Digital Marketing: I Dare You!

By David Tonen • June 17th, 2009

Yesterday, my blog post provided some statistics proving the importance of church web sites.  After I wrote that post, I discovered another blog post written by Shaun King.  Shaun is a pastor in Atlanta who launched a new church in January 2009 called Courageous Church.  Shaun’s post Leading Church in A Flat World provides some more statistics from his church to validate the impact a church web site and social media can have for a ministry today:

  • Of the 700 people in attendance @ our church grand opening on January 11th, over 65% of them learned of us online.
  • Over 50% of our weekly 1st time visitors learn about our church from Facebook or Twitter.

Again, some very compelling statistics that give you a sense of the impact that an effective web site and integrated social media strategy can have.

A Reality Check

I love what Shaun is doing and I am very pleased and excited that these tools are having this type of impact for his ministry.  I absolutely advocate for all churches to have a the best web site they possibly can and to experiment with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and others.

However, Shaun’s statistics are not a success guarantee or even possible for all churches. The effectiveness of digital marketing tools will depend on the city, the country, and the demographics of where your church is located.  Suburban communities will have better success integrating these type of tools than some rural areas.  If you were to try the same strategies in a city in Canada the results would be different than a city like Atlanta.

I Dare You!

What I want all churches to realize however, is that this is an exciting time to tell their story – to market their church.  There are tools and opportunities available today that were not possible five years ago and the evolution of digital marketing platforms is not going away – it will only continue to expand and escalate.  So, with that in mind, no matter where you live and no matter what demographic your church is trying to connect with, you have to start implementing some of these tools into your ministry.  I challenge you to try.  It is not a fad, it is not going away, and you do your ministry more harm than good by continuing to wait or ignore these opportunities.  You do not have to do it all at once but I really encourage you to be brave and start with something.

Using the Internet as a communication tool for the message of hope and life-change that Jesus offers – works.  I promise you that you will absolutely connect with some people.  Don’t waste another day!  Some one’s life – some one’s eternity depends on it!

Image via Flickr: nouQraz

Comments(3) Canada, Church Marketing, Marketing, Media, Ministry, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, Web
  • http://stephenbateman.com Stephen Bateman

    I wonder. Online marketing (often) leads to high awareness, low engagement, or at least many times.

    Have churches generating ridiculous #’s of leads from the internet found that to be true as well?

  • http://mediumdeep.com Matt Huggins

    Christ needs no marketing. He seeks witnesses. We best lift Him up by taking up our own crosses and following Him, not by erecting our own billboards.

    I wonder what sort of metrics a digitally savvy (and proud of it) church might have for measuring the extent to which the much celebrated “clicks” translate into new disciples of Christ. I would have thought that, if the last 100 years taught God’s people anything, it’s not to become overly enamored of numbers, not to focus overly much on closing transactions.

    I consider myself rather tech savvy, but find troublesomely naive much of the clamor I hear for churches to pour the Gospel through any digital pipe (or sieve) handy. I find some of the hype, quite frankly, insulting to our forefathers in the faith and even the Holy Spirit. We think far too much of man’s gadgets and far too little of our God.

  • http://navigateyourmarketing.com/ David

    @Stephen – you are probably on to something regarding engagement. Ultimately, people may come once out of awareness but becoming engaged in a church community and a relationship with Jesus requires relationships with people who will invest in them and disciple. So, I think the two go hand-in-hand and you ahve to have a relationship engagement strategy as well. Thanks for the comment!

    @Matt – Appreciate you sharing your perspective. Jesus doesn’t need “advertising” but marketing is communication – when we as people engage people by sharing the story of Jesus and that is marketing in its simplest form. Jesus was the best marketer that ever lived…following his lead and using whatever tools we can to connect with people to share His story of love, hope and life-change ultimately changes lives. Appreciate you being a voice in this community!

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