CSI's Anthony Zuiker and Your Ministry or Business - Ministry and Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

CSI is perhaps the most successful franchise in the history of television, watched by tens of millions around the world. No, most of their shows do not promote a biblical worldview and yes, you should exercise discernment in your television viewing habits. But you can learn a lot from CSI's media planning for your ministry or binistry (business that's your God-given ministry).

Check out the clip below of CSI Executive Producer Anthony Zuiker talking about creating and airing content across multiple platforms including television, web, mobile and more. Especially notice his comments about viewers' immediate response to show content, as evidenced by their web surfing habits. (Warning: the video contains no profanity but does reference inappropriate content.)

Take a cue from Zuiker and think about your ministry or business content, and how to spark audience response across various media. If you air a weekly radio show, push your listeners to log onto your website for a forum discussion immediately following the radio broadcast. Then take it a step further.

Build widgets from your show content, which fans can add to their blogs and online profiles. As an example, check out the PluggedIn movie review widget to the left of this column, which I built in about five minutes this afternoon using SproutBuilder.

Better yet, create shorter webisodes from your audio or video content, which can be consumed and spread virally online. Or unfold a story over a series of ads, which individually convey your sales message, but also fit within a larger narrative, with cues to participate/solve the mystery/share similar stories online.

Don't just utilize a single medium to minister or promote your business. Shape and deliver your message through broadcast, web, and mobile venues. And don't simply hope that folks will talk about your ministry or business online; take a page out of CSI's book. Facilitate and fan the flames of the conversation through better media planning, to the glory of God.

Starbucks is Stupid...Dunkins Donuts is Ingenious - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Yesterday my beautiful hunk of Detroit steel needed new tires and an alignment fix, thus I was forced to hole up in Dunkin Donuts for a couple of hours. As I sipped my blueberry coffee (yes, I pollute my coffee on occasion) and gazed upon the bright but not too bright Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins ice cream shop color scheme, it hit me again: Starbucks is stupid and Dunkin Donuts is ingenious.

Don't get me wrong. I love Starbucks! I became addicted to the "bucks" after a stint there in college. From then on, I've taken great pleasure in converting friends to the glories of the true fruit of the bean. But, as you may have heard, Starbucks is hemorrhaging money like a wounded animal. In fact, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz recently returned as CEO in hopes of righting their cash cow.

In a nutshell, Dunkin Donuts--which sells 40,000 cups of coffee/week--is succeeding because they keep trying and remain humble. New product rollouts, discounts, fun promotions, and brilliant marketing that pokes fun at Starbucks, all conspire to build group identity and loyalty among their customers. Not so with Starbucks.

Even when I worked at Starbucks way back when, they were arrogant. They discontinued frequent shopper cards because "Starbucks is a premium brand." Affinity groups were unnecessary. Four dollars was a bargain for a latte. And forcing customers to pay T-Mobile for in-store internet access was part of the privilege of being a Starbucks customer. Then their stock tanked, free-falling from a high of nearly $40/share in May, 2006 to yesterday's close at $17.99.

I hope you know what this cautionary tale has to do with your ministry or Christian business.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is extraordinarily clear: "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:14) The Psalmist chimes in likewise: "You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty." (Psalm 18:27) As with the Apostle Peter: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." (I Peter 5:6)

Think about yourself and your ministry or Christian company. Are you trusting God or are you arrogantly enjoying the successes He's brought your way and congratulating yourself for the same?

Proverbs 28:26a tells us, "Whoever trusts in himself is a fool." Where is your trust? Is it in Christ Jesus our only Hope? Or are you reveling in your own greatness?

If you're arrogant, repent. If you're legitimately seeking Christ and for His Spirit to work through you to exalt the Father and expand His kingdom, then pray that He keeps you on the straight and narrow.

Tomorrow I'll discuss the watering down of the Starbucks brand and core offerings and their implications for your ministries and Christ-centered businesses.

Another Thing About Story Blogging - Ministry & Business Marketing and Strategy Blog

Yesterday I offered some quick tips on how to tell your ministry or Christian business story through blogs -- story blogging. To take it a step further, you can, in fact, dedicate an entire blog to just success stories or testimonials about your organization.

Case in point, check out the Crown Financial Ministries True Financial Freedom Stories blog. I volunteer with Crown here in Tampa, Florida and I built the site to showcase all that the Lord continues to do through Crown to help folks manage money and their whole lives, God's way. The blog features testimonials, audio from Crown's daily Money Matters show, and links to key Crown websites including giving opportunities.

How could you build a similar blog for your ministry or Christian business? Or how could you incorporate some of these elements in your existing website?

