With as many direct mail and church marketing companies as there are, you might think direct mail is the best way to market your church, and for some it might be. I've seen churches who use direct mail as a regular part of their growth planning, heard from others who were disappointed with the results, and of course a variety of those in between. Let's look at the big picture, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of direct mail marketing so you can consider whether this is a good solution for your church.

There are many ways to invite people to your church and by far the most effective has been, and will continue to be a personal invitation. With more things than ever competing for our time though, the church has to make itself known through a variety of efforts. Yellow page listings and newspaper ads are perhaps the two most popular forms of church marketing, with direct mail a quickly growing option. While yellow page listings are semi permanent in nature (lasting for at least a year), and newspaper ads covering large areas for as long as you place the ads, direct mail is more event oriented. The use of direct mail reaches its peak promoting Easter, followed by Christmas Eve, Fall/back to school, then other holidays and events. Like tying a string around your finger, it serves as a reminder or announcement to keep a specific date in mind.

Let's take a look at some of the pros and cons of direct mail and then some ways your church can maximize its effectiveness.

Pros
1) Quality and ease of use
I showed a sampling of direct mail products to an advertising executive who has won numerous national awards and he was pleasantly surprised, commenting that the design was on par with secular products. Being able to promote an event with a professionally designed direct mail piece can be very beneficial for a church and help make the event a success.

Because church marketing has become a business with a track record, processes have been developed to make the job a smooth one from the time an order is placed to delivery. Some companies specialize in custom designed pieces, while others predesign their products so you can see what you will get before placing the order. Either can work well if they are a good match for the personality of your church. With the predesigned products, the text is also written in advance, so your church just needs to supply the marketing company with a small amount of event information and church contact info, and they handle the rest including mailhouse work.

2) A target audience
With newspapers and phone directories, your ad typically covers a larger area than where your church is located. So while you may pay much less per household, you're still paying for a large number of households that fall outside the geographic range your church can reasonably draw from. With direct mail, you can choose the zip codes closest to your church and then how many households you want to send to. This way, you're only paying for a specific number of households in your target area.

3) Immediate results
At times marketing can feel like shooting in the dark. You can't see if you hit your target. Direct mail has an immediate result. You promote a holiday or event and can tell right away by the attendance if it worked. Many visitors carry their invitations with them, and some churches track results with a visitor information card that asks how the visitor learned of the church. I've heard from churches that marketed an event through a variety of media including radio, newspapers and direct mail. They usually report that direct mail drew the greatest response.

It doesn't always work As the use of direct mail has grown, some churches have complained that it feels like everyone is sending out postcards. Others are disappointed that it didn't work as well as they expected. Let's look at the other side of the picture.

Cons
1) Cost
You may only pay for what you use, but the total cost can still add up to $.30 or more per postcard. The response rate is greatest among those households closest to the church and diminishes as the distance from the church grows. Mailing 10,000 pieces won't typically generate double the number of visitors of a 5,000 piece mailing . Response rates average .05%-2% for a successful mailing, so you could be paying from $33 to $83 per visitor. That's a significant amount, and some churches opt to use their money in other ways to get the word out.

2) The nature of direct mail
The marketing company calls it direct mail, the Post Office labels it bulk mail, and to the recipient it's junk mail. Call it what you like, the fact is that more than 98% goes straight into the waste basket. If the recipient doesn't immediately find it of interest, that's the end of the line. They won't look at it again later.

3) Delivery
Bulk mail may be a significant source of revenue for the Post Office, but the nature of mail delivery is that first class gets top priority while bulk mail is delivered as close to the scheduled drop date as they can arrange it. During busy seasons this isn't always predictable. The worst thing that can happen is for the invitation to be delivered after the event, and I've received a few like this. The Post Office doesn't refund your money, and even if they did it wouldn't cover the cost of your postcards. Sending it out a few weeks early isn't the answer though either, because most people don't plan more than a week or two in advance. Fortunately, late delivery is more the exception than the rule, but it feels like an expensive disaster when it happens.

Maximizing the effectiveness
There are some things your church can do to maximize the effectiveness of direct mail.

Mail to an audience that makes sense for you
My church produced its ownpostcard recently and only sent it out to church members and regular visitors. It's an established church so the postcard serves more of a reminder to regulars, and an invitation to try the church again for people who haven't been there for awhile. A larger mailing list could lead to another problem, more people than seats or parking spaces.

A new church or neighborhood based church should consider keeping their mailing to a limited radius around their church. 5,000 households is usually the largest number a church of this size should consider in the beginning. A large church, or a church in a highly visible area may have enough familiarity to consider a larger mailing of 10,000 or more. It's better to start small and build on success than try something new and have no idea why it didn't work as planned.

Choose the right message, both visually and written
A friend of mine got an invitation that was humorous and contemporary. She was hooked and visited the church. “What a joke,” she said. “They weren't contemporary, and no one had a sense of humor. I felt like they lied to me. I'll never go back there.” The result was worse than if they hadn't sent out anything. The church lost credibility in the community. The feeling conveyed by the direct mail piece should mirror the personality of your church right now, not who you hope to be someday.

Think in terms of an event
Let's break it down into smaller steps. You want the front of the mailer to be compelling enough that they will turn it over and read the invitation. You want what your church has to offer to be enough that they will come for a visit. When they visit, you hope the church service will interest them in returning again, and hopefully make this their church home. That's the long term goal. The immediate goal is to get them to consider taking an hour or two out of one day to check you out one time. Whether you add a well known guest speaker, a special band, a drama troupe or something else, make sure the day you are promoting has a special feel to it so the potential visitor feels a sense of urgency in coming that particular day. If there is no specific day in mind, they may never feel compelled to come.

The big picture
Direct mail marketing should either be seen as a short term boost, or one component of a larger marketing plan. At it's best it will attract visitors to your church for a short amount of time. Coupled with other forms of marketing it can pull it's weight in certain seasons and rely on other communication channels during other times. It isn't a one shot deal. The best thing to come out of your first try may be that you learned what not to do. Learn the lesson and keep going. I recently heard a quote that the only difference between success and failure was that that successful people didn't quit.

Michael Kern is a 20 year veteran in church communications. Before starting
Church Logo Gallery (www.churchlogogallery.com) he was the art director and product manager for a church marketing company.

Copyright 2002-3. Michael Kern. All rights reserved.
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