Holding an Online Evangelistic Meeting

Vince WilliamsCOVID-19 Response, Evangelism Practices, Fall Evangelism, Marketing Practices, Marketing Tools, News

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Dear pastor or church leader,

As we all prayerfully look to the near future, it is easy to see that all the anxiety and fear within our communities has prepared a way for people to be receptive to the three-angel's message. The big question is, How?

Over the past week we have been working diligently for a solution that will allow your church to activate in your community with a platform that is easy to operate but also builds connection for the long haul. We've landed on Zoom. 

Zoom is a leader in online meetings and webinars. Many of you may already be using it with members or for Conference level meetings. Although there is a monthly cost for the pro level (you'll need it for your meetings), we believe this is the best package of features to meet the specific needs of an evangelistic series. In fact, we believe it so much we're working to integrate our existing platforms with theirs to make this an even more effective evangelism tool.

Why do we like Zoom?

Zoom offers the four big features we believe are most important in your online platform: Registration, Recurring Meetings, Attendance Tracking (more on that below), and interactions. With this combination of features your church can hold ongoing meetings, reach out to people who have stopped showing up and take questions or ask for decisions in real-time.

Marketing an online meeting
  1. Capturing Registrations. Because the goal is long-term relationship we need to get the viewers information. Our team has modified our online registration platform to have a toggle for online meetings. This will enable the messaging to match your revised method, while continuing to capture registrations in the same places you already know to look.
  2. Matching the method to the media. We will be recommending a different combination of marketing for your online meeting—one that will probably save you money over traditional print. Print is a necessary spoke in the wheel for driving bodies through doors. However, we want to save that option for when our physical meeting halls return to us. For now we want to develop a robust online package. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google all have roles to play when advertising an online meeting.
  3. We need your members more than ever. We'll supply your members with ways to share and respond to the invitation using their own social channels. It is the combination of paid ads and personal sharing that will get you the highest results. 
  4. We encourage constant communication. We will communicate with the registrants as we get closer to the meeting, but depending on the number of weeks we advertise we will want to make sure people are getting a chain of emails to encourage attendance and engagement.
Setting up recurring Zoom evangelism meetings

In order to utilize the features in Zoom that you will need for your meetings, you will need to have a paid membership. At a minimum you will need the Pro membership (100 attendees) with the Video Webinar ad on (half way down the pricing page). There are monthly or yearly options depending on the scale of your plan. A monthly plan will run you about $55 for both—See Zoom plans here. Once your package is purchased, follow these simple steps to set up your meeting...

  1. Select "Schedule a Meeting" in the top navigation of your main page after sign in.
  2. On the left navigation panel select "Webinars"
  3. Choose "Schedule a Webinar"
    1. Enter your title and dates
    2. Choose the "Recurring Webinar" option
      1. With recurring meetings you can only choose between Daily, Weekly, Monthly occurrences. We recommend Weekly and then choose a set schedule of days per week. To learn more about recurring webinars in Zoom visit their help page. 
    3. Registration: If you are using our Relevant Seminars registration platform don't choose registration, we'll handle that for you. If you are using Zoom's platform alone you will want to offer registration as a way to collect information.  There are three options...
      1. Attendees register once. This is our recommended method. This will keep friction low to continuing through the meetings. We recommend tracking attendance with a different method (see tracking attendance below).
      2. Attendees register for each occurrence. This would mean that each attendee would need to re-register for each meeting. 
      3. Attendees register once and choose which occurrences to attend. This only makes sense for churches offering the same event at different times. 
  4. Select Webinar Password (Optional)
  5. Video: Select Host "on" and Panelists "off"
  6. Audio: Select Both (Note: due to Zoom's current overload the telephone sound is not as recommended as Computer Audio. However it is a nice choice for some without speakers.)
  7. Webinar Options: We recommend Q&A, Enable Practice Session, and Record webinar

You have now scheduled a recurring webinar/evangelistic meeting.