Don't just relay bland facts and figures (service times, location, etc.). Communicate the Holy Spirit's work through you as evidenced by changed lives. For you Christian business owners, convey your biblically-inspired honesty, hard work, and excellence as experienced by your many satisfied customers.

Happy Story Blogging...

Telling Your Story...through Blogging - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

By now most of you have heard about the wonders of blogging. Since you're reading this, you've obviously seen a blog and have some idea of what it's about. You may even read many blogs per day or week.

For those of you operating Christian ministries and Christian businesses, blogs can be a great way to tell your story and to steer what's said about you online. Notice I said "steer," not "control." Control of what's said about you online and your media, long ago went the way of Bill Clinton's virtue. So how exactly do you use blogs to tell your story and steer what's said about you, to the glory of God?

Here are some simple tips...

1) What are you passionate about? What gets you up in the morning/keeps you up at night? What has God led you to do about it? Blog about these things. Your vision and values drive your work and talking about them is a great way to communicate your niche in Christ's kingdom.

2) How do you accomplish your work? Do you teach English as a second language, provide food and shelter, or preach the gospel through media? Blog about it. Your philosophy of ministry -- both in your approach to the lost and those who know Christ, and the nuts and bolts of advancing Christ's kingdom (such as broadcasts and/or building projects) are part and parcel to your unique place in the Body of Christ. Tell others about it.

3) Facts and figures. Without going into gory detail, give folks an idea of the size of your ministry, your financial needs, your impact, etc. You'll usually want to weave facts and figures into an overall narrative which includes the things mentioned above and...

4) Action steps. What do you want people to do about it? You can mention your wish list in your blog posts and communicate the same through links to other important pages. You could also show an attractive ministry graphic or link to a page of testimonies from folks whom the Lord has blessed through your work, with an accompanying donation or prayer chain link.

Not coincidentally, these blogging essentials comprise what should be included in almost all of your ministry communications. Vision & values, philosophy, facts & figures, and action steps should be a part of nearly every letter, email, and promo video you send (with exceptions made for personal thank you notes and the like).

One last thing...I mentioned the value of blogging for steering what's said about you online. Telling your story through the above steps, by the work of the Holy Spirit, will help friends and potential partners see the value of the Lord's work through you and compel them to jump on board. On the flip side, telling your story through blogging will also dampen the impact of false or misleading information disseminated online by folks who don't have your best interests, much less the Lord's will, in mind. Assuming that your ministry is actually biblical, click here for more on defensive blogging.

Christian business owners should approach blogging in much the same way. Use online storytelling to interest folks in your business, set yourselves apart, and bring in new customers -- to the glory of God.

If you already write a blog, but you realize that it's in serious trouble -- either in appearance and content, check out this post on revamping your ministry website. Happy blogging...

Self-Service Trends and Your Ministry or Christian Business - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Ask yourself a simple question: how easy is it for folks to find basic organizational info--be it on your website, in print materials, or otherwise--without talking to somebody? If you're like most ministries and organizations, your information is locked up like the gold stored in Fort Knox.

Contrast most ministries' and businesses' info stinginess with a very interesting survey I stumbled upon today. Though the poll was commissioned by NCR--a company that sells self-service business tools, the results mirror other self-service adoption trends. The survey reports the following:

"More than three out of four (77 percent) of the 633 U.S. and Canadian consumers polled said they are more likely to do business with organizations that offer self-service, and 92 percent value combining mobile devices – like mobile phones or PDAs – with the Internet and self-service kiosks or ATMs to improve their overall service experience."

Of course, ministries usually want folks to talk to them, hence their reluctance to supply information without personal interaction. But contact should be voluntary and willing, not mandatory and annoying.

Though consumer trends should not influence our theology or even a good portion of our evangelism and discipleship, we should "make the most of every opportunity" by recognizing patterns of interaction and shift our ministry & Christian business strategy accordingly. In fact, making our ministries more self-service friendly is in keeping with the Spirit's word through the Paul to become "all things to all men."

Now think about your ministry website. Are service times or upcoming events listed prominently? If you have a podcast, is it linked near the top of your homepage? Is there an intro letter from your pastor/ministry leader and basic doctrinal statement? If not, add these soon.

On the Christian business side, put on your customer hat for a moment. Your website should be like a first date: getting to know each other and you putting your best foot forward. You shouldn't demand that potential clients go on a few more dates, i.e., talk to a pushy salesperson, before they hear what makes you unique, what others think about you, and the cost of basic services.

