Ministry and Business Marketing News - Ministry and Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

A couple of quick items for your Happy Monday...

Media Execs See Multiplatform in Their Future
Ignore the headline of the linked article and skip down to the part about future sources of revenue growth. If you want to maximize your effectiveness, you have to think about messaging across your website, TV, radio, blogs, and more. That may seem like a lot of planning, but it's easier than you think.

Your church can show a video in Sunday services, which is then made available on your website (if you own the copyright). Your website can publish great articles and further offer them in shareable widgets to be placed on blogs, Facebook profiles, and more.

That's My King!
Click on the video below to enjoy this classic short film on Jesus. If you don't know Jesus, drop me a line through the "Contact Lucky Rock" button to the left of this blog. I'll be glad to tell you all about Him.

Ministry and Business Widgets, Again - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Last week I blogged about the brilliant viral marketing behind the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. They've used simple "widgets" to spread the previews of the film across the web and reach millions of potential movie goers. I also told you how you can use Sprout to build such widgets to make your ministry or binistry (business that's your ministry) go viral.

Amazon.com deploys widgets in an equally wise, but different way. Kindly notice the Amazon widget on this page, through which you can buy great evangelistic and business books and thereby support this blog ministry. The genius of Amazon's widgets is that they're completely customizable. Slideshows big and small, audio, video and countless combinations thereof are available to Amazon re-sellers. Follow their example with your own viral media.

Create a free SproutBuilder account and build three different widgets. Vary them in size and content and then make them available through your website. As I've said before, the big advantage of Sprout is that changes to your main widget are automatically posted to all versions of the widget deployed across the internet.

Do you own a construction company? Create a few slideshow widgets featuring your various standard home models and building projects, with links for more info. These could then be placed on the websites of your regular lending partners.

Do you operate an audio ministry, a la the tremendous Faith Comes by Hearing? Create a widget like the one on the left side of this blog, complete with mp3 links, basic "about us" info, and more. This media could easily be added to the websites and blogs of supporting churches and other ministry friends.

The Amazon.com widget lesson is simple: allow folks to decide which widget they want to use to promote and partner with your ministry or binistry. The old days of providing a simple static link to your website are going bye, bye fast. Making a handful of widgets available, will allow you to offer true value-added content to your ministry or binistry network.

Happy widgeting...

The New Indiana Jones Movie and Your Ministry - Ministry & Business Marketing, Media and Strategy Blog

Go with me here...

As many of you may know, a new Indiana Jones movie is coming out this summer. It apparently features 60-something American actor Harrison Ford pushing around a walker and popping arthritis medication, as he battles the bad guys in an action-packed adventure for the whole family. Kidding...

Actually, I have no idea what the plot is for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But that's not the point. I mention the movie to point out how they're promoting the film with great success and how you can use the same tactic to advertise your ministry or Christian business.

Say it with me: widget. A widget is a simple little tool that can be easily placed on blogs, websites, and elsewhere, that promotes something and is able to be shared with others. Notice the widget on the left of this post, offering you a chance to chip in a few dollars/pounds/rubles to support the Lucky Rock (your author's non-profit ministry).

The Indiana Jones marketing folks, geniuses that they are, created a trailer and then hired a company to make a widget out of it. The result--literally millions of people have watched the trailer! In fact, on the heels of the mind-boggling success of the first preview, they're now putting out a second trailer via widget. Read the Hollywood Reporter story about it here.

"I think the reason that studios are excited about widgets is that word-of-mouth and buzz is what Hollywood is after all the time," said Peggy Fry, senior vp sales and client services at Clearspring. "If you think about it, what a widget is, it's a digital version of word-of-mouth."

Now consider your ministry or Christian business. Do you have sermon audio, testimonials, video, music, or other content? What about links to key info on your website such as model homes, tax advice, investment insights, etc? You may not have all the advance buzz of the latest Hollywood blockbuster. But you likely have a group of partner ministries, supporters, or contractors that would be willing to help spread the word.

You can build a widget out of just about anything. And the cool thing about widgets is that pretty much anyone can copy and place them on other websites and blogs...the very definition of viral marketing!

I hear a bunch of you saying, "Hold the phone! How in the world do I build a widget?" That's where SproutBuilder comes in. I blogged about it extensively here.

Sprout is a free, web-based service (meaning the interface is online like Hotmail and others), that allows you to build, store, and publish slideshows, audio jukeboxes, link lists, and a bunch of other media. Log onto SproutBuilder.com, sign up for a free account today, and start building. If enough of you ask for it, I'll soon post a SproutBuilder tutorial.

Think about what your ministry or Christian business offers. Then think about how you can make it go viral.

Say it with me...widget.