Connecting with Registered Interests

Getting someone to give you their information is a first step in building trust and connection. However, to help cement that bond and increase the odds they will participate in the meeting we need to engage with the registrant a number of times. Here are the primary forms of communication and our recommendation of best practices leading up to the meeting.

  1. Confirmations. A confirmation is the first opportunity to connect with your new registrant. The confirmation is an on page response to sign up.
    1. If you are using Relevant Seminars registration platform. We handle your confirmation message by creating a dynamic message that reflects your meeting and affirms a participant's decision to join. Recently we have tested video confirmations and like the idea of offering those to our pastors as well. We'll be covering that in a future article/video.
    2. If you are using Zoom's system exclusively. Zoom offers a basic confirmation page. At this time we can not find a place to edit the confirmation notification.
  2. Notifications. Notifications are the additional points of communication that lead up to your meeting or remind people to attend the ongoing meeting.
    1. If you are using Relevant Seminars registration platform. Our platform communicates with your interests automatically, allowing you to focus on meeting preparation. Using the interest's preferred method, text or email, we send out notifications 72 & 24 hours before your opening meeting. With online meetings we also send out daily reminders for ongoing meetings and 15 minute reminders before the start of every session.
    2. If you are using Zoom's system exclusively. Zoom has a robust built in reminder system that will inform people before a meeting starts. However, their system is limited to email only.
  3. Interactive Elements. In order to increase connection it is often a good idea to incorporate interactive elements as a preview of the coming meeting. This can be a quiz, a questionnaire to start a person thinking and get their current opinion, or a short video (less interactive, but it is another form of engagement). SermonView is considering the best ways to help with these elements. Talk to a team member about creative solutions or assets that we have that might help.

 

Managing the meeting LIVE - Tracking Attendees and managing Decisions

Now that you have scheduled the meeting and connected with registrants a number of times, it is time to hold the meeting. Online meetings run and feel different, plus we have to solve attendance and decisions. Here are our thoughts on how to best run an online meeting.

Tracking Attendance

Although Zoom, and potentially other platforms, have the ability to handle recurring meetings, they don't offer an effective long-term way to manage attendance. That is why we are offering our all-new AttendanceTracker at no cost to churches for the next 90 days. AttendanceTracker takes our current platform, InterestTracker, and turns it into an easy-to-use tool for tracking nightly attendance and handling on-site registrations. Although this program was not originally designed for online meetings, it can be a great way to let an administrator check people in digitally. Here is how it works.

  1. Sign up for our ALWAYS-FREE InterestTracker account at InterestTracker.org.
  2. Speak to your Campaign Manager about adding AttendanceTracker for free (no credit or future membership required. This is a free gift in a tough time that we think will help).
  3. Create an event in AttendanceTracker (see videos for easy instructions at http://interesttracker.org/attendance-tracker/, or ask your Campaign Manager for assistance).
  4. We'll connect your RelevantSeminars Registration to the event.
  5. When people start logging in on opening night, they'll already be in your system. Simply follow the steps in the AttendanceTracker tutorial to "check-in" the guests. This will be very similar to in person meetings, without the ability to scan someone into the meeting.
Managing Decisions and Other Interactive Elements

Zoom offers a number of interactive elements that we think are important to keeping viewers and creating engagement throughout the meeting. Zoom offers a Q&A feature along with their polling system. We like their polling system, so here is how it works.

  1. Click on your scheduled webinar and choose the "Poll" option from the secondary navigation.
  2. Click Add to begin creating a poll.
  3. You will choose a title and your first question. Check the box "make the poll anonymous" in order to keep the data all on your side. 
  4. Type in the answers.

You can have up to 25 polls per webinar. We recommend you build one to two as ice breakers for everyone involved. Then you put in a poll for affirmation or interactivity every 15-20 minutes of the presentation.

We know this is a lot to think about and as times change it is a proficiency that we all need develop within our ministry teams. We want to be here to help. This is the beginning of a unique opportunity. People are opening their hearts to this message and we need to be ready to meet them where they are at. Today, and for the foreseeable future, they are online.

