Is Marketing Evil?

Is marketing evil?
(Updated on 2/24/2011)

Some people believe the church can be more effective by utilizing processes most commonly and effectively used in business today, including marketing.  In fact there are companies that specifically help churches develop a logo, a slogan, a website, brochures, and a multi-faceted marketing campaign much the same way other companies develop these elements to launch a new business.

On the other hand, some people abhor these practices and think the church should stay as far away from them as possible.  They believe marketing is deceptive, manipulative, superficial, worldly, and yes – evil.

And then there’s the middle ground where I think most of us find ourselves.  We want our churches to reach more people in our communities.  We want to express the passion and love we have for God and people.  If people would just come to a Sunday service, we know God would show up and touch their hearts and show them the amazing life they could have with Him in it.  We want to let people know about the opportunities God has for them, but it’s so hard to get people’s attention in this media-saturated culture.  We want to reach out, but we don’t want resort to hype, gimmicks, or starkly corporate tactics.

Is marketing the way to do that, or is marketing evil?

Objections to church marketing usually fall into one of five categories.

1) Marketing is manipulative.
Some people believe that marketing is inherently manipulative, that marketing is all about overselling positive and concealing the negative, or that marketing has to play to people’s fears or emotions to be effective.

Now if you’re a company selling something that is bad for people like tabloid magazines or junk food, manipulation is pretty much your only option.  But if you provide something that is truly beneficial to people, then there’s no reason to be manipulative or disingenuous.  Churches help people connect with God, and through that connection people find unconditional love, peace, daily guidance, purpose for their lives, community, and eternal life.  No other organization on earth can match that.

2) Marketing is superficial.
Other people claim that marketing promotes style over substance.  You sell the sizzle not the steak, right?  You tell people what they want to hear, right?

Unfortunately, I think a lot of churches actually are guilty of promoting superficial elements of who they are in order to appeal to people.  I’ve seen numerous churches talk about having the rockin’est worship band, the funnest kids program, the coolest youth rec building, or most inspiring messages.  There’s nothing wrong with being rockin’, fun, cool, and inspiring, but if those are the reasons you are telling people they should attend your church, then that’s what people are going to expect.  At that point you have to either keep things superficial, which defeats the whole purpose of helping people to connect to God, or you have to “bait and switch” when it comes to the hard parts of following Christ.

But here again churches have an advantage when it comes to marketing because they don’t have to be superficial.  A church doesn’t have to claim to have the rockin’est worship band when it can provide a worship experience where people can connect to God through music and words they can relate to and mean with all their hearts.  It doesn’t have to have the funnest kids program when it can give children a spiritual and moral foundation in a setting they will enjoy and remember.

In fact, churches that market themselves on style are missing a huge opportunity because the church has so much substance to offer, and deep down people really do want substance.

3) Marketing sucks.
Another objection people have to church marketing in particular is that it’s just flat out embarrassingly bad.  A lot of church marketing is not just unoriginal but it’s beating a dead horse that was dead a decade ago.  I can’t describe how much I cringe every time I see a church sign with a cheesy Christian cliché on it.  And if I see another “Got Jesus?” t-shirt, I might not be able to keep myself from chasing after the person with a lighter.

The truth is a lot of church marketing is embarrassingly bad, but it doesn’t have to be.  That’s why the Center for Church Communications started Church Marketing Sucks.  Churches are led by the Creator of the universe, and so churches should lead the world in creativity, originality, and inspiration.  Doing marketing well is not an effort to “out-cool” other churches or keep up with secular marketing trends, but rather to express what the church is all about in ways that reveal our creative, inspiring God.

4) Marketing is annoying.
We all hate commercials that interrupt our favorite TV show, right?  (I thank God for my DVR!)  We hate junk mail.  We hate the endless promos at the beginning of a movie.  We hate it when someone rings our doorbell during dinner to sell us magazines.   The last thing churches should be doing is annoying people, right?

Well, yes, but I haven’t come across a church yet that wants to annoy people.  Marketing doesn’t have to be annoying.  Do you ever look through the ads in the Sunday paper?  Ever save that $5 off coupon that came in the mail?  Marketing is annoying when it for something you’re not interested in or it’s at a bad time, but when we’re interested in something and the timing is right, we actually appreciate it.  The key is getting information to the right people at the right time.

This is why it’s so important that your church have a good website, that it be featured prominently in search engines, and for the church to utilize social media to connect with members and reach out.  If the key is getting information to the right people at the right time, what could be better than getting information about your church to someone who is searching for a church when they’re searching?

5) The Church Shouldn’t Need To Market Itself.
If the church is effectively doing it’s ministry, then it will grow naturally as a result, right?

