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Easter Follow up Essentials (Part 1)

Truth: Lots of people are going to show up to your church on Easter.

Truth: Many will decisions to follow Jesus at your church on Easter. 

Reality: In many churches, most of those people will fall through the cracks.

Here's the number 1 issue when doing follow up with new believers and/ or first time guests: get their contact information. 

Without contact information, there's no way for you to follow up. They many think you are the greatest preacher in history and your worship set was angelic, but without their contact information you are left in the reactionary position of hoping they will return. Instead, if you have their contact info, you can encourage them to return and help them take significant steps to draw closer to God. 

The most important thing you will do on Easter besides present the Gospel is get contact information so you can follow up. If you don't get that, then there is no follow up. 

Tomorrow I'll talk about some practical ways to do that...

For a complete follow up resource for New Believers, check out our New Believer Follow up System by clicking here. 

The 3 Second Rule for Direct Mail

You pick up your mail and sort through it. How long do you give each piece of mail that you bring inside? I'll tell you: about 3 seconds. 

If it doesn't catch your eye and say something that connects with you, it ends up in the round file. 

We talk about these 3 seconds a lot at Calvary when we're getting ready to do a direct mail campaign. You've got 3 seconds to say something that keeps you out of the garbage can. Then you've got to say something that compels them to an action step (i.e. attending your service).

We tend to make decisions about design after looking at a direct mail piece for 10 minutes. I submit that you look at it for no more than 3 seconds because that's all the person who gets it is going to look for. 

So look at it and see what stands out. If nothing grabs you, change the design. 

Why? Because you only have 3 seconds. 

For a resource that gives you the tools you need to get great direct mail results, check out "Direct Mail Secrets" by clicking here.

Your 2011 Easter Checklist

The big day is 10 days away, so here's 10 things you need to have ready for Easter to be a day where you reach a lot of people:

1. Direct Mail - What's you direct mail plan? (Please tell me it's not just blasting a few zip codes. Be more strategic and you'll see much better results)

2. Mobilizing your congregation - Have you equipped your church with the tools they need to invite friends?

3. New Believers - Are you prepared for God to bless your church with new believers?

4. Servants - Have you challenged those who don't serve to get involved in some way for Easter? It's a great first step for some.

5. Outreach - Do you have a plan for outreach that includes Facebook, mail, phone calls and some other creative way to get the word out about your services?

6. Google - Have you invested in some adwords that will direct people to your website?

7. Website - Have you make some website improvements to better serve those who are new to your site during the Easter season?

8. Prayer - If your congregation praying specifically for their friends, family, community and Pastor leading up to Easter?

9. Messages - Have you nailed down your Easter series and your specific Easter message? Don't wait until Good Friday to start preparing the most important sermon you'll give all year!

10. You - Are you ready? Have you been seeking God? Do you have a word from Him that you need to share?

Go through this list and see the areas you need to work on and give those extra effort this week. Time is of the essence!

Why does Direct Mail Fail? (And How to Keep your from Failing)

One of the reasons churches get poor results in their direct mail is because they don't track their results.

Here's the truth: if you aren't tracking your results, you have no idea if your direct mail is working or not. 

Butts in the seats is not the only way to see if your direct mail is working. While I would agree that someone attending your church is the end result we want, there are other factors involved. 

1. Someone could get your direct mail and go to a confusing website and not attend

2. Someone could get your direct mail and see no website or other important piece of information

3. Someone could get your postcard, but because it gets there late your results are limited. 

These are just a few reasons, but without a tracking system you'll never know what the problem is. 

That's why you MUST have a tracking system for each direct mail piece you do.  

For more info on Direct Mail, check out our resource, "Direct Mail Secrets" by clicking here.

Thinking about doing a Facebook ad?

500 million. that's the number of people that are on Facebook and they show no signs of slowing down. 

So here's the question: if that many people are on Facebook (which by the way, is greater than the population of the United States) then the people that you want to reach in your community are on Facebook as well. But are you reaching out to them in the places where they hang out? 

I believe every church should be on Facebook because that's where people are all the time.  Not only that, Facebook gives you the tools to narrow your parameters so you're only targeting people who could potentially attend your church. 

 At Calvary Fellowship, Facebook is an integral part of our outreach strategy and we have seen 100's of people attend because of our Facebook ads. 

So make a decision to do some outreach on Facebook for Easter. The results you'll get will far outweigh the investment you make.  

In fact, before you start, pick up a copy of our resource called, "Digital Evangelism" which outlines everything we do to reach lots of people on Facebook.

Sunday Stuff

- Great day at Calvary! 

- I taught the book of Obadiah (Yes you read that correctly)

- The thrust of the message was on how pride poisons your life and your future.

