Should we use direct mail to reach out?

[James Nored]

I hope that you guys had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year! On Christmas Eve we had a Candlelight service, with attendance of probably 300+ and a lot of visitors (probably a lot of family, but perhaps some from the community). We equipped our members with flyers for this and mailed out an invitation to our December sermon series, which included an invite to the Candlelight service.

Many in the missional movement reject any form of attractional advertising such as direct mail or billboards. This is something which I have thought a lot about on many levels.

In the larger Christian community, some churches rely almost entirely on impersonal advertising as their "outreach," substituting this for actually going out, serving the community, and sharing the good news. Of course, in our fellowship, the idea that these methods have been overused or relied upon is rather laughable. (We tend to not be very media-savvy).

Here are the positives of using direct mail and other forms of impersonal advertising:- It can get an invitation and message out to a larger group. In a fast-growing area like where we are, it is hard to reach all of those who are moving into the area on foot.

- It can raise awareness of a local church. While most people do not realize this, people tend to choose a "brand" by brand awareness and familiarity. Take, for instance, renting a car. There may be a really cheap price that pulls up on Orbitz when looking for a car. But if you have "never heard of them," will you rent from them. Probably not. You'll go with--quick, what rentals come to mind? For me, I always think of Hertz first, probably due to advertising. In the advertising world, the goal is to get your product to be one of the first three brands that people name when thinking about a product.

- It can drive people to a website, where they can check out the church more fully before visiting. Most people today, before they attend anywhere, will check out a church's website. A church's website can tell a lot about that church!

The best thing about flyers, however, is that they can be given to members to hand out to their family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. And if they are living lives that bless others and actually know these people, these can really help when inviting. And when you do a printing, the cost to print additional flyers to mail out is not much more than a printing for just members to hand out. The main additional cost comes from the postage.

Now, having said all of this, let me point out the limitations and drawbacks of this approach.- Increasing brand awareness as a strategy assumes that there is a market for a product. If, however, people do not want, say, toothpaste, then raising brand awareness for toothpaste is a waste of time. You have to first convince people that they need toothpaste. We live in a world in which the "market share" of those who are interested in "going to church" is decreasing rapidly. Weekly church attendance in the US is somewhere around 18% and falling. Increasingly, people are not looking for the right church. They are not looking for a church at all.

- Some studies have found that direct mail has a negative impact upon non-Christians. (See David Kinnamon's Book UnChristian.) Whether this is for all forms of direct mail or only tasteless forms is not spelled out in the study.

For this next year, we are planning on doing 2-3 major mailings of 15,000 households in two area codes around the church building, and then to those moving into the community (about 400 per month). This latter group is highly receptive to change in general in their lives, and 50% change denominations when they move. There is no "brand loyalty" today. We will also receive a list of names and addresses of the new move-ins, which we can go and visit.

The primary value of this strategy, I believe, comes from the personal invites and contacts and promotion of the website. I'm willing to try the rest for a year or two and see what happens. This can only, however, be a part of a larger strategy. I'm not much interested in shuffling Christians around--I want to reach people who do not know Christ. If the church is being motivated and trained to reach out in their daily lives, then the people around them may at some point be interested in "going to church" and this method can help. Without this missional life of the church, direct mail and other forms of advertising is throwing money after an increasingly shrinking market share.

What are your thoughts on direct mail and other forms of impersonal advertising, both theologically and methodologically?

[James Nored]

Teresa, this is an interesting thought. I think we do need need to invite people to out of the ordinary types of things. Maybe the series on "The Office" or something like that, as well as inviting people into conversation (see comments above).

[Teresa Riley]

I wonder if the direct mailers would work better if they were sent during off peak times leading up to a peak Holiday ex.( for a special series sermon series that leads up to Easter) and not sent when all the other churches in town are sending them just to come on Easter.

[James Nored]

Hobby, I have been thinking much like you about alternative things to advertise, such as service and mission. Other thoughts that I have - inviting people into a dialogue. Maybe a card that said,

Front Side - "What are churches doing wrong?"
Back Side - "Help us do better. Join the conversation. Website address."

The website that they are invited to would need to be an interactive one, such as this one. The more I read and experience what is happening with the web and advertising, the more that I see that static sites and one way communication is less and less effective. People want to be able to contribute, rate things, add content, create, critique, etc.

I, like you, would like to know what has been effective for Dwayne and others. This may really vary from region to region. Thanks for your thoughts, Hobby.

[Hobby Chapin]

I think it is significant to the issue that the market is cold. 15 years ago in the Denver area, it was great marketing, even 6 years ago the churches in our network were seeing fruit of 200-300 on a first Sunday launch. That is not the case anymore for our area. I am not opposed to all mailings, but we are not currently in a position that we can afford to do it. It seems that to simply advertise our Sunday services would be poor stewardship concerning cost. If we were to mass mail, I think we would see more response (any response) by advertising something that will serve the community and allow for participation in that service rather than to advertise worship invitations or programs of our church. What are some other creative ways to get name recognition that you have looked into?

[James Nored]

Thanks, Dwayne. I thought that you might have some insightful thoughts on this, being a church planter. Many church plants in the past were started entirely on direct mail. Not only is this no longer as effective as it used to be, but to substitute this for going out does not fit into the missional concept.

So, what types of direct mail have you used? What has been effective for you?

[Dwayne Hilty]

James...good summary of direct mail pro's and con's. We have used and will continue to use direct mailing as one form of outreach and "branding" in our local community. We have simply seen too many people come through Soma to ignore it. Having said that, we only use it as icing on the cake, so to speak, and try to be intentional about branding through other means first (lots of service and discipleship stuff). Good thoughts.