There is much more to preaching than standing in the pulpit and talking. Your sermon is born out of hours of preparation and research. Similarly, a direct mail campaign involves more than addressing envelopes. Hours of research and writing go into an effective brochure. Preparing materials for a direct-mail campaign is time- consuming, and mailing them is costly. You can reduce your cost and increase your results by following simple principles.

Before you write anything, research your market. One way to do this is through a marketing probe. Three important questions to ask when preparing for a Marketing Probe are: Who are we? Who are they? How can we tell them about us?

Who are We?

The first step in answering the question: Who are we? is to do an honest self evaluation of the Church. Before writing copy for a brochure, determine the Church's strengths and weaknesses. This is an agonizing exercise, but it must be done. Begin with a subjective evaluation. Make a two sided ledger, and write the strengths on one side and the weaknesses on the other. Ask other trusted leaders to do the same exercise, then combine the list for a composite picture of strengths and weaknesses.

The second step is to develop an attender's profile. Do demographic patterns emerge when you scan the membership list? What is the education level? Do most of the people fall into one age group, or do all ages attend? Do categories such as "blue collar" or "white collar" fit?

You probably will discover several profiles of people attending. Your church may primarily have "professional" people attending, as well as a significant number of college students attending. Do not try to discover a profile that will describe everyone; instead, define several profiles.

The third step is to define several descriptive statements that summarize your church and its ministry. This exercise is much like summarizing a sermon in one sentence. Examples of descriptive summary statements are: "We are a Baptist Church," or "we are a contemporary Church."

Who are They?

Whom do you want to reach with the message about your Church? This is not a theological question. Most Pastor's want to reach everyone with the gospel, and do not want to exclude anyone. Discovering a target group is not an attempt to exclude anyone. If you can afford to mail to everyone, do so. If you are working with a budget and have a fixed number of brochures you can mail, then you must decide who you will reach with the message.

Targeting an audience is a common practice for churches. You probably have distributed flyers for Vacation Bible School. If so, you went to neighborhoods where many children live, not to nursing homes.

To select a target group, match their needs to your strengths. You also will want to have representatives from their group, in your church. A church without a children's program, with a membership of predominately retired people, would not want to mail a brochure to young families with children. The church's programs are not compatible to the young family's needs. Even if the advertisement got the family to attend, the ministry would not compel them to stay.

Your audience can be targeted in two ways: geographically and demographically. Most mailing list companies can provide labels for you for specific geographic areas by ZIP codes. They also can supply individual carrier routes within a ZIP code. A ZIP code may represent 25,000 homes; a carrier route will average approximately 500. The Postal Service will supply a list of carrier routes for up to 8 ZIP codes. To subscribe to this free service, call the National Address Information Center in Memphis Tennessee at 1-800-238-3150.

You also can select lists by demographic information. Different list brokers have different indicators. Some common ones include home value, income, ethnic group, date of purchase, and profession.

You might do a combination of geographic and demographic targeting. You may want to purchase the 10 carrier routes surrounding your church, then purchase the balance of the labels by income or ethnic group.

How can we tell them about us?

Before you write a sentence of your brochure, you should "test market" your ideas with the target group. The most cost efficient way of doing this is to conduct a survey of about two-hundred homes. This survey will help you determine the most effective way to convey your message to your target group.

In preparation for Easter 1992, First Baptist Church of Palm Desert conducted a Marketing Probe into the community. We sent survey teams to over 100 doors with the following survey. You can adapt these questions to fit your situation:

1. Have you ever heard of our church before? Yes/No

2. Does the fact we are a Baptist church make you more or less likely to attend? More/Less

3. Does the fact we are a small church make you more or less likely to attend? More/Less

4. Would you say you attend church always, occasionally, seldom, or never? Always/Occasionally/Seldom/Never

5. The following are statements that describe our church. Please check those items that appeal most to you.

___Excellent children's program

___ All ages attend

___Fresh, exciting worship services

___A place to meet friends

___Practical preaching

___Relaxed atmosphere

___Everyone can participate

___Helps build families

___Bible-based teaching

___Sunday school for all ages.

They used Question 1 to determine our visibility and the effectiveness of previous marketing efforts. The Church formed the next two questions from their descriptive statements (see third step above). Question 4 is a control question that allows us to analyze the data received. They wanted to separate responses from church attenders and the unchurched. Question 5 derived from the self evaluation (mentioned at the Who Are We section mentioned previously). This is the heart of the probe. From it the Church discovered:

From the probe we discovered that:

42% of those surveyed had heard of our Church.

39% of the unchurched were less likely to attend our church because it is a Baptist Church, while 61% didn't care or preferred a Baptist Church.

20% of the unchurched were less likely to attend our church because it is a small Church, while 80% didn't care or preferred a small church.

We listed in the survey 10 statements that describe our Church. We then asked people to check several that appealed to them. Three characteristics tied for first, they were:

All Ages Attend 57%

Practical Preaching 57%

Relaxed Atmosphere 57%

The characteristic that got the least response was "Bible-based Teaching." The least response of those who attend Church was "Relaxed Atmosphere." This told us that we need to make sure that the atmosphere is relaxed and the guest are made comfortable.

