Faith-Based Marketing: The Guide to Reaching 140 Million Christian Customers - Hardcover

Hutchins, Bob; Stielstra, Greg

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470422106 ISBN 13: 9780470422106

Publisher: Wiley, 2009

Synopsis

Most businesses don’t have a good understanding of the faith community and how to market to this huge audience in effective, culturally sensitive ways. Many attempts to market to Christians have backfired, because the marketers had little understanding of Christians’ values, taboos, and "hot buttons". Yet the size of the opportunity is enormous. Faith-Based Marketing provides everything business leaders need to understand 140 million Christian consumers and effectively reach them. It explains who Christians are, what they want, and provides traditional, new media, and word-of-mouth strategies to communicate with and engage them and their churches. The book also includes a valuable directory of top Christian organizations, churches, and events, to help marketers and business leaders find out whom to contact and how. The book includes a free subscription to a companion website with bonus content.

About this title

About the Author

BOB HUTCHINS runs Buzzplant, an Internet marketing agency that targets the faith and family market. He was instrumental in online marketing campaigns for the Christian hit movies The Passion of the Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia. Learn more at www.buzzplant.com.

GREG STIELSTRA is the author of PyroMarketing and was a marketing executive at the world’s two largest Christian publishers, Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. At Zondervan, Stielstra was marketing director for Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life, the fastest selling hardcover in American history. Learn more at www.pyromarketing.com.

From the Back Cover

Includes free 90-day subscription to FaithBasedMarketing.com―a $29.99 value

It’s the largest, most faithful, highest spending market segment in the United States, yet chances are you have never considered it. America’s 140 million weekly church-goers spend $5.1 trillion annually and support the businesses that understand and respect them with near-religious devotion. But to reach them effectively, you’re going to need some help.

Faith-Based Marketing provides everything you need to understand the Christian consumer power niche and effectively reach it. It explains who makes up that community, what they want, and what it takes to appeal to them. Then, based on survey research from believers across the country and interviews with experts, it provides practical guidance for creating faith-based marketing plans that work.

In many ways, Christians are no different from other consumers―they are discerning shoppers who put price, value, customer service, and convenience ahead of loyalty to businesses that just happen to be owned by Christians. But they are also a somewhat forgotten market that promises big returns for those businesses that develop real relationships with them. Christians may be ordinary consumers who need the same products as everyone else, but they respond extraordinarily well to marketing approaches customized to their needs.

Faith-Based Marketing presents a bounty of other important insights as well―common mistakes marketers make in dealing with the Christian market; how to serve rather than sell to the market; and what works and doesn’t work when dealing with pastors and other church leaders. You’ll also find proven strategies for effective radio, print, online, word-of-mouth, and direct marketing, as well as resources―in the book and online―that tell you who’s who in the Christian community and how to reach them.

Though increasing your sales is the ultimate goal, this book isn’t just about selling more of your stuff to Christians. Faith-Based Marketing reveals that when you market your products the right way, you won’t just make more money but also meet the needs of Christian consumers in ways that respect their beliefs and improve their lives―a blessing for us all.

From the Inside Flap

It's the largest, most faithful, highest spending market segment in the United States, yet chances are you have never considered it. America's 140 million weekly church-goers spend $5.1 trillion annually and support the businesses that understand and respect them with near-religious devotion. But to reach them effectively, you're going to need some help.

Faith-Based Marketing provides everything you need to understand the Christian consumer power niche and effectively reach it. It explains who makes up that community, what they want, and what it takes to appeal to them. Then, based on survey research from believers across the country and interviews with experts, it provides practical guidance for creating faith-based marketing plans that work.

In many ways, Christians are no different from other consumers—they are discerning shoppers who put price, value, customer service, and convenience ahead of loyalty to businesses that just happen to be owned by Christians. But they are also a somewhat forgotten market that promises big returns for those businesses that develop real relationships with them. Christians may be ordinary consumers who need the same prod-ucts as everyone else, but they respond extraordinarily well to marketing approaches customized to their needs.

Faith-Based Marketing presents a bounty of other important insights as well—common mistakes marketers make in dealing with the Christian market; how to serve rather than sell to the market; and what works and doesn't work when dealing with pastors and other church leaders. You'll also find proven strategies for effective radio, print, online, word-of-mouth, and direct marketing, as well as resources—in the book and online—that tell you who's who in the Christian community and how to reach them.

Though increasing your sales is the ultimate goal, this book isn't just about selling more of your stuff to Christians. Faith-Based Marketing reveals that when you market your products the right way, you won't just make more money but also meet the needs of Christian consumers in ways that respect their beliefs and improve their lives—a blessing for us all.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0470422106
• ISBN 13: 9780470422106
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256