PODCAST | Effective Church Communications

Communication is one of the most challenging church ministries because it is often the gateway to the entire church. To do it effectively requires more than the latest images, social media, and technology tips.

You need a timeless strategy, inspiration, and Biblical challenges that work no matter what tech tools and channels you use, the size of your church or age of your audience. You'll get them in the Effective Church Communication Podcast.

What if your church did NO advertising for Easter? Or other seasonal outreach times? Try this Biblical alternative!

9 March, 2019 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

Equip your people --free Easter invitations — You may not want to be this obvious, but when your people believe this and want to tell their friends, it's the most effective form of church outreach you can do.

Ed. note: In updating this important blog for Easter preparation, I wanted to do more than send out a blog, so I made a podcast related to it. The two have similar ideas, but expressed in somewhat different ways. Below is the Podcast Intro, the Podcast and then the blog.

The Podcast:

What if your church did NO advertising for Easter? No sending out of postcards purchased from some national company that end up looking like the several other churches produce.

Hi I'm Yvon Prehn and welcome to the Effective Church Communications Podcast!

Today we'll talk about alternatives that you can do in-house--by your people that can accomplish much more.

As I mentioned in the intro—Far too often, when a church is planning a major holiday outreach, a catalog of professionally produced postcards are selected, purchased and mailed out by the church. This can cost a lot of money, but sometimes a smaller church desperately wants to try something that might result in growth, so they spend money, that perhaps could have been used for other things and try it. Statistically, as the companies will tell you a certain number ought to respond and though we rejoice if even one new person comes and ultimately comes to know Jesus as Savior because of that process, let me suggest another strategy that is more biblical, more successful, and that will probably save your church some money also.

A new strategy—Involve the whole church in seasonal communication

Everyone in the church needs to be involved for holiday and special events to be successful. Everyone needs to be part of and feel responsible for the outreach and growth of your church. When Jesus said:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20)

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

He did not qualify these commands by saying:

"The command to be my witness and to reach your world is only for pastors and for the communication director of the church.”

No—outreach, witnessing, sharing your faith is every believer's task and seasonal celebrations and special events are a great way to be obedient to Jesus' command to be his witness and reach our world. The tools of technology available to us in ministry today make it possible for everyone in the church to have a significant part in the outreach of the entire church.Continue Reading

What Tesla can teach us about successful church marketing

4 March, 2019 By Yvon Prehn 4 Comments

What Tesla has to teach the church about advertising — Yes, a Tesla is a great-looking car, but did you know they outsell EVERY other luxury car brand WITHOUT any advertising? The church can learn something from how they do it.

Did you know that Tesla sells more luxury cars than any other company?
I think the challenge of that question is so important, I did both a blog and article on it. Below is the podcast and then the continuation of the blog:

I was surprised when I read that statistic, but even more interested when I read how they did it. Let me share the terlerati.com comment on it, a chart that illustrates their success, and then I'll talk about how this inspired me about discipleship and church marketing. Then I've got some spiritual challenges for you and then at the end of this some practical tools you can use to put into practice to make your seasonal marketing more successful than ever.

Quickly, name one advertisement you’ve seen recently from Tesla Motors themselves? OK, name any advertisement you’ve seen from the company, ever? Tesla’s marketing strategy is as disruptive as its business model. It lets you and I advertise for them, for free. . . . . Tesla does not spend millions of dollars in a traditional ad campaign. They let you and me discuss it, rave about it, hate on it, or rejoice in the spirit of going electric in a Tesla, be the catalyst to a viral and brilliant marketing campaign. At the end of the day, Tesla advertising is free.

ECC PODCAST: Don’t default to Magical Thinking when planning your seasonal outreach

21 February, 2019 By Yvon Prehn Leave a Comment

No magical thinking for church events — HARD WORK, not Magical Thinking is what will accomplish the results we pray for in our seasonal outreach events.

PODCAST INTRO:

Easter is fast approaching and as we look at all the work ahead, don't you wish that people would magically appear at your events after one announcement from the pulpit or one notice in the bulletin and in social media?

Not only that, wouldn't it be wonderful if they'd magically come back and start attending the church regularly after one visit?

But we know it probably won't work out like this will it?

Hi, I'm Yvon Prehn and Welcome to the Effective Church Communications Podcast!

Today our topic is: Don't default to Magical Thinking when planning your seasonal outreach

Click below to listen to the podcast or listen on iTunes or any of your favorite podcast channels.

You might protest that you would NEVER count on magic to do anything in the church and mean it. But unfortunately, the communication actions in many churches tell a different story because. . . . .

Magical thinking takes place when you assume that simply by doing certain things, you will get the results you want without actually doing the hard work you need to do to get them

And sadly, churches do this all the time and wonder why they don’t get the results they want from their outreach.

In today’s Podcast we’ll go over FIVE examples of Magical Thinking in church seasonal communications, why they don’t work and what you need to do instead of Magical Thinking to assure the response you want at your church for your seasonal celebrations.

For the FREE TEMPLATES mentioned in the Podcast, CLICK HERE

For an article that has the text of the podcast, notes, and links mentioned, CLICK HERE.