Church Marketing Podcast

The Email Marketing for Churches Episode

June 30, 2016 04:00 - 42 minutes - 19.7 MB

Email marketing isn't for only the most savvy or the mega churches. Any church of any size can capitalize on email and transform it into their strongest tool for communication. Most churches find themselves completely absent from sending any type of email or completely over-saturating their subscribers with too many emails. In this episode of the Church Marketing Podcast we debunk email marketing myths, we address email marketing mistakes, we pick low hanging email marketing fruit and we buil...

The Sunday Bulletin Episode

March 22, 2016 04:00 - 47 minutes - 21.7 MB

Every week you produce that same bulletin. It's like wrangling livestock trying to round up everything that needs to go in this titanic printed mess. You know it's not dying anytime soon so you've gone out and tried to find examples of other church bulletins. You've posted in Facebook Groups asking to see examples, you've searched Google for "church printed bulletins" hoping to find something that will help you spice up that black and white classifieds you've been producing. In The Sunday Bul...

The Social Media Mistakes Episode

February 04, 2016 05:00 - 44 minutes - 20.4 MB

There are two types of social media mistakes: those that can't be avoided and those that can. It's as simple as that. No matter how much training, education and experience you have working with social media the ever changing technology and social landscape means that we are constantly having to adapt - a mistakes will be made along the way. Those mistakes are the ones you cannot avoid.On the flip side there are may mistakes that can easily be avoided and sometimes all you need is someone poin...

The How We Do It Episode

October 28, 2015 04:00 - 43 minutes - 20.1 MB

You know how you operate week in and week out. What you don't know is how the church across town (or across the country) operates. Often we learn the most by observing the practices of others and in this episode of the Church Marketing Podcast you are invited to peek at how National Community Church in Washington D.C. operates their communication and social media. From why, to what and how, discover a new spin on what you may already be doing and be inspired to grow your practices.

The Communication Episode

September 16, 2015 04:00 - 1 hour - 30.3 MB

Are you keeping the three c’s of communication in mind when creating content for your church? In this podcast Dave Shrein talks with Ryan Holck about how utilizing these three c’s will help communicate the mission of your church more effectively.Convey details.Connect heart.Creatively deliver.

The Periscope Episode

August 03, 2015 04:00 - 45 minutes - 21 MB

You've been asking the question since April: How can we use Periscope at our church. You've probably launched a broadcast showing your band playing, or maybe a baptist but the question remains - why and how should I use Periscope for my church. In this episode of the Church Marketing Podcast Ryan Bilello joins Dave Shrein to talk about the power of using social media to network within the church and how an app like Periscope and a technology such as live streaming will allow your church meet ...

The Communication Schedule Episode

May 15, 2015 04:00 - 1 hour - 28.3 MB

Consistency, niche and unique voice... these are the three traits necessary to maintain a successful website blog. As you pursue your communication strategy, it is as important as ever to make sure that you maintain a consistent publishing rate with content relevant to your mission presented in a voice consistent with your church's personality. In The Communication Schedule Episode, Kevin Hendricks walks us through the process of creating, curating and keeping a healthy communication schedule...

The Website Content Episode

April 09, 2015 04:00 - 58 minutes - 27.2 MB

WIIFM? These five letters represent the most powerful filter that every piece of copy for your organization must be passed through. When you have this concept of WIIFM at the forefront of your mind your writing becomes more compelling and your call to action becomes more effective. So what does WIIFM stand for? "What’s In It For Me?” And that is the question your readers, viewers, congregation members, visitors are asking themselves when they interact with your church. In The Website Conten...

The Live and Online Episode

March 24, 2015 04:00 - 1 hour - 28.4 MB

You’ve witnessed the transition - gone are the days of members attending Sunday services 4-5 times a month. As a matter of fact, churches are fortunate if a regular attender will walk into the worship center twice in one month. The modern church must begin to reassess it’s model in order to keep up with an on-demand culture and if the conversation doesn’t begin now the risk of being irrelevant as individual organizations heightens dramatically. You may not have thought of it this way but th...

The Leadership & Volunteer Episode

March 02, 2015 05:00 - 1 hour - 29.5 MB

You know that communications span way beyond the pixels on a computer screen or the ink that's used on a print piece. The effectiveness of your communication is a sum of church mission, leadership vision, ministry events and details. In The Leadership & Volunteer Episode Deborah Ike takes us throughout the entire scope of church communications into the world of volunteers and utilizing volunteers within our communication departments.

CertLab '15 Instructor Hangout

February 06, 2015 05:00 - 1 hour - 29.6 MB

How'd you like a shot in the arm of communication encouragement and strategy? In this very special episode of the Church Marketing Podcast Dave Shrein takes 60 minutes to moderate a hangout with four of the most influential leaders in Church Communication. Gerry True, Phil Bowdle, Kelley Hartnett and Mark MacDonald add their voices to the conversation of how do we pursue excellence in church communication given the many struggles communication leaders encounter. From thriving on limited resou...

The Communicating with Pastors Episode

January 30, 2015 05:00 - 54 minutes - 25.1 MB

The position of Communication Director (or Pastor) is fairly new. While many large churches (5,000+) have had someone in this role for a long time, the average church is just now discovering the need for someone to ask strategic questions about how their information is being communicated and received. The increase in noise (both online and in life overall) has revealed that the messages from the church are not making it onto calendars, into conversations and or translating into any type of me...

The Awesome Communicator Episode 2

January 15, 2015 05:00 - 37 minutes - 17.6 MB

Wanna hop on the wall again and learn from the success and failures of others? This is the 2nd episode focusing on awesome church communicators. In this episode we speak with two church communicators about branding, guidelines, volunteers and team building. There are literally hundreds of communicators who are in our Church Marketing Sucks family and it's about time we heard from them!

