I need some ideas for a church comercial

Michael Nistler · October 10th, 2007, 02:58 PM

Hi Ryan and friends,

Yes, I'll second the motion of Mike and Don (those who don't set targets seldom hit them). And along the same lines of some other posters, I agree with the notion of having a clear "value proposition" for the constinuency. You've identified a generic target audience (the easy part), so now it's time to identify some typical personas, as:

- Sam, the sketpic
- Connie, the community server
- Sally, the socialite
- Tina, the teenager
(- Billy Bob, the biker?)

You mentioned wanting to draw in the "lookie-loo's" ("anything that could make people more interested in checking out our church"). That's a great start, but have you considered what happens next? Are you happy enough just to have PIPs (People In the Pews)? Or is your real agenda/model:

- tops/down institutional (centered on growing tidings/revenues, etc)
- external focus (community action/involvement)
- internal focus (spiritual growth/scriputual studies)
- etc...

And have you considered your "competition"? Is it other churches? Agnostics? Those driven away from religious zealots versus building community, fellowship/fun/love, forgiveness? Those less fortunate looking for comfort for someone to help them? Youth who don't see church as very "hip"? An inspirational/charismatic leader? Certainly each church in your community has a different focus/priority/perception in these and other important areas.

We could all come up with tons of cool ideas, yet you'll best serve dad, your parishioners, and your community by first focusing on the big picture. Once you clearly identified your value proposition, business model, competition, and broken out your target audience, you/we can deliver a well focused ideas, outline, script, etc.

FYI - a few weeks ago in the dvinfo "Taking Care of Business" forum, Jacob Walker provided an excellent video (supportive graphics, music, lightning, set, etc) of pastor/author E.J.Scott discussing Hurricane Katrina and how he was drawn to help those less fortunate by starting a church in the area. Here's the thread and video link:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=104230
http://www.winepressgroup.com/upload.../E_J_Scott.wmv

His message was excellent and I'm sure his flock grew dramatically after folks saw the commercial. Based on all the above, it was clear his church was outward focused, he was compassionate/warm-sincere/great presence, and practiced "brotherly love" (and the talking-head video was excellent). Hundreds of equally compelling commercials (err, community service messages) could be delivered based on what their church was all about. In the end, the last thing you want is churn (lookie loo's dropping by and turned off by misconceptions).

Anybody still here? (sorry about all my marketing ramblings...)

Good luck, Michael

October 10th, 2007, 02:58 PM	#16
Michael Nistler Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Petaluma, CA Posts: 456	Marketing drives the message Hi Ryan and friends, Yes, I'll second the motion of Mike and Don (those who don't set targets seldom hit them). And along the same lines of some other posters, I agree with the notion of having a clear "value proposition" for the constinuency. You've identified a generic target audience (the easy part), so now it's time to identify some typical personas, as: - Sam, the sketpic - Connie, the community server - Sally, the socialite - Tina, the teenager (- Billy Bob, the biker?) You mentioned wanting to draw in the "lookie-loo's" ("anything that could make people more interested in checking out our church"). That's a great start, but have you considered what happens next? Are you happy enough just to have PIPs (People In the Pews)? Or is your real agenda/model: - tops/down institutional (centered on growing tidings/revenues, etc) - external focus (community action/involvement) - internal focus (spiritual growth/scriputual studies) - etc... And have you considered your "competition"? Is it other churches? Agnostics? Those driven away from religious zealots versus building community, fellowship/fun/love, forgiveness? Those less fortunate looking for comfort for someone to help them? Youth who don't see church as very "hip"? An inspirational/charismatic leader? Certainly each church in your community has a different focus/priority/perception in these and other important areas. We could all come up with tons of cool ideas, yet you'll best serve dad, your parishioners, and your community by first focusing on the big picture. Once you clearly identified your value proposition, business model, competition, and broken out your target audience, you/we can deliver a well focused ideas, outline, script, etc. FYI - a few weeks ago in the dvinfo "Taking Care of Business" forum, Jacob Walker provided an excellent video (supportive graphics, music, lightning, set, etc) of pastor/author E.J.Scott discussing Hurricane Katrina and how he was drawn to help those less fortunate by starting a church in the area. Here's the thread and video link: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=104230 http://www.winepressgroup.com/upload.../E_J_Scott.wmv His message was excellent and I'm sure his flock grew dramatically after folks saw the commercial. Based on all the above, it was clear his church was outward focused, he was compassionate/warm-sincere/great presence, and practiced "brotherly love" (and the talking-head video was excellent). Hundreds of equally compelling commercials (err, community service messages) could be delivered based on what their church was all about. In the end, the last thing you want is churn (lookie loo's dropping by and turned off by misconceptions). Anybody still here? (sorry about all my marketing ramblings...) Good luck, Michael Last edited by Michael Nistler; October 10th, 2007 at 05:02 PM.