We're here for you.
Keep your evangelism going strong with low-touch, high-impact marketing solutions.

Ask Us How →

A Conversation About Online Evangelistic Meetings

Larry WitzelCOVID-19 Response, Evangelism Practices, From the Field

“What can churches do to propel evangelism forward in this environment of social distancing?”

That was the question posed to five Seventh-day Adventist evangelist pastors last week as the coronavirus national health emergency led authorities to ban all gatherings of more than ten people. As this crisis unfolded, SermonView’s Larry Witzel and Vince Williams led a Zoom call with these five pastors:

  • Byron Corbett, Richardson TX
  • Richie Halversen, Cleveland TN
  • Ann Thrash-Trumbo, Columbus GA
  • Keith Trumbo, Columbus GA
  • Joshua Plohocky, Warminster PA

Some of the questions discussed:

  • Can evangelistic meetings be conducted exclusively online?
  • What mechanism can you use to ask for decisions in online meetings?
  • What changes do you need to make to your presentations to work online?
  • What kind of content will move people forward in their faith journey?
  • How can a church move forward in evangelism in this new environment?

Listen in on the conversation, and be challenged and inspired to step up your own church’s online evangelism.

Our Response to COVID-19

jwilliamsCOVID-19 Response, Evangelism Practices, News

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Dear pastor or church leader,

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is called to proclaim the three angels’ message across the globe, and this message is more relevant today than ever before. However, the current state of the world makes it more challenging than ever to engage your community in any live, in-person event.

First and foremost, we want to express our sincere concern for everyone who has been impacted by the coronavirus. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this truly difficult time.

The SermonView crew has been paying close attention to news about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, and we understand that public meetings currently in progress and those about to start are in jeopardy of seeing low returns and even possible cancellation—with the scope of the crisis worsening every hour.

Our team strives to be fleet-footed, and we are prepared to serve you in any way we can. Here are some specific ways we want to serve your ministry during this unique moment in history:
  1. If you are planning to halt an upcoming meeting, please call us immediately. We will put any order on hold that is not already in print. (We will offer reprints on most print resources at a 50% discount for products already printed. Call our team to learn more.) We will not charge any cancellation fees or design costs for churches who put their meetings on hold.
  2. We are ready to work with you to communicate with your guests and members. We can update messaging on any meeting website to help communicate meetings that are cancelled, on hold, or want to move to an online platform (see below).
  3. If you have run a Facebook ad campaign with our team, and need to cancel or change information, we can make a comment on your ad. Even if the advertising has stopped running an ad can exist as a post, and adding a comment from the originator of the ad will help people know what comments are real.
  4. We encourage churches to be proactive in their communications. Please use the email addresses you have from registrations, InterestTracker or any other interest list software to alleviate concerns and let guests know your plans. If you need help exporting your email list from our pre-registration system, please contact our team and we will send it to you.
  5. If you are moving your meeting out a few weeks and have already decided on the new date, there are additional ways we can support you at no cost. Please contact your team representative to find out all the ways we are prepared to help promote your date adjustment.

How do churches preach the everlasting gospel in this new environment?

Our team is committed to the work of evangelism in any climate. In fact, we believe that now is an amazing time to communicate Advent truth in your community, and here are some recommendations for ongoing evangelism in your community:
  1. Consider moving your meetings to an online platform. We recommend using a platform that can be private and requires a form of registration, such as Zoom. This will enable you to track and communicate with guests throughout the meetings, allowing for the right time to invite them to your church in the coming months. Public platforms like Facebook Live and YouTube Live miss the opportunity for you to capture specific information and limit your ability to control your content. They also make your meetings a permanent record, which may not be something you want on Facebook in the future
  2. Consider sending people information upon request. If you are running a Bible study group or handling interest requests, send an email to prepare someone for your arrival and give them options to receive items in the mail. This will show a level of understanding and build relationship. But most importantly, keep your interest generation program going.
  3. Use online to promote online. The advantage of online advertising and web portals are that they are very flexible. Instead of paper, consider utilizing media that can be edited to accommodate rapidly shifting environments and information as news is released. Our team is currently preparing ways to accept registrations for online meetings and webinars, so that you can continue to collect interest’s data and maintain communication with them throughout the changing environment.

