Inviting the right person, to be baptized<\/strong>, at the right time, for the right reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inviting the right guest, to the most relevant service, on the right Sunday, for the right reasons.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Church communications might be a new department in your church, and relatively new to church organizations as a whole in the last 20 years, but church communications have always existed. For the majority of existence, God\u2019s people (Old Testament and New Testament) have typically been masters of communication and messaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenge of the church across all of history has been getting the messaging correct. Jesus did this in ways that are easy to marvel at. He threaded every needle perfectly and always said the right thing at the right time to the right person for the right reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes today different from previous centuries is that we have more channels than ever to get our message out \u2014 and people are more distracted than ever. cutting through the noise is more challenging than it has ever been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is much to be said about church communications, more than could be covered in this article. As you\u2019ll find running a successful church communications department is so much more than simply graphics, words, and websites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It requires relationships. It requires expertise. It requires resilience. It requires eloquence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because you will become the keeper of the church messaging and staff and volunteers will be coming to you asking you to alter the messaging to help them promote their \u2018thing\u2019 to the church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you choose what to put in front of the congregation and what to cascade? How do you choose what you lead with to invite new people to visit and what to wait to share after they\u2019ve attended for several weeks?<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you gently tell someone who is a core volunteer at the church that \u2018no, we can\u2019t announce this in our newsletter\u2019 without sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, but more importantly, still communicate that you value them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this article you will learn the very basics of what you need to know in order to start, build, and run an effective communications department at your church\u2026 no matter the size of your staff or your budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is something that for years, I was ashamed to admit… I didn\u2019t know what a church communications strategy was. I was the \u2018marketing guy\u2019 at the church, charged with creating a strategy but I didn\u2019t have the slightest idea of what that was supposed to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Truthfully, I thought the strategy itself was some sort of piece of paper or spreadsheet. I thought it was a \u2018thing,\u2019 yes, a physical<\/em> \u2018thing.\u2019 And since I didn\u2019t have that \u2018thing,\u2019 I felt like I had to fake it until I figured out how to get me one of those shiny new strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is what I learned and what I want you to know now so you don\u2019t have to feel like you need to fake it\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n A church communications strategy is really just a plan. If I were to elaborate, I would say it is an \u2018if this then that\u2019 plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If a volunteer wants to promote their nutrition cooking class, then we will\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the student minister needs an on-stage announcement, then we will\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we are going to promote Easter, then we will\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we are going to host an \u2018invite your friends\u2019 event, then we wil\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the communications director (whether you\u2019re volunteering or paid staff), it is not your job to decide what gets promoted when and where<\/strong>. Your job is to come up with a plan<\/strong> for what gets promoted when and where and get the larger staff and key stakeholders to agree to your plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this model, your leadership team is making the decision for what gets promoted and your job is now to follow through on their decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (This doesn\u2019t mean you don\u2019t have influence. Of course you have influence. But in order for your communications strategy to stick, leadership must be behind it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or at least it should<\/em> manage everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The church communications strategy is not the end-all for your church\u2019s communication. It represents the in-bounds playing field for everything that happens and needs to be communicated \u2014 internally and externally. So when we say a church communications strategy should manage everything, what we mean is it should provide a starting point for making decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You make the rules, so you can<\/em> break the rules, but only when it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your church has a collection of communication channels that you have been using for years. These channels range from on-stage announcements to the signage in the bathroom stalls. Anywhere communication exists, that\u2019s considered a channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is a quick list of channels you may already be using or might be considering in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are probably a few items you\u2019re using which are missing from and probably a few items on this list that you could benefit from using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The point here is to identify the channels you are using and create a plan for how<\/em> you will use them going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s the second part of what a communications strategy manages: how each channel will be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I like to create a general definition for each channel that is employed, stating what the purpose for that channel will be and the approach for using that channel in individual communication pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without a definition for a specific channel a lot of questions will go unanswered\u2026 or will need to be answered individually for every piece of communication you want to include.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, your church\u2019s email newsletter. Here are the questions you need to answer in order to efficiently manage your email newsletter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you overcomplicating the email newsletter with all these questions? Not if they help you make quick, measured decisions in the long run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is how I would define the newsletter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The email newsletter is sent out weekly. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Each week we will include no fewer than 2 items and no more than 5 items. Ideally we want to share 3 items each week. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The email newsletter is the first place any and every program and event will be announced and will be marketed as \u201cthe communication you want to receive if you want to know what\u2019s going on around the church.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a general rule, anything that happens at the church may be included in the newsletter at least one time. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Items that have great stories attached to them which illustrate our church values may be shared multiple times, regardless of their appeal. