Advertising special events for churches does not have to be difficult. Hosting special event fundraisers is a great chance for membership and funding growth, as well as an opportunity to create special memories for the members of your congregation. Promote special events with gusto and motivation to get the word out as creatively as possible.
Why Advertise?
In the typical town or city, it's not unusual to find several churches on a single street. What would make your church stand out from the crowd to someone who is searching for a spiritual home? This is what makes advertising so vital, especially when your congregation is holding a special event, be it a holiday celebration or outreach any time of year.
Advertising can take many different forms, but the most important aspect of your promotion campaign must be to do everything you can to be creative and innovative. Anyone can pass out flyers, which means you need to go one step beyond if you would like to make a splash within your community.
Advertising Special Events For Churches
There are a lot of ways to get creative with your advertising campaign. Start with the ideas below:
A Powerful Website
When you are advertising a special event, it always helps to have a website to refer people to, or just to have pop up on a search engine. Especially around Christmas and Easter, where wayward believers will be considering a return to a pew nearby, you can make your church the chosen destination if they stumble upon a website that really grabs them.
Stay away from the typical amateur website tricks - music that automatically starts playing, primitive clip art or distracting animations. Instead, pick a few touching photographs of your congregation participating in various activities or ministry functions, develop a stunning logo, and make it simple to click through page to page. Consider hiring a professional web designer - many will donate their services or give a deep discount to non-profits, or try a web design service such as Clover Sites.
Pretty Postcards
Printing flyers using a standard copy machine may be fine for within your current church family, especially if the event is small and not intending to gather a large crowd. However, if you are trying to reach out to the neighborhoods near your church or would like to really get the attention of current church goers, then you need to step it up a notch.Many services offer glossy UV coated postcards in full color and in a variety of sizes. These are often affordable and well worth the price - some will design your postcard for you, while others allow you to upload in house graphic design from someone on your advertising team. Even better, some postcards are even available with postage paid for an additional fee. Using professional looking postcards show that you really care about the way your church looks to the outside community, and that you invest time in what's important - bringing people into the family of God.
Television and Radio Spots
While it can be pricey, getting an advertising spot on local TV or radio stations can really draw people in. If you are having an event that is free of charge, some Christian radio stations or other religious media outlets will allow you to have complimentary airtime as long as you can prove you are a non-profit organization working to raise funds for a good cause.
Service
Perhaps one of the best techniques for advertising special events for churches is to be of service the rest of the year. When you have a church play, a carnival or a women's retreat coming up - word of mouth advertising may cause someone to make a connection with a time they got a bag of food or a caring phone call from one of the church members during a tough time. Being there for people rain or shine is the best way to share a church's mission statement, heart of ministry, and, of course, your upcoming events.
