Churches try marketing to get their word out

Dressed to the hilt and flashing her recent dental work along with a business card, Pam Perry is a marketing whiz on an almost immortal mission.

Fueled by coffee and spiritual zeal, she works diligently drumming up publicity for her biggest client: God.

"I'm pitching for my client, but I'm also pitching the Good News [of Jesus]," said Perry, owner of Ministry Marketing Solutions, a Farmington, Mich., firm for Christian churches and authors. "I consider it both a ministry and a business."

Turns out, marketing isn't just for mere mortals. Gone are the days when preachers looked only to divine intervention to fill their pews.

Some marketing-savvy Christians believe higher powers need help getting good word-of-mouth. The trend can be seen across the nation, from billboards and TV ads to fliers and business cards.

For instance, Perfecting Church, led by Pastor Marvin L. Winans, pays $5,000 to $20,000 monthly for ads on seven billboards in Detroit. Additionally, it hired a consulting firm to market its Holy Convocation conference, spending about $100,000 for everything from radio spots to a feature on its Web site, enabling people to pay to watch video of services.

"Even though it's a church, it's still a business, and as with any business, we have to advertise," said Cindy Flowers, Perfecting's general manager.

Marketing a brand

Historically, religious groups haven't been the biggest proponents of marketing. For some, the word itself conjures up images of pushy salesmen and telemarketers; others see marketing as too worldly for church.

Perhaps the earliest examples of widespread church marketing come from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has run TV ads and public-service announcements since the 1970s.

More recently, the United Church of Christ, promoting a message of inclusion, in the last couple of years has run controversial TV spots as part of a $1.5 million ad campaign.

One ad, which some networks decided not to air, shows bouncers not allowing some people, including a gay couple, into church and ends with the tagline, "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we."

Ron Buford, a UCC spokesman, said ads are needed because, "The comment I hear most often when people visit the UCC church for the first time is, 'I never knew that a church like this existed.' "

Adding to that, megachurches with congregations larger than 2,000, popular Christian movies and plays such as "The Passion of the Christ" and larger-than-life TV evangelists such as T.D. Jakes have raised awareness about religion, prompting more religious groups to flex their marketing muscles.

The trend is so prevalent that the Center for Church Communication, a Los Angeles nonprofit of about 30 marketing professionals, created a Web site, www.churchmarketingsucks.com, to help churches market effectively.

"We've got the greatest story ever told, but no one's listening," said founder and President Brad Abare, who runs the Personality ad agency in Los Angeles. "We think the church has a communications problem. In general, the church has been resistant to the idea of church marketing."

Marketing experts say that overcoming those views is one of their biggest challenges. Another, they say, is convincing religious leaders to put their money behind their marketing.

Historic hesitation

For instance, Skidmore Inc. in Royal Oak, Mich., charges some clients about $1,000 for branding workshops. But the firm, which has a client list that includes DaimlerChrysler AG, recently did a similar seminar for Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, Mich., for $400.

"Whether you're doing branding for nuns or for Coca-Cola, the key is finding out what differentiates them [from competitors]," CEO and creative director Mae Skidmore said. "There has been a hesitation among nuns and other religious orders that marketing should be left up to God."

The religious order said it's considering more marketing because of a drop in the number of women becoming nuns.

The group said it has more than 520 vowed sisters compared with 2,000 in the 1970s, in part because of stereotypes.

"I think people think of nuns as being in a sequestered community and that they spend all of their days sitting in pews praying," said Holly Knight, spokeswoman for IHM. "Branding is just as valuable for us as it is for businesses. But that's been a tough sell."

Evelyn Craig, a nun for 42 years, said, while everyone doesn't accept religious marketing, there's a need for it.

"In the old days, advertising wasn't even thought of," she said. "But back then you didn't need an ad, because teachers in Catholic school were our living ads. Now, there's less religion in schools and you need advertising."