Every mission-minded pastor has a passion to expand the Kingdom of God through the labors of their ministry. It’s a part of obedience to the call of Christ. The challenge is, what is the best way to impact the community, an outreach campaign to reach our city?
Ed Keller makes an important observation in his excellent article “Unleashing the Power of Word of Mouth: Creating Brand Advocacy to Drive Growth,” published in the Journal of Advertising Research (Vol. 47, No. 4, Dec 2007, pp.448-452). “The evidence is abundantly clear: Word of mouth (WOM) is the most important and effective communications channel.” The Journal of Advertising Research also notes that 75 percent of all consumer conversations about brands happen face-to-face, 15 percent happen over the phone and just 10 percent online.
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This is highly relevant information for those pastors who might be tempted to think that social media and other forms of mass marketing have reduced the effectiveness of personal, face-to-face communications. There is nothing more powerful, in God’s design of humanity, than the impact of personal interactions. We do well to remember that the Kingdom of God exploded, in a pre-Internet environment, from a small gathering of fervent believers until it conquered the Roman Empire.
It is widely accepted and supported by Direct Marketing Association studies, that multichannel marketing to the same prospect several times can dramatically improve the results for the bottom line of results. How can the church leverage this information into more effective outreach initiatives? The evidence suggests a multichannel strategy that utilizes our marketing campaigns as opportunities to mobilize and leverage our congregants so they can be more effective in their personal spheres of influence.
