1 Reduced quarterly inflation rate (CPI) from peak 8.6% in 2Q, 2022 to 2.7% in 4Q, 2024. 2 Doubled the federal budget deficit from $0.75T to $1.5T per year. 3 Inflation grew to 9%, partly reflecting excess government spending initiated by the president. 4 Added 15M jobs; added jobs every month!!!!!!! 5 Cut the Black unemployment rate from 10.0% to 6.1%. Cut the Hispanic unemployment rate from 9.3% to 5.1%. 6 Increased per capita real disposable income by 5.6%. 7 Increased prime age labor force participation to near record 83.9%, last seen in 2001. 8 Reached pre-Covid employment in 28 months. Great Recession recovery took 3 times as long (77 months). 9 Real wages grew significantly in each year. 10 Record low unemployment rates quickly achieved and maintained after pandemic. 11 Reduced unemployment rate from starting 6.7% to 3.7% average for 2022-24. Pre-Covid 2017-19 was 4.0%. 12 Increased real GDP by $2.8T, 13.1% total, 3.2% annual. Trump pre-Covid gain was $1.7T, 2.8% annual. 13 Bloomberg reported a 26% increase in net household wealth between December 2020 and 2024. 14 Increased household wealth by 20%. 15 Recorded 24% increase in median home sales price from December 2020 to 2024. 16 Stockmarket value increased by 50% from December 2020 to 2024, building upon 50%+ rise in prior 4 years.
Outstanding economic results. The majority of inflation was due to pandemic and supply chain issues. Nonetheless, the growing budget deficits were an “own goal” that should have been avoided for economic and political reasons.
Governing
17 Appointed record number of federal judges, including record share of women and minority judges. 18 Postal Service Reform Act – reset reasonable debts, compensation and service levels. 19 Misevaluated and misresponded to declining personal health risks. 20 Democratic party exceeded expectations in 2022 midterm elections. 21 Negotiated spending limits in order to increase debt ceiling and avoid government shutdown. 22 Failed to overhaul Democratic party position as leaders of states and cities. 23 Failed to take advantage of the January 6, 2021 insurrection to remove Trump from politics. 24 Oversaw continued weakening of Democratic Party appeal to working class, minorities, men and independents. 25 Oversaw continued weakening of Democratic Party power, brand and results. 26 Promised to govern for all of the people but slipped into anti-MAGA politics. 27 Ran for second term and failed to withdraw in time for the party to field an effective platform and candidate. 28 Republicans were able to make DEI and wokeness a winning issue at all levels, without counter-leadership. 29 Unable to offer a new framework to reset politics outside of the win/lose polarization approach. 30 Increased IRS budget to reduce tax evasion and increase revenues. 31 Inflation Reduction Act – set minimum 15% corporate tax rate. 32 Electoral Count Reform Act – clarify presidential election processes. 33 Speech and legislation on threats to democracy, voting rights. 34 Support Voting Rights and Freedom to Vote legislation, enforced laws, opposed new state restrictions. 35 President and Democrats were unable to make progress on voting reforms despite opportunities. 36 American Rescue Plan – extra funding to cut child poverty in half. 37 Increased Pell Grant funding for lower income college attendees. 38 PACT Act – covers veterans exposure to toxic chemicals. 39 Provided new or lower cost internet access to 5M. 40 Provided student loan debt relief to 5 million borrowers. 41 American Rescue Plan – reduced medical insurance premiums
Some “good government” initiatives and results. Biden was unable to address the basic challenges of polarization, skepticism, social media, rule of law and personal integrity. He was elected as a “placeholder” to avoid Trump in 2020 and filled the “placeholder” role. He was unable to reframe the debates.
Public Health
42 Inflation Reduction Act – allows Medicare to negotiate top 10 drug prices, 43 Inflation Reduction Act – capped annual drug costs, reduces insurance costs 44 Negotiated agreement with pharmaceutical companies to reduce drug prices. 45 Doubled number enrolled in Affordable Health Care from 12M to 25M. 8% uninsured is record low. 46 Inflation Reduction Act – increases Affordable Care Act access to medical insurance. 47 American Rescue Plan – 500M covid vaccinations 48 American Rescue Plan – funding for individuals, businesses, governments and NFPs to survive pandemic. 49 Management of Covid-19 pandemic health care, communications and economic recovery strategy. 50 Failed to capitalize on his pandemic recovery and economic successes in the public eye. 51 Some pandemic decisions were overly restrictive, not based upon science, cost/benefit or value of freedoms. 52 Legislative, funding and regulatory changes to energize the Cancer Moonshot initiatives. 53 Rejoined the World Health Organization.