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This isn\u2019t something that I would share with the entire staff as a hard and fast rule, but rather, a general guideline I would submit to leadership (or my direct report) for approval. Rather than making these decisions week in and week out (that uses a lot of energy), you get approval once and for all (or at least the next 6-12 months) and all your decisions are made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As programs, events, and information are being submitted for communication, you can immediately place each item in a spot that fits best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If there is a student pizza night that really doesn\u2019t need to show up across the campus, but it is worth getting in front of parents who may not be aware of the event, schedule it to go into the email newsletter one time. If you\u2019ve marketed the newsletter as the place where you hear about everything first, people will know to look at the newsletter to hear about events similar to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (But what about new people who don\u2019t get the newsletter? My question back to you is, \u201cDo you really want to prioritize a pizza night to new families?\u201d I would submit that you should be directing them towards ONE THING\u2026 not a cornucopia of programs that don\u2019t communicate who the church is. But I digress for now\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n With each new submission you can immediately begin assigning dates for dissemination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the women\u2019s ministry submits a request for announcing their upcoming retreat on March 25-27, you can look and see where it may fit based upon other items that have been submitted, their level of urgency, and where there may be empty spaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is how I might schedule out the communication for a Women\u2019s Retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By defining your strategy system and then defining your channels, you can make quick decisions and adjust those decisions as more communication comes in and then as the dates get closer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Look at the \u201cPrinted bulletin\u201d listing above. For March 18 we say (if room). You may arrive at March 18 and already have 5 higher priority items meant to go out. If we have predetermined only 3 items in the printed bulletin and now we\u2019re faced with a total of 6 items to print for a given week, we need to make the decision to cut this event from that channel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s take this theoretical event one step further \u2014 looking at March 11, there are only two items. So we bump back the event to March 11 instead of March 18. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Your strategy helps you make these decisions faster and with greater ease than you would be able to otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is worth mentioning at this point that we\u2019re talking about managing communications like this at a top level. If ministries are submitting requests for their \u2018stuff\u2019, Whatever you do at a top level should be in addition to whatever these ministries are doing at their level. In the future you will want to create guides and guidelines that individual ministries can look to for help, but for now, you want to focus on getting your top level strategy set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re looking for the ideal answer for how far in advance you should manage your strategy it would be 6-12 months. However, we don\u2019t operate in ideal circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More realistically, your church communications and marketing plan should be managed 6-12 weeks ahead of time. There are some items you\u2019ll know about well in advance (hello Easter and Christmas Eve) and you\u2019ll want to get those into your strategy document (more on that below) as soon as you can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For everything else, you will be able to do your best work if you know a minimum of six weeks ahead of time. This gives you the opportunity to work the initiative into more spots. For instance, if you know 3 weeks ahead of time, you may or may not have room in the email newsletter. You only have 3 chances to work it in and depending on what else is going on, it may not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if you know six weeks ahead of time, you now have six opportunities to work it into the newsletter AND if you are low on items for a particular week, you can now add that item in when it otherwise would have not been mentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only does six weeks give you more flexibility to communicate but it allows you to do your best work to communicate the value behind the initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, if there are different lead times and registration windows to take into account, you\u2019ll need more time to get that information disseminated. For instance, if you\u2019re looking for signups to man your city festival booth, but whoever signs up needs to be trained a week before, your deadline is not the week of the event\u2026 It is the week before the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will be hard for you to convince some staff and volunteers to plan this far in advance. They tend to operate on their own schedules, at their own pace, and when they remember<\/em> to communicate with you, they will. It is your responsibility to clearly communicate with staff what the expectation is. But don\u2019t stop there. You must also communicate what\u2019s in it for them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n How will communicating six weeks in advance with you make their life better? How will it help their event be well attended? How does it benefit their ministry? That\u2019s your responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being able to say to the children\u2019s director: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really love what you\u2019ve shared in our staff meeting about your plans for VBS this summer. And the story you shared about your leaders who took vacation time to volunteer to hang out with 7-year-olds, that\u2019s really impactful. I\u2019d really like to do a nice job promoting VBS in the weeks leading up to summer and help you recruit record volunteers and record attendance. Do you think you could have the raw details to me 12 weeks out? That will give me time after Easter but before the end of school to do a great job sharing the impact of VBS last year and using that to recruit for this year.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What children\u2019s director would say no to that? \u201cNo thanks, I\u2019ll wait till the last minute and we can fight about exposure then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The burden is on you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t want to be labeled the \u2018no\u2019 person or if you feel like you\u2019re constantly on the defensive, fighting with staff because what they want is unreasonable, get out ahead of it and let them know you are their advocate\u2026 not an obstacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s much easier for leadership to respond to a communications strategy that you put in front of them than it is for them to create something from scratch. This is true for nearly all creative work whether writing, designing, or planning. Your church marketing plan (ahhh, marketing\u2026 feels so good to say it out loud) should be written down and how it looks is completely up to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most important thing about how your strategy looks is that it is easy to understand, easy for others to interpret, easy for others to see where their initiatives will fit, and easy for leadership to say \u201cyes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few different examples of how your communications strategy could look. You may know these individual approaches by other names. Regardless of what you call each one, they represent the general themes of how churches choose to prioritize communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the risk of sounding negative, The Wild West approach operates mostly off of feeling, emotion, and individual decisions for each program, event, or initiative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are no central values to help determine what is shared, where it is shared, or how frequently. There is a desire to be \u2018fair\u2019 with exposure, making sure each leader is well represented and no one feels slighted (regardless of whatever request they\u2019re making).