15 Church Marketing Ideas – How to Market Your Ministry with Excellence

Marketing and the church? Is there a place for both? Yes, though salvation is free – we are charged to “Go Ye” in the world and spread the Gospel, and that requires some effort. And it also involves promoting or marketing the Message – properly. The better the brand, the better the response to the Message. Part of this branding process involves marketing the church. But the problem is, this can be tough to do, especially when it feels forced or unnatural.

With that in mind, here are 15 feel-good ideas for marketing your church to help get your message to more people.

15 Church Marketing Ideas

First, let’s start with free church marketing ideas you can start on right away.

Free options

• Give away a free ebook or mp3 podcasts on your website/blog site in exchange for their email so you can keep in touch with them. Use an autoresponder too. (We use AWeber)
• Create a specially-themed blog and update it at least once a week (connect it to broadcast out to your Facebook page and Twitter account) and start a blog talk show.
• Design exciting church bulletins with “spiritual nuggets” from you. Make it a keeper and motivational tool to be shared with non-church members.
• Give a community award: Pick a worthy police officer or firefighter from your community and honor them with a nice award. Make it a big deal. Send out a press release. Videotape the event and put it on Youtube.
• Start an email newsletter or Ezine. Repurpose the articles in article directories like ezinearicles.com.
• Attend a church marketing conference and engage in social media like Facebook and Twitter.

Small investments

Ready to make a financial investment in the marketing for your church? These ideas require a bit of a financial investment (but they can pay off in a big way!)

• Brand your sermon series with CD covers, banners/postcards throughout the church, and create a “Facebook cover” so members can promote on their Facebook pages too.
• Create cool, glossy postcards for members to give out to invite people to church.
• Invest in quality graphics/branding (see https://www.canva.com). Create a custom Twitter background and Facebook cover and page. (See my Facebook cover and page here)
• Order a standard podium cover to match your corporate ID for special meetings in venues like hotels where their name is displayed. Brand your logo and name. Make sure your website URL is on it too.
• Read one good book on ministry marketing (Did you read my 115 PR Tips to Brand Your Ministry booklet?)

Other church marketing ideas

• Canvas the neighborhood of the church with door hangers. Many neighbors are just waiting for a formal invitation to visit your church. Be creative – give a gift that matches your church’s brand.
• Do something different and outside the box – Change up your routine, do not just do the standard stuff you and every other church do each year. Find a different way to do the same thing from a different perspective. Be playful and fun – and attract the youth.
• Plan out your marketing efforts – Yes, make a plan! Consult with a marketing consultant to help you lay out a strategy within your budget.
• Allow members to “check-in” when they enter the church using Facebook on their mobile phones. Make sure your Facebook profile is complete and includes the website URL. This is a great way to spread the Gospel quickly and effortlessly. This is word of mouth on steroids.

Now that we’ve covered some new church marketing ideas let’s talk about marketing your Christian or spiritual book. I’m here to help! Take a look at my one-on-one author coaching services here. Or perhaps a social media audit is exactly what you’re looking for. In that case, take a look at this link.

Did you learn a lot from these marketing ideas for churches?

Here are three posts to read next:

• 8 Ways to Get Started in Social Media
• 21 “AHA” Moments Every Christian Author Should Have
• Christians in Business Must Set a Different Standard #ministrymarketing

This post was first published in 2012, but it was updated in 2021 just for you!