Promotion on the Cheap

Got great ideas but no budget? Here are some ideas to promote your ministry with little or no money.

(1) Press releases. Perhaps the best and least expensive way to get your ministry in front of people is to use local media. Write and distribute a press release on your program or event to newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations. Most prefer to receive this information by fax or email--which means you don't event have to spring for postage. Small warning on this--you have no control over what the media prints, so proceed with caution.

(2) Flyers. Is it still worth it to copy and distribute flyers about an event or ministry? Absolutely yes--they're cheap and they work best when you put them into individual hands. Don't stack them on a table. Instead, find ways to distribute them individually--as people leave your worship service, to children as they leave their Sunday School class, on the sidewalk (remember to stay on public property when out in the community), at a business where the owner is a church member and permits it, or in conjuction with another promotion.

We've copied flyers and given them to the local pizza delivery who will put them on top of every box of pizza the deliver (pizza places love this because we'll print a pizza coupon at the bottom of our flyer). We've done flyers on cars in our church parking lot. We've gotten permission from local schools to give out flyers on children's events in the carpool lane. There's no end to the possibilities. The cost? Minimal--you can run 5,000 flyers for under $150.

(3) Social media. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace--all are great low- or no-cost promotional means available to your church. Social media promotion must be tempered somewhat, as the more personal and communicative nature of these online media are more for conversation than broadcasting facts and opportunities. Nevertheless, they are a great way to "get the word out" in a grass-roots fashion nearly instantly.

(4) Through service. There's no more powerful means of promotion than through personal service. By this, I mean serve the community as you promote your ministry. Clean up the local park, rake leaves for the elderly, do chores at a hospital, bring pets to nursing homes, adopt a mile of highway to mow, plant flowers at a community center, fix up a decaying playground, paint over grafitti downtown.

You'd be surprised how a little elbow grease gets you noticed--and how cooperative people will be about your ministry or event if they know you care. In the church, your best resource is people-power. Use it.

(5) Make It Your Business. Businesspeople are a great means of promotion--let professionals within your congregation have a crack at promoting your ministry or event. They'll get it into venues you never imagined, and in front of people you may never have thought of.

We've had attorneys mention events at lunch meetings, doctors promote ministries through their hospital staff, store owners invite every customer to a church gathering, and ad executives use their own resouces for the church without asking for a dime. Most businesspeople are honored to use their company and influence to further the Kingdom--just ask them.

(6) Email. Does your church have a weekly or periodic email blast that you send out to subscribers? You absolutely must have this--and it can be as simple as a distribution list in Outlook (if you do this, use the bcc: address field to keep from giving out everyone's email address). It could be as complicated as a specialized email system--but it doesn't have to be expensive. I've used a great service called Constant Contact to do weekly emails. Annual cost: $350.

If you do not take email seriously and use it regularly, this is a must-do task for you. Get an email going now! It is cheap, fast, immediate impact and effective.

(7) Website. Churches that do not see their website as a central and inexpensive means of communication are missing the boat. You do not need fancy graphics or features online to make your church site effective. More than anything else, up-to-date information online will drive traffic to your church website. Traffic is eyes looking at your pages--and it costs no more for one set of eyes to see your site as it does for 10,000.

I speak to scores of church communicators who lament to same issue: want to promote well, but no money. Yet many of the churches represented have lousy websites--or no site at all. If you are in charge of your church's communications you should be spending, minimum, 20% of your time (that's a day a week for full time, a half-day a week for part time) on your church's website.

Looking to connect your promotion with first-time and potential visitors to your church? According to research, about 9 out of 10 people interested in your church will go to your website before visiting. Know your site, love it, use it, update it and make it worth going to. Guess what--surprise!--you'll have created a means of promotion for nearly no money that really works.