Now is a Great Time for Digital Evangelism

In this environment, let's propel evangelism forward! Right now, there are worried people in your community ready to hear the biblical message of hope and wholeness.

While public gatherings have proven effective in the past—and certainly will again in the future—now is the time to build a digital evangelism strategy that can propel your church’s growth both now and tomorrow.

God will bless your efforts, and SermonView is ready to help. Our prayer is that during this unique moment in history, our joint efforts to innovate digital evangelism will result in a great harvest for God’s Kingdom.

Please let us know how we can help.
The SermonView Crew

We're here for you.
Keep your evangelism going strong with low-touch, high-impact marketing solutions.

Ask Us How →

Interest Generation in an Age of Social Distancing

Vince WilliamsCOVID-19 Response, Evangelism Practices, Fall Evangelism, News

Drop it at the door?

Interest Generation in an Age of Social Distancing

The world has changed. Maybe for a moment; maybe longer. Either way, we now live in a time of heightened fear and disruption of daily habits. Historically, this would be a perfect time for evangelistic activity. But when authorities have closed public meetings, and social distancing has become the norm, how do our evangelistic practices need to change?

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Interest Generation

Traditionally, an interest generation campaign consisted of a Bible study card mailing, with a tear-off response card mailed back. This led to a Bible worker or volunteer going to the door with the Bible study, initiating an in-person relationship.

There are two problems with this traditional approach. First, these days more people have internet access at home than have stamps laying around to put on a return card. So over the last decade SermonView has developed online marketing systems, and we have seen significant breakthroughs in just the last year. We can now consistently generate qualified Bible-study leads for about $20 each (mailers average around $43), and these online advertising programs are perfectly suited to the current environment.

The second problem, however, is more serious. Today, you are not welcome at the door. A face-to-face relationship is crucial to building the heart relationship required for effective evangelism. That must be the ultimate goal. But what steps can we take to engage people now, even in this new climate of social distancing?

Engaging with Bible Study Interests Today

Here are three ideas for how to build your Bible study interest leads during the current COVID-19 restrictions, and even beyond.

  1. If you are offering a physical resource, drop a small care kit at the door. The goal of introducing yourself to a Bible study interest is to build a relationship. Typically, this is a physical meeting, but in the current climate we can’t pressure people with a physical meeting immediately. At a minimum, your care kit should include the offered resource—whether a book, DVD or Bible study—along with a card or short letter introducing yourself that includes the volunteer’s personal phone number and offer to pray with them by phone. If you’d like to add other gifts or online resources, you could give them a URL to an online meeting or just let them know that you’ll be dropping off something else in a week.
  2. Offer a free online resource to start. Utilizing a Facebook ad campaign, you can secure interests that want to receive a free online Bible study or other online-only resource. Then you can start an email dialogue with them or invite them to an online Bible study through a Zoom meeting or a one-on-one Facetime meeting.
  3. Offer prayer or community through the phone or an online environment. Many people will be home alone with little to do. In a time of anxiety like this it could be a great blessing to have someone to talk with about spiritual matters.

A Timely Message

People need Jesus now more than ever, so it’s not the time to hold back. Searches across America have increased up to 5x for searches line end times and second coming. During this extraordinary moment in history, we all have an obligation to be reaching out and offering hope to our neighbors.  The SermonView crew stands ready to help you reach people in your community who are ready to hear our biblical message of hope and wholeness.

We believe God will use this crisis to reach the hearts of the stubborn and prideful, to pique new curiosities and engage the minds of people no longer distracted by the modern culture. God has prepared your church for this moment, to be messengers of hope and healing. We are excited and honored to work alongside you.

