Church leaders are balancing a million different responsibilities. So when it comes to digital marketing tips, you don’t want to add more to your plate.
Digital marketing is essential for your church, and we have some tips to save you time. And that means you have more time to personally invest in your target audience.
So here are six top digital marketing tips for churches that will help you be more efficient.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table of contents
- 6 Tips for Churches to Save Time on Digital Marketing
- Tip # 1 – Create brand guidelines for your digital marketing strategy
- Tip #2 – Automate your social media posts
- Tip #3 – Use a calendar to plan your digital marketing efforts
- Tip # 4 – Automate your email marketing
- Tip # 5 – Outsource digital marketing tips and tasks when you don’t have time or expertise
- Tip # 6 – Create a system for managing digital assets
- Communication is Everything for Digital Marketing Strategies
6 Tips for Churches to Save Time on Digital Marketing
Although traditional marketing channels aren’t entirely dead, the digital landscape is rapidly changing.
In today’s digital world, using the right digital platforms and establishing a solid online presence is key to reaching your target audience.
So here are six best digital marketing tips for churches to help you save time and develop a successful digital marketing strategy.
Tip # 1 – Create brand guidelines for your digital marketing strategy
Creating brand guidelines or a style guide takes time upfront but can save your church a lot of time and energy in the long run.
What to include in your brand guidelines
- logos and their correct usage
- colors
- fonts
- voice and tone
- imagery guidelines
- content creation
- digital channels
Establishing your brand equips your communications team with the right digital marketing tools to succeed.
According to Demand Metric, 95% of organizations have branding guidelines, but only one-quarter have formal policies and consistently enforce them.
In addition, having everything written up and organized will make it easier to train new team members.
Brand guidelines are helpful when you
- hire new staff
- train current staff (including those outside the communications team)
- utilize volunteers to help create digital content
- outsource or work with an agency
In summary, when your digital marketing strategy tips and brand guidelines are in writing, you’ll be able to create more valuable content and save time.
Tip #2 – Automate your social media posts
Social media can be a significant drain on your time!
As we mentioned in a previous episode, the average person spends 2 hours and 29 minutes a day on social media platforms.
However, one of our digital marketing tips for churches is to automate posting to your social media accounts.
That way, the majority of your time on social media platforms is spent interacting and building online communities.
And this is where a social media scheduler comes in handy.
A social media scheduler is a tool that lets you automate posting to multiple platforms.
You can write and schedule all the posts for the month in one sitting, which will save you time later on. (Check out this 31-day social media plan.)
Using hashtags is also key to a successful online marketing strategy.
Most of these social media schedulers have hashtag lists you can reuse. And they offer advice about the best hashtags to include to improve search rankings.
Social media scheduling favorites include:
- Hootsuite
- Buffer
- Sprout Social
- CoSchedule
- Later
You can also schedule posts through individual apps. For example, YouTube, Twitter, and Meta Business Suite (Facebook and Instagram) all allow you to schedule your posts in advance.
Tip #3 – Use a calendar to plan your digital marketing efforts
Have you ever looked up and realized that a big event like Easter is just around the corner?
Or you’re starting a new sermon series next weekend and don’t have any digital marketing planned to promote it?
A digital marketing calendar can help you stay on top of your digital strategy and content marketing.
Simply put, a digital marketing calendar is a tool that helps you plan, create content, and execute your digital marketing strategies.
It includes your content, social media, video marketing, emails, blog posts, and other promotional content.
You can use a digital marketing calendar to:
- See what’s coming up and plan ahead
- Make sure you’re not overloading your team with too many projects at one time
- Plan your marketing budget
- Keep track of deadlines
- Coordinate between different departments (like if the youth group is planning an event that ties in with your sermon series)
- Set up paid advertising to promote an event
There are a few digital marketing calendar tools available. CoSchedule, Google Calendar, and Trello are all great options.
Also, you might use a simple Excel spreadsheet or Google sheet.
Tip # 4 – Automate your email marketing
Email is still one of the best ways to reach people in our digital marketing world.
According to Statista, the average user in the United States spends approximately 172 minutes a day checking email.
Most people have email on their mobile devices and are always tuned in for updates.
One of the great things about emails is that you can schedule them in advance (a significant timesaver).
Especially when you follow digital marketing tips like #3 and have a solid marketing promotions calendar.
If you plan ahead, you could even schedule all your emails for the month in one day.
Using an email service provider
An email service provider (ESP) is a tool that helps you manage your email list, create and send emails, track metrics, and more.
An ESP is better for deliverability and managing large email lists and complex email campaigns.
These providers also allow you to segment customers (i.e., contacts).
Many church management software programs have an email feature included.
Or you could use another ESP like
- MailChimp
- Constant Contact
- Drip
- AWeber
Email remains one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for nurturing relationships with existing customers or, in the church world…church members!
Tip # 5 – Outsource digital marketing tips and tasks when you don’t have time or expertise
Digital marketing is getting increasingly complex.
So, outsourcing digital marketing tasks is one of the top digital marketing tips we can give.
If you don’t have time to manage eight social media platforms, learn digital advertising like google ads, or master search engine optimization, consider hiring someone!
You might think, “We don’t have a big budget for that.”
But you don’t have to hire a full-time employee.
Options for outsourcing your marketing efforts
- Hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) to help manage a social media platform, email marketing, or other tasks
- Hire a part-time digital marketing contractor or freelancer
- Work with a digital marketing agency for things like SEO strategy, paid ads, and strategic planning
- Enlist the help of a digital marketing student or intern
- Work with a volunteer in your church members that has professional experience in these areas
Tip # 6 – Create a system for managing digital assets
Creating a digital asset management system will save you time and frustration. When it comes to content marketing, you have to stay organized.
Digital assets are any files that you use in your digital marketing efforts. This includes images, videos, PDFs, and social media content.
You’ll use these assets for your website, blogs, social media posts, email marketing, digital ads, and general content marketing to enhance your digital presence.
If you don’t have a system for storing digital assets, you’ll likely waste a lot of time
- looking for files
- messaging back and forth with team members for files
- re-creating files that you can’t find
Bonus tip: You can also create custom templates and store them in your asset library to save time and ensure brand consistency.
Digital asset management tips
- Create a clear and intuitive folder structure for storing digital files
- Use a cloud-based storage system (like Google Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud), so you can access files from anywhere
- Make sure everyone on your team knows where to find and how to use digital assets
- Back up digital files regularly
Communication is Everything for Digital Marketing Strategies
When it comes to digital marketing for churches, clear and consistent communication is vital.
Imagine the benefits of having clear brand guidelines, a digital marketing calendar months in advance, and a clear system for managing digital assets.
These are just a few of the digital marketing tips mentioned here!
With that baseline, you can add automation tools for email and social media, and you’ll find yourself with a smooth system that gives you a solid digital marketing presence.
And if you don’t have the time to invest in all the digital marketing tips mentioned here, consider hiring a marketing team like ReachRight to help.
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