The survey cited above also revealed that most folks do like personal assistance when making more complex decisions, such as buying insurance or choosing a mortgage. This bodes well for ministries and Christian businesses that are friendly through their website and multimedia. Folks interested in deeper communication will usually seek it out. Be sure that you're genial from the start and Christ-like when the Spirit draws folks to speak with you.

One last thing...If your ministry is seeker-driven rather than seeker-friendly, you're not being biblical. In fact, "Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God," (I Cor. 1:22-24).

If you're preaching the truth that is in Jesus, you will offend most of your hearers. Indeed, sinners do not come to Christ out of their own goodness, their "getting it," or our salesmanship, but through the Spirit's drawing. Stop worrying about not being offensive and start limiting the offense to the Spirit-breathed Gospel itself.

We are to "become all things to all men" and to proclaim Christ boldly and as we ought to speak. This "ought to" includes making it easy for folks to get to know us and, Lord-willing, get to know our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Think about it. . .

Proximity Marketing Ministry Case Study Update and Internet Evangelism Day - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Howdy all?!? I'm in the thick of my own personal case study on bluetooth broadcasting and I should have something concrete to report in the next few days. In the the meantime, I bring you news of a coordinated worldwide church focus on internet evangelism...

Churches to Hold Web Focus Day April 27
"How can we use this new-fangled Internet thing to share the gospel?" Christians are asking. A worldwide "web evangelism focus day" is helping to provide answers. Sunday, April 27, has been designated as Internet Evangelism Day. Churches can download free materials from the Internet Evangelism Day website. These materials make it easy for churches to create a short presentation about online outreach on or near that Sunday. A PowerPoint, video clip testimonies, drama scripts, music and handouts can be used to create their own customized program lasting from one minute to 50.

Church leaders who have already used these materials are excited. "This is a huge help for small churches such as ours," writes a church leader from California.

The Internet Evangelism Day team emphasizes that web evangelism is for anyone, not just the technically gifted. "There are many ways to share your faith online, without any technical background at all," says IE Day Coordinator Tony Whittaker.

Christian leaders are also enthusiastic: "I am glad to commend Internet Evangelism Day," says Dr. John Stott.

Churches can start planning their focus day now. More information is available at:
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com

Free Church Website Tool Released
The people behind Internet Evangelism Day also provide year-round resources about online outreach. The ministry explains many ways that Christians can share the good news, including through church websites. Churches often find it difficult to create a site that will engage with outsiders in their area, and find themselves asking, ""How can our church website help us reach out into our community?"

A new online tool released by IE Day provides churches with a free 15-page evaluation report. Users assess their own website by answering 55 simple questions. Their customized report is immediately displayed online, ready to print or save. The report's recommendations are tailored with specific practical suggestions, based on the questions that were ticked. View the evaluation tool here:
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com/design

A church site which has been prioritized for non-Christian visitors can be remarkably effective in reaching the community. "Week in, week out, more visitors turn up at our church on a Sunday because of the website, than anything else," writes one growing church in London.

The tool also provides the parable 'A Tale of Two Golf Clubs' (which is available to republish) to illustrate the principles of effective church websites: www.InternetEvangelismday.com/golf

Church leaders have welcomed this new resource. "This competent evaluation tool provides a valuable service to churches that will help them strengthen their effectiveness in outreach through the Internet," says Dr. Sterling Huston, director of North American Ministries for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Gary McClure of LifeWay Ministries agrees, saying, "This checklist is an invaluable tool to identify critical areas for improvement. Every church should study this regularly and act on it!"

For more information on IE Day, visit
www.InternetEvangelismDay.com

Contact: Tony Whittaker, Coordinator, Internet Evangelism Day
Tel: +44-1283-702334 (GMT office hours)
email: InternetEvangelismDay.com/feedback
IE Day is an initiative of the Internet Evangelism Coalition, a group of online ministries, at Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, US, and is coordinated from WEC International's Derby UK office. It is completely free with NO fund-raising component.
Leaders available for interview: InternetEvangelismDay.com/publicity
Photos: InternetEvangelismDay.com/photos
Leaders supporting: InternetEvangelismDay.com/supporting
More article ideas: InternetEvangelismDay.com/free-articles

Big Picture Time - The Church and Culture - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Today I ask you to step back and consider the big picture and the context within which you minister. Check out the excerpt below from today's blog post by Dr. Albert Mohler--host of a radio show heard in about 100 U.S. markets. Though his column deals specifically with American culture, Dr. Mohler's biblical insights should also help those of you ministering in other Western countries...

