After years of research, we’ve found that higher response rates don’t just come from a nicely designed handbill. While design is important, the combination of compelling copy, marketing best-practices, intentional calls to action, audience research, and eye-catching design must all work hand-in-hand to obtain significantly better response rates. These traits can be hard to distinguish, but we use data-driven, evidence-based decision-making to increase the effectiveness of every campaign that we develop for a local church.
Compelling copy. If your goal is to reach non-Adventists, then you need to understand the way non-Adventists approach evangelism. While SermonView is an Adventist-owned, ASI-member ministry, our team of marketing professionals come from a variety of faith backgrounds. They use their unique life experiences to speak with clarity to those you’re trying to reach, helping to bridge the cultural divide between your church and the people in your community. This has resulted in higher attendance at meetings across the country.
Marketing best-practices. Direct marketing professionals know that continuous improvement comes from continuous testing. When you make a change that you think will improve response rates, the only way to know if it is a true improvement is to try it and measure the results. Then you keep what works and discard what doesn’t. Over the last five years, these incremental improvements have added up to revolutionary change, resulting in thousands of more people engaging in the life of a local church.
Intentional call to action. Our goal with every mailing is to move interests along a path with minimal friction and provide simple steps that lead to a commitment. Our website landing pages and telephone response system offer a simple first step for most campaigns. Ongoing, automated emails comprise a second form of contact, which leads to higher attendance. Our proprietary system has been developed specifically for evangelism marketing and maximizes participation at your series.
Audience research. Our team does intensive research based on your area and considers over a dozen factors when building a list. By managing dynamics such as age, income, and ethnicity, we develop a strong list of neighborhoods near you that will generate the highest response rates for your event. We also factor drive times and traffic patterns to make sure that the people you invite are able to make it to your event. This research is unique for each campaign, because every campaign is tailored for your local community.
Eye-catching design that tells a story. Design plays two major roles in every marketing piece. First, it needs to quickly communicate the basic details to someone who might attend your meeting. Second, it needs to be congruent with your target audience. SermonView’s marketing team includes professional designers, who ensure that the layout and design for your marketing piece will have the highest impact.
Evidence-based decision-making. Subjective opinions are only relevant when confirmed by objective facts. Our practice is to use actual data to influence improvement, not just instincts. We have found that when you use the hard evidence of actual response rates, you get better decisions. And ultimately, that leads to more people through the doors of your church.
We have seen that when a local church hands SermonView responsibility for evangelism marketing, they consistently see results two to four times what they had before. They simply get more guests for the identical budget. We know you’ll see the difference SermonView will make in your response rates and the number of guests at your next meeting.