Please let us know how we can help.
The SermonView Crew

We're here to help.
Want to keep your evangelism marketing going with online advertising?

See how our multichannel online advertising can boost your evangelism activities.
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How to Build Custom Audiences for Effective Facebook Ads

jwilliamsMarketing Practices

 

If you want your Facebook ad to be effective, you’ve got to know your audience. Today we’ll give you some tips to building a Facebook audience that reaches the people most likely to respond to your ad.

Building an effective Facebook ad requires more than just an engaging image or a pithy headline. The effectiveness of an ad also depends on reaching the right audience. You want to make sure your ad is appearing in the Facebook feed of people most likely to come to your evangelistic event.

Here are some of the filters you can use when building a custom audience:

Geo-location

Facebook allows you to build an audience based on geo-location. If you’re promoting an evangelistic event, focusing on a targeted area will help you spend your dollars more wisely. Think about pairing demographic data with geo-location for added impact and a more targeted approach.

Demographics

Facebook makes targeting demographics easy. You can target your ads by gender or a particular age group, like millennials or seniors. This is a powerful tool to not only target your intended audience but to intentionally engage people who are more likely to register and attend your events.

Interests

You can also narrow your audience based on their interests. For example, you can target people who are interested in Bible prophecy, archaeology, or health and wellness. Now, the thing about targeting by interest is that people don’t have to have specifically liked this topic. Facebook knows users’ interests based on previous posts they interacted with, or links they clicked, or videos they liked. So interest-based targeting is actually a highly valuable filter you can use in building your audience.

Previous contact

The most powerful audience is one who already knows you, and today you can build a custom audience using email addresses. Make sure you’re collecting email addresses in your interest list and use that list to create a targeted audience when you promote your evangelistic events.

 

We Can Help

Here at SermonView Evangelism Marketing, we handle over a thousand campaigns every year, and many of those include Facebook advertising. Through this experience, we’ve developed Facebook audience criteria that includes prior attendees and others most likely to attend your next event. Our targeted audiences continue to yield better and better results as we add new data of registrants to our library.

When you’re doing a Facebook ad campaign, you should define your audience as narrowly as possible for maximum effectiveness. The result is that you’ll be able to reach the people most likely to respond to your offer, for the lowest cost.

If you’re not sure where to begin with building an audience, we’d love to help. We’ll work with you to set up a custom audience and an effective Facebook ad as part of your overall evangelism marketing strategy, so you’ll see more people at your next outreach event.

Call us at 1-800-525-5791

Four Reasons Why Our Video Ads Are So Effective

jwilliamsMarketing Practices

 

Did you know that on Facebook, users engage with video content 5 times longer than they do with a static image? Today we’ll show you how video ads can increase attendance at your next evangelistic event.

Facebook Ads Have Higher Engagement Rates

People are drawn to watching videos online. Whether it’s an exciting movie trailer, quick how-to-tip or animals dancing around the house, videos have more views, more likes, and more comments on Facebook than any other type of content. And this goes for video advertising as well.

When it comes to Facebook advertising, video ads have a much higher engagement rate than static images, this includes comments and shares. We also know that content with higher engagement gets preferenced by Facebook. This means that with video ads, you can reach a wider audience at a lower cost.

Here at Sermonview Evangelism Marketing, we know how to create effective Facebook video ads that will reach more people and get more attendees to your next evangelistic event.

Four Reasons Why Our Video Ads Are So Effective:

We Create Video Ads That Are Varying Lengths

First, we create video ads that are varying lengths, depending on audience and purpose. There is no magic size when it comes to Facebook advertising. An ad too short may leave your audience confused and uninterested. An ad too long could mean that your audience doesn’t stay to see your call to action at the end. That’s why we create different ads, for different purposes, so more people hear about your event.

