I had the chance today to talk with Austin Porter who is launching Revive Church in February 2009 in Shelby, NC. He was nice enough to let me pick his brain for ideas.
I love the catch phrases they use to describe their church. These quotes are definitely buzz-worthy.
1. This church will rock your freakin face off!
2. Can't be explained, only experienced!
3. We're smokin' what we're preachin'!
4. Even Bob Barker can't neuter this beast!
There were a ton of great insights that he shared with me, but these are the ones that are stuck in my mind:
1. If you're going to hype up your big launch day, you better deliver. You must be able to meet the expectations you create in the events, publications, and promises made leading up to the launch.
2. Planning how you are going to follow up with all of the first time guests that come to your big launch service is as important as everything you do leading up to the launch. (This alone is worth the price of admission to all things Austin Porter)
3. A quote from Perry Noble: "everyone should attempt something so great that it's doomed to failure unless God is in it."
Monday, November 24, 2008
It's Out, It's Official, It's Essential
Yesterday was a huge day!!! I took the bold step of going public with the vision God has laid on my heart over the past year and I must say that I am blown away by the response. There's no turning back, our course has been set. The response from our church was amazing!!! I think they are more amped up about launching a new church than I am. God is moving, we are following, and our community is going to be better for it.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Clutter Free - part 2
Remember now some of these are way outside the box, but the box is full of clutter and the farther outside the box you are the more it gets noticed.
6. Toilet Paper - this was a joint idea between Noah (our awesome worship leader) and myself. No, we're not looking to make custom printed toilet paper, but that would me pretty neat. If I did that I'd put on there something like "this won't wipe away your sins, but Jesus can.". Seriously though Toilet Paper would be a flyer or a sticky note on the back of public restroom stalls that had a message/ad for the church. It would definately be the most redeeming thing to read on the wall. Given the number of things written on some bathroom stalls it wouldn't be completely clutter free, but I'm hoping our posting will have better art work than the rest of what is there.
7. Keeping with the bathroom theme, here's one that I morphed from the BuzzMarketing book and from a John Piper book. I was looking over Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life" and thinking about it when I read that a creative buzz-maker was to make custom printed urinal screens. It might be a bit crude but it would generate a lot of buzz: "Don't piss your life away, go to essenialchurch.tv". My wife hates the idea. I'm trying to think of a slightly less crass message to put on there, yet still edgy enough to create some buzz. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
On a side note I emailed a guy who does custom urinal printing and told him what I was thinking of doing. I put my first and last name on the email. He responded with a sarcastic email with a vague price quote and signed his name "flush". I guess if your are an out of the box thinker and your last name is Swisher people from toilet bowl companies will assume you are poking fun at them. I emailed him back and told him it was my real name and we both had a good laugh. I haven't had someone make a toilet reference to my name since elementary school.
6. Toilet Paper - this was a joint idea between Noah (our awesome worship leader) and myself. No, we're not looking to make custom printed toilet paper, but that would me pretty neat. If I did that I'd put on there something like "this won't wipe away your sins, but Jesus can.". Seriously though Toilet Paper would be a flyer or a sticky note on the back of public restroom stalls that had a message/ad for the church. It would definately be the most redeeming thing to read on the wall. Given the number of things written on some bathroom stalls it wouldn't be completely clutter free, but I'm hoping our posting will have better art work than the rest of what is there.
7. Keeping with the bathroom theme, here's one that I morphed from the BuzzMarketing book and from a John Piper book. I was looking over Piper's book "Don't Waste Your Life" and thinking about it when I read that a creative buzz-maker was to make custom printed urinal screens. It might be a bit crude but it would generate a lot of buzz: "Don't piss your life away, go to essenialchurch.tv". My wife hates the idea. I'm trying to think of a slightly less crass message to put on there, yet still edgy enough to create some buzz. Let me know if you have any suggestions.
On a side note I emailed a guy who does custom urinal printing and told him what I was thinking of doing. I put my first and last name on the email. He responded with a sarcastic email with a vague price quote and signed his name "flush". I guess if your are an out of the box thinker and your last name is Swisher people from toilet bowl companies will assume you are poking fun at them. I emailed him back and told him it was my real name and we both had a good laugh. I haven't had someone make a toilet reference to my name since elementary school.
Clutter Free - part 1
Remember these aren't supposed to be the normal ways to get the word out about something. If everyone did it, it wouldn't be clutter free. I also agree with Mark Batterson when it comes to marketing and the church: we have the greatest message to tell and therefor we should have the greatest marketing.
Clutter Free Ideas for getting the word out about your church:
1. Door hangers, car windshields, personal invite cards. I know these are pretty common, but if what you put on them stands out they can get some mind-share.
2. Put on the items from #1 an incentive to go to your website. I saw one church planter that put a coupon for Starbucks on their handouts. You hand to register on the website to get a validation code. That gave the church contact info (at least an email address). That leads to:
3. Targeted email. I know most would say that spammers have cluttered up our email, but sending a validation code for starbucks would get noticed. This gives you three touch points for one marketing piece... not bad. I haven't checked with starbucks yet to see what kind of rate they will give me, but it would probably be worth it. I've also thought that a Chic-fill-a sandwich might be a good substitute. They might even donate the chicken for their own advertising. Is chicken a strong enough draw to get someone to register on your website? Not sure. Might work well on a college campus. I would do just about anything for free food in college.
