Digital Marketers, Say, “No,” to Get the Better, “Yes”
Reach More People by Trying to Reach Fewer
Digital ministry mistake #1: Trying to target “everyone” digitally. It may be counterintuitive, but focusing on a persona, a smaller segment of society, will help you impact more people! Let’s look at Matthew 13. We learn that while some seed falls in fertile soil, others fall on the thorny bush, under the scorching sun, or on the worn-down footpath. With the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can be careful and intentional about where we sow the most consequential seeds in the universe. Talk about target practice that matters!
Effective digital marketers target campaigns toward limited personas, and they reap more rewards and fruit. Marketing has shown that trying to reach “everyone” usually has a smaller harvest than targeting that very important “one.” This is a hard step to embrace, but it enhances the spread of the extraordinary Gospel. Tighten your focus, communicate magnetically, build trust, pray, and then pray some more.
A persona brings your campaign clarity while highly targeting the needs and interests of your audience. Here are some practical tips.
Meet Your Persona Where They Dwell - Facebook? YouTube? Instagram? TikTok? Go where they are and not where you want to move them to.
2023: The Year of Personalization - Define your persona, and customize your campaign for that person. Your message will address specific interests, pain points, and behavior. Here are some simple examples:
Send personalized emails.
Create targeted landing pages.
Chat/DM with your audience in real-time.
Deal with your persona’s issues immediately. The more they trust you, the more they’ll believe what you say.
(Look for more on Personalization from Decoding Digital Media in the coming months.)
From Personalization to Personal Relationship - As your audience moves deeper down the funnel, digital ministry leaders have a responsibility to know these people relationally. Whether through a Call Center or your apartment, connect at the heart level… You now have a relationship from which beauty, healing, direction, and peace can erupt.
Personas will certainly help you get the Gospel in front of people. As you narrow down personas, you’ll find the Holy Spirit bringing you more creative ideas for campaigns and projects to reach people for Christ, using digital material or maybe even doing something outside the ad campaign.
This is where our friends from FaithTech come in. James Kelly, Founder, and CEO of FaithTech said recently that “FaithTech Labs exists to assist tech pioneers in developing their ideas and to support them with resources and experienced mentors.“ With expertise in thinking outside the box, FaithTech is in a prime position to help ministries like yours develop new strategies to reach your persona.
Have an idea to connect with your persona from another perspective, check out http://faithtech.com/labs