The pandemic mitigation and recovery should have been celebrated as a once in a century victory for the American people, science, business and government. And for the world! The results were amazing, if imperfect. Biden’s team was unable to stake out the high ground and frame the real results in this manner, allowing partisan politics to infect and undermine even this situation.
International Relations
54 Created QUAD security relations with Australia, India and Japan. 55 Facilitated improved relations between Japan and South Korea. 56 Increased support from citizens and leaders in NATO nations to the US. 57 Recommitted the US to NATO, encouraged defense investments, welcomed Finland and Sweden. 58 Signed AUKUS deal with the United Kingdom and Australia for Indo-Pacific security. 59 Unable to renegotiate new bargain with allies to pay for US defense, police, trade, shipping, legal umbrella. 60 Was unable to delivered principle leadership for the liberal international model on trade and global affairs. 61 Failed to reset US-China relations despite shared interests in global commerce, climate, security and health. 62 Supported Trump’s anti-free trade and anti-China actions without proposing effective alternatives. 63 Reduced US reliance of Chinese imports by 10%, increased US exports to China by 15%. 64 US dollar increased in value by 15%. 65 US inbound foreign investment averaged twice as high from 2021-24 versus 2020. 66 US outperformed other nations in achieiving pre-Covid levels of GDP and employment. 67 US stocks increased in value by 50%, more than in other markets. 68 Supported the bipartisan 2024 immigration reform bill that was rejected by candidate Trump and Republicans 69 Failed to take emergency action to secure the US-Mexico border, protect and process immigrants. 70 Responsible for 3 years of 175,000 monthly migrant apprehensions versus 25,000 baseline. 71 Ended Afghanistan war within negotiated plan. 72 Protected the US from terrorist attacks, authorized surgical anti-terrorist attacks. 73 Recorded zero domestic deaths from international terrorist activities during 2021-24. 74 Support for Israel after Hamas attack, ceasefires, prisoner exchanges and hostage releases. 75 Afghanistan withdrawal was poorly planned and executed, costing lives, equipment and US stature. 76 Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 citizens and taking 300 hostages, confident of Israel/US limits. 77 Israel invasion of Gaza has continued without resolution, highlighting the US’s lack of influence/leadership. 78 Economic, intelligence and military support to Ukraine, which has stopped Russia’s invasion progress. 79 US and allies imposed sanctions on Russia for Ukraine war. 80 Russia invaded Ukraine, confident that the US and allies would not respond effectively. 81 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has continued, without effective opposition or a negotiated solution.
Biden was able to mend relations with our allies and improve the strength of these alliances and the global power of the US economy. His team fumbled the Afghanistan withdrawal, failed to prevent the Russian and Hamas invasions and was unable to drive these situations to better solutions. US power has been undermined by these failures. The spike in illegal immigrants also portrayed the US and the Biden administration as a weak protector of our essential interests.
Resources
82 Inflation Reduction Act – $369B clean/green energy investment incentives. 83 Invested in wind, solar, battery and electical vehicle technologies. 84 US increased position as world’s largest oil producer and LNG exporter. 85 Expanded the US portfolio of national monuments. 86 Invested $4B in superfund environmental cleanup. 87 Rejoined Paris Agreement to address climate change. 88 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – $1.2T. 89 New investments in domestic manufacturing, adding 750,000 jobs. 90 CHIPS and Science Act – incentives for domestic semi-conductor production. 91 Executive order on Artificial Intelligence outlines potential risks.
Big wins in managing energy, infrastructure and the environment.
Social Issues
92 20% reduction in violent crime rate after pandemic increases. 93 Renewed the Violence Against Women Act. 94 Repositioned marijuana classified substance rating, reduced federal criminal enforcement. 95 Respect for Marriage Act – required states to recognize the decisions of other states. 96 Responded to Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade with Executive Orders on reproductive health services. 97 Revised asylum seeker options, added green card options for spouses of US citizens. 98 Safer Communities Act – gun controls, screenings, red flags.
Some small wins for the left.
Wins and Pinches
3 wins for every pinch! A decent number of achievements for a one-term president in a very polarized age.
