Sometimes people ask about our communication strategy for attracting new people to Life.Church and retaining current attenders.
Because people are more distracted than ever and going to church less frequently, we want to get them excited about upcoming content so they’ll come (and bring a friend). So, at Life.Church, we decided to promote our message series with exciting trailers, just like the previews you see when you go to the movies.
We also do what I call “The Seven Touches.” These are small, constant communication touch points that help people get excited about coming to church.
- Pastor: I always promote the next series three or four weeks before it even starts. I do this on the weekends and for multiple weeks since most people are not at church every week.
- Campus Pastor: I want the campus pastors to talk about the next series. In our multi-campus model, attenders hear from me as I'm teaching, and they hear from campus pastors. I want our communication about upcoming series to be in sync.
- Video: I want the audience to see a promotional video that creates interest and intrigue. A visual link to the series also makes it easier to remember.
- Invitation Cards: We give our attenders invitation cards or door hangers so they can invite other people by simply handing them a card with our information on it.
- Banner: We want everyone to see a banner in the parking lot to remind them again of what to expect when they come into the church.
- Mailer: We want people to receive a mailer reminding them about the series a week before it starts. Rather than sending mailers to the general public, we send them to attenders since they’ll be the ones most likely to invite others. A cold invitation in a mailbox isn’t nearly as effective as a warm personal invitation.
- Social Media: We want to use social media to share it everywhere.We post about new series on official Life.Church social media channels, but we also encourage our staff, volunteers, and attenders to post on their personal accounts too.
We can't always control who will come to church or how the church will grow, but these touch points are seven consistent things we can do that will contribute to the desired outcome—leading people to become fully devoted followers of Christ.
What we've learned:
The more people are familiar with something coming up, the more they'll care about it. We want Life.Church attenders to care about what happens at their church, so we're intentional about creating opportunities for them to hear and see what's next and what God is doing through them.
