Effective Church Communications

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and Biblical Inspiration to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission

Effective Church Communications provides Timeless Strategy and a Biblical Perspective to help churches create communications that fully fulfill the Great Commission. Our tools constantly change; our task doesn’t; we can help.

Why print isn’t dead and what it means for your church communications

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Print or digital for churches
Is print outdated for church communications? Not at all--and this article explains why

The Apostle Paul encouraged us to be "all things to all people that we might win some" and in today's world that means using every communication channel possible to reach people for Jesus. Recently however, I've read a number of articles that encourage communicators in how to combine print and digital channels for maximum communication effectiveness. Following are some quotes from them and then applications for churches.

Use print and digital side by side

Quote: Maybe it really isn’t about print or digital first, but leading together, side by side. The mantra of the web has always been more powerful and successful when it is collaborate, not compete. Why compete with each other? Why should any product go first, when both can cross the finish line at the same time if they work together?

The smart answer isn’t putting digital or print first, but to put design and usability first, using each product for what they do best and let them do it together.

From: http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2012/10/digital-first-print-first-both-should-work-together291#sthash.vMK0cUur.dpuf

Practical application:  One of the best ways print and digital can work together in the church is when your church bulletin mentions an activity or event for the print notice to link to the church web for background information and explanations. In addition, your social media can remind, link to the website material. Your print (business cards, bulletin, and postcards) would also have the URL for your website and links to your social media.

This can work especially well for seasonal celebrations. For example, at Christmas your church will probably sponsor a variety of events. On your website you can have explanations of why Jesus really is the reason for the season, what Advent is all about, suggestions for how you can use the season to train children, a Q & A section for people unfamiliar with church. In addition you can use your social media to remind people of what is available in more depth and encourage them to invite their friends.

Print and digital mix works best to market events

Quote: Not only does a mix of communication mediums enhance brands, they can effectively work together to create a marketing solution, which adds real value by engaging customers with measurable results. An example of this is using variable data printed pieces that are specifically targeted and personalized to engage a customer, combined with digital solutions for example a corresponding personalized web page that enables further interaction. This kind of communication has proven results to increase response rates and improve customer retention giving a far better return on investment than static printed or passive digital communications alone.

From: David Allsopp, director, ASAP Digital: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/07/24/paper-and-print-print-v-digital

Practical application: To use Christmas as an example again, create print material such as postcards and invitation cards, for your congregation to give out that once again link to expanded digital explanations. Even more effective, if you have the communication volunteers who are able to do this, would be to create blog or web sections for specific groups in your church, for example: "Parents ideas to teach kids at home about Jesus at Christmas"  and hand out flyers in Children's Sunday School classes and send out emails and social media to parents. Another idea would be a series of tweets going to teenagers directing them to a blog or Facebook entries about "How to invite your friends to church without being embarrassed about it."

Creative Print can make your church stand out (2 related quotes here)

Quote:According to marketing experts, there is a new resurgence of print marketing from forward-thinking business people who recognize the revenue potential of direct-mail ads and other print promotions. In a crowded online market in which users are bombarded with banner ads and display ads, people are becoming jaded by internet advertising. Print is becoming a legitimate alternative.

It’s sometimes difficult to differentiate your business in a crowded online market. However, it’s not so difficult to make a difference with a posters, flyers, or other print promotions.  A large proportion of companies have yet to take advantage of new digital technologies. By optimizing your print promotions, you can create print promotions that not only stand apart, but also do a great job of bringing customers from a print ad to your website or sales offer.

Since working for print companies for the past 5 years, I can honestly say that print never went away for a lot of businesses. Especially small business and local chains that completely rely on direct mail offers and local print ads for their walk-in business.  I also see larger businesses starting to return to print to take advantage of new technologies that make it possible for customers to interact with them via smart phones. Thanks to the gigantic leaps-forward in smart phone technology, we are now able to bring customers to smart phone optimized web pages, social media pages, landing pages, and even to our checkout pages – directly from a print ad.  QR code technology is fast becoming an effective bridge between these two worlds.

http://www.lawtonprinting.com/blog/Integrating_Print_and_Digital,_Print_is_key_to_success_in_a_digital_world/75

Quote: Nowadays, printed materials such as books, brochures and magazines frequently direct readers to other digital media sources to supplement their experience with sound or moving image. A recent example of this in action is Jodi Picoult’s novel ‘Sing You Home’, in which readers can scan a QR code at the beginning of each chapter to hear a soundtrack intended to ‘bring the character of Zoe to life for the reader by giving her a real voice’. 

http://www.fespa.com/news/industry-news/when-two-worlds-collide-how-print-and-digital-can-become-complementary.html

Practical application: A key application here is how posters, flyers, and other print promotions can drive people to your expanded digital resources. No matter what any SEO "expert" tells you, you need more than the savvy use of keywords to get your church website found. One way to do it is in the same way that we check out the website from any company when we get an advertisement in the mail or Sunday paper that looks interesting, print in the form of postcards, mailers, invitation cards, or posters at the local coffee shop can drive people to your website.

