Advertsing for Churches - Overview

Far too often I see the media sales representatives target churches to sell them advertisement. It is difficult to say no to the experienced sales representatives making their living on selling in a highly competitive arena during tough economic times. The responses of many churches is to give in and follow the lead of the sales rep. The problem arises when the sales rep queries the church on the amount they have in their budget designated for advertising. If given, the sales rep will design an ad campaign to use the entire amount with their company. Is that the best use of the church's money? Absolutely not.

The key to advertising is to put your product or service in front of the people you want to see it. For instance, if you have an event that is specifically designed for teenagers, then you would not want to advertise it on Fox News. Your target audience does not spend it's time watching the news.

Whatever needs be advertised must be researched to find the best connecting point for the ad. You must know your product and know which people would be interested in that product. Second, you must know the habits of your target audience. Third, you must use that information and place your ad in front of the habits of your target audience. Finally you must keep in mind two words, diversity and repetition. Over the next few days we will cover the following steps in detail:

• How to determine the habits of your target audience.
• How to connect your ad to your target audience.
• What is diversity and and repetition and why is it important to a successful ad campaign. 

Don't let one particular advertising sales representative take all of your budget funds for their media product. It is not the best use of your funds.