This is true, but can the church effectively do it’s ministry without telling people what it’s ministry is or that the ministry exists? If your church puts on a Christmas production, do you announce the production around town? Do you put it on your church sign? Do you ask your members to tell their friends? That’s all marketing. Marketing doesn’t replace the ministry of the church, the Gospel message, or the love we show each other.  It tells others about it.  It’s about informing people about the ministries and spreading the love of Christ.

What is Marketing?
Finally, I think part of the reason why some Christians think marketing is evil is because they associate marketing with advertising.  But marketing is much broader than advertising.  Here are some definitions of marketing I’ve come across…

“Marketing is basically sharing your love. Your passion. Your belief.”

“Marketing is simply the transfer of enthusiasm from one person to another.”

Who doesn’t want to share their love, passion and belief for God and their church?

Of course church marketing efforts are not a substitute for personal evangelism.  In fact, personal evangelism can be greatly enhanced by making it a part of the overall church marketing plan.  A church that develops a great website and provides printed brochures, invitation cards, and outreach events can make personal evangelism efforts much easier and more effective.


Paul Steinbrueck is co-founder and CEO of OurChurch.Com, elder of CypressMeadows.org, husband, father of 3. He blogs at Christian Web Trends and LiveIntentionally.org. You can follow him on Twitter @PaulSteinbrueck (twitter.com/PaulSteinbrueck)


About the author

Paul Steinbrueck

14 Comments

  • All should know that the only way for the Holy Bible to be promulgated all over the world,and to all people is by marketing.

    We are commanded by God, to LOVE, to take the gospel to all nations, and to lift Jesus up, none of which can be done without marketing period!!!

    To not market, is same as a light put under a tight sealed dark box where no light can be seen.

    • Marketing doesn’t restore the bureau of the cathedral, the Gospel significance, or else the find irresistible we demonstrate both others. As a final point, I believe division of the motivation why a quantity of Write my Assignment imagines advertising is malevolence is since they correlate promotion among marketing. But marketing is a good deal broader than publicity.

  • Dear Paul Steinbrueck,

    Our team has worked on solutions to today’s problems from a unique perspective and truthfully we can’t afford marketing until we sell 12 shares of “S” type stock take it to the SBA and start a 1st Amendment Free Church.

    We have approached many ministries.

    We have a problem concerning marketing an example is one ministry offered to market our free book for $3,000.

    Jesus said, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

    What do you see wrong with this picture? Pay three grand to give away a free book?

    Your help would be greatly appreciated.

    May God richly bless and keep you and yours in heavenly places in Him.

    Yours in Christ,

    Art O’Shea

  • Art, I modified your comment because it seemed a bit too much like you were promoting your book.

    As to your question, without knowing the services being offered for $3,000 it's impossible to know whether that's a reasonable fee or not. But, it seems to me that the methods for marketing a free book would be more or less the same as the methods for marketing a book being sold for a profit, so the marketing costs would be the same.

    In all honestly, I think it's a bit unreasonable to expect someone to do your marketing for free just because you're giving the book away. Scripture says a laborer is worth his wage.

  • Hullo Paul,

    You address some really important issues here and you do so in a sophisticated and organized manner.

    I liked it so much that I would like to get your permission to use this post: "Is Marketing Evil?" in an offline and online newsletter that I publish for Christian entrepreneurs active in Internet marketing and/or mail order marketing.

    Naturally, I would include author info and contact info in whatever form you would like to see.

  • Marketing isn't and can’t be inherently evil – any more than running or breathing is. How one goes about it is the difference and there are open and ethical methods. As with most things, there is good and bad marketing. (Fast food adverts in the middle of children’s shows is unethical, however shampoo ads in the middle of a sitcom or soap opera wouldn’t be … although the advertisers are buying that commercial time for similar reasons : it hits their target audience.)

    Think about it … your church is hosting a concert wouldn't you promote it? That's marketing.

    Putting a banner up outside your church listing services is marketing.

    And there is a difference between bad and poor marketing too … poor marketing is having an amateurish website and scruffy posters for your concert. Good marketing is looking polished and professional and being ethical about how you go about it.

  • Marketing is evil or not depends on its type. I agree with Chris. Good marketing informs people about the things that are related to the theme and also makes people aware of the most upcoming events. Church marketing is not evil if it is to promote for a concert, sayings of Lord, messages of the Bible and so on.

  • Marketing is a tool. A hammer is neither good nor evil. You can use it to drive a nail or knock someone in the noggin. It's all in how you use it.

    Marketing is just getting the word out. A sign on the corner with your church's name on it is a form of marketing. But better yet is a sign with information like worship times. So what's wrong with also including a short purpose statement…something catchy and memorable that helps people understand what you're all about?

  • I liked your thoughts on the topic of marketing. I think that the Good marketing informs people about the things that are related to the theme and also makes people aware of the most upcoming events.

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