Small Group Marketing Funnel 2022
This post contains the details for my August 22 process of connecting people in our church to a small group Bible study.
I could go into details about using the particular church management system that we use, but that wouldn’t be helpful. Instead I’m going to outline the general concepts here, and let you (the reader) figure out how to make something like this work with your systems.
1. Arrange my Groups into Similar Audiences
I decided to arrange them into categories like: No kids at home; Kids in Student Ministry, etc. This is because groups that target similar groups of people will be included in a list of choices for that group of people. I want to provide a certain type of person with a few choices. I do not want to overwhelm them with all 28 options.
2. Segment People into Target Segments for Specific Groups
I used our church database to sort people into a few broad categories so that I could tailor specific advertising to them. So I created a few groups: 1) Non-Members in the Database; 2) Members with no kids; 3) Members with kids in Student Ministry; 4) Members with kids in Children’s Ministry and 5) Members with kids in Preschool Ministry.
3. Create a Form to Get Info about Groups
Now that I have all of my groups arranged, I had to create a way for people to get information about our groups. We have found that if we tell people it’s for information they are way more likely to fill out a form than if we tell them it is the way to register for a group.
4. Write the Copy for Each Advertising Communication
I made a word document where I have a paragraph (or two) that pitches an arrangement of groups to a segment of our people. Consider it a targeted advertisement. For example, I chose to suggest a few groups that meet at the same time as Student Ministry activities to Members with kids in Student Ministry. Additionally, I chose to market Parenting classes aimed at Members with kids in Children’s Ministry or Preschool Ministry. I should also note, that I created a separate ad for Social Media platforms.
5. Generate Specific Links for Each Segment
I used bit.ly to create UTM links to the same forms so that I could see which advertisement performed the best with click-thrus. Then I can use those links in each specific case.
6. Design Specific Emails
I like to send pretty emails and advertisements. So, I build the HTML in a tool called beefree.io. You can use pretty much any HTML builder for this. Then I import the HTML into our Church Management System’s Email Scheduler.
7. Schedule Emails to Each Segment
Our Church Management System allows us to schedule emails. If yours does not, you can use something like Mailchimp to do it as well.
8. Create Social Media Posts
We have a content coordinator, so I let her design and schedule the post. But, I did write the ad copy, and send it to her along with the proper UTM link I created earlier.
9. Create Bulletin and Video Announcements
Again, I have a guy who handles these things. I just sent him the script for the video, and the copy for the bulletin. He will take care of making any necessary adjustments.
10. Create and Schedule Push Notifications in App
Our church app lets us schedule notifications. So I created one that will guide people to checking out our small group offerings.
11. Schedule SMS message to the all Members
I chose to send one blanket SMS message to our members a few days after they have received the email that is targeted to them specifically. You might choose to target a segment of your list here as well. I chose to use this as a sort of reminder. Again, I used a unique UTM link here.
12. Create Automations for Sign-Ups
So at this point, I’ve figured out who my targets are. I’ve decided how to move them toward a group, and which groups those are. Now, they asked for information. How do I take care of that? First, I (Small Groups Pastor) monitor the information list, and make sure people are contacted. I do this using an automation based on my form in my Church Management Software. Second, I use an automation to send an SMS to the group leader with the name of the person who requested information. They can also see that person in their app, and contact the person.
Conclusions
Will this work? I don’t know. But if you aim for nothing, you hit it every time. For the Fall of 2022 I’m really trying to do my best at connecting church members to Small Group Bible Studies. I plan to do the same thing for my short-term classes that will kickoff after Labor Day. I will add another paragraph below once the results from this process are in.