Our Internet Marketing Process
Step 1: First Contact
This whole process starts when you fill out a contact form. It will initialize our three-step onboarding process. Recognize that while we provide free internet marketing services for Churches and Christian non-profits, we have an application and qualification process, ongoing bi-annual client reviews to ensure the organizations we are helping are teaching Biblical truth and their internal team is marketing responsibly. All of these are for your organization’s benefit (which we will discuss how and why during our initial meeting). We take our responsibility in working for God seriously and Christ Link as a whole is reviewed yearly by the same team that reviews your organization to ensure we do not sway from the standards God expects from us.
Kick-Off Questionnaire
We will send you a kick-off questionnaire. We expect this to be filled out to the best of your abilities.
Week of Prayer
Both our leadership and your leadership will pray about this potential partnership for a week to determine if this is in God’s will. This week will start after the initial questionnaire is returned to us. We will also take this week to thoroughly research your organization. Christ Link as an organization needs to make sure that we are helping a church, not a building or business but a body of believers who aim to further the church of Christ.
Acceptance
Upon completion of this week of prayer, we will reach out to you and determine if both teams believe it is within God's will to move forward.
- If we say no: Do not be upset. Internally we may have too many projects to take yours on. We want to ensure every organization we work with is given full and quality attention. Contact us again in 6 months.
- If we say yes: Wooo! I can't wait to start this journey with your church and to help grow your online presence and encourage your team in unity!
Step 2: Kick-off Meeting
During this meeting, we will go over the rest of this process. We would prefer all decision-makers are present at this meeting. That includes but is not limited to the Elders and pastors of the Church. This is because we will be determining what you are looking for from this partnership as well as what we can provide and what we propose for your Church.
Based on your initial questionnaire and our review of your online presence we will propose a few strategies and marketing plans that would be most effective for your church's website.
Meeting Agenda
- One to two hours.
- Meet and pray with your leadership team
- Discuss what you are hoping for from our internet marketing services.
- Discuss what we can provide and what we recommend.
- Cover the marketing strategy plan and how the process will unfold.
- Establish expectations for both parties and sign a contractual agreement.
- We will send a recap email going over the next steps in the process.
Contractual Agreement
The contractual agreement is designed to make expectations clear for both parties and to make the process efficient so the partnership will be effective.
Step 3: Initial Setup
During the initial online setup phase, we will be doing a large amount of background organization, set up and optimizing. Plan for a month of weekly interaction. We will need a point of contact who is responsive and can reply to emails within 24-48 hours to keep the setup process moving efficiently.
A few things we set up and optimize during this timeframe are:
Website
Your website is the foundation of your online presence. That is why we help you in optimizing it for SEO so all your future content has the ability to appear and rank in Google so people can find your church. If you do not have a website, the web design and creation or redesign will be the primary objective. This will make the initial phase take much longer.
Google My Business
This along with other local SEO indicators will be claimed and optimized so you can stand out in your local area.
Social Media Accounts
We will help claim, create and optimize your social media accounts so you can put your best foot forward in helping to create an online community and connect with your church body outside of the walls of your building.
- Ect.
Branding Guide
We like to create a branding guide for some churches to simply help in communicating internally how design materials should appear on all church material. This way messages online and in print media have a unified appearance.
Step 4: Team Training & Internal Marketing Team Structure
When setting up your team we request you find someone who is already serving in your church. We will train and equip them in managing your website and social media. Our process is designed to train people to have a servant's heart. After they are trained we will work with them in training the second team member. The next phase is to create an internal network within the church ministries to ensure effective communication and online presence for the different ministries.
Marketing Team Lead
The team lead is in charge of this ministry. They will be chosen by the Church and will be trained to manage the bulk of internal marketing.
Responsibilities
- Manage marketing outlets of organization.
- Train team members (with our assistance).
- Attend Marketing Seminars.
- Promote unity within the organization and team.
- Manage a number of people and the organization’s public image.
- Be held accountable for the material that is publicly presented in different marketing outlets.
Marketing Secondary Lead
This person is second in charge of this ministry. They will be chosen by the Church or Marketing Team Lead and will be trained to manage the bulk of internal marketing.
Responsibilities
- Train team members (with our assistance).
- Attend Marketing Seminars.
- Promote unity within the organization and team.
- Manage a number of people and the organization’s public image.
- Be held accountable for the material that is publicly presented in different marketing outlets.
- Support the Marketing Team Lead.
- Responsible for reviewing Marketing Team and marketing performed for quality in both presenting ourselves correctly as Christians as well as presenting quality work.
Marketing Team Members
The members below will not have access to upload content on the website or social media unless they join the marketing team and are granted that responsibility by the team leads.
Women's Ministry Point of Contact
Will be responsible for informing the marketing team of needed online posts and content uploads on the website for items relative to their ministry.
Men's Ministry Point of Contact
Will be responsible for informing the marketing team of needed online posts and content uploads on the website for items relative to their ministry.
Children's Ministry Point of Contact
Will be responsible for informing the marketing team of needed online posts and content uploads on the website for items relative to their ministry.
Youth Ministry Point of Contact
Will be responsible for informing the marketing team of needed online posts and content uploads on the website for items relative to their ministry.
Your Church's Internal Communication Structure
This example structure will only come to exist in your Church over a large amount of time. It is a building process that allows for clarity and clear communication. This allows for responsible management of your Church's public appearance. Between each of these team members, there will be clearly set expectations and processes to save time and energy while keeping and encouraging unity within the Church.
Step 5: Ongoing Support
As we set up your team and build friendships within your ministry, know that we are partnering to help your Church to succeed. We will be a resource for your team members to help provide tools and information, while also helping your leadership have peace of mind as we review and ensure your team is following set expectations for Christian marketing. This is all part of Christ Link's mission and purpose.
Meetups
Our meetups are designed to create a community for people serving in the same ministry across Churches and Christian non-profits. At this meetup, we will teach a two-part lesson. One will be focusing on ministry skills and another will be focused on marketing skills.
Point of Contact
Your marketing team leads will have a point of contact within Christ Link that they can reach out and confide in with marketing and ministry questions. The Christ Link point of contact will have access to the combined knowledge of everyone within our organization to help your team make the best choices for effective church marketing.
Benefits We Provide You
- Peace of mind - watchful eyes
- Monthly reports
- Internal Unity and communication
- Greater effectiveness in ministries
- Internal process improvements
- Effective online presence and marketing
Marketing Resource
Your leadership team also has access to our knowledge of internet marketing. We encourage you to reach out to us directly after confiding in your internal team.
Monthly Reports
Our monthly reports serve the purpose of informing you of what has been effective for your website and online presence as well as what we recommend moving forward. We will also inform you of anything we believe you should be aware of regarding your Church's marketing. We customize our monthly reporting to assist your needs.
Contact Us To Start The Internet Marketing Process
We can't wait to start the process to help your Church's internal communication, unity and online presence. If you have any questions before starting the process please let us know. We want to help you have confidence in our process and for your ministry to be even more effective.