Tuesday, October 30, 2012

20 Ways to Market Your Church on the Internet - SEO

Search Engine Optimize Your Website      
                        
            At the request of my Pastor I created a 20 Step program for Marketing our Church on the Internet. To make it as inclusive as possible, I recruited the assistance of Randall Mains of Pathmaker Marketing LLC. Realizing that the results of our efforts would be beneficial to a number of Churches, I decided to do a 20 part series and place it on the Internet so as many people/churches as possible can be Blessed by it!

            To date we have discussed launching a blogging process and doing keyword research. Today, I want to discuss search engine optimization - both what it is and why it is important to you as part of your church marketing program. As we discussed last time, the paradigm shifts in our society mandates that churches utilize small business marketing strategies, and an effective website is an excellent church outreach Idea!

To read more, click here.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

E-MAIL MARKETING 101: GETTING STARTED

  



If yours is an enterprise that can be considered "B to C” - Business to Consumer - then E-mail Marketing is something that you not only need to be aware of, but need to be participatingin. This is especially true if "coupons,” or special offers/special events serves a vital role in your Marketing Program. With Restaurants and certain Retail Shops, E-Mail Marketing is pretty apt to be your ticket to "Marketing Paradise.” It can work well for churches as well!
     In order to explain the process in detail, let’s use a Restaurant and a church as our examples as to how the program works. To begin with, we need to realize that there are two major challenges in implementing an effective E-Mail Marketing Program: Building your contact list and coming up with viableoffers to send to your list. The key to building your list is that you have to provide a reason for people to join. In the case of the Restaurant, you might offer a "2 for 1” coupon, or a "20% Off” your next order when they sign up. You provide patrons the opportunity to enroll while they are in your establishment, and at that time you explain that future coupons will be forthcoming when they "enroll” with you.  A Church might offer a free White Paper on Prayer or How to Enjoy Better Family Life for signing up. 

To read more, click here.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Grow Your Facebook Page




Facebook is far more than the name “social media” implies. It has become one of the most effective marketing venues the world has even seen. So why is it that, although you’ve created a Facebook page for their business, it just sits there? Why don’t people notice it? With countless people with Facebook accounts, why do you have only two fans after an entire year of exposure? Well, it might depend on your concept of exposure. And it might amaze you that there is nothing new under the sun. 
Imagine, if you will, a town square a century or more ago. People are coming and going, walking around, visiting friends and neighbors. Scattered around the square are merchants with carts filled with various and sundry goods for sale. There’s even a ‘snake oil salesman’ touting his latest cure for the gout. Amidst all the product there is a stand where a politician is making promises he won’t keep if elected. And there’s the charity, Mothers Against Chewing Tobacco Husbands (MATCH), handing out samples so the public can taste the nasty stuff themselves. 
Now hold that thought. What you’ve got in that town square is an early form of Facebook. It’s a public place where the community comes together to visit, to gossip, to learn what’s going on, to get up on the soapbox to share their opinions, and to market their company or cause. 

To Read More, Click HERE.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

E-MAIL FUNDRAISING


One of the paramount challenges for churches and para-churches isfundraising.  While there are a number of “tried and true” methods available, the advent of the Internetand email has created paradigm shifts that mandate to enjoy continued success it is going to be necessary to stay on the “cutting edge” of technology.  Since ministry is the major concern of these institutions, it is probable that they will want to benefit from the experience and expertise of an email-marketing specialist with a successful email marketing firm such as Randall Mains and PATHMAKER MARKETING LLC.
        
Randall, a PK, grew up understanding the importance of fundraising.  If you're like his 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.



Sunday, October 14, 2012

The Bottom Line to Successful Email Fundraising & Marketing

The bottom line to successful email fundraising & email marketing consists of the following four simple steps to help you stay on track:

4 STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL EMAIL FUNDRAISING OR EMAIL MARKETING






An excellent way to communicate, email has become so efficient that it has the U.S. Postal Service trembling in its boots!  But seriously, if you're still doing direct mail only, you need to add email marketing to your mix of online fund raising tools. And to get the most out of your email fundraising or email marketing program you need to implement the following four strategic steps to success:

1)    Build Your Email House File - The most successful professional fundraisers are using email marketing programs to solicit their house files.  I know this may be a long process to develop these lists, but once you have a robust house file acquisition process in place, your email lists will grow and your efundraising or emarketing communications to those lists will deliver for you maximum results, way above any external list file rentals.

Typically, your house file consists of various sub lists like your customer file (first or two time buyers); your best customer file (regular, large or monthly donors, for example); and your prospecting file of requestors who have asked for call backs, downloaded white papers,  signed up for your newsletters, etc. 

In as much as your email success will mostly be measured in dollars raised, or as a conversion rate percent of the overall send, it stands to reason that a larger size internal file will deliver you a greater number of positive replies, once you've found ways to convert the list into sales or gifts.  In other words, make a commitment to building your house file, and then ensure that's an on-going part of your marketing efforts.