Overall
Public Health A
Economy A-
Resources B+
International C+
Social Issues C
Govern/Politics C-
Biden did an outstanding job on the “blocking and tackling” in a very difficult situation. He “treaded water” in the international arena. He did not advance liberal social causes effectively. He failed to effectively address the Trump/populist threat to our democracy. For this, the overall grade is a D. 😦
Left, Right and Center
Biden was a moderate. He only tilted far left on 4 of the 98 items. Student loan relief was for the university crowd. The failure to address border security administratively was due to minority and progressive politics. Doubling the budget deficit undercut 30 years of Democratic Party “fiscal discipline” following Clinton’s “third way”. Not trying to reposition Democratic politics as centrist, moderate, adult, opportunity, American, scientific, effective, growing, universal, creative, tolerant, professional, metropolitan, ecumenical, big tent, majority, community, emerging, aspirational, progressive, etc. for fear of displeasing the postmodernist crowd and/or special interests was a huge lost opportunity in a time that called for leadership.
His greatest success was in managing the pandemic threat and growing the economy. He managed crime and terrorists. He enhanced American global power. He was a moderate president, just like Obama and Clinton.
Trump
I’m not a fan of Trump. His first term delivered more results than expected, but his existential threat to our system was already very clear.
1984 – Eli Goldratt offers a “theory of constraints” as a way to understand and manage complex systems effectively, leading to true “lean manufacturing” and “lean operations”.
Process standardization. Financial innovation. Highly focused strategies. New business forms. Markets and international trade deliver desired products, lower prices and competition. A role for government regulation remains. The macroeconomy can be managed to reduce the impact of business cycles and shocks.
Trump focuses only on win/lose. If the US earns $1 trillion from trade and the rest of the world (ROW) earns $1.2 trillion, he sees this as a $200 billion loss. The ROW is winning, taking advantage of the USA and its unenlightened deal makers. If the US earns $500 billion from trade and the ROW earns only $400 billion then we are winning by $100 billion. Trump sees the second scenario as far superior to the first. Relative winnings (win/lose) are the bottom line rather than actual winnings (win/win). This is a fundamental flaw.
The Wrong Measure
Trump only sees costs; he doesn’t consider benefits. Net benefits, benefits minus costs is the right measure.
The Wrong Timeframe
Trump only looks at the short-run. He ignores the long-run. He believes that he can always renegotiate any situation.
International Relations is Complicated
Trump only sees dollar signs. The trade balance can be measured. It is positive or negative. The cost of defense can be measured. Either we pay or others pay. We trade goods and services. Defense/security benefits matter. We care about immigration, crime, taxes, personal security, climate, health, economic development, investments, rule of law, intellectual property, labor, the environment, etc. Other countries care about all of these dimensions. We must too.
International Relations is Irrational
Citizens have an irrational commitment to their nations. They are willing to die for them. Nations have sovereignty. Each has certain minimal rights. Politicians respond to these irrational beliefs. Ignoring this reality is irrational, even though it is very frustrating.
Alliances are Cheaper than Empires
The US learned from European, Japanese and American experiences. Empires are very costly to establish and maintain. Nations can be enticed into becoming reliable allies at a fraction of the cost. They are rationally willing to evaluate costs and benefits, risks and rewards, short-term and long-term, labor and capital, sovereignty and influence, security and opportunity. Trump is right to negotiate, but wrong to discount this basic approach.
Global Agencies are Cheaper than Individual Deals
The US has greatly benefited from the post-1945 system of global governance, finance, economic development, health and trade. Global deals designed by the global leaders provide a framework for low-cost transactions. Trump believes that the strongest nations can extract even more net value through individual deals. Too many countries. Too much complexity to negotiate all of these topics effectively.
Single Deal or Repeated Deals?
Trump comes from the real estate world where each deal is “one off”. International relations and trade are repeated deals. The optimal strategy is different when the “tit for tat” strategy can be used. Firms and nations will punish any bully, even at a significant cost to themselves. The strongest players must consider the weaker players’ strategies. When firms or nations find that they cannot trust someone the total costs go up significantly.
Playing Chicken
There are many strategies in the game of chicken. The strongest player does not automatically win. Bluffing matters. Posturing matters. Resources matter. The ability to endure losses and pain matter. Allies matter. Insurance matters. Flexible resources matter. Capacity matters. Creativity matters. Credibility matters. Non-negotiable factors matter. Trump seems to confuse simple economic might with certain winning.
