Video is a must : Email often : Intercessory Missionaries : Fundraising : Driving people to your blog or website

Here’s a podcast on the topic of marketing for the intercessory missionary (and other ministers!)

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You’ve heard me mention often that the top two strategies that we MUST (that’s a capital M-U-S-T) utilize in our online communications are:

1. Video
2. Email

VIDEO

This is true for any church, business, ministry… and ESPECIALLY intercessory missionaries!  Of course, here at IHOP there are hundreds of missionaries who rely, usually entirely, on raising financial support.  No support, no electricity, food or gas for the car.

So, since we must discover ways to communicate the need to as many people as possible, it makes since that we pay close attention to proven strategies that are used all across the marketing spectrum online.

Here’s an interesting clip I received in my RSS reader today:

Creating authentic video that captures the human element allows customers to connect on a personal level. This connection builds trust and drives action.

Video that works shares compelling stories that resonate with the audience. No gimmicks, no ploys. Respect viewers’ time and provide them with actionable content.

Our internal research has shown that adding video to a site can drive 36% more clicks, 20% more inbound calls, and more than double time on site. A recent Kelsey Group study found 55% of people who view a video visit the company’s Web site; 30% visit a physical store; and 24% make a purchase as a result of watching.

Viewers only do this if there’s a reason to do so. Provide a call to action, a trackable URL to visit, a coupon, discount code, or unique phone number to call. This way your video can be evaluated against other marketing efforts.

Note, there must be a call to action in our videos.  A clear invitation to visit the link on our website or blog that will lead to the donate page is important.  Or, if you are selling a book or inviting people to view info about the ministry or encouraging them to subscribe to your email newsletter, clearly communicate how they can do that.

EMAIL

I find two specific things interesting:

• Most ministers, missionaries, etc. don’t have an active blog.  Many don’t have a blog or website at all.
• Even fewer have an email strategy.

Most effective companies will send an email to their list EVERY DAY.  I receive emails at least four or five times a week if not daily from the Elijah List, Circuit City, Breaking Christian News, Layers Magazine and many others.  Those emails have become a part of my daily routine.  It’s like the morning paper of old.

The goal is to develop a growing family of people who consider YOU a part of their daily routine.

You don’t have to be perfectly polished in your emails… some of my favorite emails or RSS feeds are the random thoughts on friend’s blogs.  I like to see them pop up suddenly in my email.  I enjoy being involved in their lives.  This is one reason that Twitter and Facebook status updates are so popular.  We are interested in others… and, guess what, no matter how mundane you think your life might be, others are interested in YOU!

Pastors, ministers and intercessory missionaries must keep the vision, the call, the need and their life in front of as many people as possible.

Email every single day!  Those who don’t want to receive your emails will simply delete them or unsubscribe.  Those that do will have a continual opportunity to respond to the call to experience the journey with you.

RESOURCES

For video, I highly recommend www.blip.tv.  It’s much better than YouTube… however, you can’t go wrong with YouTube either.  In fact, I’d recommend using both since YouTube will spread your content far and wide… and very fast.

For email, I use www.feedblitz.com.  I love it.  Whenever I post to my blog, a nicely formatted email is immediately sent to my list- unless I add a specific keyword that will tell the system NOT to send an email.  This message is being typed up in Windows Live Writer, will show up on my blog when I hit ‘publish’ and will then be sent to my email list automatically.

You can also use www.icontact.com and www.constantcontact.com.

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