Text Message Marketing Churches

I've found that it is VERY easy to get appointments with Churches because nobody seems to call them so the people there are very willing to meet.

With that said, I've found it VERY difficult to close a deal. They all seem interested, but then everything has to go before committee and there's always somebody in the committee who makes it their business to kill the deal.

I have quit targeting this niche because of that reason. I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer, but my experience says to stay away, it's just not worth the hassle!

-Ben

When approaching church committee a good idea is to have the text message champaign with potential keyword in place. When going through your sales process, give a live demo right there on the spot having the committee participate and text the demo keyword to the short code. Go evening further and give them a free trial for 7, 14, or even 30 days. During this trial period consult with them to help set up their mobile campaign. This is just one of many foot in the door strategies you can use to look like the total expert and authority in your local market and build trust at the same time. Hope this help s.

At 84444.com , we have had some success with the religion sector. That success, however, has been almost entirely geared to the youth groups within the churches. I'm all for sharing ideas here, because if more churches start using it, the word will spread (like the Good Word I guess) and we will all make more business.

You could try it with your own church first, or a friend's church. Do a campaign for free and get results. Churches are always looking for fundraiser ideas as well. You could try pitching it to the Youth Group leaders and offer a campaign like:
Use this as a fundraiser idea for your youth group. Have them create a campaign then go out and "sell" broadcast messages to local business owners. Ask the congregation to sign up to this campaign and agree to get local messages for a month or two to help the youth group earn money for their next trip. Could also be gear towards women's or men's groups and just use appropriate vendors. The congregation is not being asked to buy anything - just sign up for messages. Maybe the local vendors will also offer up a % of sales. If they make enough money on the campaign, it will pay for the cost of the service and get the congregation used to receiving messages. Just a thought.

I actually made some postcards to send out with a short code on them for the church to opt in and see how it works. Also added my number on the welcome message so they could just click or tap and call my number.

I will send them out and see how it goes.

Keep in mind that churches and religious type of groups are in fact being sold to all the time. They have been pitched some deals at OUTRAGEOUS prices & they buy them. Several big churches in my area are paying monster fees for SMS systems they were sold within the past 3 years. Sad part is they like over paying.

For instance:
I found a web company on the internet that states they specialize in church websites. Then I looked at their prices. The lowest price was $15,000, the highest price was $25,000 dollars! This company even charged $500 if you want color on your website, $500 per change, and $500 per photograph! The craziest part was this web company actually had tons of churches that bought this high priced stuff.

I am not advocating outrageous prices but fair market value for your products. i.e. do not give it away, do not offer free trials or discounts to this market.

A different twist on this (total theory and I've never tried it, so take it for what it's worth):

Don't charge the church for this service. Rather, offer to create a daily devotional or Bible verse per day service (you can have a preset campaign or let the church put something custom together). Have congregation members sign up and bill them recurring monthly (let's say $9.99 per month billed directly to their phone, or you could even have a tiered option [$4.99/$9.99/$19.99] to allow people who want to contribute more to do so), with 50+% of the gross earnings going directly to the church. This is a way for members to easily/automatically support their church and will be a great additional supplement to the regular tithes and offerings. Also, the church could do broadcasts on occasion to let members know about special events or prayer requests or anything else. This business model would be similar to the horoscope-type CPA offers, except that it would be an actual valuable service that people would appreciate and stay subscribed to. The church could advertise it in their weekly bulletins and even make announcements about it on Sundays.

Okay, now imagine you approach one of the popular televangelists with this service... I'm going to stop there.