Outreach Church Communications and Marketing

10 Reasons to Use Postcards for Church Outreach

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As the scripture says there really is nothing new under the sun and that includes the most effective ways of inviting people to church. Thanks to the influx of digital messages through emails and social media, today there is less competition in people’s physical mailboxes – making direct mail postcard invitations an even better option for inviting people to church! 

Are you using church postcards as part of your outreach strategy? Still need some convincing that direct mail is a highly effective form of outreach? Here are ten reasons church postcards are still a powerful, cost-effective outreach tool:

1. Broad Reach

What can you count on to be delivered to nearly everyone in the country, Monday through Saturday? Mail. It’s sometimes tough to know how many of your television spots, radio announcements, or digital ads reach your desired audience. In contrast, direct mail has nearly a 100% saturation rate. That means there are very few people who won’t receive your postcard. Mail can reach everyone in your community, so your church’s direct mail can find a way into every home.

According to Gallup, 95% of Millennials say they “love” getting mail.

2. Budget Friendly

Direct mail can cost much less than many other forms of advertising, but still allows you to reach large numbers of people. As a church with a non-profit postal permit you can use carrier-route, saturation mailing, to get the absolute lowest rate available from the post office or you can choose a specific audience, a specific area, and specific number of people to target. You have total control over your budget and can scale your mailings accordingly.

3. Attention-grabbing design

The eye-catching graphics and shorter text length make a postcard much more readable than a letter – plus they stand out in the mailbox more. 

Your church postcard can capture people’s attention through great design and a customized message. Get people interested in your church with a thoughtfully designed card and targeted messaging that gives them a clear path of action. This combination can create a connection with the recipient and make them curious to find out more about your church! Outreach.com has hundreds of postcard designs for any church event!

4. Customizable to suit your needs

You have control of what your church postcards look like, and can choose what event your card will highlight and what your call to action will be. You can craft a message to introduce your church’s Sunday services, have a specific promotion of a fun outreach event, or share the times of special holiday services (like Easter or Christmas). 

Whatever message you want to convey, you can customize your card to make it clear and easy for recipients to respond – all without needing a graphic designer. New online editors make it easy for anyone to change text, add images or logos and create a postcard that fits your church!

5. Multipurpose medium

Direct mail lets people know your church is out there, and it gives them a reason to visit. Make your church postcard do double duty by including a promotional offer with your message. Invite people to bring in their postcard in exchange for a free gift. This encourages people to visit your church while allowing you to see the impact of your postcard campaign.


6. Target a well-defined audience

Direct mail takes the guesswork out of who to contact. You can use local zip codes to target people, and your mailing provider will have other data you can use to reach a specific audience in a set location. This allows you to find people who live close to your church and encourage them to visit.

Also, postcards can be used to reach new movers in your community. A new mover service can automatically send every new family that moves in near your church an invitation to visit!

7. A competitive advantage

People encounter visual media all day long. Statistics say the average person views over 4,000 advertising messages each day. That’s a lot of information to process – and a lot of information to ignore. Direct mail is a medium with extremely limited competition. People receive on average a maximum of 10-15 pieces of mail per day. Those pieces definitely won’t all be church mailers, which means your church postcard will stand out.

The Direct Marketing Association does report that 56% of Americans consider receiving mail “a real joy.”

8. A lasting reminder

Most of today’s media messages are taken in at a glance and quickly forgotten. Remember that statistic about the average person receiving somewhere around 4,000 advertising messages per day? Imagine trying to actually remember all of those messages. Direct mail has the tendency to stick in people’s minds because your message has a physical reminder. If your card has good design and an encouraging message, it may just make it onto the family fridge or bulletin board.

9. Works well as part of a larger campaign

Direct mail is an important part of a larger integrated marketing campaign. Thoughtful, cohesive design creates a memorable theme you can use not only on postcards, but also on banners, church décor, bulletins, and yes even on social media and your website.  Your church will look intentional and professional – giving guests a great first impression. 

In fact, postcards work great in conjunction with Facebook ads too! The new Outreach Everywhere program lets you mail a postcard to your community and then follows it up with online ads to the same areas- providing you with a physical and digital invite and reinforcing your message to the community!

10. Part of a long-term Strategy

Direct mail is not necessarily and one and done type of marketing. Churches that do multiple mailings a year into their community get better results – they gain name recognition with their neighbors, and let people know they are available for more than Christmas and Easter. 

If you set out a multiple mailing strategy you can also use postcards to test variables like different messaging or different offers to find out which methods seem to work best for your church. As you continue to experiment with direct mail, you can hone your approach and maximize your budget.

As you can see, church postcards are a cost effective method to reach your community for Christ. Take a look at your overall outreach strategy and determine where you can make postcards best work for your church!

Not sure how to get started with church postcards? We can help!

Outreach

Outreach

With a mission to share God’s love and empower the Church to share the message of Jesus Christ, Outreach has quickly grown to become the largest provider of church outreach products and services in the world. Join the Outreach Weekly for the latest tips, tools, ideas, and deals to help you reach your community for Christ.

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