Church leaders searching for answers about how to enhance congregational outreach efforts and build awareness of their church can now turn to a revitalized Church Marketing Plan Tool from United Methodist Communications. The tool guides local church teams through discovery and planning techniques that result in a unique, comprehensive marketing plan for their church.
"Local churches are empowered to do meaningful outreach when they take time to understand their communities and the best ways to connect with them," said Poonam Patodia, chief marketing officer at United Methodist Communications. "The Church Marketing Plan Tool offers a holistic, hands-on opportunity to design a tailored marketing plan that tells the story of a congregation and its ministries."
The revitalized tool is simpler and more user-friendly, including quicker-paced content, downloadable worksheets, tips and clear action items. It also provides a cohesive structure for organizing church marketing and communication efforts.
While the entire process may take several weeks to complete, most of that time is spent collecting information about the community surrounding the church, assessing church strengths and challenges, and creating an overarching vision.
Suggested team members include the senior pastor, a marketing plan coordinator, an administrative assistant and members of various committees.
The tool guides the team through two phases:
- Research and vision: teams use provided statistics and surveys to better understand themselves and the community
- Strategy and implementation: teams apply their new discoveries to create and carry out an effective plan
The Church Marketing Plan Tool culminates in a one-day retreat that follows a furnished agenda. At the end of the day, churches will have a working draft of a complete marketing plan ready to present to the congregation and to put into action.
Church leaders can learn more about the tool and get started building their plan at UMCom.org/marketing-plan. There is no cost to utilize the tool, and no registration or account is required.
Laura Buchanan is a writer and content developer on the creative services team at Uinited Methodist Communications, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. This article was originally published Aug. 31, 2017