Why The Back End Matters for Nonprofits and Ministries
When it comes to helping media ministries, or local churches with branding and marketing issues, we’ve been very fortunate at Cooke Media Group. Over the years, we’ve seen our strategies work very well for our clients, and when it comes to media ministries, some have more than doubled their audiences under our watch. But even when we’ve achieved such unusual success, it’s often for naught when the rest of the process is flawed or doesn’t work.
For instance, a number of years ago, we worked with a client to re-brand the ministry and transform their television program. All went very well. We re-structured the program, designed a new set, re-thought the lighting, upgraded the look and feeling of the program. And the response increased. The program was going great – until we discovered discovered the ministry’s donor file was corrupted.
As a result, John Doe in Tulsa was getting the products John Doe in Cleveland had ordered. And people who had made sizable donations never received a thank you letter. Other mistakes were made and it began to snowball. When we pointed out the problem, the folks inside the ministry got very defensive, and fought us for months, all the while losing potentially hundreds of thousands of important donor dollars. They refused to listen, until after an enormous amount of financial damage, brand equity, and trust were lost.
In other ministry cases, customer service needed help. In still others, follow up was missing altogether. For instance, if you have supporters or audience members ordering a product once, but never again – that should be a red flag that you have a significant problem.
The bottom line is that no matter how great a job you’re doing increasing your audience, growing your congregation, or expanding your donor list, if they’re not staying around very long, you’ve got a problem with the back-end. Growing your audience, congregation, or donor pool is critically important. But ultimately, it won’t matter if you’re not creating a sense of community, valuing the donor, and giving them reasons to continue with their support.
Phil Cooke, PhD. has been called “one of the most innovative communicators of our generation.” As a media producer, writer, speaker, and consultant, his client list includes major film studios and TV networks as well as major Christian organizations like Voice of the Martyrs, The Museum of the Bible, The Salvation Army, and others. He’s also coached and consulted with many of the most influential churches and nonprofit organizations in the world, helping them use media to tell their story. You can hear his podcast here.
