Navigate Your Marketing » Ministry

In 2012, I Hate Religion

David Tonen — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:54:10 +0000

I am trying to re-calibrate my life. Everyone needs to do that right? I am not talking about starting a new year and making a whole ton of resolutions that I will never keep. I am talking about assessment.

2011 was a phenomenal year for me. I ran my church marketing and communications company full-time for the full-calendar year. It was an amazing journey and an amazing privilege to work with so many ministry-passionate clients. I started a church communications podcast, teamed up with a great bunch of guys to launch a Christian Business Magazine, and served in my Halifax church as a leader. The year was busy and a blast. I have never enjoyed my career more.

I love writing. I love sharing my knowledge, experience, and opinions. So, I really have enjoyed blogging here in the past. In 2011 however, my writing was sparse and inconsistent. I want to recalibrate my schedule in 2012 so I can be “here” more often. I really feel that one of my mandates from God is to educate church leaders on why and how they can communicate their ministry story with greater effectiveness.

So, I a coming back online and I am actually scheduling my writing times with the intent that this will bring forth consistency. I am praying God will keep me on track.

As I start 2012, I want to re-affirm that I love Jesus. I am taking many purposeful steps to spend more time in relationship with Him every day in my personal and business life. This is not about me being religious. I hate religion and so did Jesus. I love my ever growing relationship with him and I love representing him in all I do. I would encourage you to recalibrate some things in your life this year in the pursuit of relationship too. I know from personal experience…that you’ll never regret it.

So, this video below (click here if you cannot see it) really resonates with me and it sums up my pursuit for relationship with God because I Hate Religion too!

Are Magazines Still Relevant in 2011?

David Tonen — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 09:46:03 +0000

You may be wondering what happened to me…

It has been a busy time over the past few months and finding time for blogging has indeed been a challenge. It certainly has not been due to not having something to say or not wanting to! One of my side-projects has been a new magazine that I have been involved with. A group of us felt felt there was a need for a magazine that would encourage Christians to live out their faith in the workplace. So, we have launched a Christian business magazine called Integrity.

The first edition is now published in print and digital format. I welcome you to take a look and provide me with any feedback. I welcome it all! And at the same time I want your response on this question…given our curent culture and media spectrum, are magazines still relevant today?

Open publication – Free publishing – More christian

David Tonen is the Marketing Navigator for MinistryStory.com a church marketing and communications company helping church leaders to communicate with greater effectiveness, impact, and excellence.

The Filter Bubble

David Tonen — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 13:54:58 +0000

Customization and personalization of what we find on the web, in Facebook, or any other social media platform. This video is well worth your time to watch as you consider how the information we interact with online is influenced by forces beyond our control.

“The Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see but not necessarily what we need to see” - Eli Pariser

Does Your Church Brand Resonate?

David Tonen — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 01:02:11 +0000

This week, I spent some time talking with Kerry Bural from The Resonate Group about church branding.

Kerry very passionately believes that good church branding is about connecting with people. He asks – what really drives what your ministry is doing? As a church leader, you’ll want to think this through as you listen in to his vast experience working with ministries on branding. He said the best brands are built when focused on relationship.

Kerry also quoted his favorite branding definition that comes from John Jantsch:

“Branding is the art of becoming knowable, likeable, and trustable.“

If you are serious about building an effective brand for your church – you’ll want to spend a few minutes and learn from Kerry. I published the first half of our conversation today and will publish part 2 next Monday.

Listen to Episode #12 of the Ministry Story Podcast: Church Branding That Resonates – a conversation with Kerry Bural.

The Strategy Behind the STORY

David Tonen — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:25:31 +0000

The more I work with churches, the more I am convinced that having a church marketing or communications strategy is a key element to successfully reaching people in your community and significantly makes your church better stewards of your human, time, and financial resources.

I can best explain it with my STORY process. Let me expalin it to you in this short 1-minute video:

If you can’t see the video - you can link to it directly on YouTube here…

You may want to consider a church marketing plan for your ministry. Contact me and we will begin that dialogue!

What do you think?

5 Ways To Create A Great Visitor Experience

David Tonen — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:20:14 +0000

This week’s Ministry Story Podcast episode #11 is the conclusion of my interview with Anthony Coppedge.

Anthony wrote a blog post earlier this year which he called The Disney Experience at Church. We discuss his five key observations:

Leverage the Web – User Testimonials
On-Site Arrival
Deliver What Your Selling
Consistent Impressions
Have a Heart

So, please take some time to listen to part one and then part two so you can implement some of the concepts Anthony shares so your church can generate a great experience for your visitors.

A Disney Church Experience?

David Tonen — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:28:16 +0000

Can a church offer a visitor a similar experience and visitor anticipation as Disney? Can going to church actually be as exciting as going to Disneyland?

In this week’s Ministry Story church communications podcast, I talk with Anthony Coppedge, Director of Communications at Fellowship Technologies. Anthony shares his recent Disney experiences and some powerful insights that church leaders can learn from Disney so they can develop an experience in their ministry that will powerfully connect with people coming to their church.

Listen to Ministry Story Podcast Episode #10 here…

How Important is Your Church Website Content?

David Tonen — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:34:47 +0000

Very.

Very important!

Most organizations drop the ball when it comes to creating compelling and focussed content on their websites. Churches struggle in this area too – maybe even more so because this task is often given to a volunteer.

In this week’s Ministry Story church marketing and communications podcast, I share a couplke key points to implement to ensure that your church is communicating as effectively online as it possible can.

Listen to Episode #9 here…

Branding a Church

David Tonen — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:59:34 +0000

For many church leaders, understanding church branding can be confusing. In this week’s Ministry Story Podcast, I talked with Mark MacDonald of PinPoint Creative in North Carolina. If you struggle to get your mind around what branding is and why assessing the brand of your church is so important, I invite you to listen in to our conversation. I know it will help you!

Listen to the MinistryStory Podcast #8 on church branding….

The State of Podcasting for Churches

David Tonen — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:24:20 +0000

Is podcasting dead?

When it first became a fad five years or so ago, everyone was jumping on the podcasting bandwagon. Today, there are certainly fewer being created but is the medium dead?

Needless to say, I am quite interested in podcasting and if you are curious about my take on the state of podcasting, I would appreciate your participation by reading my latest post on Media Salt and then share your thoughts and opinions in the comments of my article Where is Podcasting?