Cleve Persinger is the Executive Director of Web and Community Engagement at The Chapel where he’s tasked with helping folks “Rediscover God” by creating compelling experiences within the context of web and all external communications/marketing including community events, print, word-of-mouth, and advertising.
Prior to his current role, Cleve served as web designer for LifeWay Christian Resources, in Nashville, TN where he supported numerous web initiatives including the LifeWay Worship Project.
Off the clock, Cleve has a passion for church planting, leading worship, summer beach trips, mountain cabin retreats, Dallas Cowboys football, Atlanta Braves baseball, and rockin’ the title of “BBQ Connoisseur.” (Keep in mind he was born and raised in North Carolina.)
Cleve and his incredible wife, Katie, reside in the northwest suburbs of Chicago with their children, Cy and Charlotte.
Eric Murrell has been creating websites since he first discovered HTML on his Geocities site in 1996. After working for a large publishing company and a well-known design firm, he is now on staff at Long Hollow Baptist Church where he serves as the Interactive Communications Manager.
When he’s not writing code or fuming about page rendering in Internet Explorer, Eric can be found reading, camping and watching LOST. He and his (beautiful) wife Lauren live just North of Nashville, where they own and operate a small design company together.
Read more from Cleve & Eric at MediaSalt
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What’s NOT Working?
Elaborate Mailers
- it’s more effective to drive people to your website.
- Very high cost vs return
- Quickly outdated
- Use simple, but visually compelling cards
Cute Pop Culture Branding
- It’s really easy to be creatively lazy.
- We can do better than that.
- It’s played out.
Constant Email Blasts
- Increasing blindness to marketing emails.
- More blasts = less readers.
- Send email blasts sparingly.
- Provide email subscriptions.
Destination Websites
What IS Working?
- BigEggDrop.com
- Gathered the community around a humanitarian effort.
- Unique spin on a normal event.
- Corporate sponsorship
- Rave cards sent home with every elementary student in the area.
- Website with registration (used EventBrite) and game.
- Over 3,500 people attended!
The Chapel
- Wanted to do an open house to invite the community to their new campus but turned it into a kid’s day instead.
- Got buy-in and support from area businesses, sponsorship, etc.
- Most people attending didn’t realize it was a church sponsored event.
- Gave them the opportunity to introduce their church to the community in a non-threatening way.
- Instead of doing a direct mail for Easter they made postcards that people in the church could send to their friends (that they covered the postage for).
- Designed a website with tools to spread the word through Twitter, Facebook, and email-a-friend.
- Had an 88% increase in attendance for Easter.
Summary
- Small is the new big. It’s not about big and glossy but simple and smart.
- Create events to connect your church to the community… not your community to the church.
- Get buy-in and cooperation from local businesses in the community… get other people involved.
- Be strategic about mailers, emails, and anything else… don’t overload or overwhelm people.
- Give people options to opt-in and to receive what content they want how they want it.
