Church SMS marketing drives donations.

Every week church SMS marketing is used to send updates and capture donations from members. In the years of running mobile marketing and communication programs for various nonprofits and churches, it continues to surprise me how many organizations are still hesitant to begin using SMS regularly. AvidMobile continues to provide text message solutions for churches and non-profits across the country.

There are two main objections to church SMS marketing.

1. Churches and nonprofits view this as a cost for their organization.
2. Churches and nonprofits believe members aren’t ready for it.

They couldn’t be more wrong. Church SMS marketing is here to stay. Using mobile marketing technology actually, decreases costs. Stop handing out programs at church services or events. Simply have members type their mobile number into a tablet at the door. From there they receive a welcome text and link to the digital brochure. This saves time, paper, ink, and money.

The real benefits of church SMS marketing.

1. Each member opts into your database and can is sent follow-up messages via text later in the week.
2. Each opt-in receive an instant text message with a custom URL linking to the organization’s mobile website or app.
3. From the mobile website, they can view bulletins/programs, look at pictures, see a calendar of events, ask questions, share on social media, and even donate. All of this done from their mobile phone

Gone are the days of handing people paper so they can doodle. Now is the time to provide members with a digital bulletin or program that they can interact with, donate from, and submit questions! In a normal situation, this can save your church or organization over 75% of your print budget.  This is a huge cost savings!

A few final thoughts for churches or non-profits.

Some naysayers think their congregation isn’t ready. Perhaps they are too old, too poor, whatever the excuses are the facts don’t back it up. More people access the internet from their phone in lower socioeconomic statuses than in higher. Currently, more people use text messaging than using their toothbrushes worldwide. Your congregation may be full of elderly people, but over 50% of them use text messages to communicate with their children and grandchildren. Now if you can start using the same tools to communicate relevant information to them via SMS from your Church or non-profit, then perhaps they will start forwarding those texts. From there you will start reaching new members, growing your donations,  increasing membership, and connect with youth the same way they are connecting with each other.