The Awesome Communicator Episode

December 15, 2014 05:00 - 51 minutes - 23.7 MB

There is no better way to learn than to live as a fly on the wall as others talk about their successes and failures. While there are certain names we all know in church marketing and communication, there is one set of individuals that you have yet to hear from… our listeners. The Awesome Communicator Episode is all about highlighting the successes of our community for the benefit of our community. This is the first of two episodes where we talk with Church Marketing Podcast listeners about th...

The Christmas Social Episode

November 25, 2014 05:00 - 48 minutes - 22.1 MB

Social is a beast, mostly because there is an expectation for churches to have a presence on all networks, even if churches don’t understand all of them. Understanding a platform and then gaining clarity for our main church account is hard enough. Add to the ministries that want their own social presence. The key to conquering social for your church is to become clear on who you are and define what role social plays in communicating the message of who you are? What is the purpose? Christmas o...

The Christmas Planning Episode

November 11, 2014 05:00 - 1 hour - 28.8 MB

Every church has a different process for planning out various seasons of ministry or series’ of messages, yet the central element that is vital to every process is the idea of "The Approach." In The Christmas Planning Episode we examine series planning strategy. We also identify how to manage "The Approach" if you’re in an environment where planning and strategizing is not something that happens natural.

Unwelcome with Jonathan Malm

November 07, 2014 05:00 - 1 hour - 36.5 MB

Does our communication drive visitors away? If you're looking to decipher how your communication is received by visitor, Jonathan Malm's new book, Unwelcome gives you a list of 50 ways your church may be driving away first-time visitors. Whether you've been working in the church since before you were born or if you're still in your first 12 months of vocational ministry, Unwelcome reveals simple ways churches can intentionally welcome more visitors with open arms.

The Media Essentials Episode

October 15, 2014 04:00 - 57 minutes - 26.4 MB

There are a lot of online communities where knowledgeable experts on church media gather and share ideas. Often these forums present amazing solutions in terms that reach over the heads of green media directors or volunteers. In this episode we look at the essential media elements and media strategy which has the greatest impact on a church... without breaking the resource bank. There is a certain level of media competency that churches should strive for in order to make a connection with the...

The Social Media Episode

September 30, 2014 04:00 - 56 minutes - 25.8 MB

We know how we use social media for ourselves, but what should social media look like when a church uses it? While it’s typical for church culture to slowly adapt to new mediums and modes of communication, it is also typical that social media networks, protocols and trends change on a month to month basis. In this episode we take a look at how churches can overcome the challenges of their individual organization culture, budgetary restrictions and man hour limits in order to add meaningful c...

Certification Lab with Jenny Rain

September 26, 2014 04:00 - 34 minutes - 16 MB

Jenny has been on staff as the communications director at National Community Church in Washington, D.C., for just over 12 months and in that time has had to build a communication department from the ground up. In the conversation, Jenny and Dave talk about how the Certification Lab was a huge learning event. The Certification Lab gave her the confidence she needed to make decisions on behalf of her church.

The Church Website Episode

September 15, 2014 04:00 - 51 minutes - 23.7 MB

Who's visiting your website and what are they doing while they're there? If you don't know the answer to that question you're missing out on key criteria that can help you make decisions about every other area of your online communications (and offline for that matter). When you establish firm goals for what you want a webpage to accomplish and can measure those goals against analytic data, you have the information necessary to determine what you need to change about your website strategy. Al...

The You Episode

August 06, 2014 04:00 - 56 minutes - 26.1 MB

School is back in session (though it seems earlier than when we were in school) and the fall is coming into focus. The You Episode is all about self-care. Entrepreneur Ahna Hendrix joins the Church Marketing Podcast from Vietnam to share how she practices self-care while living a lifestyle that demands nothing but complete and total focus. Also in the episode we look at the power of real photography on a website as well as an alternative way churches can approach using Pinterest.

The Seat at the Table Episode

June 23, 2014 04:00 - 54 minutes - 25.3 MB

It is much easier for a stakeholder to tell a story than it is to recite a mission statement. Communicators have the important role of telling the story of the organizations they represent in a compelling way so that when stakeholders walk away, they speak about the organization with language that is true of the mission. There are five elements of communication that we must use to filter every decision we make in what we do and do not say. If you’ve ever wanted a formula for being awesome at ...

The Communication Volunteer Episode

June 05, 2014 04:00 - 59 minutes - 27.6 MB

If you’ve had questions about how to recruit and use communication volunteers in your church, this is the podcast episode for you! Phil Bowdle lends his voice and experiences from West Ridge Church in Georgia, sharing from what he has done well and not so well as it relates to volunteers. We also touch on the topic of maintaining healthy relationships between the communication department and the rest of the church staff.

What's the Big Idea? A Conversation with Justin Wise

May 01, 2014 04:00 - 1 hour - 28.2 MB

It’s completely normal for church communicators to feel alone in their role. It is a role fairly new to any church under 5,000 people. While many folks on a church staff have experience as a youth pastor, associate pastor, children’s director, executive administrator or any other given position… very few have ever been a church communication director.Our conversation guest today is Justin Wise and he represents just one of the many voices in the growing church communication community. Our con...

Church Marketing Podcast: Sneak Peek With Josh Burns, Part 2

April 23, 2014 04:00 - 32 minutes - 15.4 MB

This episode is in response to a request made in the comment section of a previous episode requesting information on Facebook and Facebook Ads. Josh Burns and I discuss our experience with ads as well as some best practices for getting started and using ads in the church world.