"The Church has constantly been perplexed concerning its proper relation to culture. H. Richard Niebuhr traced five different patterns of cultural response in his famous work, Christ and Culture. The book over-simplified the issues and now looks awkwardly optimistic, but some of the patterns Niebuhr described are still evident. The Church has at times withdrawn from culture and sought refuge in attempted cultural isolation. At other times and in other contexts the Church has simply abdicated to the culture, thus reflecting the culture rather than proclaiming the cross. A myriad of patterns and be traced between these two extremes. The fact is that the Church has often exhibited several patterns at once, capitulating to culture on the one hand and seeking isolation on the other.

In candor, we must admit that the Church has been displaced. Once an authoritative voice in the culture, the Church is often dismissed, and even more often ignored. At one time, the influence of the Church was sufficient to restrain cultural rebellion against God's moral commandments, but no longer. The dynamic of the culture-shift marches onward. On the Protestant left, leaders have simply capitulated to the revisionist ideologies and surrendered revealed morality. On the evangelical wing, however, the greater temptation is to affirm biblical morality in principle, and wink at infractions as matters of merely individual interest.

The displacement of the Church is characteristic of the process of secularization, which has now so thoroughly altered the landscape of American culture. Though sociologists point to continuing high levels of religious activity and statements of belief--both of these in sharp contrast to other western nations--the truth is that very little of this activity translates into authentic discipleship, active church membership, and bold Christian witness."

Read the rest of Dr. Mohler's excellent post here. It's well worth your time. As you read, pray that the Holy Spirit will lead you to understand your culture and preach the good news of Jesus Christ "with great patience and careful understanding."

I Almost Forgot...Sprout Also Comes with Stat Tracking! - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

One more thing about Sprout--the incredible new web-based program for easily creating cool content for your website, email newsletters and more.

Sprout also features click-tracking for every project. Thus, a media player featuring your own custom graphics, such as the one found at the top-left on the new Crown True Financial Freedom Stories blog, takes just a few minutes to build with Sprout and allows you to accurately gauge visitor interest and tweak your offerings accordingly.

What are you waiting for? Sign up for a free account today and Sprout some cool new content, to the glory of God!

Has Your Ministry Sprouted Lately? - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

I know, strange headline. But the question pertains to a new technology that you don't have to possess an advanced computer sciences degree or be the church "techie-in-residence" to use to greatly impact your ministry.

Sprout is a new web-based program from the makers of ChipIn. ChipIn produces cool widgets to enable folks to give to ministries and other non-profits online. See the eye-popping Chip-In widget to the left of this post, through which you can give to Lucky Rock Ministries and keep this blog rolling. Check out a short video of the Sprout Builder demo launch here.

Sprout is nothing short of awesome! If you're like me, you want to create cool, interactive stuff for your website, emails and more that the Spirit might use to push believers and non-believers alike toward Christ. Unfortunately, even the best software, such as Flash CS3 doesn't make it easy to create "rich content." Thus, most ministry folks are left out in the cold.

Enter Sprout.

Sprout allows you to build jukeboxes, slideshows and other cool stuff through a simple drag-and-drop interface. Sprout even allows you to upload "assets" such as pictures, music files and sermon audio/video. For an example of what you, yes you, can do in just a few minutes with Sprout, check out the audio player found at the top-left of the recently-created Crown True Financial Freedom Stories blog.

Some of you more tech-savvy readers will find Sprout doesn't let you do all the really cool Flash fly-ins, etc. But Sprout isn't for the ministry tech gurus who know ActionScript, Flex, and Flash. It's for folks who want to create cool content on the fly.

Though Sprout is still in beta-testing, this program delivers. I strongly encourage you to sign up for a free account today and have some fun. And if enough of you ask for it, I'll soon post a mini Sprout tutorial.

Sprout often. . .

Your Website - Is It The Taj Mahal Nobody Knows About? - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

One of my biggest frustrations as a sometime web designer and full-time ministry consultant is the near-universal tendency of ministries to spend all of their web budget on a killer-looking site that nobody outside of their members/friends ever sees. Ministries usually don't realize that optimizing their sites to be picked up by the major search engines, especially Google, is just as important as building a fabulous web home.

Before I dive into quick fixes for your website search rankings, let me say that search engine optimization (SEO) is not just about adding a couple of things to your site and watching it zoom. You must feature a solid amount of content people actually want, organized in a way that's easy to navigate and keeps people coming back for more. That said, and no offense to the SEO pros reading this, you can make some simple changes to your website that will make it pop in search engines. How do I know? Because these changes have done wonders for me.

1) Page title. Check out the top navigation bar in Internet Explorer or Firefox the next time you visit one of your favorite websites. It doesn't just list the organization name; it describes the ministry. Churches should include their geographical area, ministry distinctives, and denomination. Parachurches should detail their location (if pertinent) and ministry focus, in general terms like "Evangelize Africa," or "Feed America's Poor". Keep your title to just two or three key phrases that people are most likely to use when searching for your kind of website, then list your ministry name.

