Three Church Marketing Essentials You Need To Reach Your Missional Goals

There’s no doubt that things change fast today. That speed and continuous wave of new technologies and new ways to connect with people feels overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to.

You can, instead focus in on those your church is meant to minister to and reaching your missional goals. That holds true if you’re trying to grow your church, have successful outreach efforts, or deepen your discipleship. Rather than get a side hustle as a marketer, you can follow these three church marketing essentials. No matter where I’ve worked, the size of the church my team has partnered with, or the surrounding community, it all comes down to these essentials.

No matter how old (or young) your church is, where it’s located, the denomination, or the makeup of your congregation, these three things will help you set the stage for success in the coming year.

1. Know Your Ideal Audience Like You Know Your Best Friend

Demographics are important. I love digging into the numbers, like population trends, household makeup, and all of that. 

But what about dreams and struggles?

What are their hopes for the future and desires for their children?

What questions do they have about Jesus and how to follow Him?

Before you can effectively market your church, you need to truly understand who you’re trying to reach. I’m talking about the kind of understanding where you sense you know these people as well as you know your closest friend. It’s vital to go beyond the typical reporting because what you do in ministry as a church is not typical in this world. 

Focus On Your Ideal Audience

Your church is uniquely designed and aligned with a key group of people in your community. We call this group of people your Ideal Audience. By getting to know your Ideal Audience, you’ll know things like: 

• Who in your community best aligns with your church culture and mission
• The best ways to include them in discipleship activities – including format, leadership, where and how often to meet.  
• What are they looking for when visiting your church.
• How to answer their questions about Jesus.
• Where they get information and how they prefer to communicate. 

What is an Ideal Audience? These are the households in your community that align with your church’s culture, mission, and goals. A portion is likely already within your congregation as well. These are the people your church ministers to and disciples best, and where you should focus resources and communications efforts. Learn more about Ideal Audiences here. 

Can you imagine what it would mean to have this insight into those your church wants to connect with? All of this translates into better decision-making when you craft your marketing strategies and should even be a benchmark when you look at how to strengthen your ministries and outreach. 

How To Get To Know Your Ideal Audience

You can get this level of community research in so many ways: sending out surveys, having conversations with focus groups or individual interviews, or going through any data that’s available to you.

But because you’re short on time, you can also get the research done for you and delivered to your inbox in just seven days through the Community Research Guide here. 

The big takeaway I want you to get from all of this: the more you know about your Ideal Audience, the better. Because once you know exactly who your church should focus messaging and resources, so many decisions you’ve struggled with become clear.  With this Ideal Audience focus, you can move on to the next essential church marketing step: how to reach them and tailor your messages and outreach efforts that resonate.

2. Develop a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy

Now that you have your Ideal Audience in your sights, it’s time to work up an overarching marketing strategy.

This is my FAVORITE part! You get to take your dreams and ideas and turn them into an intentional, thoughtful plan with action steps. 

Your marketing strategy should include: 

• An outline of your church’s goals
• A focus on your Ideal Audience
• Ministry opportunities and marketing tactics
• Your available budget
• General timeline of what happens when

A good marketing strategy should also be flexible enough to adapt to changes in your church or the surrounding community (more on that flexibility in a moment). It’s not set in stone but represents the current, best path forward.

You have so many options at your disposal (also referred to as tactics), like email, social media, content marketing, printed materials, and outreach events. But remember: the best tactics for your church depends on the goals you’ve set and what you have to work with (be it budget, resources, volunteers/staff, etc.)

Oh yeah – and your Ideal Audiences. Yup – them again. If you don’t keep this group front and center with your marketing efforts, you’ll get distracted, and your marketing will get scattered. Focus on what matters to them as you seek to share the gospel with them and nurture them to grow as disciples. Ask yourself: “How can my church best help or support them in their journey?” 

Overwhelmed? Trying to get your church marketing realigned and unstuck can be enough to keep you from moving forward. Check out this page to see how things can be different.

3. Implement, Test, Refine, and Repeat

You just completed a big step by putting together your marketing strategy. The real work involves implementing, testing, refining, and repeating your tactics.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. What works for one church may not work for another – even within the same community! That’s why it’s important to be true to your mission and Ideal Audience, experiment with different tactics, and track your results.

When you find a method that works, celebrate it! Then continue to refine and monitor it so you can get better results.

Don’t be afraid to try new things. Start small to test it out and see what happens. Technology, trends, and behaviors are all constantly changing. Keep tabs on those shifts, but filter all that through what your Ideal Audience uses.

So that’s it! Marketing boiled down to three essentials for success.

1. Focus on your Ideal Audience, and never stop getting to know them better. 
2. Have a marketing strategy focused on connecting with them (so you know what to do and when).
3. Take intentional action. Refine, test, report, repeat. 

Bonus Church Marketing Tips

Marketing is a continuous loop of researching, planning, taking action, and refining. The three church marketing essentials shared with you here will get you off to a good start! Think of those as your “Marketing 101”.

But because I believe your church exists for a purpose and a people, I’ve included a few bonus tips for when you’re ready to level up:

• Focus on building relationships. Ministry is all about connecting with people. So is marketing! Take the time to get to know your Ideal Audience and build relationships with them inside and outside your church.
• Create high-quality content. People are hungry for valuable, helpful information and inspiration that encourages them through the day. That means that every time you write an email or schedule a social media post, imagine someone from your Ideal Audience sitting in front of you. Review what you’ve created. Ask yourself: does it speaks directly to what you know they need or are interested in? 
• Use a storytelling framework. Stories are a powerful way to connect with people on an emotional level. The framework is simple: problem, solution, transformation. Use this storytelling technique to share your church’s mission, vision, and values.
• Be authentic. Authenticity was huge even before the AI boom. People want to trust your church, so show up just as you are, not how you think you should be. Embrace who you are as a church and share your mission with your neighbors!.
• Measure your results. Track your marketing results to see what’s working and what’s not. I’ll admit, this can be tricky sometimes! But when you give this thought ahead of time, trust me, it makes it easier to later report on successes and what you learned. And that information helps you and other church leaders make informed decisions about your marketing strategy as you refine and adjust.

Get Started With The Church Marketing Essentials

Start using these church marketing essentials by getting to know your Ideal Audience! It’s one of the most important things you can do to set your church up for growth and impact in your community. 

From there, it’s just one step at a time.