4. Here's another idea I saw, have you church members write on their car windows with those white markers. When I was in school we used white shoe polish, but now they have actual markers for this kind of thing. It's a great way to promote a church launch or special event.
5. Servant evangelism. Doing good for goodness sake is a good thing and will influence the fat man in a red suit to bring you gifts next month, but it also a form of clutter free marketing. Jesus drew huge crowds when he met people's needs. I can hear the question now, "would you do a servant evangelism project for marketing reasons?". YES!!! Before you throw the stone with your mouse click hear me out. Isn't our mission as a church to share the gospel with as many people as possible? Well it just so happens that we do that every week at our church. So yes I would do an event that serves our community and intentionally try to get them to come to church. I believe that church is an essential part of everyone's life whether they know God or not. And yes I would also do events simply for the sake of serving people. We have been doing them at our church for years. But we also do strategic service events to intentionally influence people to come to church.
Clutter Free Ideas for getting the word out about your church:
1. Door hangers, car windshields, personal invite cards. I know these are pretty common, but if what you put on them stands out they can get some mind-share.
2. Put on the items from #1 an incentive to go to your website. I saw one church planter that put a coupon for Starbucks on their handouts. You hand to register on the website to get a validation code. That gave the church contact info (at least an email address). That leads to:
3. Targeted email. I know most would say that spammers have cluttered up our email, but sending a validation code for starbucks would get noticed. This gives you three touch points for one marketing piece... not bad. I haven't checked with starbucks yet to see what kind of rate they will give me, but it would probably be worth it. I've also thought that a Chic-fill-a sandwich might be a good substitute. They might even donate the chicken for their own advertising. Is chicken a strong enough draw to get someone to register on your website? Not sure. Might work well on a college campus. I would do just about anything for free food in college.
4. Here's another idea I saw, have you church members write on their car windows with those white markers. When I was in school we used white shoe polish, but now they have actual markers for this kind of thing. It's a great way to promote a church launch or special event.
5. Servant evangelism. Doing good for goodness sake is a good thing and will influence the fat man in a red suit to bring you gifts next month, but it also a form of clutter free marketing. Jesus drew huge crowds when he met people's needs. I can hear the question now, "would you do a servant evangelism project for marketing reasons?". YES!!! Before you throw the stone with your mouse click hear me out. Isn't our mission as a church to share the gospel with as many people as possible? Well it just so happens that we do that every week at our church. So yes I would do an event that serves our community and intentionally try to get them to come to church. I believe that church is an essential part of everyone's life whether they know God or not. And yes I would also do events simply for the sake of serving people. We have been doing them at our church for years. But we also do strategic service events to intentionally influence people to come to church.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
BuzzMarketing 3
p.134: The key to clutter free media is length of attention and undivided focus, those are what give you mind share.
p. 132: Before you can capture market share, you need to capture mind share.
Ok, so how do we do this for our launch?
I'll be sharing some of the ideas I've collected from other planters in the weeks to come.
p. 132: Before you can capture market share, you need to capture mind share.
Ok, so how do we do this for our launch?
I'll be sharing some of the ideas I've collected from other planters in the weeks to come.
Logo Design
Big thanks to Ben Arment for turning me on to CrowdSpring for a logo design company. It is a site where people compete for your business. Amazing graphic artists submit origional logos for you to choose from. The best part is you name the price you are willing to pay up front. Artists decide if it's worth their time to enter the competition. Great concept. We began the contest this afternoon and already have our first artist in the competition within two hours!!! You would never get that kind of turn around with a standard logo factory.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
BuzzMarketing Part 2
Empowered Interactivity: creating buzz by allowing people to be a part of the product.
For a church there is a fine line here. Having the worship leader become more like a wedding singer that takes requests probably wouldn't work. For some reason it does work well with sermon series. Recently Gary Lamb at Revolution Church did a series titled "You Asked For It" in which the series was driven by requested topics. The topics were often in the category of taboo which is another thing that generates Buzz.
I'm wondering what other ways we can create Empowered Interactivity. Currently most of our mission projects are generated by church members not the staff. I am always encouraging people to go out on a limb and commit our church to meet the needs they see. I tell them to let their friends know that you and "one hundred of your closest friends" are there to help them. And it works. People do it and the church's response has always exceeded the need!!!
Let me know if you can think of any other ways to get church members or better yet the community interactively empowered by your church.
For a church there is a fine line here. Having the worship leader become more like a wedding singer that takes requests probably wouldn't work. For some reason it does work well with sermon series. Recently Gary Lamb at Revolution Church did a series titled "You Asked For It" in which the series was driven by requested topics. The topics were often in the category of taboo which is another thing that generates Buzz.
I'm wondering what other ways we can create Empowered Interactivity. Currently most of our mission projects are generated by church members not the staff. I am always encouraging people to go out on a limb and commit our church to meet the needs they see. I tell them to let their friends know that you and "one hundred of your closest friends" are there to help them. And it works. People do it and the church's response has always exceeded the need!!!