Comparative Advantage
Trump does not understand David Ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage from 200 years ago. You can be better than someone else in everything, at least in theory. You cannot have a comparative advantage in every production process. Between any two individuals, firms, states or nations, there will be differences in relative productivity. This is the basis for trade and specialization. The U.S. cannot be better in every industry. We can be relatively better in many industries, but not in all. As our incomes and standard of living increase, we will be relatively less competitive in those activities that can use lower cost labor. This is an unavoidable fact. We can choose to subsidize low skilled manufacturing employment, but we are fighting against very strong market forces.
Dealmaking Strategy
Trump focuses on simple short-term one-time win/lose. The best negotiators know that the greatest value comes from “growing the pie” in the long-run (win/win). They don’t assume a fixed-sum game. They cooperate to grow the pie, perhaps at the expense of suppliers, competitors, labor, investors or customers. They exploit comparative advantages to lower overall costs, lower risks and increase benefits. They share or signal their relative priorities. They fulfill their commitments. They create incentives for sustained cooperation. They cooperate to build market power. They manage customer expectations. They under promise and over deliver. They manage the government. They build shared cultural expectations and priorities. They build personal relationships. They manage large risks. They manage and coordinate supply chains. Modern business is complex. The real winners understand and deal accordingly.
Summary
Trump’s dealmaking approach fails on every critical dimension. It is a losing approach for almost all firms and for all countries. His supporters need to understand that he cannot win with his approach and force him to change. His opponents need to highlight these failures. The United States has too much at risk from Trump’s losing strategies.
The world faces five issues that require global solutions.
Risk of global war, including nuclear war
Risk of a pandemic that kills billions of people
Risk of global warming accelerating out of control
Risk of China and the US unintentionally destabilizing all global systems
Risk of the international economic order breaking down, impoverishing billions
The world has found a variety forums, agreements, institutions, relationships, indirect promises, incentives and threats that have “managed” such risks for 80 years. Unilateral bargaining has not been the best solution.
Some Trump Approaches to Consider
International relations, economics, military and migration are very important and should be treated as top priority by the USA.
The US has a variety of power bases that could be more actively used. Military power, nuclear power, dollar as the reserve currency, tariffs and trade restrictions, soft cultural powers, SWIFT currency system, immigration laws and enforcement, educational systems, regulation of major global corporations, treaties, global military bases, market size to allow protectionist policies/threats, leading universities, intellectual property, strategic asset reserves, technology leadership, flexible/dynamic economy, small expected role for government, low tax rates, trusted economic institutions, support for the rule of law, independent and effective central bank, extended track record of innovation and economic growth, younger population, global economic and cultural connections, multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-religious society. Trump emphasizes some advantages more than others, but the basic point that the US has the resources to pursue a more “active” set of foreign policies and negotiations is clear and worthy of consideration.
Pragmatic, transactional, realpolitik approaches should be balanced against idealistic, principled approaches. Win/lose and win/win frameworks should both always be considered and re-assessed based on the current situation in each area of application.
Making automatic value judgements about dictators, authoritarians, fascists, socialists, cultures, races, religions, human rights, capitalism, free trade, globalism, isolationists, and globalists is not the best approach. Countries and leaders resent this presumptuous approach. They oppose the inevitable shortcomings, inconsistencies and self-dealing of the winning post-war coalition. East vs. West. North vs. South. Emerging markets. BRICS. Everyone thinks that they are “right”. Relating at a neutral level has many advantages.
Some situations can be addressed on a purely transactional level without making them more complicated by considering all of the potential issues between the parties.
The US has leverage in specific one-on-one situations where it holds the overall advantage or a single trump card.
Other countries have internal political situations which can be exploited.
Single country deals are easier to reach than regional or global deals.
The views of America’s foreign policy elites, including the military, are relatively similar. They and we could benefit by considering alternative approaches in many situations.
Some degree of inconsistency, deception, changes, flexibility, bluffing, fakes, misdirection, multiple paths, opportunism, threats, espionage, bribes, breaking the rules, etc. are valid components of making and breaking deals.
Less powerful states should not automatically be elevated to “most favored nation” or “sovereign equality” status.
The economic, diplomatic, military, communications and polemical responsibility for maintaining the “global economic order” must be shared by all of those who benefit and not upwardly delegated to the US.
Where Trump Goes Too Far
Soft power is quite valuable for the US. Don’t undermine it on principle.
Alliances multiply the power of the US. Don’t discount or undermine them.
Global bodies and principles can support US interests.
The US is a smaller share of global population, cultural, military and economic power. Going it alone is a risky strategy.
There are very significant advantages of global free trade, especially for the most competitive US based multinational corporations.
