What is the future of reaching our communities as a church? How do we reach the most homes at the best cost per household? Many churches have already left the traditional direct mail marketing approach.  Direct mail marketing still works when targeting small number of households in a targeted area (close to the church) through Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) by USPS. This is a great idea for special events like block parties. But it is not the most cost-efficient way to reach your whole city/town.

So, what is the answer?  Simply put, digital marketing.  Many churches have jumped on the bandwagon of using social media like Facebook and Instagram to boost content for special events and beginning to realize the importance of engaging “socially” with relevant conversations.  You can reach tens of thousands of people with very little cost per household using targeted demographics.  If you are a church and are not using this method, START NOW.  If you are a church and this is something you are already doing, don’t stop.  Matter of fact you should increase your budget to do more.  Don’t just use “seasonal” digital marketing.  Make this part of your monthly marketing plan.

Streaming should be part of your overall digital marketing plan as a church.  One strategy for using social media is to drive people to your digital private channel across all Connected TV (CTV) platforms to be able to view your video on demand (VOD).  The message of the Gospel can reach homes of people that may otherwise never hear it.  Times are changing and so is how we reach every house that God has called us to reach.  Most people feel more comfortable first experiencing a service online through streaming before they walk through the doors of your church. 

Your first priority as a church for streaming is to find a platform that allows your church to have its own private channel that you have full control over.  One option is FaithStream.  FaithStream helps churches and ministries build and maintain Netflix caliber connected TV apps on the most popular streaming devices like Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, IOS and Google Play.  You can find more information at www.faithstream.video.

Kent W. Elliott

President and Lead Consultant 

FaithWorks Image Consulting 

www.faithworskimage.com

What makes a good website checklist?

How Does My Website Measure Up?

This year we are celebrating 15 years in the faith-based marketing space! Wooo-hoo! Our motto around Faithworks is to always put a high value on creating the right brand for your church, non-profit or business. This isn’t just our mission statement on our website, but rather the lens we look through while working on every client project. I know first hand the end result, products and services we give our clients isn’t something that they can get on these cheap, quick project based websites. We spend time getting to know the true heartbeat of our clients so we can give them the best quality representation of their brand. All while getting your project completed on tight deadlines!

We believe this high-quality standard is the same in the digital marketing space. Your website should be the hub that all your digital marketing strategies are connected back to. We have put together a winning website checklist that meets our highest quality standard.

My website has….

• A unique look and feel that is the best representation of your mission as a brand online.
• An attractive mobile responsive website that looks good on any device.
• Monthly traffic analytics installed to track what pages your visitors are looking at on your site
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO). – This helps to get more of your target audience to your site, organically. And to rank on the first page of Google for your unique keywords.
• A Content Management Solution (WordPress) – This allows website owners to make content updates without having to pay a web designer to do minor weekly/monthly content updates.
• The most up to date website software and is running the latest version of PHP on the web server.
• Website security protection on the backend to help prevent hackers and spammers from getting into your site.
• An SSL certificate installed so your site is secure and won’t be a reason some browsers hide my site.
• A daily backup plan so you won’t lose your website, in the event of hackers or server issues.
• A high website grade overall, including performance, SEO, security. This tremendously helps your Google rankings.

As you can see there is much more that goes into web design and digital marketing experience as a whole than just a great design. We want happy clients that want to stay with us as we provide the best digital design services! Contact us, if you want us to get your site up to the highest standard of performance, SEO and design!