Let me know if you can think of any other ways to get church members or better yet the community interactively empowered by your church.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
BuzzMarketing Part 1
Reading BuzzMarketing by Mark Hughes.
Ideas for church buzz marketing:
1. Distribute urinal screens that say something like, "Don't piss your life away on things that aren't essential." Then have essentialchurch.tv at the bottom. Hopefully it will piss some people off and get them talking.
2. Coffee distribution at a popular intersection in the morning with a message that somehow connects people's feeling that they need coffee (it's essential to them) and the truth that church is essential. It would have to be good coffee.
Quotes and thoughts:
p.viii-ix: we're seeing a mistrust of anything corporate... the solution is to abandon any appearance of a corporate look. Corporate looks slick. Corporate looks like there's something being hidden amid seeming perfection. So don't look corporate, but DO look personal. I wonder if people who do not go to church mistrust large denominations in the same way. The way that churches are dropping denominational ties from their name seems to point to this.
p.xii: create buzz by inviting you and me to have an Empowered Interaction and empowered conversation with your company (the church). How can we empower people to interact with our church? How far can we take this concept? Pastors struggle with allowing people to take ownership of things, especially parts of the worship service.
p.xv: Only when you've gt everything to loose do you really understand the need to think differently. Without the fear of God, you tend to tread the familiar paths. This one hit me right between the eyes. I'm in the middle of a series called Beware of God which is all about understanding what the Fear of God is all about. Right now I am in a situation were I have both everything and nothing to loose. This quote is true on multiple levels and in ways I doubt the author even knew. One of the things that has pushed me to take an unfamiliar path recently in launching a new church is studying the fear of God. Saying God is huge is the understatement of all history. Understanding just how BIG GOD IS has made me want to blaze new paths and attempt big things for Him.
p.2: Buzz Marketing Defined - it captures the attention of consumers and the media to the point where talking about your brand or company becomes entertaining, fascinating, and newsworthy. Hmmm.... I have seen churches do this intentionally and by accident and by the hand of God. When God does it, it's amazing and it's unstoppable. When we do it, it normally takes a lot of time, energy, and money. Now the goal ahead is to have it happen before we launch in three months. I'll start with prayer. I can already see how God could do this and it would be huge if He does.
p. 49: if you plant your marketing seeds in an environment that fosters word of mouth (like a bar) you're ahead of the game. If you want people to talk about your brand (church), get as close as possible to a demographic that talks a lot or in an environment that talks a lot. Where do people around here talk a lot? While watching their kid's sporting events, at Panera Bread, fitness centers, at school. Now all we need to do is go there and get them talking about essentialchurch.tv
Ideas for church buzz marketing:
1. Distribute urinal screens that say something like, "Don't piss your life away on things that aren't essential." Then have essentialchurch.tv at the bottom. Hopefully it will piss some people off and get them talking.
2. Coffee distribution at a popular intersection in the morning with a message that somehow connects people's feeling that they need coffee (it's essential to them) and the truth that church is essential. It would have to be good coffee.
Quotes and thoughts:
p.viii-ix: we're seeing a mistrust of anything corporate... the solution is to abandon any appearance of a corporate look. Corporate looks slick. Corporate looks like there's something being hidden amid seeming perfection. So don't look corporate, but DO look personal. I wonder if people who do not go to church mistrust large denominations in the same way. The way that churches are dropping denominational ties from their name seems to point to this.
p.xii: create buzz by inviting you and me to have an Empowered Interaction and empowered conversation with your company (the church). How can we empower people to interact with our church? How far can we take this concept? Pastors struggle with allowing people to take ownership of things, especially parts of the worship service.
p.xv: Only when you've gt everything to loose do you really understand the need to think differently. Without the fear of God, you tend to tread the familiar paths. This one hit me right between the eyes. I'm in the middle of a series called Beware of God which is all about understanding what the Fear of God is all about. Right now I am in a situation were I have both everything and nothing to loose. This quote is true on multiple levels and in ways I doubt the author even knew. One of the things that has pushed me to take an unfamiliar path recently in launching a new church is studying the fear of God. Saying God is huge is the understatement of all history. Understanding just how BIG GOD IS has made me want to blaze new paths and attempt big things for Him.
p.2: Buzz Marketing Defined - it captures the attention of consumers and the media to the point where talking about your brand or company becomes entertaining, fascinating, and newsworthy. Hmmm.... I have seen churches do this intentionally and by accident and by the hand of God. When God does it, it's amazing and it's unstoppable. When we do it, it normally takes a lot of time, energy, and money. Now the goal ahead is to have it happen before we launch in three months. I'll start with prayer. I can already see how God could do this and it would be huge if He does.
p. 49: if you plant your marketing seeds in an environment that fosters word of mouth (like a bar) you're ahead of the game. If you want people to talk about your brand (church), get as close as possible to a demographic that talks a lot or in an environment that talks a lot. Where do people around here talk a lot? While watching their kid's sporting events, at Panera Bread, fitness centers, at school. Now all we need to do is go there and get them talking about essentialchurch.tv
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