Just as your parish’s gathering space should welcome visitors, invite prospective members, and engage members in your community, so should your church’s website. Learn how to grow your faith community online and engage your members using a variety of online tools and services.

1. Marketing Your Church on the
Internet
Joe Luedtke
Liturgical Publications Inc
jluedtke@4lpi.com
@cathtechtalk

2. • What do you mean by marketing
your church?
• Why you need to market your
church
• The Don‟t‟s and Do‟s of
Marketing your Church
• The non-technical infrastructure
you need
• Your website as a marketing tool
• Email Marketing
• Social media marketing
• The Wrap-up

3. Why is a Church
Bulletin Company
talking about
technology?

4. Every Church Needs an Online Ministry
Marketing Engagement

5. Why do you need to market your
church?

6. First, you were told to
Pope Benedict XVI described
the Internet as a “digital
continent” and use this
technology to “proclaim the
Gospel”.
“As the Church sends
missionaries to every
continent, we now need to send
missionaries to proclaim the
Gospel in this new digital
continent also.” – Archbishop
Jose H Gomez

7. The next generation of parishioners is
growing up online
Adapting and embracing this
change is the challenge the
church is facing.
The church must adapt to the new
communication styles or be left
behind.

8. Second, times are changing
You were once told to “let your
fingers do the walking”. Now, they
really need to. It is how fast can you
text that counts.

9. Google vs Yellow Pages
2010 Australian Survey
indicated that:
• 54% of respondents
hadn‟t used the
Yellow Pages in over
a year.
• 100% of the
respondents used
Google „almost every
day‟.

10. The Internet is Now Leading the Way

11. Expectations Are Changing Too
Having a website is not enough

12. Number of Mobile Phones in 2011
Microsoft Tag

13. And
Mobile is
Still
Growing
Microsoft Tag

14. Microsoft Tag

15. Remember when a phone was used to
call someone?
Microsoft Tag

16. Lastly, if you don‟t, others will do it for you
• Mormons are the Fastest Growing Religion in America
– Added 2 million new members from 2002 – 2012
– Present in 295 counties in the US where no Mormons existed a
decade ago.
– Let‟s take a look at just one of their marketing strategies…
From 2012 Religious Congregations and
Membership Survey

17. They use Google Ad Words!

18. Search for…
Yields…
At a cost of
$3.00 - $4.00
per click

19. The Don‟ts & Dos of Marketing Your Church

20. The Don‟ts
1. Don‟t start a website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed
without a goal.
2. Don‟t create any of the above unless someone is going
to be be responsible for managing it.
3. Don‟t get too excited if someone offers to do it for free.
4. Don‟t create any of this by committee. There‟s never
been a good website designed by more than 3 people.
5. Don‟t bite off more than you can chew.

21. Now the Dos
1. Do start with a set of goals and a plan.
2. Do measure what you create. You can‟t manage what you can‟t
measure.
3. Do make it someone‟s job to maintain what ever you‟re creating.
4. For your website,
1. Do focus on your home page. It‟s the front-door to your church and
your community.
2. Design the site for guests. Think like an outsider when working on the
site.
3. Do spend more than the cost of week‟s worth of coffee on creating your
website.
4. Keep it simple; keep it fresh.
5. Do take ownership of your website‟s domain, i.e. www.mychurch.com.

22. The Infrastructure You Need

23. Don‟t worry I‟m not talking about
Computer Infrastructure like this

24. But rather someone like this

25. The Infrastructure You Need
• Always remember, technology is just a tool. It‟s the
people and processes that bring it to life.
• Technology - The only two technology requirements
that really matter are:
• Can we maintain it?
• Is it accessible everywhere (i.e. Desktop, iPad,
Smart Phone, etc.)?

26. The Infrastructure You Need
• People – This is what its really all about:
• Write it in to someone‟s job description to maintain the website, monitor
the Facebook page, etc.
• Set expectation that the church website should be as updated as the
church bulletin.
• Start small, but think big. The person who may manage your website‟s
content today may one day be your church‟s Internet Outreach Director
• Process
• Put some money in the budget to maintain the website.
• Your Communication in print and online.
• Setup quarterly or annual reviews.
• Set objectives for your website
• Follow up with visitor requests with email. Develop an email-based
informational packet.

27. Setting Goals
• Set a goal. Yes, you do need a church website, but
define why.
• Use Google Analytics to track activity on your website.
• Is your real objective here, website „hits‟ or visitor
conversions?
• Track the results:
– “How did you hear about our parish?” is a really important
question to ask.
– Ask new parishioners how they found out about your church?
– Ensure „website‟ is an option on your visitor card.

28. Focus on Your Church‟s Home Page
http://catholictechtalk.com/2011/11/08/-page-things-on-a-churchs-home

29. SEO – Start with Googling Your Church
Of course your
ranked #1 in
Google, aren‟t
you?

30. Or Are You?
Seaching for my hometown and
with the word „church‟ doesn‟t
put St. Bernard parish anywhere
near the top.

31. Searching for
“Catholic Parish 53213”
Yields similar and disappointing
results.

32. Why is this?
The answer is much simpler than you think.
You can see a few problems right
away on this church‟s Home Page.
• The word „Church‟ is only used
once and its embedded in a
graphic.
• „Catholic‟ also only appears once
and its next to the word „School‟.
• The word „School‟ is used 4
times.
• Bible school content is months
old.

33. Looking for Help On Your Website?
• Here‟s some good ones to review,
http://catholictechtalk.com/2012/06/22/annoucing-our-
parish-website-winners/
• If you‟re feeling pretty good about your website, take
this simple 5 minute rating test,
http://catholictechtalk.com/2012/01/23/rate-your-
church-website/
• If you‟re looking for help, please check out
www.weconnect.com or other church-oriented website
resources here, http://catholictechtalk.com/website-
builders/?orderby=title

34. Social Media Marketing

35. Social Media Marketing
• Don‟t think of Social Media as „sites‟ but rather „streams‟.
• In the Web 1.0 world, Content was King, but in Web 2.0
it‟s the conversation.
• No your church doesn‟t need a Facebook „page‟, but,
yes, you need to have „conversations‟ on Facebook.
• Find someone willing to post your current events and
monitor your Facebook page for at least 30 minutes per
week and then create one.
• Please, don‟t be afraid of the conversations. The
conversations are what Social Media is all about.

36. Social Media Engagement
• Post once per
week.
• Again allow
commenting,
please!
• Check
engagement
statistics once
per month.

37. Email Marketing
Why does my grocery store
want my email address?

38. Email Newsletters Work
• Email Marketing
Programs make
an email like this
and email list
management
simple
• Mailchimp is my
favorite as its free
for lists under
2000
• VerticleResponse
and Constant
Contact are good
cost effective
alternatives

39. Social Media & Parishioner
Engagement
• Social Media and Email Marketing really start to shift from marketing
to parishioner engagement.
• If Facebook pages and Twitter Feeds aren‟t for you and Email
Marketing Tools seem a little too daunting, please take a look at:
http://www.4lpi.com/wegather http://www.flocknote.com
http://www.4lpi.com/weshare

40. The Wrap Up
• Marketing is the business term for evangelization. Look
to Corporate America for trends.
• Small businesses have found the Internet to be a great
help in leveling the playing field, and now the church can
too.
• The Internet used to be informational, now is becoming
relational.
• Content used to be king, but its really becoming all about
the conversation.
• The next generation of parishioners is growing up online,
but on their phones.

41. Thank You
Joe Luedtke
President, Liturgical Publications
jluedtke@4lpi.com
@cathtechtalk