outreachideas

8. Communicate About Your Ministry with Regular E-newsletters is our 8th of Ten Top Church Outreach Ideas for the Internet.

Sending regular and updated e-newsletters is more than just giving relevant information to your subscribers. It is also a signal that you have an active church outreach that exerts effort to communicate with its members. 

Oftentimes, churches fall short in reaching out to their members by overlooking simple and efficient solutions like sending out monthly, easy-to-read, interesting email updates or reports.  You would be surprised at how many members (even the most active ones) would be thankful of being reminded of events that they have forgotten to pen down before or how they love reading about how your mercy ministry is doing. 

E-newsletters are relatively easy to launch. You need to have a nicely designed template coded into HTML using no CSS. Then you need a email blasting system of which there are many. A simple one to start with which we use at Pathmaker is called iContact. Once your design is done, coded and installed, your church secretary could probably swap out copy and pictures each month.

For examples, check Hungry Souls e-newsletters for are good samples. Or call us for more help at 623-322-3334 and we'll be happy to install a system that your church secretary can supervise and maintain. 

Church eNewsletters are also a fundamental church marketing 101 component.

When you are stuck somewhere in the middle not knowing which direction to take, then it's time to think things over and internalize the specific goals you have for your company. If you are 100% willing to take a leap into internet marketing, wanting to attract more leads to your business, then consider us being of help to you. Well, knowing that you are just embarking a new journey - we will be here to assist you all the way. This is what we do best - developing a strategic planning for your business and its opportunities. We work hard in sequestering the big picture and eventually help you develop a strategic course of action which tailors fits to your specific situation and business needs.

We offer services that address your most pressing needs providing strategic opportunitiesto all areas of your business. We will first identify your current standing and then evaluate what your needs are. We will then set up a planning scheme which includes strategies to be done to attain your goals and address your needs. We ensure that all our interventions are directed towards achieving a greater revenue results for your company.

You can either retain us a regular consultant in a monthly basis, where we can provide you with the maximum output as we share our marketing expertise. Or you can opt to take advantage of our occasional coaching services whenever you need a backup. Whatever services you'd like us to provide you with; we will be more than happy to be of help to you.

Call us today for a FREE evaluation!

When it comes to Website Design there are several basic "Musts" that need to be kept in mind - the Do's and Don'ts, if you would, of Website Design. Here are a few points you will want to consider:

Design - it isn't about you: You need to ensure that your site caters to what your Visitors like, not you. With that thought in mind, there are numerous things to avoid, and the Designers at Pathmaker Marketing LLC not only know what these are, but how to stay away from them.

Ease of Use - make it easy to find your content: Visitors need to be able to easily see what you have to offer and to be able to readily get to it. Our Designers will equip your site so that visitors can easily navigate around it.

Copywriting: Too little and your Visitor leaves uninformed; too much and they leave bored. Pathmaker Marketing LLC Designerswill direct you as to how much is perfect and, if you so desire, our Copywriting Staff can even prepare the text for you.

Interactivity: One of the cutting edge aspects of Website Design is providing the capability of "involving" your visitors. From Games to Gathering Information, our Designers are adept at creating opportunities for "Visitor Participation" with your site.

Technology - use it to facilitate meaningful conversation: By using State of the Art Technology our Designers can actually determine your visitor's likes and interests by the way they browse your site, thus allowing you to "cut to the chase" when you do follow up contacts.

Content - make it useful: Pathmaker Marketing LLC Designers are trained to design Websites so that they address visitor's potential problems and provide resolutions.

It would seem that the above is all you need to know about Designing the Perfect Website. The reality is we have just barely scratched the surface! The Pathmaker Marketing LLC Designers work closely with our Search Engine Optimization Team to ensure that your site is, in fact, "optimized". 

Call us now for more details!

There is absolutely no one more acutely aware of the current economic climate than Pathmaker Marketing. However, unlike many members of the business community we have taken it upon ourselves to do something about it! Knowing that a slowdown in business often places a company in the throes of the vicious cycle where we aren’t going to get more business unless we market ourselves, but we can’t afford to market ourselves until we get more business, we have developed what we simply refer to as the econo-pak of economical services for companies, churches, charities who want to market themselves online economically!

Basically, we have taken in excess of three-dozen services and are offering them to our clients—both new and old, for the unbelievable price of only $295 apiece! Running the gauntlet from Search Engine Optimization to establishing a properly designed Business or Church Blog, our professionals are dedicated to giving our client an economically priced opportunity to get some effective internet advertising accomplished, even in this tight economy.

To add continuity to our efforts on your behalf, the program is set up on the basis of a six-month agreement. During that time, you can select any service you want us working on, thus allowing you to select a variety of different items from our cornucopia of services. You will, of course, have the option of utilizing the same service for more than one month should that be your desire. The purpose of the program, however, is to allow you to create a greater presence on the Internet, in order to expand your online presence and benefit from our host of talented marketers working on your account, without committing to thousands of dollars in marketing expense. Click here to check the list of services that are included as part of our economical services.

One of the major advantages of Social Networking (and there are several!) is that it allows you to actually Interact with both your current and prospective clients/customers! You can establish a question and answer scenario, where you are able to display a degree of your expertise. Further, you can discuss your plans concerning upcoming sales and specials! You can actually haveTestimonials posted there, allowing prospective clients to get an idea of the qualifications and quality of your product or service.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Social Networking is that it creates a situation whereby people are circumventing the"Google Search." Today, via Facebook, Twitter and other avenues of Social Networking, people are informing and advising their friends where to do business! We tell our friends where to eat, where to play, and even where and what to buy. The exciting thing is that when Friend A shares something on their Facebook Page, they are sharing with Friends B-W and with all their friends.

