Meaningful Contact Information

Seth Godin wrote a great post this week about the “About” tag on websites, called “Five rules  for your About page.”

It’s 5 simple rules, but they speak volumes:

1.  Don’t use marketing jargon.  Tell us who you are and what you stand for.  In plain language your grandmother could understand.

2.  Don’t use a stock photo of someone not at your church.  Use real pictures of real people (with their permission).  Not just leaders.  Ordinary people.  Helps visitors connect when they see the web face sitting next to them in the pew.

3.  Make it easy to contact you. Don’t hide the address or phone number.  Don’t use an email address that doesn’t work anymore.

4. is like 1.  He says to “Be human. Write like you talk and put your name on it. Tell a story, a true one, one that resonates.”

5.  Use true testimonials to build credibility.  Helps if it’s not someone on staff.

Good words.  Read and heed.  (excuse me while I edit mine!)

 

Free is good, if it doesn’t cost

Westchester Church in Grand Prarie, Texas is taking a soft sell to making friends in the community.  Free breakfast, hot and fast, no strings attached.

The problem with the way most of us do giveaways is there is a catch.  You gotta show up on Sunday and listen through a sermon.  They did that at the rescue mission that I did an early sermon at.  They had to listen to the sermon first to get fed after (so don’t preach too long!)

What Westminster does is give free breakfast on Friday to folks on the way to work.  They arrive around sunup and set out signs, cones, coolers, and muffins.  They position several people out at the street to invite the traffic in and a couple at the tables handing out the food and drink.   Everything is prepackaged to stay clear of health department rules.

On average, it takes about 20 seconds to take an order and fill it, and send the people on their way with an encouraging word. They have make strategic contacts with the community (including the police stopping by for free grub).  It costs a couple hundred dollars – an average day is around 80 cars.

The point is that they are connecting with their community, the people that live or work near that church.  It’s already on their drive path. 

You may wince at spending a couple hundred on stuff with no commitment, but how much is a single newspaper ad? (hint:  multiple hundreds of dollars for a small impression)

Source:  http://illogicalstrategy.com/?p=25