Recruiting Through Marketing

You may not realize it, but you are marketing your ministry to the members of your church with everything that you say and do. Simply, marketing is the method of convincing someone that what you offer (i.e. volunteer opportunities) is what they want to do. The way you market your ministry can make a huge difference in how you are able to recruit new volunteers.

A recent post from Seth Godin titled “Marketing your job” touches on how your marketing can have an impact on the type of employees you end up hiring:

Here’s what’s missing from the hiring equation: organizations try to treat jobs like commodities and as a result, often end up treating themselves as commodities. All jobs are the same, our job is a little closer and we pay a little better, call us. Sure, companies all brag about the work environment and benefits and such, but when they come right down to it, they’re not so different.

Now, stop and apply his line of thought to your church. Is your ministry that much different than the others, or are you trying to convince your church members the same way as the other ministries in your church? If you switched your leadership role with another ministry, would you still try to recruit and build a team the same way?

Here are 3 practical steps to make a difference in how you market your ministry to untapped volunteers in your church:

1. Create unique volunteering opportunities custom-tailored to your ministry focus. Don’t make every opportunity look like the last one. Try something different and create new opportunities around it.
2. Be selective in who you add to your team. Each person you add to your team will begin to create a culture that you won’t be able to change. Find those that exhibit the uniqueness that your ministry requires, rather than creating a ministry of the same type of person. This includes finding people that aren’t like you!
3. Evaluate your ministry to similar ones in neighboring churches. Unless you are trying to duplicate their ministry in a different part of town, there is no need to recreate the same approach. Learn from them what works, but strive to be unique!

So, how are you going to create a unique ministry that church members want to join?

[tags]recruiting volunteers, church recruiting, church leadership, church marketing[/tags]

Popularity: 1% [?]