This question and request came from Becky who happens to be a talented designer and a wonderful friend of mine.
I’d love for you to talk about “targeted marketing.” I’m working with a church who doesn’t have a clear vision of who they are trying to reach and what interests, motivates, or captures the attention of that group. So, I end up designing based on the psychographic of the elder board. Not effective for outreach.
What’s the best way to uncover the mindset of a target? I don’t think the Church leadership spends enough time with the unsaved or de-churched to know how to market to them (which may mean they shouldn’t even try). I’m pushing a big rock up a steep hill and I’m about ready to quit.
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The first problem is that this church doesn’t know their vision and purpose. If they don’t have a clue to what the target is, you obviously will never be able to hit a target. The first thing that needs to be done in this case is they need to spend time figuring out who they are, what God’s called them to do, and where they desire to go in the next three to five years.
There is nothing wrong with branding or designing with the current demographic of the elder board or congregation in mind because people are going to see through the cosmetic upgrades anyways. If you paint a house without scraping the old, flaky paint off first, your new paint will only stick for a bit before it reveals the shoddy underbase again. The church may want to spend a season of prepping themselves to ensure they aren’t selling a pretty facade over a cracked foundation. It doesn’t mean they should stop trying to reach others but disclosing all the facts, good and bad.
The best way to discover the mindset of any audience is hanging with them. Maybe it means going to bars (and guys, places with a fire pole are not included – unless it’s a fire station), sitting in the smoking section, learning to skydive, signing up to help at Boy Scouts, hanging out at truck stops, or dare I say it -getting your hands dirty and serving where there is a need outside of church. Jesus didn’t hang at the synagogues and say “come to me right here and I’ll meet your needs” or read a book on his target audience…He went out into the world and learned first-hand the needs and mindset of the people. I don’t see any other way to do this other than being physically present and intentionally missional in our community.
Keep up the great work and if you feel the rock is going to roll over you, it might be wise just to get out of the way and let it roll on!
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