The Advantages of Advertising in a Church Circular

When I worked as a business consultant, I was often asked about advertising ideas that would drive the most business in for the least amount of money. One of the examples that I often gave was local church papers. There are many benefits to advertising in local church papers that most small business owners never think of.

Explaining church papers

Many churches sell advertising space in their church papers or circulars to small businesses. The goal of this is two-fold. First off, it offsets the price of the publication of the church paper and helps the church save money. Secondly, it is used to draw attention to small businesses in the community. Advertising in local church papers is usually less expensive than advertising in a traditional paper and, in some cases, can constitute a tax deduction.

Membership

If you are a member of a local church, see if there is an advertising opportunity for you. Many churches will give first dibs on advertisement in their paper to those small business owners that are members of their church community. Many people will look at their church paper first to see if there are any local businesses advertised that might align with any needs that they have at a time. Make sure that you place in your ad that you are a member of the church community.

Employee's churches

Some churches will be willing to sell advertising space to those businesses that employ a number of their church members. If you are able to give a list of your employees that go to that church, you might find that the church is more than willing to sell you some advertising space.

The results

One former client of mine who owned a roofing company saw a 20% increase in his requested estimates and a 35% increase in his overall business once he started advertising in his local church paper.

One local restaurant that I have worked with in the past placed coupons for a discounted meal in their local church paper. They had their best week of business up to that point during the fo0llowign week, and decided to do this on a regular basis.

One small business owner that I know placed a special coupon code for his company's website on his ad in a local church paper. A few other local churches called and asked him to advertise in their paper so that their community could have the same benefit.

Many of my clients that have advertised in church papers have found that the leader of that church community (i.e. Pastor, Minister, Rabbi, etc) has become a spokesperson for the company. Whenever this person finds out about a church member that needs a service that the company in question provides, a recommendation is made. In some cases, these recommendations can be very powerful as some church communities hold their leaders as representatives of God. Can you think of a more powerful recommendation?

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