We Create Professional-looking Video Ads

Second, we create professional-looking video ads. It might seem easy enough to make a video ad on Facebook, but there are a lot of factors that must be considered when producing your own video. Today’s audience is quality-sensitive. We are used to watching professional, well-written and well-produced videos. The quality of the video speaks to the quality of your event, so if you’re going to hold a professional, high-quality event, your video advertising needs to match.

We Write Scripts That Enhance the Effectiveness of the Ad

Third, we write scripts that enhance the effectiveness of your video ad. As professional marketers, we know what words and phrases will catch your audience’s attention and compel them to engage with your ad. We understand the goal of the video is to provoke action, in most cases people registering for your event.

We Personalize Your Video Ad Specifically for Your Event

And finally, we personalize your video ad specifically for your event. This means that your audience will see a video that visually matches your mailing, banners, and website registration site. Everything is part of a cohesive package with a clear visual identity.

See How High-Quality Video Ads Will Work for You

Video is a powerful tool that needs to be part of your modern evangelism marketing mix. Call SermonView today and let us produce a Facebook video ad for your next evangelistic event that will capture your audience’s attention and increase attendance at your next event.

Call us at 1-800-525-5791

The Importance of A/B Testing Ads

jwilliamsMarketing Practices

 

Our world is constantly changing, and to remain effective we have to change with it. Today, we’ll share why constantly testing your marketing is so important, and the steps for effective tests.

What is A/B Testing?

Split testing, or A/B testing, means trying out two versions of a marketing piece, then measuring the performance of each version to see which does better. A marketing professional uses split testing to improve the response rates for their direct mail, email ads, Facebook ads, TV and radio advertising. Pretty much any form of marketing communication is a candidate for split testing.

Why You Should Test

So why do we test? Because it’s the most definitive way to determine effectiveness. If you make a change without testing it, you don’t actually know if a change in response rate is due to your change, or some other factor.

For example, imagine you send a mailer for a reaping series in July. You didn’t get the results you wanted, so you decide to change the cover image, the title, and your session descriptions for a reaping series in a different state in October. You send the new mailer out, and your response rate doubles. But what caused this increase in response? Is the new location more favorable to the message? Is October a better time of year than July? Was it the new cover image, the new title, or the new session descriptions? It’s hard to know, because so many things changed at once. This can lead to marketing superstitions instead of increased effectiveness.

The ideal way to test a change in this mailer would be to make a single change, split your mailing list into two demographically similar groups, then send one version to one list and the other version to the other list. If you use a different URL and phone number for your call to action, you can then measure the difference in response rates.

How To Test

SermonView runs A/B tests at different intervals to learn which elements have the biggest impact on a mailing.

We know it’s not always cost-effective to run split tests on direct mail, but with Facebook advertising, you can run tests quickly at no incremental cost. That’s why we routinely test every element of our ads. Here are some of the things we test for nearly every campaign we do on Facebook:

Audience:

We’ll test whether ads are more effective with men, women, or both. We’ve also focused on different age groups and interests to find the right audience for the message.

Images:

For each Facebook ad campaign, we test multiple images to find the one that is most engaging for that campaign.

Videos:

We test different length ads, as well as content, to see which one has the highest view and response rates.

Marketing Copy:

We test headlines and descriptions to find the most effective for the specific topic of that campaign.

Let Us Help

Testing is an important practice that helps you become more effective with your marketing. Contact us today to learn more about how Facebook advertising will help you see more people at your next evangelist event.

Call us at 1-800-525-5791

Improving Your Facebook Relevance Score

jwilliamsMarketing Practices

Your Facebook Relevance Score Matters

If you want your video ad to reach more people on Facebook, then your ad needs to have a high “relevance score.” Today we’ll tell you what that is, why it matters, and how can you increase it.

What is a Relevance Score?

Facebook likes content that engages its users. The more a post gets liked, or shared, or clicked, or commented on, the more Facebook likes it. To measure engagement, they developed a metric called a “Relevance Score.”

