Marketing often sounds like a dirty word for most churches. Though if you ask any of the growing number of pastors and priests we’ve been talking to lately, they’ll be among the first to tell you otherwise.
Instead, they view marketing as nothing more than an extension of the church’s purpose: to evangelize. And with over two-thirds of the country streaming Christian or Gospel music in the past month - while religious podcast listenership soars by as much as 85% a year - many of these churches have benefited greatly from using Digital Audio as a marketing channel to fulfill this important mission.
So how can your church tap into this audio revolution too?
Try AudioGO - a new self serve advertising platform that makes it simple to create, manage, and run audio ads on popular podcast and music streaming apps like Pandora, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, and more. And in the spirit of helping you succeed in developing your church following, here are 3 tips for spreading the good word from our Digital Audio experts.
Your brand matters.
We like to say in marketing that it’s not always what you say, but rather how you say it. When it comes to branding, however, the one question you really have to answer is who...are you?
Because it’s your brand - your church’s vision and identity - that should be the basis of your digital audio marketing. This way you’ll not only inspire more people to flock to your pews when they hear your ad, but you’re also helping to ensure that you’re getting through to the right audience. After all, the type of people who understand your brand best are the type that will continue to come back again every Sunday.
This is also what we call your target audience. And with AudioGO, you can easily create ad campaigns that help connect your brand to whoever that is, wherever they are, whatever they're listening to, whenever you want. All by way of our platform's age, gender, location, time, and genre targeting features. Find out more about these targeting tools and the best ways of leveraging them for your church in the link below.
Your words matter.
The second question you need to start asking yourself is how. Similar to what we were just mentioning before, how you promote church and community events also has a profound impact on who turns out.
For example, when promoting next month’s ‘Street Cleanup,’ market it as a greet-and-meet or a block party instead if you happen to find yourself in an up-and-coming neighborhood. Or, if you’re hoping to attract the interest of more families, emphasize how the proceeds of a fundraiser are going towards the construction of a local playground.
But whatever you do, just make sure the primary focus of your audio messaging is on the listener. Church is an intimate experience. Your words should be no different. And in case you also need some help finding them, this how-to for creating the best message is a great place to start. Then once you’re happy with it, we can easily turn that into an audio ad in under 24 hours and for just $10.
Your digital presence matters.
Since that’s where a flourishing Christian community can be found these days. And while less Americans are going to church due to the pandemic, we also need to point out that ‘When God Closes a Church Door, He Opens a Browser Window.’
The reality is this: church attendance may be dropping in certain pockets of the country, but the overall audience has not - they’ve just moved onto the internet. Where right now they’re streaming record-breaking amounts of Christian music, talk radio, and podcasts at a time when ‘more Christians worshiped, prayed, and shared Scripture online than ever before.’
Because in today’s world full of uncertainty, hope is both a rare comfort and a commodity most church marketers are finding a lot of customers for. Give your local community that same hope - and tap into this moment with AudioGO.
