If you do a word search in the Bible for the words marketing or advertising you will yield no results.  For all the Divine wisdom held in those pages, why aren’t those words found?

Is God saying “not to advertise”? Is He saying “not to Market the Church”?

Before we can write this whole idea off as a waste of Church resources and claim that through Divine intervention people will find their way into our church seats, we need to take a closer look at just what marketing is all about.

A few thousand years ago, God used a 4 step marketing process to get Moses to do his will. From the Madison Avenue marketing gurus to the simple neighborhood pizza parlor, business’s  are still using this exact same 4 step process.

Lets take a quick look at the process, then look at the Book of Exodus and see the 
similarities.

The first job of marketing is to CAPTURE ATTENTION: In order to offer, explain, help, or solve a problem, you must gain the attention of your audience. If you don’t do this first step you fail the whole process.  A common misconception in our society is that “Sex Sells”. Sex sells nothing! Sex, gets peoples attention.  Have you ever wondered why you keep seeing commercials pushing the limits of censorship with risqué and often times even violent images? It is because as a society we have become de-sensitized to the point that advertisers and marketers must continue to up the shock value to get our attention.

The second job of marketing is to ENGAGE its AUDIENCE: Engaging the audience just means keeping the attention of the audience long enough to educate them on what a particular product or service has to offer.

The third job of marketing is to EDUCATE: This is where they tell you all the benefits of their product and how it is guaranteed to make your life better. They establish “the need”. You might not have thought you needed the product 60 seconds ago, but now that they have had the  chance to educate you, how can you live without it. If they weren't’t able to keep your attention, they weren't able to establish a need.

The fourth job of marketing is to make you an offer: This is when they tell you what to do. “Buy Now”, “Call Today”.  By this point they have you. If they captured your attention and    engaged you correctly, they had the  chance to educate you and create a need for their product. If you listened to all the great things their product will do for you than you are ready to bite. If the price is right, chances are you will buy.

There really are only 4 reasons why people don’t buy a particular product or service.

1. No Need
2. No Money
3. No Time
4. No Trust They don’t believe it will do what they say it will.

Savvy marketing, advertising, and sales people will intentionally address these issues in the 4
steps of the marketing process.

Now that we understand what marketing is, let’s look at the Bible and see exactly how God used this 4 step process in order to get Moses to do his will.

Exodus 3
Moses and the Burning Bush:

God uses the first step in the marketing process: He captures Moses attention with the burning
bush.

VS 1 - Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the
flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. VS 2 - There the angel of the
LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. (God captures His Attention)

Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up."
Once God gets Moses attention, he then uses the second step in the marketing process: He
engages Moses.

VS 4 - When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush,
"Moses! Moses!"And Moses said, "Here I am." (God Engages Moses)

Once God has his attention and has begun to engage Moses, He then uses the third step in the
marketing process: He educates him on who he is.

VS 5 - "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." VS 6 - Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
VS 7 - The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying
out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. VS 8 - So I have come down
to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. VS 9 -And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. (God Educates Moses)

Once God has educated Moses on who He is, He then uses the 4th step in the marketing process: He tells him what to do.

VS 10 - So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." (God Tells Moses What to Do - Makes him an offer.)

We can go over story after story on how the Bible shows us step by step, how God used the principles of marketing in a systematic process throughout history to get people to do what he wanted done. If these principles are good enough for God to build his Kingdom, then they should be good enough for today’s church to build His Kingdom. How can the Church apply these principles today in the form of marketing? 

Every mailer, newspaper Ad, TV, or radio commercial should include in sequence the 4 steps in the marketing process.

Below is an example of to use the 4 steps effectively in a church marketing/church advertising campaign using Rick Warrens Purpose Driven Life book as an example.

Step #1: Capture The Audience Attention. Use a strong headline, and a attention getting graphic to capture the audience’s attention. Example – “The Purpose Driven Life” – Rick Warren

Step #2: Engage the Reader. Use action step sub-headline: “Discover Your Purpose in 40 Days.”

Step #3: Educate the Reader. Here is what we our church offers. Here is what we believe. Here is how we are going to help you improve your life.

Step #4: Make them an offer, tell them what to do. I am Pastor James and I would like to personally invite you to join us this Sunday where we will discover your purpose and dramatically improve your life over the next 40 days.

Marketing for Churches should not be a guessing game. You should use the science of well thought out steps that when implemented correctly produce the desired results.

We’d like to help you maximize your advertising dollars
and reach more people for Christ! Call us today!!