Ever wondered why you should have an email list for your church? Keeping an up-to-date list of all of your current members/guests can be a daunting task, but when you realize the importance of maintaining an email list, you’ll see that it’s worth the work.
In a few of my marketing classes, we discussed the difference between what’s called Paid, Owned, and Earned media. To put it simply, paid media is like Google Ads, Facebook ads, etc. Earned media is publicity you get from news sources–like your local newspaper (do these even exist anymore?) or news stations.
Owned media is the type we’re talking about today. Ever since social media became a relevant and important tool for marketing and communicating with your audience, it has been thought that social media is a form of owned media. And while this is somewhat true, on October 4, 2021, many people realized that we do not own full access to our social media accounts.
On October 4, the world that revolved around Facebook came to a screeching halt as the social media giant’s website was no longer working. Many people realized after this “Facebook Outage” that they cannot put all of their trust in things they do not own.
But that’s where email lists come into play… When you have an email list, you have a direct line of communication with every person on that list. This is truly owned media. By keeping an email list, no matter what happens tomorrow with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., you will still be able to communicate with your audience.
While this short blog is not your in-depth guide on how to make an email list or how to best utilize your email list, this is a place where we emphasize the importance of an email list.
Why else should your church have an email list? Because everyone has an email! While not everyone is on all the varying social media platforms, most people have an email address that they signed up for at one time or another. Whether you have a congregation of older or younger folks, email is truly one of the best ways to keep in touch and to connect with your audience.