We’ve heard it before, and it’s true: The world as we know it is constantly changing; nothing stays the same. We are improving or declining, going forward or backward, becoming more or less relevant with every passing day.
Given the rate at which technology is advancing combined with the amount of information that is available at the press of a button through the Internet, it is imperative that businesses that wish to maximize their success embrace change.
Unfortunately, many businesses and service providers are stuck in a rut trying to market their products and services with decade-old principles. The problem with such marketing is that as times change, many of those principles are no longer relevant. As technology increases, the way to effectively communicate with our prospects is continually evolving.
Businesses that continue to market and advertise in the same ways they have always marketed end up wondering why their results are dwindling with every passing year.
So what do they do? Many businesses try to compensate for the decline by simply adding more advertising dollars. Not sure of what to do differently, they throw more money into the same ad mediums to compensate for the yearly decline in product sales.
This, of course, is a losing battle. It explains why so many businesses with great products and services don’t survive.
Albert Einstein defined insanity this way: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” As times change, it is insanity to think that marketing solely through what have come to be known as traditional means and methods is most effective.
As an example, let’s take a closer look at the church as a whole.
Churches in general are notorious for not embracing change. A closer look into how they operate should be extremely eye-opening and serve as a valuable lesson for anyone who wants to achieve marketing relevance. After all, churches are in the marketing business, too; instead of customers, they seek people to come be part of the church. But the church has to market itself, in a sense, in order to grow and thrive.
Unfortunately, churches generally have a mindset that says, “This is how we have always done it, and this is how we should continue to do it.” While some things must remain the same—the central teachings of the doctrines of Christ, for example—other things are inherently more flexible—the specific programs, for instance, or the days or times the church meets, or the way the facility is set up.
A friend of mine found this out firsthand when he accepted a job as youth pastor at an established church during the 1990s. Derek was given the seemingly impossible task of building a thriving youth group and getting teens excited about coming to church.
He took one look around the century-old church building with its wooden pews, outdated design and sterile hallways and knew that change was desperately needed.
Derek has told me that he will never forget that first youth meeting. He faced the entire youth group—all four teens. They clearly had no desire to be there. So the brand new youth pastor began with a question: “Why have you come to youth group this evening?” Here are their responses:
“I have to, my dad is the pastor.”
“My parents are deacons, so I have to be here.”
“I’m his sister, so I have to be here too.”
“I haven’t come in a long time, but my dad is on the church board. He said I at least had to come see the new youth pastor and see if I’d like it.”
I’m sure you can imagine Derek’s excitement. This would be so much fun! He was faced with four youth who didn’t really want to be there. He was convinced that the next week there would be none, and he’d be out of a job.
Derek is nothing if not logical. So he asked the four of them what the youth group would have to be like in order for them to want to be there. He told me he expected that they would list such things as better music, a more exciting youth pastor, better messages … But he heard none of that.
He took what they said and promised that if they would work with him and help him, together they could create the most exciting and relevant youth ministry possible. Not only would they not want to miss it, but their friends would gladly be part of it.
From that moment on Derek implemented the teens’ suggestions about the things that would make the church more relevant to them and make them want to be there.
He repainted the youth room, brought in couches, changed the meeting day and time and dimmed the lights. In short, he created a different look and feel for the age-old concept of a church youth group.
There was no money in the budget for these changes; the youth department didn’t even have a sound system. All he had to work with was four kids who had to be there and their explanation of what was currently culturally relevant.
And the result? Four youth became eight, and eight became 16, and 16 became 32, and 32 became 64, and 64 became 128 …
Do you think this was effective? Derek and the youth group impacted over 1,200 youth in 24 months. Then what do you imagine happened? You’d think he’d have been a hero, right? The church would be ecstatic over the success of this outreach … wouldn’t they?
Sadly, although