Who makes the promotions call?

From the mailbag...

"We are currently realigning our Marketing, Media and Communications Departments. One of the issues we are working through is when a pastor and/or director comes to you wanting to advertise their upcoming event, who on staff makes the call on what avenues the event will be advertised? Handouts, website, video, etc. How is that communicated to the pastor and/or director as well as the staff?"

Our systems facilitate these requests based on decisions we make in advance. It's not a case by case call and there isn't one person who decides or follows up on individual requests. Up front...we've documented a) our all church communication values and b) our all church communication priorities. From there, it's almost a plug and play.

Of course there are special circumstances that have to be addressed on occasion, but for the most part, our system removes subjectivity by prioritizing promotion mediums based on heavy, medium or light emphasis (categories defined by audience scope).

Some general guidelines?

1. We invest minimal resources into print materials (they have a shelf life, create activity with little return and add clutter). There are no ministry or event brochures. We don't attempt to go for the "sell" with print materials (one exception...series postcards). We invest that energy into personal invites and the event experience.
2. All events are important but are not appropriate for all church consumption.
3. Our primary communication vehicle outside of the weekend bulletin is the web site and weekly enewsletter.
4. If it's part of the series (or a next step out of the series), it's appropriate for the auditorium via announcement, media or art element (live, print and online).
5. If it's not part of the series or a next step out of the series but still affects a large audience, it will be included in the weekend program and on the web site.
6. If it affects a smaller audience or niche, it's listed on the web site.
7. When we do need print materials for events; it's focused on postcards with the who, what, where & when. No marketing "why" or fancy graphics are included.

These posts from the archives might also be helpful.

• Communication Values
• Who decides what & when?
• Walking someone through the process

Comments

[Lori]

Love your blog and especially this info. Very affirming to what our Comm area is trying to do in our church. Blessings.

[Mark Beeson]

Would it help anyone to hear me say that I believe Kem's process in this (OK, it's our process...but let's face facts) is critical for our work at GCC? And, that said, you should know this; it is VERY difficult to prioritize ministry offerings and opportunities. It must be done but it is not an easy task.
Make the effort.
Kem is right.
You'll see.

- Mark Beeson

[Bobby Chandler]

Like I said...WRITE A BOOK! Anyone else like to see Kem write a book on church communications?

[Dave Crow]

Thanks for this! You put into words very clearly the direction I want to see our communications team move.

[janet schwind]

Kem, I love your blog. It is fantastic.

[janet schwind]

Kem, I love your blog. It is fantastic.

[Kem Meyer]

BTW... officially just went FT in February.

[Kem Meyer]

Jeremy... I was hired PT in 2002 when we were averaging approx. 3,500 in weekend attendance. There was no centralized communications systems, no communications staff or technology team, no documentation. Everybody was creating their own materials, handling their own promotions, jockeying for weekend announcements, etc. I just started one document at a time; drafting them and collaborating with the Senior Management team to finalize and implement. First was a style guide, then a promotions process outline, then the communication values, the priorities, series big idea worksheet, etc. One step at a time.

[Jeremy Scheller]

This is so good!

BUT - It also sheds a light on that need to have so much groundwork done before implementation...

Need to have the ability to point people back to the Values, back to the Priorities, and back to a clear understanding of how john doe's ministry event fits in to the big picture of where we're going....

It's like I KNOW why I'M saying NO...But I don't have the paper trail to point back to that defines it for the requester...

I find this to be particularly difficult in a church that has grown as fast as ours, with such limited staff, and having so many volunteer-led ministries...Staff get used to me helping move them in different directions...volunteers don't always get it because they aren't so privy to the big picture conversations...it's just their ministry needs Sunday morning face time even though they may only be reaching 12 people...

How many staff does it take Granger to effectively do the process?

I'm in a situation where it's just me...design, website, bulletin, sunday morning spotlight time...coordinating the big communications schedule as well as making all the decisions as to who's in and who's out...

[Kyle Sagarsee]

By "overhead" I simply mean... umm you're like an angel? and that... umm you're cool?

It's probably one of those...