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

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.

From the Back Cover

FAITH-BASED MARKETING

This is an awesome, eye-opening guide to a market that is large and untapped. It will help you navigate an honest, ethical, and effective path to reach the Christian market.”

―GUY KAWASAKI
cofounder, Alltop.com and author, Reality Check

"There are 140 million churchgoers in this country, and they all havemoney, but don't reach for the John 3:16 poster and rainbow-afro wig just yet.A mammoth market isn't necessarily a monolith. These guys show you how tocultivate the faithful, segment by segment, from the bottom up."

―BOB GARFIEDield
Advertising Age

"Some of the most interesting cases of word-of-mouth marketingcan be found within the Christian community. This book is packed withsuch examples as well as with some solid advice about word of mouth.Clear, readable, and extremely informative, Faith-Based Marketing is theperfect guide to understanding and reaching Christian consumers."

―EMANUEL ROSEN
author, The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited

"Greg Stielstra was the marketing director for my bestsellingbooks with Zondervan, so I've seen firsthand his ability to reach Christianconsumers. He has proven that he can pursue effective business practiceswhile always respecting the Christian faith."

―LEE STROBEL
author, The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith

"Bob has been very helpful in guiding our communication with thefaith-based community in a culturally relevant and sensitive manner. The insightshe and Greg provide in Faith-Based Marketing have provided a clear path in themidst of the cacophony of the latest 'new media' gurus."

―JEFF MOSELEY President, INO Records

Edition details

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