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Programming is typically planned last minute and thus the request for communications support comes at the last minute as well. The \u2018strategy\u2019, so-to-speak, may look like a Tuesday morning meeting where the upcoming weekend is planned and everyone throws their needs on the whiteboard. It could also look like a long-standing invitation to \u2018email\u2019 needs the week-of and everything is added into weekend service communication channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The green, yellow, orange communications strategy is about assigning a priority status to initiatives in your church. Based upon what priority they are assigned, they are then \u2018eligible\u2019 for different communication channels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This strategy could also be called a 1, 2, 3 communications strategy, or A, B, C. The overall value is the treatment of each item is predetermined by whatever group it is assigned to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The overall theme of the Ministry Awareness Rotation is the idea that there are ministry spotlights regularly in weekend services, the Sunday bulletin, the e-newsletter, or a high-profile location on the website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal is to continue to give exposure to individual ministries so that people in the church \u2018know what\u2019s happening.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n The principle behind this approach is often a desire for fairness, showing \u2018care\u2019 for individual ministries (and their leaders), and hope that someone sees the ministry initiative and makes a decision to participate based upon that moment of exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest clarity for any communications director comes through having a clear mission and stated values. I\u2019ll talk more about this later, but for this section I\u2019ll outline how this method works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your church has a clear mission that is unique to your congregation and how you do ministry in your current location (how you fulfill The Great Commission). In addition, you have 4-6 stated values. Your mission is WHAT you do and your values guide HOW you do it<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As requests come in, they are measured against the values. \u201cDoes this event help us accomplish our mission? Does this program fall within our values?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes this approach so different from the approaches above is that it changes the question from, \u201cWhat is a good thing to promote,\u201d into, \u201cWhat it\u2019s the best thing to promote?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If one of your values is biblical literacy and you have the opportunity to host a conference at your church that focuses on providing tools to become biblically literate, not only is this a good event, it\u2019s also the best event, judging strictly by the value that it allows you to express.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, if your values are biblically literate, culturally present, locally active, and emotionally available and one of your ministries decides to host a game night, you can ask the question, \u201cDoes this help us fulfill the great commission in alignment with our values (how we fulfill the Great Commission?\u201d Maybe. But maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mission and values based communication is the best way to protect your messaging and mobilize your congregation behind action that helps you fulfill your mission and become known in the community for your values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your communications strategy concept (see the options above) will determine the best way to visually represent your communications strategy. In almost all cases, though, a Google Spreadsheet is a great option \u2014 especially if you\u2019re looking for a free solution that anyone can easily access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most valuable lessons I learned in church communications was there is no right way to do things\u2026 there is only the right way for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, there are basic principles and general communication truths that you need to abide by, such as \u201cget things proofed before you print.\u201d What I\u2019m talking about is the actual means by which you accomplish your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The examples below of what your visual communications strategy could look like are just examples \u2014 you can adapt them to serve your needs and work for you and your context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Honestly, it\u2019s like the Great Commission. Every church is called to baptize and make disciples. That\u2019s non-negotiable. But how the church accomplishes that mission will vary from campus to campus, city to city, state to state, and country to country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t know where to begin, I would suggest starting with a Google Spreadsheet. Google Sheets are free to use and easy to understand. If you\u2019re implementing a strategy for the first time, you will be doing yourself a huge favor by making your visual strategy easy to understand and interpret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have created a sample Spreadsheet with fictitious information to illustrate the different ways you could set up your visual strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The basic information you\u2019ll need in your spreadsheet is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every spreadsheet should contain these fields, regardless of the strategy model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After these fields, there are a collection of optional fields that help you see the big picture of \u2018what\u2019s coming up\u2019 in your church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notes<\/strong> \u2014 The final column is a notes column and this is where you can add additional information, qualifiers, and specific instructions for each row.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spreadsheet is a great option for all the reasons mentioned above, and if you\u2019re starting from the ground up in a low-tech environment it might be the right option for your church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I find spreadsheets hard to read and tedious to add information to. My method for management is using a project management or task management app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/church-communication-strategy-definition-1024x538.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/challenge-of-church-communications-1024x538.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat Is A Church Communications Strategy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"As](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/church-communication-director-quote-1024x538.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat Does A Church Communications Strategy Manage?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Managing Your Individual Communication Channels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/church-communication-channels-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDefining Your Individual Communication Channels<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/church-communications-newsletter-643x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nManaging Your Church Events and Programs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How Far In Advance Should You Manage Your Strategy?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"If](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/church-communication-advocate-ministry-1024x538.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat Does A Church Communications Strategy Look Like?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Wild West<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"No](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/church-communication-strategy-wild-west-1024x538.jpg\")
Green, Yellow, Orange Initiatives<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ministry Awareness Rotation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Mission and Values Based Communication<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Drawing Up A Visual Communications Strategy <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/unnamed-3.jpg\")
Church Communications Google Spreadsheet<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/frontdoor.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/unnamed-4.jpg\")
Church Communications Strategy Project App<\/h3>\n\n\n\n