2) Description and meta tags. For those of you who don't know, meta tags, often in the form of keywords, feed information about your website content to all the search engines and crawlers that visit you.

I can't tell you how many times SEO experts have declared, "Meta tags are dead!" If that's the case, why do all of the best-optimized websites still use them? List the keywords that describe your ministry, such as "Orange County Baptist Church, biblical teaching, poor ministry, financial ministry, web ministry, web outreach, free plumber, free auto repairs." As with your page title, the trick is to use keywords and phrases that people are most likely to punch in when searching for your website.

3) Label all your photos. You do have lots of high-quality photos that tell your ministry story, don't you? Use alt tags to label all of your ministry photos.

Search engines don't read photos, they read text. And alt tags give Google and friends something to chew on and will pop up if your photos don't load. Consider tags such as "Heights Calvary Chapel in Chicago city-wide baptism," or "new Northpoint Atlanta community center opening."

4) Make your site contagious. Offer ways for people to subscribe by email, mobile, rss reader, and whatever else and be sure to include means for people to forward your page to friends by email, text message, etc. "Viral" websites get linked to more often, which leads to hire search engine rankings. Which brings me too...

5) You like me. You really like me! Links are a great way to boost your search engine ranking. In search engine-think, if other sites like you, you must be important. If you support or partner with other ministries, be sure to swap links with them. And if you have a blog, list it on all the major blog search engines (put in a Google search to find them).

Hopefully these tips will greatly improve your site's visibility and ministry reach. (For quick fixes to your website itself, check out this recent post.)

If you implement these changes and they work for you, I'd love to hear about it. In that event, I'd also love for you to send a few bucks our way so we can help other ministries.

I freely invite any SEO pros to add their suggestions/corrections via commenting on this blog. Let's work together to improve ministry websites, to bring God glory and advance His Kingdom...

Internet Evangelism Day - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Quickly...Check out the Internet Evangelism Day website. Though they obviously focus on a once-a-year push for web-based ministry, IED also offers great resources on all sorts of ways to use technology in ministry. Enjoy.

I'll post another column later today...

Quick Tips for Revamping Your Website - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

As a business and ministry consultant, I spend a great deal of time scouring the net for good web design and so much more time fixing poorly fashioned websites. Unfortunately, most biz & min websites are dreadful, featuring obnoxious color schemes, too much text, tacky background art, and lots more. This in spite of the fact that 75% of people admit that they judge an organization by their website.

The good news is that simple fixes can make a world of difference. Whether your site should come with a warning label or only requires a simple face lift, you might consider the following:

1) Direct the reader's attention to the things you most care about. This doesn't mean flashing text or animated gifs. But you should use headline text and other simple means to highlight what matters most.

2) Pictures tell the story. Use them wisely. Think about your product offerings or ministry focus and highlight them through quality pics & graphics. Note: quality is absolutely essential. Blowing up your small, low-resolution pics will make you seem cheesy and clueless.

If you're focused on foreclosures and short sales, show visitors shots of the buying possibilities. If your church is focused on outreach, grab a shot of a team from the church sharing Christ.

3) Color. Wonderful Color. Whether you're the Monet of web design or you don't have a clue how to "paint" your website, you can create a look that's inviting not intimidating, warm not overbearing. One easy solution is to Google "Kuler." From there you can download a free desktop application that acts as a color wheel with great palettes from design professionals. Heck, I even use them!

4) No Manual Required. I hate installing ceiling fans; what should take ten minutes almost always takes an hour to figure out. Now think about your website.

Can visitors easily find contact info & products or service times & core beliefs? Why not? What about brief intros to your various offerings with links to dedicated pages for each?

Organize key information in an intuitive manner and keep it short and sweet.

5) Don't Steal. Be inspired. One of the best ways to become a great writer is to read incredible writing. The same is true of great web design. If you want your site to propel your biz or ministry, then check out the websites of businesses and non-profits that get it.

AM Design (www.amdesign.com) does amazing work. No, I don't work for them. No, you shouldn't simply "borrow" their designs. But I encourage you to use their work as inspiration for your own online offerings. A lot of their stuff is based in Flash and other programs you may not be able to afford and may require expertise you don't have, but you can still learn from their great design and think about what's achievable in your context.

This is the just the beginning. But following these tips will get you on the road to a visually-vibrant, user-friendly website. Remember, 75% of folks will judge you by your online home. A few simple fixes will help you pass the test.