Okay, so, I wasn't planning on taking this long with the second instalment of this bit, but the last few weeks have been entirely sodding hectic! My apologies to the three of you who have been waiting with baited breath for this. :)
If you had told me, ten years ago, that I would ever work as a minister in a missiology focused context, or even with a missiological flavour, I would have told you that you were entirely daft. (And that's putting it nicely.) The main reasons being that I associated "missions" with going to third-world countries where I had to sleep in the dirt and/or encounter things like spiders -which I DO NOT do- or I associated it with randomly approaching someone in a coffee shop and saying "Hi, have you thought about where you'll spend eternity?"
Thankfully, in the time since then, my perspective has changed. I was lucky enough, during my seminary career, to be a part of and serve with a church which had a really ingenious idea for missions. Mission, to this church, was everything we did. Whether it was walking down the street and chatting to our neighbours. Whether it was having a beer -or 5- with a colleague and talking about life. Whatever it was we did, it was "mission," in that we, as followers of the crazy Christian faith were having an opportunity to live out the ancient great commandment and love our neighbours as ourselves. It was, we might say, all about lifestyle and less about specific action.
So what does all this have to do with business and -as the title hints- marketing?
Well, I think a large portion of the Christian world views the concept of "mission" in the way I previously viewed it. Mission involves big trips, big money, lots of gimmicks, and lots of prepared answers or speeches.
Case in point: The other week I was out with some friends. A buddy and I popped into a quick shop for a bite. The following scene went a bit like this:
Lady in front of me: "Oh, you have very beautiful eyes!"
Me: "Uh, thanks?"
Lady: "No, really! They're quite gorgeous!"
Me: "Oh, uh, thank you?"(This is universal code for "Uhm...you are entirely creeping me the heck out, lady.")
-Lady pays for her stovie and leaves-
Friend: "Mate, she just dropped a card in your pocket....I think you got hit on by a prosti!"
Sure enough, the lady had dropped a card in my jacket pocket. However, the card wasn't for adult services, it was, instead, for an Alpha course. (Alpha courses are conservative out-reach/theology courses run by a few churches over here.)
No, I really can't make this up. Sadly, this is what a large section of Christianity -progressive and traditional- view mission to be. <sigh>
So, if the church were a business, what might missions look like?
To begin with, the church would understand that it must look at mission in a macro and micro understanding. Any solid business will have its large marketing and its local marketing. Macro-marketing would be things done in the interest of expanding the business and/or its influence and reach into new or potentially new markets. Micro-marketing would be focused upon building up a solid base to sustain and enable the business in the locations it already inhabited. These two must live in harmony as a macro-dominated marketing plan will never succeed as it doesn't have the foundation to draw upon. A micr-dominated marketing plan will never grow and eventually might even exhaust its local market.
Hopefully, you can draw the parallel here: It's fine to send money, people, or whatever "over there," as part of missions. However, if you can't say how "YOU" personally, are involved with the mission of your faith community and how that mission lives out your ideals locally, then there's a problem. A big problem.
Secondly, in the realm of marketing strategies, there's a bit of a rule: IT MUST BE GENUINE!!!!
Gimmicks, discounts, treats, and other enticers only work for so long.
(ie: You can have the best food in the world at the cheapest prices, but if the service stinks and the restaurant is a dump, folks aren't entirely likely to come back at all, let alone frequent your business and recommend it.)
In other words, what you advertise must be real. If you advertise a family experience, then by golly, it better be a family experience. If you advertise a casual atmosphere, a home-style atmosphere, a foreign atmosphere, IT BETTER DARN BE THAT WAY! Businesses that are gimmicky, fake, or flakey tend to pop up and disappear rather quickly. Businesses that embrace what they are and offer that in the best way possible -be it a restaurant, bank, whatever- last for ages.
Oh, and about the "bait and switch" gimmick? Yeah, that's called "false advertising" and it can land you in an entire world of legal hurt.
Again, I think you can see where I'm going with this. If you're a conservative church, be a conservative church. If you're a progressive church, be a progressive church. If you're seeker oriented, be seeker oriented. If you're focused on families and family groups, then be so to the best of your possible abilities. Whatever it is you feel your church embodies and wants to take out into the world, do it and be genuine about it. No gimmicks, no lies, no fuss.
As a final point, I'll say that, with marketing, there's always an underlying job of bringing your employees to embody the ideals, values, or campaign you're marketing. The best companies in the world are the companies where the employees agree, are on-board with, and live out that company's stated ideals and visions. People notice these things. They appreciate them and it tells a person that "hey, this is a place I should give my business b/c even the people who work here really like it and are passionate about it!"
So, with that said.....are you on-board....or are you offering cheap gimmicks?