- I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching this "Postcards" series. 

- If you aren't aware, this has been a series on the 5 one chapter books of the Bible.

- Looking forward to starting a series in the book of Romans on Easter.

- I can't believe Easter is 2 weeks away!

- There's been lots of traction on the blog with the outreach related posts. 

- I'm planning on posting some more Facebook related posts this week to help churches be more effective this Easter!

- If you're going to the Exponential conference at the end of the month, I'm leading a pre-conference intensive with my friends Shawn Lovejoy, Travis Johnson, and some other great guys. Here's the link to get more info or register ---> link.

Facebook: Clicks Versus Impressions

There's over 500 millions people on Facebook, so if you aren't using it as a tool to reach people, you're missing the boat. One question that regularly comes up is, "Should I pay per click or impression when buying Facebook ads?"

Here's the short answer: clicks. When you buy clicks rather than impressions, you get the impressions anyway because Facebook doesn't get paid unless people click.  That means Facebook is going to put the ad up as much as possible so that you can get clicks.

The other reason clicks are better is because it allows you to track your results more effectively. You can't track the results of impressions. However, you can track clicks. 

The bottom line is, clicks will give you the impressions and clicks will show you if your ad campaign is being effective or not. 

 

For more on how to reach more people using Facebook, pick up our resource, "Digital Evangelism: Reach more people using Facebook" by clicking here.

P.S. Everything in the church-strategies.com store is 40% off in celebration of our 2 years anniversary sale. Just use the code 2years to receive the discount! (But the sale ends today at midnight, so don't delay!)

 

When it Comes to Outreach, Testing is a Must

I was talking with one of our staff members who oversees our Facebook advertising and he was telling me about an ad we use that does very well.  

What I found amazing was that he told me that when he changed the image the clicks DOUBLED!

That's why I say in direct mail and in Facebook ads, testing is our friend. 

We test the same ad with different images. We test the same ad with a different headline. We test the same image with different copy. 

 Our goal is to get the combination so the ad performs the best and catches people's eye.

Because if people aren't seeing the ad and clicking, we're wasting our time and money. 

If you want to know our strategy for reaching people via Facebook ads, check our resource,"Digital Evangelism" by clicking here

P.S. Remember to use the code 2years to get 40% off! The sale ends on Friday!

 

Wednesday Stuff...

- Lots of stuff on my mind today...

- If you aren't aware, we're celebrating our 2 year anniversary at church-strategies.com!

- To mark this momentous occasion, we're offering 40% off the entire store. Just use the code 2years during checkout. Here's the link to the store ---> Link

- A Pastor in my Explosive Outreach Coaching Network just started using our Facebook strategy for reaching people. He had this 1st guest on Sunday. I asked him how much he spent. He said, "35 cents." I love it!

-  If you reach people people, but don't disciple them, you're doing them a disservice. 

- If we are great at nothing else, churches should be great at discipling people to maturity

- Here's a tip for your Easter promotion: Promote Easter, not your series. Trust me. I've learned this one the hard way :)

- Looking forward to teaching Genesis 6-7 tonight and Obadiah on Sunday. (Yes, you read that correctly)

- One of my favorite things to do as a teacher is take a text that people feel is irrelevant and make it totally relevant. 

- I think people are going to be shocked how much Obadiah is about us today. 

- If you haven't downloaded the free reports we're offering, here's the links: 

    - The top 3 Mistakes Churches Make with New Believers ---> Link

    - Creating Safeguards in your life (FREE chapter from Zero to Sixty) ---> Link

- Are you going to Exponential this year? If so, I'm leading a Pre-conference intensive with my friends Shawn LoveJoy and Travis Johnson on Best Practices AFTER you launch. Here's the link ---> Link (Our Intensive is all the way at the bottom of the page)

It was 2 Years ago Today...

We're celebrating 2 years of equipping Pastors and churches at church-strategies.com! 

I'm blown away by all that God has done in these 2 years. We've coached over 150 Pastors and resourced nearly 3,000 churches in that time. 

It has been my honor to serve so many leaders and share what we've learned at Calvary. I think I've learned more from all of you than you've learned from me. 

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we're putting just about everything in our store on sale for 40% off! Just use the code 2years during checkout. 

Here's a same of the resources that are on sale for 40% off this week:

The Leadership Pipeline

The New Believer Follow Up System

Creating a Culture of Evangelism 

Direct Mail Secrets

Digital Evangelism 

Laying the Foundation 

The Tithe Challenge

The Productive Leader 

All Sermon Series

The sale ends on Friday, so don't delay! Remember to use the code 2years when you checkout. 

Happy Anniversary!