The creation of QR codes added to creative media has many exciting options for the church—imagine an outreach postcard or poster with a QR code taking you to a your praise band, podcast or video that was specifically designed for an unchurched audience.

Finally—though we may often wish we didn't have to create so many channels of communication, to reach our world today we need a mixture of print and digital to be "all things to all people that we might win some."

Why and how to create a digital church bulletin

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Church Bulletin SAMPLE
Your church bulletin is the key to essential information about your church--be sure to have it in both print and digital formats.

Many churches forget that Sunday is no longer a sacred day and many people either have to work or have sports events that involve their children on Sunday morning. These same people might be very interested in activities during the week: small groups, activities for children, service opportunities, training and prayer times.How can we keep them cared for and informed?

Though social media is being used by many churches, it is seldom updated consistently or complete in the information it has. Church websites look better than ever, but again, most churches don't keep them as updated on essential details that connect people to events. Realistically, the church bulletin is still  the primary communication tool about these activities in many churches and if you don't get the bulletin, you miss out.

Make certain that doesn't happen by having a PDF bulletin on your website that anyone can access even if they have to miss on Sunday morning.

One of the easiest ways to create a digital bulletin is to simply make a PDF of the print bulletin you produce and upload it to your website. The purpose of this PDF on your website isn't to replace the print version, but to add to the communication reach of the content in it. You only have to create the content once, but creating a PDF gives you another way to distribute the information that will help people connect with the church and grow as disciples.

A PDF bulletin can be downloaded, printed, and read like the regular bulletin. This is a wonderful ministry for shut-ins or people who cannot attend Sunday morning regularly.

Don't think either the PDF Bulletin or any form of social media is the only one necessary—you need both.

Remind people your digital bulletin is available through emails, Facebook, Twitter or other social media you use. Social media are effective for instant, brief communication, but your Bulletin can contain much more information and it can be saved and put on the refrigerator as a reminder.Social media is also an ever-flowing stream and it's hard to look up the time to an event or directions or why you should come if you didn't get it (or most likely weren't told it) in a tweet.  In addition, the Bulletin can refer to the website for even more details about an event or ministry. In the PDF version of a digital bulletin you can link directly to more information, detailed schedules, sign-up forms.

This is not a time of either/or in our communication methods if we honestly want to involve everyone in the activities of our church that can change lives; it's a time of both/and. This means doing all we can do through every communication channel possible to help people come to know Jesus as Savior and grow to mature disciples. This means creating both print and digital bulletins.

Additional tips if you create a PDF Bulletin

  • Be sure the bulletin is available for download on your website by Sunday morning – again, keeping in mind someone who may not be able to attend the church in the morning, but may need information about an event in the afternoon. As soon as you print the bulletin, put it on the website.
  • Make the bulletin easy to find on your website. Have a tab or advertisement or box or whatever works on your website to let people know that the church bulletin can be accessed and have the location clearly labeled once a person gets to that section so they know what they are downloading.
  • When you save the bulletin as a PDF, you can then save the PDF as a graphic jpg image. You can place a small thumbnail of that image on your website along with the date of the service. Make the image a link to the PDF so a visitor can download the bulletin PDF by clicking the image. You could load up the image to your church Pinterest account if you have one.
  • To make your bulletin especially useful to someone who downloads it, insert hyperlinks in your text so that people can find out more about ministries. For example, you could have a link on the title "Children's Ministry" that would take people to the Children's Ministry section on your website. This tip assumes that your website is complete and up-to-date.

A Biblical precedent for making your Bulletin accessible in a variety of formats

We admire the Apostle Paul who said he was "all things to all people that he might win some."  Paul adapted himself to the needs of his audience because he knew all of them needed Jesus. He used a variety of communication methods and messages to reach as many people as he could.

We follow his example when we take the time to create print materials, turn them into PDFs, post them online, tell people through social media they are available and create relevant links for people who need more information. If we want people to come to know Jesus in our secular, busy world we need to meet people where they are and use every communication tool possible to link them to our church and to the ministries that will help them come to know Jesus as Savior and grow to mature disciples.