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Would you attend your own event? No, really—I'm asking.
This week...I had to turn off promotions for an outreach event I was advertising for a church because the response was becoming overwhelming. This was, of course, a good problem to have. What made this event go wild? I think we (the pastor and I) asked the right questions as we were putting it together. I want to share some of those questions with you today. Perhaps this will lead to a reimagination of the outreach events you've tried in the past. It's my prayer that this leads to more connections and open doors. The bottom line is this: the right product, service, and/or event will market itself. Pull out a pad of paper and answer the following questions honestly and personally—completely out of the context of your church or school. If you got a text from a friend this afternoon with an invitation to hang out, what could they propose that would make it impossible to say no?
Furthermore, let's say you're out of town when this invite comes through—what could they propose that you would be heartbroken to miss?
What are some local places or experiences that you yourself have recommended to others? Maybe a restaurant, a gym, a park, a hike, a boutique, a concert, etc...
As you're recommending that thing, what does the text say? What words come out of your mouth? What's the first good thing you say about it?
What do your answers reveal? We want to create the easiest possible "yes." How can you take pieces and parts of your answers and bake them into an event or strategy? *A note: There's discourse about the traditional "outreach event" becoming obsolete. The answers to these questions often prove this point, and that's, in some ways, my objective. When I ask these questions, I watch my clients realize the very last thing they or their wives would accept an invite to is a big, intimidating, festival-type event. They're much more likely to be excited to get together with some friends at a brewery while their kids play together. That's information. Ask yourself if something done at a smaller, more intimate/personal scale might actually serve your community better and make a larger collective impact. The secret? ^that exact approach is exactly what got the aforementioned event to go absolutely wild. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear about your answers and brainstorm together! Just reply. |
Grace Ungemach
I offer digital marketing education written with ministry in mind. Subscribe to my free, weekly newsletter to learn something new every Friday.
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