Facebook preferences content with higher scores. The higher the score, the more people it gets shown to users. That’s why the top posts in your feed are ones with lots of reactions and comments. These are posts with a high relevance score.

Advertisements are also assigned this score, which is where things get interesting. Ads with a higher score are displayed more prominently on user feeds. That means ads with a higher score will reach more people, without increasing your costs. In fact, ads with a higher relevance score cost less per-view and less per-click than ads with lower scores.

A relevance score is also a good way for you to measure how effective your content is with an audience. A high score means that you’re reaching people that are connecting with your messaging. If you have a low score you are either reaching the wrong audience or don’t have a compelling enough message to get engagement.

Three Ways to Improve Your Facebook Relevance Score

First, know who you want to reach. Figure out exactly who you want to see your ads, then define your target audience to reach those people.

Here at SermonView Evangelism Marketing, we’ve conducted significant audience research, and developed clearly defined buyer personas for evangelistic events across the county. These personas include demographic information (like age and gender), problems and pain points, and customer feedback. So we know who is more likely to respond to your ad, and we’ve developed criteria for specifically reaching those people.

Second, split test your ads. Split testing, or A/B testing, means trying out two versions of the same ad, with a single difference between them. This might include testing two different call to action buttons, or different ad copy, or a different image. You would then measure the performance of each ad to see which version does better.

Nearly every ad campaign we do at SermonView includes split testing at some level. We are continuously learning and refining our understanding of what works.

Third, use high-quality, relevant images and copy in your advertising. Understanding what is relevant comes from experience, and today SermonView has the expertise to design high-quality images, relevant videos, and engaging copy that results in better performing ads.

Get a Better Score and Reach More People

The Facebook Relevance Score is an important measurement of effectiveness, resulting in more views at a lower cost per view. Contact us today if you’d like your Facebook video advertising to be more engaging, leading to more people at your next evangelistic event.

Call us at 1-800-525-5791 or visit www.EvangelismMarketing.com today!

The Power of Effective Landing Pages

jwilliamsMarketing Practices

What Happens After Initial Engagement?

When you’ve captured the attention of a user through Facebook advertising, what happens next? The goal of using Facebook for an event is to get them to attend, so users should be sent to a highly focused webpage that tells them more and asks for an immediate action. Today, we’ll tell you more about creating landing pages, why they’re so important, and the elements required to be most effective.

Step Up Your Landing Pages

Getting people to click on your Facebook ad is only half the battle. If you want people to take the next step of registering for your event, then you need an effective landing page.

A landing page is simply the webpage or website that people are redirected to when they click on your ad. The landing page will include details of your event, such as location, description, and speaker. It should also ask the user to take an immediate action, such as pre-registering for the event.

Here at SermonView Evangelism Marketing, we’ve spent over a decade fine-tuning the art of landing pages. Today, we know what kind of images work best, what headlines grab people’s attention, even the color of buttons that people are more likely to click.

How to Make Your Landing Pages More Effective

When it comes to evangelistic event marketing, here are eight things we have found that a landing page must have to be most effective:

  1. The anchor image. This image should be consistent with what the user saw in the ad, so people know they’re on the right website. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same, but it does need to be congruent.

  2. A video. When the landing page includes a short video describing the event, people are more likely to respond to your call-to-action. The video should be professional, with a well-crafted script, strong visuals and tight editing to be most engaging and informative.

  3. Immediate call to action. A landing page should give people a way to respond immediately. For an evangelistic event, we have seen that people are more likely to actually attend if they have pre-registered and reserved seats. The call-to-action buttons should be bright and draw the eye toward the action we want the user to take.

  4. Speaker bio. For evangelistic events, it is crucial to establish the credibility of the speaker. Why should someone take the time to listen to them? The short bio should establish credibility in just a few words. And if a photo raises the speaker’s credibility, include it on the page.

  5. Testimonials. Seeing quotes from others who have participated in similar events gives people confidence that this event offers something of value. Putting the testimonials right on the landing page is important to increase visibility.

