FM People Article

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If You Invite Them ...

Clearview Community reaches out and draws people in. Inset: Pastor Shawn Raloff.

A promotional background (this young bivocational pastor owns an Internet advertising consulting firm) and a passion to succeed (to see the church reach the masses for Christ) have equipped and empowered Shawn Raloff to plant and grow Clearview Community (Sioux City, IA).

“We should put $10,000 worth of advertising into every plant.” Used effectively and creatively, he says, these dollars can inform and invite a community to church.

Raloff purchases radio stations’ excess inventory (“leftover” on-air advertising time) — a cheaper buy, he says, with play time typically on country/western and conservative news/talk stations. Raloff runs a 30-second inspirational message that asks a question and points listeners to Christ and Clearview.

Mailers, according to Raloff, are another powerful tool to bring in the lost. “A church that spends $3,000 every holiday — to print and mail 10,000 fliers — can expect 100 responses,” he says, “calling or attending services, or maybe just thinking a positive thought about church.”

One key to successful promotion is having the right “hook,” Raloff adds. For example, last Easter, the church held a well-publicized egg hunt that included a special egg containing a ticket for a free bicycle. Service attendance increased, and parents worshiped while children hunted eggs.

Ads in a local shoppers guide have pulled in some 60 visitors at a time (though Raloff says a mass mailing might attract as many as 200).

But the buck doesn’t stop with promotion: follow-up is key. Raloff, members and leaders at Clearview telephone, write notes and visit so everyone will feel connected. Hopefully, people who hear or read about Clearview — on the radio, in a shoppers guide, in a mailed flier — will remember this FM church as the place to go when God comes to mind.