fountain springs community church gets marketing and can teach all business owners a lesson or three
Here’s a marketing lesson from a church that gets it.
My bride and our son went to Fountain Springs Community Church for an Easter egg hunt the day before the holiday. They arrived and signed in around 10:15 a.m., battled the giggling torrent of other egg hunters for treat-filled plastic treasures, and ate a lot of candy. In other words, it was a great day.
At 2:46 p.m. the SAME DAY, we received the following email:
Friends –
Thank you so much for making the 1st Annual Easter Egg Hunt at Fountain Springs Community Church SO MUCH FUN!
We had a blast meeting you and your kiddos and are so thankful that you were able to be a part of our special event!
We want to invite you to spend Easter Sunday with us too.
If you don’t already have a church you regularly attend – we have worship gatherings tomorrow at 8:00am, 9:30am, and 11:00am.
Mr. Bradley (aka “the Bunny”) and Miss Kasey will be there to help lead Kids’ Rock for the kids, we’ll have fresh Starbucks coffee waiting for you in the lobby, and we would love to share the amazing Easter story with you during our service times.
So – thanks for joining us today and come on over! We’d love to see you again tomorrow morning!
Business owners should be impressed by the quick turnaround on a good lead. How long does it take you to respond to a potential customer who leaves her contact information? I’ll bet it’s more than 4 1/2 hours.
We also should congratulate the church for the email itself. It won’t turn off non-Christians since it’s not preachy, and it won’t alienate members of other churches because it isn’t trying to pull anyone out of one pew and into another. The email is just a nice note that opens the door to a relationship. Awesome.
So what’s the lesson for marketers? First, do things to bring potential customers to your business. This church held a free Easter egg hunt open to anyone from the community. Just as important, there weren’t any covert salesmen lurking in the hallways. What kind of non-sales event can you have at your business?
Second, don’t sell from a position of desperation. Customers know it when you’re trying too hard, and it comes across as odd. People are sick of being sold to, anyway. They would much rather create a meaningful relationship with you and your business. Can you do that with your customers?