Marketing & The Bible: Frequency
Frequency: The number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time.
MARKETING
Frequency is a time honored strategy in the marketing community. What it says is that you need to make sure you are in front of the consumer in a repeated pattern, or a determined duration. The goal is to have the target audience become so aware and familiar with you that you become second nature to them. Then when a need arises for your product, or even a hope for it, you are the first choice.
Now in marketing frequency is not an easy task, because the results are not automatic. To run one add will do nothing. And by the third, the client is getting jumpy, and wants to see some action now! Here is a great list dealing with how this looks.
1.The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
2. The second time, he does not notice it.
3. The third time, he is conscious of its existence.
4. The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before.
5. The fifth time, he reads it.
6. The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
7. The seventh time, he reads it through and says, “Oh brother!”
8. The eighth time, he says, “Here’s that confounded thing again!”
9. The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.
10. The tenth time, he asks his neighbor if he has tried it.
11. The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.
12. The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.
13. The thirteenth time, he thinks perhaps it might be worth something.
14. The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time.
15. The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.
16. The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it some day.
17. The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it.
18. The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.
19. The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.
20. The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offering.
The list you’ve just read was written by Thomas Smith of London in l885.
THE BIBLE
Now lets look at this approach from a biblical perspective. As Christians can we feel right in using this technique with biblical examples we have?
The bibles revolves around common themes that are repeated over and over again by profits, disciples, Jesus and God himself. Sin, Redemption, Love, Judgment, and Salvation are brought up time and time again so that we might know our sin and place before God, and that Grace would reign in our life. These truths are repeated from generation to generation so that they will become apart of our lives.
We use frequency when dealing with Scripture memorization. We will go over a verse multiple times until it becomes like family to us. God himself told of his love and patience with his people here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. I see frequency in the life of Jesus, his message redemption, his healings, and his call for repentance.
Conclusion
Using the bible as my guide I do not see a problem with using Frequency as a church marketing strategy. Our message as a church is redemption and love. We offer hope in Christ in a world where hope does not exist. Our marketing should be powerful and frequent. We need to be in front of our community daily and understand that the Spirit will use that for the glory of God.
How do you see this marketing strategy being used?
Thanks to Pete for the research. You are the man.
Filed under marketing, scripture, theology |5 Responses to “Marketing & The Bible: Frequency”
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Mailers and ads are what is most commonly thought about with frequency, but they are very costly to do. What about something as simple as coffee shops. Almost every coffee shop has a bulletin board, and that is FREE! Create some sort of flyer/ad, and change it up every week. It will take commitment, but people will start to notice them, and your name will be in there heads.
Awesome correlation. I love fact supported information and example as it relates to scripture and how scripture applies to us today. Great site!
The more I consider marketing a church, the more I think that it is wrong. I enjoy the marketing discussion and the biblical ethics of it and as I’ve commented before, I think that marketing is a effective talent and tool.
What do you choose to market about a church though? There are a lot of great social reasons to attend a church. The people and the events and the message are all great reasons to attend a church, but is it the mission of a church to increase attendance or is it to worship God? I did a quick search for growing a church in the bible and I didn’t find anything about growing the membership.
I think that a church should do all it can to invite people in so that they may come to know God and His word. Does this include marketing the church? Maybe, but I would much rather market God then to market a specific church. I would much rather a non-believer become a Christian then a catholic or a baptist or a lutheran. If you market the Word of God, all church attendance should increase. If you market that you should come to this church because your neighbor does you may convert a few people or you may get a bad reputation.
I agree that we should use frequency and the Bible to market God, and to offer our church, or at least any church, as a means for people to receive the message of God’s redemption and love.
Thanks for the opportunity to throw this stuff out for discussion,
TR
TR, great comment, and thought. I think it comes down to what and how you market. And that is a very fine line within the church. This is a great topic to ponder, and I am sure we will hit it soon.
Thanks again.
Corey
Market Jesus! He is what we should be repeating. Luke is very much into church growth. He begins reporting the numerical growth in Acts 2 (3,000 respond) then he reports the 5,000 and then he just says a great number! Point is taken though…the focus should be simply on Jesus…growth will be the natural result. Blessings!
Our vision statement at NewSong Community Church is to be a community of faith, introducing people to Jesus and helping them fall in love with Him.
It’s all about Jesus