Jesus Hates Papyrus » christmas

Tis the season for free church marketing

Michael Buckingham — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 13:13:01 +0000

Churches are always looking for great marketing for free…normally I’d tell you that you need to commit to your marketing and as many things your checkbook tells of your commitment. Well Brad Abare posts a great idea for what I think is a great idea for church marketing this year…and it’s free. It’s the lost practice of: Caroling.

Go out, walk around your communities, show them community and sing your heart out. Let them know where you’re from but trust me, in a time where our neighborhoods are full of stranger and the only place people see people caroling is on TV, they’ll take notice by this simple, and fun, action.

Free Christmas Vectors … just add snow

Michael Buckingham — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:43:37 +0000

The Christmas tree is up, lights are lit…how’s your Christmas marketing coming along? In case you haven’t started, and in case you don’t work with us (shame on you) here is a link to some Christmas icons in vector, gif and other various forms to get you started. Now…don’t just use these like clipart but get into them, make them your own…use these as a starting point.

And, here’s a quick and easy way to create the snow:

First set your color to no fill and a white line. (or light blue) Create a “dashed line” with 0 for the first dash and 24 for the gap. Set the line weight to 1 pt. With the pencil tool, draw random scribbles in any direction. On subsequent lines, change the line weight (.5 pt or 2pt, etc) to vary the size of the “flakes”. Smaller blue flakes recede to the background; larger whiter flakes go in the foreground to create depth. The effect works especially well on a darker background/night scene.

Salvation for the gift card

Michael Buckingham — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:29:23 +0000

I hate gift cards. I think they are a poor excuse of a gift. Sure, it’s nice when someone gives me a gift card…but not very thoughtful, and certainly not heartwarming. Seth Godin agrees.

But he mentions a great idea…create a gift card that’s attached to a donation.

What if we created a great looking gift card that shows that the money that you spent for the Starbucks gift card was matched with a gift to a ministry, missionary, church…I think I like this idea. I still prefer to put a bit more thought to the gifts I give…but this is might just be the chance of salvation for the gift card. I like this idea a lot, brings back a truer spirit of giving that I think we’ve lost a bit.

I like it enough that for the first church or ministry that contacts me we will design yours for FREE.

Something different for Santa

Michael Buckingham — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:10:13 +0000

We just sent our first files out last week to the printer for one of the Christmas programs we are working on. We currently have 5 different Christmas projects left. The story is beautiful…but it’s the same story, so how do you keep it fresh? Is it possible to bring originality and relevance in church marketing during Christmas?

The challenge is trying to step out of my understanding of Christmas, remembering that for many it’s about family, vacation and Christmas presents. How do you tell the story of a selfless life during such a, sometimes, selfish time?

What if you forgot the Christmas story? What if you didn’t give your standard Christmas message of good tidings, etc. etc. What if you setup a new series, give them something that causes them to want to come back. Or what if you didn’t talk about Jesus? What if you talked about Joseph?

Is there are better way to keep the tradition of Christmas and introducing a hook that will bring them back?