7 Church Marketing Ideas That You Can Start Right Now

If you're struggling to connect with your congregants or attract new members, you're not alone. Many churches and other religious institutions face serious difficulties when trying to grow attendance or engage members. Additionally, if you're doing marketing for a church, you probably don't have all the money in the world to allocate towards marketing. As such, you need to prioritize the online marketing tools that are equal parts effective and affordable.

Fortunately, as an industry-leading church text messaging provider, we know what works and what doesn't when it comes to church marketing. Thousands of churches are opting for mass texting to cut in-service announcement time, ditch childcare alert pagers, and keep members up-to-date on new events. There are so many reasons to invest in text message marketing but, of course, we might be a little biased.

Beyond text messaging as a proven and effective marketing solution, here are some other church marketing ideas worth investing in right now.

7 Church Marketing Ideas Worth Investing in Right Now

Achieve church marketing mastery by utilizing these high-value marketing strategies, tips, and tactics.

1. Build an Entertaining and Educational YouTube Channel

The most successful churches make significant investments in video. Beyond recording live streams of services and events, use video as a way to excite and engage. For example, you could record a quick weekly video on specific passages in the Bible. After viewers watch, encourage them to leave a comment with their biggest takeaways, questions, or concerns.

These types of videos not only deliver some great entertainment value, but they also position your religious organization as a thought leader.

2. Be a Source of Inspiration on Instagram

Try posting inspirational messages to your Instagram. In most cases, simple words of encouragement deliver a positive impact on your audience. Additionally, messages that resonate with your audience are more likely to be shared.

As a best practice, consider adding plenty of hashtags to your post. Adding a few relevant and highly searched hashtags is a great way to reach potential members and supporters beyond your immediate network.

3. Make It Easy to Connect with Your Community

The savviest churches are investing in text-to-landline as a means to engage and interact with guests and members. A text-to-landline service enables churches to send and receive text messages via an existing business landline with no changes to existing phone services or equipment — it's that easy!

Here's how it works:

4. Host Soft Skills Workshops for the Community

Try hosting a soft skills workshop for the local community. From interpersonal communication to community leadership, chances are that your members have some experience in one or many of these areas. These types of educational opportunities will work to attract audience members who typically don't visit your location.

Use this as an opportunity to engage with community members outside of your immediate network. Talk to them about your organization and encourage them to invite friends and family to future workshops.

5. Use Text Messaging Instead of Connect Card

Almost every type of church has a connect card. In most cases, these cards are designed to elicit information including name, phone number, email address, physical address, prayer requests, and more.

Next time, try collecting this kind of information via text message. Simply promote your Keyword and Short Code and members will quickly add themselves to your texting database. Most text message marketing providers make it simple and easy to organize mobile sms lists based on their inputs. That way, you can send members the right kind of follow-up at the right time.

6. Branding and Promoting Special Events

Many churches have had some success branding and promoting special events. As a marketing tool, event promotion can be especially effective. According to the Daily Beast, some churches are borrowing themes from popular culture and branding Easter Sunday services. One church designed its services around AMC's popular television show, The Walking Dead.

“We are using rules to survive (mixing in some Zombieland inspiration) that tie in with the salvation story,” said Ross Montgomery, the church's visual storyteller.

You can even promote these special branded events via mass text messaging. Most successful churches know that text messaging generates open rates of 98% or more. There's no better way to get the word out about your special event!

7. Give a Door Prize for the First Facebook Check-In

Facebook's check-in feature makes it simple and easy to promote your church. When a user checks in, a notification is instantly added to their feed. The user can even add a quick status to the check-in notification. This kind of weekly update is a non-intrusive way to reach prospective congregants.

Try to incentivize your members to check-in with a simple door prize. Before long, your members will be competing with one another to check-in. As more members check-in, watch your attendance and engagement skyrocket.

Achieve Church Marketing Mastery With EZ Texting

The fact is, investing in the previously mentioned church marketing ideas will position your religious institution for sustained marketing success. Beyond these (and other) high-value marketing activities, many of the most successful and widely known churches choose to partner with a reputable text message marketing service. This type of service will help your church achieve rapid marketing success.

In your search for a high-powered text message marketing partner, consider prioritizing an industry-leading service provider like EZ Texting. Our service is trusted by more than 210,000 businesses, enterprises, and organizations worldwide. EZ Texting customers have sent more than four billion text messages — and counting! Are you ready to start your text message marketing journey?

The Church Text Messaging Playbook for Churches offers the latest and greatest text marketing strategies for churches. Take these campaign ideas, customize them for your church, and start growing your attendance and engaging congregants.

Photo: Getty Images/AaronAmat