Direct pursuit of pure power politics is not supported by many Americans.
The US benefits greatly from maintaining the existing international system of trade and finances.
Sovereign nations and politicians do not automatically respond rationally. They are willing to take “irrational” steps to protect and promote their sovereignty.
There is a value with allies and opponents of maintaining some belief or trust that the US will uphold its commitments, even in the face of adversity or opportunities.
Some results (nuclear annihilation) are so bad that they must be avoided at all costs.
Maintaining long-term allies is quite valuable.
Public criticism of allies undermines their incentive to cooperate.
Trade deficits “come and go”, no real reason to oppose them on a country-to-country basis.
Very successful countries incur trade deficits without harm for many decades.
Embracing or engaging with authoritarian leaders undermines the support of traditional liberal leaders of allied countries.
A consistently transactional approach undermines the expectation that a nation will do “whatever it takes” to pursue its big picture goals and ideals.
There are significant long-term benefits from developing and maintaining allies.
Trade wars are inherently unpredictable, but historically they have devolved into a race to the bottom, greatly reducing valuable trade.
Summary
Trump overemphasizes a win/lose perspective, leverage and direct negotiations. Individuals, firms and countries since WWII have learned that there are win/win strategies and tactics to be considered even when the stakes are highest. Actors have used these strategies because they deliver sustainable results. The best negotiators use all of the tools which are available. They don’t use a hammer as their only tool.
The brands that are growing the fastest in the world all have this in common: they have a target audience that serves as their guide to build their brand around. These brands are able to see tremendous growth as they focus on the right community of people.
Too many churches don’t take the time to take aim before they take action with their marketing efforts and this creates waste with their resources. Don’t let this happen to you.
Get focused.
A target community allows church leaders to be effective as they build their brand because they are able to focus on those people they are good at reaching.
Let me first say this: As a church, you should welcome anyone that is breathing, because that is what God’s love compels us to do.
The point I’m making is simply that you need to have a strategic target in your approach to marketing and advertising because focus allows you to be most effective in attracting people. I like to say that confusion is the enemy of your vision.
Each church is equipped to reach certain types of people based on the leadership that is in place, the location it is in, the type of ministry it offers and the resources it has. The more clarity a church has on it’s primary people group the more effective it will be in reaching people as the brand is built around this community.
I want to let you in on a little secret: you have a target audience, whether you know it or not. Everything your church does or says is going to appeal to one group more than another. It just is. People don’t all enjoy the same kind of theology, music, decor, or preaching style. Some people like communion to come in little plastic cups. Others prefer intinction.
The choices you make are excluding people who would prefer something else. If they don’t like drums in the worship service, and your church uses drums in some fashion, you’re excluding them. If they don’t like drums but stay anyway, of course you’ll welcome them. It’s not like you’re putting a sign on the front door that says, “If you don’t like drums, go away!” But some of the choices you make will potentially turn some people off — and that’s okay.
One thing stagnant churches haven’t realized yet is that by not choosing who they intend to appeal to, the choice is being made for them. Everything from the interior design to the music is being chosen by different people using their own preferences as criteria. What you often end up with is a strange quilt of elements that might not necessarily appeal to anyone.
Wait, isn’t the Church for everyone? No, the Gospel is.
This is the number one mistake we see churches making. They assume that because the Gospel is for all people, their church is too. When in reality every Church is called to a specific group of people, like Paul was called to the Gentiles and Peter to the Jews. So your local church is called reach and minister to a certain, defined, group of people.
JESUS LOVES EVERYONE, SO DON’T WE WANT TO TARGET EVERYONE WITH OUR MARKETING?
Every single person in your city, within a fifty-mile radius… that’s your target audience. Right? If that is your mindset, you have an uphill battle in front of you. Don’t get me wrong, you certainly want to see every man, woman, and child come to know Jesus through your church. As Christians, we love everyone! But here is the crazy truth: to reach more people, focus on fewer people. Your church is going to make a much deeper impact on your community if you tailor the entire experience to a specific demographic. It seems counterintuitive, I know.
While reaching the whole world with the gospel is the mission of the Christian faith, life-giving churches recognize that the world is made up of many different audiences. Since different groups of people have quite different cultures, needs, and methods of communication, a church that intentionally tries to reach a specific group with the message of Christ, will normally be much more effective than one that tries to reach everyone with a general attempt. Every church should have a sign that says, “Everyone Welcome,” but a deliberate strategy must be in place or they will only see accidental growth.
