for a church, the more focus the more impact.

  • http://navigateyourmarketing.com/ David

    @Brandon: Thanks so much for sharing your church’s strategy. It is nice to see you targeting your resources by adding new targets as your resources allow. You are bang on with “if you are going to reach everybody, add one target at a time rather than using scatter-shot”. Great perspective!

    @Tim: I recently heard this quote:

    “The difference between a flash light and a laser beam is focus.”

    I think, that for a church, the more focus the more impact.

« | Home | »

  • Get My Articles Sent To You for Free!

    Add to Reader

    Subscribe to receive my marketing articles via an
    RSS Reader


    Subscribe to Navigate Your Marketing by Email

  • Follow David on Twitter

  • Articles This Month:

    January 2009
    S M T W T F S
    « Dec   Feb »
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031

  • Articles in Past Months

  • Blog Categories

  • Communities:

    Alltop, all the cool kids (and me)