Determining Your Church Audience | Session 3 - Church Online Communications Comprehensive

DETERMINING
YOUR CHURCH AUDIENCE
Session Three
Church Online Communications Comprehensive
How can we get to know our church
members?

OUTLINE
Defining Personas
Using Personas in Communication
Determining Personas for Your Audience
Assigning a Persona to Each of Your Members
Using Personas and Lists Together
Church Online Communications Comprehensive 2

WHAT IS A PERSONA?
A persona is a fictional representation
of your target audience.

WHY USE PERSONAS?
Adds personalization to your communication,
rather than generalization.
Allows you to remember the fact that you are
communicating to individuals, not lists.

HOW WILL PERSONAS BE USED?
Using personas will shape:
• how you communicate
• what you communicate
• the means you use to communicate
• to whom you communicate

EXAMPLE PERSONAS
MILLENNIAL MELODY
Melody is a single 25-year-old who was
actively involved in youth group as a
teen and is trying to regain a connection
to the church as an adult.
FORTY-ISH FRED
Fred is a 42-year-old father whose
schedule revolves around kids and
work. It’s a struggle to get him
involved in much outside worship.
OLDER ADULT ALICE
Alice is 72 years old and is just
starting to admit she needs
assistance with her health. She’s
fearful of losing her independence.

WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON?
MILLENNIAL MELODY FORTY-ISH FRED OLDER ADULT ALICE
MEMBERS?
EMAIL?
ACTIVE?
DESIRE TO STAY
INFORMED?

WHERE DO THEY DIFFER?
MILLENNIAL MELODY FORTY-ISH FRED OLDER ADULT ALICE
PREFERENCE?
FINANCES?
AVAILABILITY?
INTERESTS?
Social
Weekends
None
Fellowship
Email
Weeknights
Stable
Worship
Bulletin
Weekdays
Fixed
Fellowship

HOW WILL PERSONAS BE USED?
Again, using personas will shape:
• how you communicate
• what you communicate
• the means you use to communicate
• to whom you communicate

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE PERSONAS?
Start with Church Goals
Determine Goal Recipients
Add Personas as Needed

Personas may be distinguished by:
• Communication
• Demographics
• Participation
• Interests

Personas may be the recipient of
more than one goal.
Personas may not be the recipient of
any specific goal.
Goals are a good starting point, but not the end.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
Goals:
1. Increase active participation in Bible Studies to
35% of the congregation.
2. Grow average weekly Sunday School
attendance to 50 kids.
3. Increase number of community-focused
events to one per quarter.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE
Bible Studies
Sunday School
Outreach Events

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE - PARTICIPATION
Bible Studies
Regularly attends
now
Regularly attends
worship only
Doesn’t attend
worship
Sunday School
Regularly attends
SS now
Regularly attends
worship only
Doesn’t attend
worship
Outreach Events
Occasionally
attends worship
(prospect)
One-time
guest
(visitor)
-

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE - DEMOGRAPHICS
Bible Studies Older adults Middle age Young and no kids
Sunday School Has young family - -
Outreach Events Any demographic - -

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE - FINAL
Bible Studies
Older Adult
Alice
Forty-ish
Fred
Millennial
Melody
Sunday School
Young Kids
Katherine
Returning
to Roster
Robert
-
Outreach Events
Community
Member
Carl
- -

HOW DO YOU ASSIGN PERSONAS
Every adult in your
congregation should be
able to be easily
assigned to a persona.
GENERAL
The personas should
accurately describe how
to communicate with
those individual
members.
SPECIFIC

USING PERSONAS AND LISTS TOGETHER
Personas shape the message.
Lists segment the recipients.

LET’S SEE IT IN ACTION
Church Membership Database
Must Contain More than Email Addresses
Allow for Dynamic Filters

SUMMARY
Personas represent the unique audiences of
your church related to your goals.
Every member of your church should be
assigned to a persona.
Personas shape your messaging;
lists filter your recipients.

BLOG
ConcordiaTechnology.org/Blog

FREE DOWNLOAD
Best Practices for Creating Personas and Lists

FACEBOOK GROUP
/groups/ChurchOnlineCommunicationsComprehensive/

NEXT LIVE TRAINING SESSION
Understanding Your Church Audience
Next Thursday, June 22, at 11:30 a.m. CDT
/ConcordiaTechnology

SCHEDULE
Jun 22 | Understanding Your Church Audience
Jun 29 | Creating Movement in Your Church Communications
Jul 6 | Giving Your Communications Focus
Jul 13 | Communicating in the Right Context
Jul 20 | Making the Most of Each Communication Channel
Jul 27 | Building a Great Website for Church Communications*
*Presentation may be recorded

SCHEDULE
Aug 3 | Establishing a Communication Hub for Your Church
Aug 10 | Utilizing Social Media in the Church to the Fullest
Aug 17 | Understanding Search Engine Optimization
Aug 24 | Saving Time in Your Online Communications
Aug 31 | Sharing Excitement about Your Communication Strategy

CONTACT
Peter Frank
peter.frank@cph.org
peterfrank235
(314) 268-1408
28Church Online Communications Comprehensive

Determining Your Church Audience | Session 3 - Church Online Communications Comprehensive

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Determining Your Church Audience | Session 3 - Church Online Communications Comprehensive