From the Experts: Advertising Failures

Do you want to improve your advertising? The best way is to find out why advertising fails and learn from it. Have you heard that old saying "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it?" Read about why other people failed so that you don't have to. No one wakes up in the morning and says, "Today's a great day to fail at our new marketing campaign!" The best way to prevent from being a failure is to learn from others' (and your own) mistakes. Here are some good articles to read about why advertising fails. 12 Causes of Advertising Failure by Roy Williams Here are a few rather short ideas about why ad campaigns fail. They aren't long and are easy to read. It covers mostly common problems. I've noticed that a lot of these...

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Jude 22: The Wrong Approach?

For years I've seen churches and youth groups sporting the theme "Making a Difference" from Jude 22. "Get out there, witness, and make a difference in someone's life." "Jesus is the key, only He can make a difference in the world." It sounds like a great motto, doesn't it? This is such a prominent theme that just about everyone has probably heard of it. I've seen churches theme their entire year off of it. Youth Groups have made it their motto and focus. Books have been written on it. I've seen flyers, posters, and even T-shirts, sporting this theme. They often feature the whole phrase or just "M.A.D." saying "Let's go M.A.D.!" If you or your church cling to that motto, I've got bad news for you. It doesn't mean what you think it does. How...

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I'm Still Alive

I just wanted to post and say that I'm still alive and have not forgotten about the site. I've been extremely busy, plus part of the time I was on vacation. I posted some while on vacation, but ultimately, spending time with friends and family all day and sometimes into the wee hours of the night prevented my posting. Just so you know, I received a copy of Dr. Thom Rainer's book, Simple Church. Dr. Rainer is the president of LifeWay. His book has some church marketing principles in it and the book was suggested to me as being helpful for this topic of church media and marketing. I've received two copies free of charge from Dr. Rainer. I will read the book, critique it, and then offer the second copy as a giveaway. You can be looking forward...

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Ten Dangers of Advertising

Advertising can be one of the most powerful media tools at a church's disposal. There are plenty of reasons why your church should be using advertising. However, there are also some dangers about advertising. If done the wrong way, advertising can actually harm your identity. Treat advertising like you would treat a visitor. Follow these simple instructions to avoid doing anything that would give people a wrong impression of your ministry. 1. Don't fake your success. The following information is a summary of the article Blogging Can Be Disastrous. It proves that advertising that presents fake or falsified information will only lead to disaster. Don't advertise that you've got 400 people in wall-to-wall crowds on Sunday when your church...

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Nine Reasons Every Church Should Advertise

Ever wonder why companies like McDonald's and Coca-Cola spend millions on advertising when they're already so well established that it's impossible that no one has ever heard of them? It is just as important for the church to maintain an presence in advertising as it is for them. As a matter of fact, it may be more important for a church because of the importance of your mission, the saving of souls. Chances are your church isn't advertising like it should be. You probably have several excuses, and some of them might actually be valid. "We don't have the funds for stuff like that," or "We don't have a good designer to make our ads." Certainly those are reasonable problems, but that doesn't mean you should just give up on advertising. Here...

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The Awe-Inspiring Design of the Creation Museum

My wife and I visited Answers in Genesis's Creation Museum today and we're going back tomorrow to finish up what we didn't get to today. I have only one reaction: Amazing. All of the exhibits are so finely crafted and the design work is phenomenal. As a matter of fact, I thought their design was so powerful, I wanted to share it with you, and give you some ideas for your church. I show you this for one reason and one reason alone: It proves why you need media and design in your church. Answers in Genesis could have sat us all down in a big lecture hall and spent an hour telling us why the Bible is true, and why we ought believe what we do. They could have stood there behind a lectern interesting the intelligent few, boring the impatient most,...

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From the Experts: The Digital Church

This first couple of articles analyze the good points and bad points of a digital church. The last few are some guidelines for Pastors about using media like Facebook and Twitter that I found helpful.    The Deep Limitations of The Digital Church by Albert Mohler Summary Mohler expresses his gratitude for the digitization of the technology-apt church. But he has some reservations about the extent of its use. He is worried, and with good cause, that a church can go overboard with its use of media. He offers some cautions concerning this matter. Review I truly appreciate Mohler's first meaty paragraph (after all the intro about an article he read). I agree with him in that there is something extremely healthy about a church that...

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