To stay on the cutting edge with your Internet Marketing Plan, you need to make arrangements to create a Company Page as soon as possible.

Fortunately, we here at Pathmaker Marketing LLC can accomplish this for you for less than $300.00. Not only will we do the technical work involved, we will do the necessary research to decide where, exactly, you and your company should be located to be best served. If your product and service appeals to authors, for example, you will want to have a page on Shelfari - a Social Network devoted to creating a global community of book lovers by encouraging users to discuss and share their favorite books with friends and strangers.

Dear Pastor or Church Leader,

As a PK, I grew up understanding the importance of fundraising. I'll bet that if you're like my Dad, the Rev. David Mains, asking for money isn't your favorite pastoral activity. But you do it because that's how you fund everything from keeping the lights on in the sanctuary to paying salaries to supporting ministries that present the life-changing message of the Gospel to hungry souls.

Over the past 25+ years, God has blessed me to help numerous churches and ministries with their fundraising needs through some specific skills that I have learned in life. My experience spans a variety of areas... radio, direct mail, various fundraisers, publishing, product sales, but (most recently), raising hundreds of thousands of dollars through online efforts such as email fundraising.

Here's what we were able to accomplish for one growing church in Chicago:

The church retained us to help them open up new channels for funding their growing outreach ministry, which includes a church, radio ministry, television ministry, international humanitarian efforts, and the sale of the pastor's books and teachings.

Our first step was to help them build their email list. They were sending people to their website, but they weren't capturing as many email addresses as they could. In addition to offering general technical support for their store, we installed 3 important things.

1. We upgraded their website with an eNewsletter sign-up form and dedicated, benefits-oriented landing page to secure new email addresses (shown right). Together, these have gotten them thousands of new emails addresses - both to add to their mailing list and to replace those that inevitably fall off of mailings lists when people change email addresses or simply move on.

2. We installed an eight-week series of welcome emails. Not only do these emails run on autopilot for ease of use, but they introduce new acquaintances to the various aspects of their ministry.

3. We went to work raising funds from the people on their email list. We still write, design, code, install, and blast a regular eAppeal for them that raises over $10,000 each month.

The Summer Games is fast approaching and are you still looking for a sermon series to preach on this occasion? Every preacher knows that there is a need to be relevant in his preaching and to make the message hit home, it must be abreast with the current events. You don't need to be an expert in Christian marketing to know this and for this reason; we have made available the Go for the Goal: Becoming a Spiritual Champion Sermon Series CD. Here are some of the advantages of preaching this sermon series:

1. Impeccable timing with the Summer Games - The Go for the Goal: Becoming a Spiritual Champion Sermon Series CD is can be preached in tandem with the Sumer Games which will start on July 27 and end on August 12. You will be preaching the most relevant and most up to date sermon series and for sure, this will have a great impact to your church outreach and congregation because they can absolutely relate to what you are talking about.

2. Leverage the media attention with your preaching - Preachers are always on the lookout for outreach ideas. The Sumer Games is expected to have great media coverage and to be able to ride on this wave will be a great advantage to your out reaches efforts. While your hearers watch the games on TV, they will remember your preaching on the topic. And do you know what this will amount to? Impact!

3. Solid Scriptural base - This sermon series is based on Hebrews 12:1-13, which is a very solid springboard to preach a series of messages on becoming spiritual champions. From July 27 to August 12, you will have a ready message that will encourage your congregation like a huge athletic team.

If you will order this sermon series, you will have in your repertoire a toolset that will inspire your hearer to have that champion mind-set. They will have that enthusiasm that will mobilize them to win the world for the Kingdom. So what are you waiting for? Order your copy of the Go for the Goal: Becoming a Spiritual Champion Sermon Series CD or contact Pathmaker Marketing for more information. 

A prayer wall is a web application where you can conveniently post prayers and pray for others as well. It’s so easy to use and the convenience will put prayer chain to shame. Updates on past prayers are easy to do; you don’t need to send hundreds of emails to keep people informed. Talk about Church outreach ideas, this is the best there is. Here is how to use it:        

1. Post your prayer request like a tweet - The best way to post a prayer is to make it concise so that those who will pray for you will not have a hard time remembering your request. Added to that, there are also details that you want to intentionally miss out especially if they are too personal. You can think of this as a tweet except that it’s a prayer.

2. Post a prayer for others too- Don’t just pray for yourself, pray for others as well. Intercession is a virtue that is highly encouraged in the church and what better way to help your brethren than to pray for them and encourage others to pray for them too? 

3. Avoid correcting the prayers of others  - If you disagree with other peoples’ prayer request, there is no point in correcting them. You have to remember that the prayer wall is a public environment and making a public correction to someone else’s prayer is just too insulting.

 4. Avoid gossips in your prayers requests - It’s easy to fall into this trap. What was intended to be a genuine concern that needs to be prayed for progresses into a gossip. If you think that a request is a gossip in the making, you can flag it as such. The admins of the church website will then remove it from the prayer requests and decide if it is indeed a gossip. Just like other Outreach Ideas, this too has to be protected from misuse.

5. Truly pray - If you want to pray for a request, all you need to do is press the “pray” button and the number of those who prayed will increase. On the downside, you can actually just press the button without actually praying and the person on the other side will actually believe that the number of those who prayed are actually a lot. This just defeats the purpose of a prayer wall and should be avoided. We have to remember that we are accountable to God and dishonesty just doesn’t pay.

 A prayer wall is just a web app that makes the job of prayer warriors a little easy. This will encourage more prayers and a great way to see your ministry being fruitful. All you need to do get in touch with Pathmaker Marketing and have it installed in your Church's website or ministry blog. If you have any other Church Outreach Ideas, we would like to hear about it too.