2)    Test, Test, Test - There are several ways to proceed in this realm.  First, you will want to conduct a basic Email Split Test.  This is where you send out two or three different versions of the same email to determine which one(s) give you the best results.  You can test different subject lines, different email creative or different landing pages. By determining which ones perform best, you can fix the underperforming ones and/or concentrate instead on the ones that were productive and successful.

A basic protocol we use as a basis for testing fundraising for non-profits is the following:
1. Short cause-centric email to longer cause-based landing page
2. Long cause-centric email to shorter cause-based landing page
3. Premium-centric version email to basic premium (i.e. product Offer) landing page

Read more...

Monday, October 8, 2012

5 Steps In Getting Your Business Found In Local Internet




In the day and age that we live one thing is as true as it ever was - - it doesn’t matter how good you are or how competitive your prices are if no one knows about you!  As a result, the age-old challenge of making sure that potential clients find you continues to rage on.  Currently, however, the secret to achieving this goal no longer revolves around the yellow pages, billboards nor, to some extent, even radio and TV advertising.  Rather, the key, the “secret” if you would, to marketing success pretty much revolves around the Internet andSocial Media!

This realm can, without a doubt, be over-whelming to the average businessman.  While volumes and volumes have been written on this topic, there are five “golden nuggets’ that will at least give you a “jump-start” in the Marketing World of the 21st Century!

1. CREATE A LOCAL PRESENCE ON THE BIG THREE SEARCH ENGINES - These are, of course, GOOGLE PLACES, YAHOO LOCAL, and BING LOCAL (BUSINESS PORTAL).

2. GET LISTED IN AS MANY LOCAL DIRECTORIES AS POSSIBLE - These can run the gamut from “Angie’s List” to “Hot Frog” and includes things like:
  1. superpages.com                    
  2. kudzu.com
  3. ​yellowpages.com                   
  4. local.com
  5. yelp.com                                
  6. citysearch.com
  7. ​myhuckleberry.com             
  8. company.com
  9. ​showmelocal.com                  
  10. ezlocal.com
3. CREATE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES - Including Company Accounts (not personal) in  FOURSQUARE, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, LINKED IN and YOU TUBE.

4. ENCOURAGE CLIENTS TO WRITE AND POST POSITIVE REVIEW IN GOOGLE PLACES (and YAHOO AND BING) and LOCAL DIRECTORIES such as ANGIE’S LIST  - There are several excellent ways to accomplish this.

5. PURSUE SEARCH ENGINE RANKING ON YOUR TARGETED LOCAL KEYWORDS  - Example:  Plumber - Dallas - Texas

As you can imagine, there are numerous steps necessary to accomplish the above steps, and, to learn what they are, go to Pathmaker Marketing.

Friday, October 5, 2012

Facebook and Local Fundraising


How to use Facebook

Facebook is not only a good way to connect with relatives and friends, it also an excellent tool to announce a fundraising event. Think about it, what you’ve got in there is already a captured audience, compared to flyers and tarpaulins wherein people can choose not to read or even look at them. People on Facebook can choose to ignore you as well but, it is less likely because what you’ve got there are people who know and trust you. Here’s how you can use Facebook topromote a fundraising event:

1. Create and event - Create an event in Facebook ideally on the Fundraiser’s own account. Make sure that after you filled in the necessary details, that you click “anyone can view and RSVP” so that it is made public. You should also click “show guest list on event page” so that people can see who are invited and can invite new people.
Once the event goes live and you have invited your friends and they have RSVP, their friends can now see it on their wall too. This will make your invitation viral.

2. Post the event on your wall - On your personal Facebook account, you can also post the event on your wall and invite your friends too. If this is a ticket event, make sure to post a link to where they can buy the tickets.

3. Post regular updates - Make sure to post regular updates so that those who are coming will be informed. Soon the event will be on your friend’s, friends and friends wall too.

Read More...

Monday, October 1, 2012

Animated Emails


Make no mistake about it, we do live in an entertaining world!  And, whatever entertains us the most is going to get our attention.  That is why the talented e-mail marketing experts at Pathmaker Marketing LLCstand ready to help you design and employ a major technological breakthrough - - Animated E-Mails!

One of the main things that you need to know, and keep in mind, regarding Animated E-mails is the fact that the methods used to generate Animation on a Web page are restricted for an E-Mail.  For example, websites can use FLASH, JAVA and a variety of other technologies.  With E-Mails, however, the major technology is Animated Gifs.

Most professional email marketing services will tell you that Animated Gifs is “old school,” and has been around for quite some time.  Like most forms of technology, there are a number of people around who dabble in this particular medium without being really proficient in it.  That’s where Pathmaker Marketing LLC , an email marketing firm, comes in— as they are  qualified, experienced, and immensely prolific!