  6. Giveaways. If you’re giving something away, highlight it. Everyone loves free stuff, so this is an excellent incentive for those who may still be considering whether to attend or not.

  7. Location details. Where will this event be held? Clearly provide the address and, if necessary, specific directions to the event.

  8. Targeted navigation. Effective landing pages do not allow readers to visit every part of a website, but channels their attention to the required actions and pertinent information needed to make a decision.

Because landing pages are so important, we’ve developed a complete pre-registration platform that churches can use as part of their evangelism marketing campaign. This platform ensures that every landing page has the elements required to be effective. It also provides the complete pre-registration list to you, so you can be ready to welcome your guests.

Reach More People

Contact us today if you’d like to combine a powerful pre-registration landing page with engaging Facebook ads. It can improve your response rates, so you see more people at your next evangelistic event.

Call us at 1-800-525-5791 or visit www.EvangelismMarketing.com today!

Evangelism Marketing in a High-Tech World

jwilliamsMarketing Practices

Evangelism Marketing Requires Technology

Evangelism marketing in a high-tech world requires using technology to its fullest potential. That’s why we at SermonView are invested in developing tools to increase your effectiveness. Today, we’ll share some of the technology we use to help you draw more people to your outreach events.

SermonView Evangelism Marketing continuously invests in technology development, leveraging advances in online and mobile technologies to make your life easier and reach more people in your community. Those technologies include event websites, phone response systems, and a campaign management system. Let’s take a closer look at each piece of technology…

An Online Event Platform Designed to Encourage More Registrations

First, we’ve developed an online event registration platform designed to encourage more registrations for your event. Our platform gives you a personalized event landing page that looks like all of your existing marketing. The sites are mobile-friendly and look great on any device or computer. The site encourages visitors to pre-register for the event by reserving seats. Each page has technology designed to capture interests information for Facebook retargeting campaigns. Plus our template has room for event videos, speaker information, testimonials, online quizzes and articles that all help encourage registration.

Your website is also a tool for equipping members to invite their family and friends. Each page comes with social media invitations along with the ability to send a full-color email that is predesigned to match your events look and feel.

Maybe best of all, when a guest registers for an event, the system automatically confirms the registration and sends reminder emails prior to the event. Guests can also request confirmations and reminders by text message. These confirmations and reminders help encourage more registrants to show up on opening night.  As people register, you receive email notifications, plus you have access to a complete list of all your registered attendees through your campaign dashboard.

A Fully-Automated Telephone Response System Saves You Time

Another technology we’ve developed is a fully-automated telephone response system. Your unique campaign phone number leads to an all-in-one information solution. Callers can register, leave voicemails, and get directions to the event without having to be received by someone at your church. Our team transcribes all registrations through the phone system to combine then with your online registrations. That means you don’t waste your time listening to all of the registrations yourself.

All registrations from both the online and phone systems are consolidated into a single list, which is updated in real-time and accessible anytime online. With this list, you’ll be ready to welcome your guests on opening night.

An Online Proofing System Keeps You On Track

SermonView also developed technology to help you keep track of your evangelism marketing campaign throughout the process. When you provide your event information through our online form, our system reduces errors by sharing this precise information with every department involved in your campaign. Our online proofing system allows you to review every single job online before it enters production, to ensure you are completely satisfied with the design. And as your products get shipped, you will receive shipping notifications with tracking numbers, as well as automated delivery notifications within minutes of delivery.

A Campaign Dashboard Designed For You

When your campaign is over, your campaign dashboard shows a variety of measurements about the success of your campaign. This allows you to compare your results with previous events, so you can see how your campaigns do over time.

We Are Committed to Evangelism

SermonView Evangelism Marketing is committed to using technology to improve your experience and help you reach more people for Christ. Contact us today if you would like to harness this technology for your next event, and help you bring more people through your doors.

Call us at 1-800-525-5791 or visit www.EvangelismMarketing.com today!