The Recipe for Successful Church Member Engagement

How to cook-up a successful strategy to better feed your congregation digitally.

Have you ever put a lot of time and effort into a meal or a dish and it just didn’t… quite…. come out looking or tasting like the recipe said it would? The same can be true for church marketing– developing and sending out a personal, welcoming (*achem* accurate) message to give someone a great experience with your church just doesn’t …. always… work out perfectly.

And while flawlessly executing a delicious dinner is lovely, having meaningful communications that drive healthy relationships is mission critical for church leaders. 

Have no fear, we’ve outlined the secrets to cooking up a winning church member engagement strategy that you can start using right away!

Plan on having a Plan

If planning outreach to your church feels like a daunting task, remember that organizing yourself ahead of time will actually lead to a smoother and more successful process. 

church engagement statistics can be incredibly useful to help with measuring church engagement and how successfully you are communicating important details with your audience.

Just like starting a cooking project with a recipe helps you get a snapshot of the final product before you begin, laying out the details around your church marketing will help you stay on track and have a great product when you’ve finished. 

The act of planning does require time and attention, but that’s ok – because being considerate about the messages your church sends to its community is a smart professional move and a compassionate one.

“Wise people think before they act”
– Proverbs 13:16

Start with Your End Goals in Mind

What’s the first thing you do when you start thinking about a meal? 

You imagine a delicious final product! 

In cooking this is referred to as yield, but for planning purposes, taking a moment to establish those goals is just as important. 

When you’re trying to establish how to have successful church engagement in the digital age, the best place to start is at the end. What would EXCELLENT digital communication do for someone’s experience with your church?

Researchers have known for years that great communication develops strong, lasting relationships.

Have you ever considered, “what if the church marketed like Starbucks?” We’re talking, THAT level of consideration, consistency and creativity. In truth, it’s usually just basic stuff that Starbucks puts out into the world, but the way they do it with people in mind is what makes it so successful. 

Your church might not reach “Starbucks status” by Sunday, but with strong goals and smart actions, your church marketing can use those same principles. In fact, you can stay organized and make good use of the data and details you probably already have!

Key Ingredients 

Whether it’s a global coffee chain or an accounting firm, one really fancy term businesses use all the time is “KPI’s.” It stands for Key Performance Indicators, which is just a ‘suit and tie’ way of outlining the ingredients that you should pay close attention to as you execute any kind of marketing or outreach campaign. 

Paying attention to a few key details (or ingredients) will help you be able to see how well your message delivery is performing and will help you measure and replicate successful campaigns in the future. 

For strategic planning, consider paying attention to things like email views, RSVP’s and attendance at your events. These are all elements that marketing and communications professionals have found highly informative, and great indicators of whether you are delivering the right message to the right audience. 

Equally, these church engagement statistics can be incredibly useful to help with measuring church engagement and how successfully you are communicating important details with your audience.

Tools of the Trade

Finally, consider your tools. What’s the difference between cooking over a campfire and using a ‘top of the line’ kitchen stove? Well… a lot, actually. 

With a stove, you’re much more likely to be able to control things like temperature and you’ll have a better ability to know the specific circumstances that produced great results. 

Similarly, using designated software for church member engagement will give you enormously helpful insights into how your messages are being received and experienced. And BONUS – once you establish what works, it makes future planning a lot easier and way more fun.

The Best Part – enjoying the feast!

Researchers have known for years that great communication develops strong, lasting relationships. 

Not only will strategic planning increase your church member engagement, but it will also communicate a sense of worth to the people in your community.

On a very basic level, reminding people the details of an event will help them remember to show up at the right place and time! 

And on a deeper level, personalized messages remind your members that their church leaders are spending time making sure they’ve been reached out to. That type of personal attention can impact someone’s sense of how important they are to you and deepen your bond significantly. 

Consider incorporating more than just “invitations” into your church growth strategy.

Use those planning moments as an opportunity to look for ways to “feed” your members and your community with words of encouragement and scripture that can sustain them through good times and bad. 

Not only will strategic planning increase your church member engagement, but it will also communicate a sense of worth to the people in your community.

Need Help with Your Church Engagement Strategy?

The Studio C has developed a platform and partnership that helps churches everywhere build meaningful relationships through thoughtful messaging and communication techniques. 

Managed by professionals with ministry and marketing experience, our team can help you easily utilize our software in a way that adapts it to your church’s unique personality and voice. From developers, to content creators, CMO’s and pastors, our team of seasoned message makers can help you connect in productive and meaningful ways with your community and members.

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Reach out to us!

 

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