The information we gathered helped me write our brochure. I wrote:

"Our Worship services are relaxed. The sermons are positive and practical . . . no pressure or guilt trips. You will learn how to cope with today's problems and meet tomorrow's challenges."

When you write a letter, one person reads it. When you write a brochure, thousands of people read it. The scope of this writing assignment demands your best effort. You can take three simple steps to add "punch" to your writing.

Emphasize benefits not programs. The unchurched don't know the difference in church program terminology. You may believe one is better than the other and try to promote your church by promoting a program. The reason program advertising is ineffective is because the segment of the population that knows the difference already attends church.

The unchurched want to know the benefits they will receive if they attend. Address their "felt needs." Show them how your ministries will help them with their daily problems and life challenges. The Church does not promote programs; it promotes relationships!⁽¹⁾ The church can help people with their relationship with God and others. It is a place where they can meet friends and develop a support system for the whole family.

A great way to emphasize the benefits your church will offer the reader is first person testimonials. Select photogenic, positive people to write about the how the church has helped them. The testimonies bring credibility to your message.

Use the active not passive voice. "Voice is a grammatical term which is used to tell whether the subject of the sentence is acting or is receiving the action expressed by the verb."⁽²⁾ An example of an active verb is: Pastor Greg preaches a sermon every Sunday. An example of a passive verb is: A sermon is preached by Pastor Greg every Sunday. The second sentence is more cumbersome and awkward. "The active voice helps to create a more concise and vigorous style."⁽³⁾ It stimulates interest in the material.

Keep a good ratio of "you" to "we." After you write your first draft, go back and count the number of times you use the words us, we, I and other pronouns referring to yourself. Then count the number of times you use the word you or other pronouns referring to the reader. A good brochure will use pronouns relating to the reader, not the writer. Copywriters call this the "you attitude."⁽⁴⁾

Below is a paragraph that breaks all the rules mentioned above, edit it yourself to find the mistakes:

"We have been told that our children's ministry is the best in town, maybe even in the county. Our department workers are in demand to train churches within a 25 mile radius. We take pride in the quality of our teachers. They have received the best possible training and been given the best equipment to work with."

What's wrong with the paragraph, it has five references to "we" and none to "you." It brags on the program and makes the reader draw conclusions about the benefits, and it uses the passive voice "we have been told," and "they have received."

The following is a corrected version using the three ways to write with "punch":

"Relax and enjoy your worship experience knowing your children are in good hands. Your children will have so much fun they will forget they are in a classroom. They will learn basic Biblical truths as they play games, sing songs, listen to exciting stories and watch the puppet show."

This paragraph is shorter than the first one, yet it has 7 reverences to "you" and none to "we." It emphasizes the benefits and allows the reader to draw conclusions about the program. It also uses positive action words: relax, enjoy, play, and sing. The voice is active, not passive.

Under the current regulations, the United States Postal Service offers discounts to the third-class, nonprofit mailer based on three factors: ease of handling, level of sortation and level of entry. Your local Bulk-Mail clerk will be happy to show you how you can maximize your savings and give you an explanation of the discounts available.

Ease of handling

See your bulk mail clerk before you have your brochure printed. Major penalties will result if the brochure is not easy to handle. Specific regulations concerning the dimensions, thickness, and weight of a mail piece must be followed.

Level of sortation

The "carrier route" discount is the best offered for direct mail. It represents the finest level of sortation. A carrier route sortation is the key to mailing for less.

Level of entry

If you live in a large metropolitan area you can get discounts unavailable to the small town mailer. But everyone can take advantage of a D.D.U. (Direct delivery Unit) Entry. If you are mailing to the same zip code of the post office holding your permit, you can mail a carrier-route mailing for a little over a nickel a piece! The reason it is cheaper is because all they have to do is hand a bundle to the correct letter carrier.

You can do much to insure a quality job at a reasonable price. Use the volunteers in your church to conduct the marketing probe, write the brochure, and prepare it for mailing. Unless you have extensive training in Desktop Publishing you should allow the Printer to do the design and layout, or hire an independent Desktop Publisher. The money you spend will insure a "professional" look and increase your chances of receiving a good response to your marketing effort.

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1. George Barna, Marketing the Church: What they Never Taught You about Church Growth. (Colorado Springs, CO: NAVPRESS, 1988), 56.

2. Madeline Semmelmeyer, Donald O. Bolander, English Handbook: An authoritative Guide to Grammar, Correct Usage, Punctuation. (Danbury, Connecticut: Career Institute, 1968), 164

3. Watkins, Dillingham, Martin, Practical English Handbook (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974), 17.

4. AMS Response, Rules Tools and Checklists: 888 IDEAS FOR SUCCESS IN DIRECT MAIL. (Paramount, CA, AMS Response), chapter 3.