I have been lucky enough to be a part of some church events that have been a slam-dunk success. I have also been lucky enough to be a part of church events that were a flop.
You’ve probably heard the old question, “if a tree falls in an uninhabited forest, does it make any noise?”
My question is, if you have a great event that no one knows about; did you have an event at all?
It’s really simple church marketing but a lot of people who plan events forget what is most important. You have to let people know what is going on. You have to know how get the word out about your event.
What are some awesome church event advertising methods? Well, I don’t know how awesome these are but here is a list of things you can do to market your next church event.
How To Market A Church Event
Newspaper Advertisement
I know you’re thinking this a no-brainer but a lot of people overlook this. Newspaper ads can be expensive so make sure you weigh the other options first.
Think outside the box too. There are a lot of local publications besides a newspaper, usually.
Flier Blitzes
You can blitz your community with fliers about your event. Your fliers need to look professional and not made with Microsoft Word Art. Trust me, it makes a huge difference. We can design quality fliers for you for $35 a design if you need help.
There are several ways to blitz with fliers:
You can have a competition with your youth group called 5 minute blitz where they go to a neighborhood, split into teams and see how many fliers they can pass out, hang on doors, put on bulletin boards, and the like within five minutes
You can put them in all public notification areas around town. Grocery stores usually have huge bulletin boards for this sort of thing.
Sometimes the best advertisement is to just pass them out person to person.
Putting fliers on cars is illegal in a lot of places. Don’t do anything to hurt your reputation.
Radio Advertisement
Local radio stations are usually very easy to work with. Especially when it’s churches in the community that are wanting to get the word out.
If your community has the call in listing shows, a LOT of people listen to those. Just call in and give information about your event. Try doing it every day for the weeks leading up to the event.
Just a hint: Try to sound happy when you call in. :)
Guerilla Advertising
Bumper stickers, car magnates, and any other thing that gets the public’s attention.
For one Easter drama we had everyone in costume walking the streets of our city with signs and banners. We got free Newspaper advertising for that.
Church Parking Lot Displays
Don’t just put a sign in the parking lot. Put something that catches people’s attention. Make a parade float and park it. Make a stage and have dummies costumed up in a special scene.
Go big and outlandish. It pays off.
Social Media Marketing
Facebook allows you to narrow your advertising campaign to just your area. It’s cost-effective and works!
Twitter, LinkedIn and several others have potential to get the word out in your community.
Mailers
Be careful with your mail-out campaign. It’s expensive and a lot of people just chunk their mail-outs.
Instead of doing a mass mailer, think about just sending your ads to those addresses you have accumulated with visitor information cards. Over time you should have plenty of addresses to send information to. That targeted list is more important than a bunch of random mailing addresses.
You can also send ads to the e-mail list you’ve built as well.
Have any other ideas? Let us hear about them! Leave a comment!
