Echo 2011 « MEDIASALT

Echo 2011

Church Comm. on the Cheap!

MediaSalt was lucky to be a part of Echo 2011! Here are some notes from our Wednesday breakout session, “Church Comm. on the Cheap - How to save a buck (and your job)!”

Quote
“There is no correlation between creativity and equipment ownership. Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address on a sheet of borrowed stationary. Van Gogh rarely painted with more than six colors on his palette. A fancy tool just gives the second-rater one more pillar to hide behind. This is why there are second-rate art directors with state-of-the-art Macintosh computers and so many crappy photographers with state-of-the-art digital cameras.” Hugh MacLeod’s Ignore Everybody And 39 Other Keys to Creativity

In the Office

In our breakout, we recommend six quick tips for saving time and money in your internal communications:

Switch your ministry to Google Apps
Set up and internal staff page and work order system
Give Instant Messaging and Group Texting a Shot
Keep a database of important information on events, sermon series, etc
Create a private Facebook Group for your staff
Automate everything you can

Related Resources:

Print

Based on our communications strategy at The Chapel, here’s a glimpse of time-proven ways we’ve been able to save money with our printing:

Things we print in house: Invite Cards, Flyers, Booklets
In addition to our normal color laser printer, we purchased a large format printer, Epson Stylus Pro 9800 - $4500. In fewer than 150 24×36 posters, compared with FedEx Office, it pays for itself. This includes materials, too.
Things we print out of house: Rave Cards, Programs/Bulletin, Small Group Curriculum, Marketing Signage and mailers
Make Friends with Your Local Printer - Lots of perks here.
Several ways to cut down your church bulletin: Condense it, Go to a monthly printing - or less often, Kill It. In all cases, push folks to web. RSS feeds. Feedburner.
Where we get our signage: Ebay.com, agegraphics.com, arrowheadsigns.com, creativebigprint.com
Stock photos: Don’t be afraid to contact the owner of images you find on Flickr or other web searches. We’ve now built sermon branding around two of these.

Related Resources:

thepaperranch.com
PSprint.com
Hotcards.com
Ebay.com
agegraphics.com
arrowheadsigns.com - Mention “Echo Conference” for 35% off your order.

On the Web

In our breakout, we recommend six tips for being wiser with your online communications budget:

You probably don’t need the jumbo web hosting plan
Ask clarifying questions at the start of each project
Track everything you do and kill what isn’t working
Design your main website to be flexible
GIve microsites a shot for other web promotions
Take advantage of social tools… they’re quick and easy

Related Resources:

Community Engagement

Community engagement IS marketing and awareness for your church.

Don’t do what other churches in your area are doing.
Don’t do what you can’t measure.
You can’t market something that isn’t marketable. “Good advertising makes a bad product fail faster.” Chasing Cool
Love people!
Use direct mail (postcards) with caution. Spend the money elsewhere, but do them ONLY if no one else is doing them. Also, only target your demographic, not an entire zip code.
Value Word of Mouth - this is the #1 way folks hear about your church. Equip your folks with things such as invite cards to help spread the word.
According to the book, “Buzz Marketing,” there are 6 things that generates buzz: Taboo, unusual, outrageous, hilarious, remarkable, and secrets.
Stories Sell (and are free) - Testimonies not only at church, but on your Facebook Page.
Yard signs are an inexpensive way to spread the word and generate some buzz, and are consistently in the top 5 ways folks hear about churches we’ve helped.
Reduce the number of big outreach or community events you do, and focus on 1-3/year.
Partner with the community. Don’t re-create the wheel - fall festivals - why would you compete with all churches doing this? What if you called up your kids elementary school, and ask how you can make their fall festival better - hotdogs, moonwalk, prizes? Make their event better and get your churches name out.