The 7 Essential Areas of Church Communications

Church Marcoms (Marketing + Communications) is a big and overwhelming ministry for most churches regardless of their size. This is because Church Marcoms is not actually it’s own ministry; instead, it’s a shared ministry between every other ministry in the church. Everyone needs communications. Kids Ministry needs VBS graphics, Youth Ministry needs camp registrations, and your worship service needs its sermons posted on the website.

It doesn’t take much to realize that when we’re talking about church communications, we’re talking about something that is both complex and interdisciplinary. You can’t think of communications as just your website, or just your branding, or just your Church Management System. It’s all of these things and much more.

That’s why when I consult with Churches on their communications I break it all down into 7 essential areas. Each of the following areas is important to a church’s communications, but they aren’t all necessarily obvious. So take some time to learn about the 7 areas below and ask yourself, “how is my church doing in these areas?”

1. VISION

The foundation of all great communications is a clear and compelling vision. Vision statements inspire us and tell us where everything is going. The vision statement helps guide the structure and substance of your communications.

2. STRATEGY

Strategy has to do with how communications will help the church move toward the vision. There are general strategies that oversee the entire communications structure and there are specific strategies that accomplish smaller goals.

3. TEAM

Church communications run on people. Your church should have a point person and/or a team. The challenge with maintaining church coms is it takes lots of different skillsets for it to be executed well. For instance, you need both creative types and administrative types, and these gifts are not always found in the same person. 

4. TARGET AUDIENCE

What is your target audience? This important question can be challenging for churches to answer because we want to reach everyone! But knowing your target audience is essential for optimizing your communications. 

5. DESIGN

This connects directly to your target audience as your designs need to reach your target audience. If you want to reach a particular age group and your current look more likely reaches a different generation, it might be time to freshen things up. Design includes everything from your branding to your sermon graphics and everything in-between.

6. PLATFORMS

Platforms are the technologies and mediums we use to communicate. Your platforms have both strengths and weaknesses. It’s important to look your platforms and determine if what you’re using and how you’re using it is helping your communications strategy. 

7. ANALYTICS

This is the data that helps you measure the effectiveness of your communications by looking at things like Google Analytics, running an SEO assessment, or looking at your MailChimp reports.