As your church gets ready for Easter Sunday, chances are you’ve brainstormed an outreach & advertising strategy to invite your community to church. In fact, you probably have 5-10 advertising tactics for the Easter season to get people in the doors. Outside of marketing on your website, on social media, through word of mouth, or direct mail, there is another option that will help connect you with people looking for a place of worship this Easter.
Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is an easy way to connect online with people you wouldn’t normally reach. You may be familiar with the text ads that are displayed at the top and right sides of Google pages when you search. Those are pay per click ads, and they are a fantastic way to advertise your Easter services for several reasons.
It’s effective – The great thing about PPC is that the people who see your ads are looking for what you have to offer. When you create your campaign, you decide which keyword searches will display your ads. For example, one of your keyword phrases may be “Easter Sunday Services.” Then, when someone searches for that phrase, they will see your ad.
It’s flexible – You decide where your ads will be displayed. Location targeting is a huge bonus with PPC, and it gives you the option to focus on the area surrounding your zip code so only people in your community see your ads. In the ad text, make sure to mention your Easter service with times, address, and other details, giving the searcher exactly the information they need to find your church.
It’s affordable – You set the budget and only pay when someone clicks on your ad. As the name states, you pay per click, and you get to set the max amount you’ll pay for a click. You also set your daily budget. Suppose you run your ads for 7 days before Easter spending $20 per day and your average click costs $.20. This means your ads will be clicked on 700 times by people that are actively seeking a church for Easter. Super affordable!
As great as this all sounds, there is a con.
It’s complex – PPC can be daunting if you’re not already familiar with it. Google does a great job providing options for all types of advertisers, but this creates a ton of features that can quickly overwhelm you. Don’t let this discourage you! The folks at ChurchPlantMarketing.com have created a great step-by-step guide to Adwords to get you started.
Follow these steps and be on your way to a successful PPC campaign for your Easter services.