Using Local Academia to Develop Your Marketing Plan

October 10th, 2009 // 1:15 pm @ David Phillips

In a world of limited resources and experiences, utilizing academia may provide a way to get excellent help marketing your ministry or other entrepreneurial endeavor.

A Personal Experience

When I was in college, I had to take marketing 301.  In this class we had to form a team and build a marketing plan.  Our professor had a couple of ideas and resources, but one of my teammates had a friend who had developed a cool pool fountain, so we decided to put a plan together to market it.  Later, we presented that plan to our class and it went over wonderfully.

So why hasn’t the church jumped on an idea like this?  Maybe because it is a business class and church is not in the business of being in business.  Well, it is time to realize that in some ways the church is a business.  And there are times when it needs to engage in solid business practices.

While I do not like an attractional church model, if you are going to build an entrepreneurial ministry, there may come a time when marketing and advertising must be done.  A great resource could be the local college down the road.

Advantages

1.  You get a lot of work done for you by people who are focused on marketing and who are working to get a good grade.

2.  You get energy and experience as the professor will work with the young, energetic team, offering insights, wisdom, and experience.

3.  The resources (think money) needed to obtain this plan are often insignificant.  It can happen for free or an insignificant charge.

4.  You get to build relationships with those who are most likely un-churched, including the professor.  In fact, he/she may be the first point of contact.

5.  You get your ideas and messages out to a whole group of people (think class of students as well as their social network), most of whom are un-churched.

Disadvantages

1.  You are still working with college students.  Their enthusiasm is often inconsistent and their expertise and experience limited.

2.  It is a college semester and the team may not be able to spend as much time on the project as a marketing company.

If you are willing to be a guinea pig, you might get a great proposal – best case scenario – or at least a starting point – worst case scenario – in marketing your entrepreneurial ministry.

Category : Business