The Nike Syndrome
I have been working with churches and ministries for some time now, and I have to report a problem I have seen. They seem to want the world, but not pay for it. This epidemic mainly hits pastors, but worship leaders have also been known to suffer from it.
The Nike Itch
This is the most common effect I have seen in progressive churches. Here is how it plays out? The church sees the newest, most awesome campaign by a major company, lets say Nike. The pastor falls in love with it, because it speaks in a language that everyone understands. It is edgy, and pushes the envelope from what he has seen. They use all forms of media; print, web, video, and they even sprinkled in is some viral. Now his mind is set, it must be done. So the creative team is gathered, and it is on. But the problem is that there is no money to pay for it. The $500 budget might not cover printing, and the volunteer staff might not be able to handle the workload.
See a doctor, but pay the bill.
The next step then is to look outside of the church. There are plenty of options for churches to get professional work these days. Church graphics, and web programmers are filling the web. Some churches are able to look to local ad agencies for creative too. These are great options if the church can afford them, but the problem is most of them can’t. If you want top quality work, you have to do what Nike does most of the time, pay top quality prices. If Nike payed $1,000,000 for a project, why do churches think they can get the same thing for $1,000? I have heard the phrase “Sorry brother, it just did not work out.” way too many times. The church wants the “Nike” campaign, but they do not want to pay Nike prices. How can we fight against this, what can be done?
Stop the disease.
There are many ways to get rid of the Nike syndrome. One is to look to your team. What are the strengths of your creative team or volunteers? Play off of what they do best, and you will get the best results. Push them in what can be done, but do not shove them into hating what they do. Another is to to be realistic with what your budget can do. Work with your creative team and be honest with what you have. Do not over promise what your money can do. And last, don’t try and be Nike. Large companies are great, but realize you are not them, and you will never be them. That is not a bad thing, and it will free you from trying to be something you are not.
In other words…
Filed under marketing | Comments (2)Marketing & The Bible: Viral Marketing
By Mike Anderson. You all remember Mike right? He was the one who started this blog, and he is a great brother to me. Mike is now working at Mars Hill Church, and is heading up The Resurgence.
Viral Marketing: Jesus was the first viral marketer
Viral Marketing Steps of Jesus
Jesus has a Message: The term Gospel literally means the good news. Jesus spent his ministry teaching his disciples about the Kingdom, grace, warning of sin and hell, and much more. The message of Jesus is clear. He is the King coming to build his heavenly Kingdom, and he will make his enemies his people.
Jesus makes the message understandable: The Truth of the Gospel is so deep that angels spend eternity in awe, but Jesus uses parables so that common fisherman can understand.
Jesus starts an initial core: The Disciples knew the message of the Gospel, and were given the tools to spread it through word of mouth.
Jesus set the pattern for replication: At the bottom of this post you can read Jesus’ words to his disciples from Matthew 28.
Extra Steps for Christians
The Spirit empowers: This is one thing that we must trust God in. The message that we have as the Church is the Gospel.
Prayer is Essential: We are sinful people. When we tell people about Jesus and his grace, we need to make sure that we are doing it honestly and in faith. Pray that God would guide you, the Spirit would work in you, and that he would allow you to repent.
Tools we have as God’s people
The Bible: The Word tells us what a Church is, it tells us who Jesus is, it tells us to honor and fear God, and tells us to repent of our sin
The Spirit: The Holy Spirit empowers us to repent of our sins, to be sanctified, and to fuel the preaching of His Word.
Prayer: God says that he is a Father who listens to his children and gives them everything they need to do the work that he calls them to.
Matthew 28
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Filed under marketing, other, scripture | Comment (0)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 | Comments (5)