As Christians, we want to reach and include everyone. This is our ultimate goal as disciples. However, from a specific ministry standpoint, this approach ends up reducing the relevancy of the message and spreads efforts too thin for significant impact. Afterall, a standard marketing rule of thumb states:
If you try to reach everyone all the time, you’ll end up REACHING NO ONE.
Each person, ministry, and local church is uniquely equipped and positioned to reach different types of people. Therefore, it is vital to understand who your audience is before you create content, write a single social media post, or spend any money on social advertisements. This section will help you learn how to effectively shape your messages and content to match your audience’s needs and reach them effectively, no matter their age, gender, ethnicity, location, or situation.
There’s a marketing axiom that says if you try and market to everyone, you market to no one.
It works that way in the church too. When a church tries to reach “everyone,” it effectively reaches no one. That doesn’t mean everyone isn’t welcome … if everyone isn’t welcome, you’re not running a church, you’re a private member’s club.
But just because everyone’s welcome, it doesn’t mean you should (or even can) accommodate everyone.
Defining a target audience is a marketing concept where you describe a person who is the ideal customer for a product. It helps to shape branding decisions such as colors and fonts so the designs hit the mark.
A church can use a target audience to provide clarity in the experience it provides online and in person. It creates alignment which builds trust so people decide to be part of your church.
Different groups of people have different felt needs. American firms started to cater to these groups with truly “differentiated products” in the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. American religious denominations have increasingly offered creeds, worship and experiences to meet diverse needs. By the 1990’s individual congregations began to refine their offerings and messages to match the needs of their congregations. Today, American consumers are spoiled. They expect to be served.
On the universal customer needs dimensions of QSFVIP, “I want it all and I want it now”. Quality: relevant, meaningful and entertaining sermons, worship and program experience. Speed: 45 minutes, on-line, recorded. Flexibility: multiple times and delivery channels. ”Call me”. Value: programs and message directly touch me where I live. No pledge commitment. Ala carte funding of programs. Information: no transaction costs. 6 ways to give. No pledge commitment. Personal: monitor my needs and follow-up.
In a world of such expectations, congregations cannot easily meet the expectations of everyone that visits or becomes a member. They must welcome everyone, but they are unable to serve everyone.
The marketing folks emphasize that effective organizations refine their services so that they clearly meet the needs of a target audience. This allows the marketing machine to do its magic.
Benefits of Defining a Target Market
Much more effective marketing to attract new members and retain existing members.
A consistently defined and executed set of programs, brand image and messages is more effective.
The process of defining a target market forces staff, volunteers and elders to more deeply consider the priority needs of the congregation and community.
A clear target market helps to identify, define and prioritize local mission investments.
Congregations struggle with resource allocation decisions. A clearly defined target market helps to prioritize worship, outreach, youth, children, adult, local mission and global mission efforts.
Prioritization within ministry areas is easier to do.
Able to evaluate and justify investments in marketing and outreach.
Helps to focus all programs to deliver specific benefits to meet the perceived needs of the target market communities.
A target market is needed to do effective marketing. It can also help to shape worship, facilities, programs, outreach, events, music and mission activities to better serve the congregation and the community.
Safeguards When Defining a Target Market
But wait, there is good news. Even though you focus on one demographic, that doesn’t mean you will only reach that one person type. Other demographics will also be served by and attracted to your church. I am constantly amazed by how many people don’t fit into our cultural norms. I see people that don’t fit certain stereotypes—wearing brands, attending events, or watching shows that I would have never guessed that they would like. You don’t have to worry that your church will end up only serving a specific type of person, or that everyone else will feel out of place. This is just about making your marketing specific. You will still have a well-rounded congregation, and people will still feel like they belong, even if they are outside of your defined target audience. Don’t be all things to all people, but find who you truly are and go all in with that.
Targeting a specific demographic as a strategy for church growth is problematic. It can create needless obstacles for any church wanting to have an open door. If you say you are interested in ministering to any and all people, shaping your ministry to fit just one group is contradictory.
People who are not the aim of your reach efforts will feel left out or overlooked. For instance, if you decide that your congregation will be a “family church,” focusing on children’s ministry, marriage sermon series, and small groups for couples, then singles will feel unwanted. Creating a youthful vibe that only interests millennials will make older people feel unneeded or unwanted. In targeting one group, you’ve eliminated any space for other groups.
This is one of the worst unintended consequences of the church growth movement. Many have written solid critiques of the movement and have much to say about other consequences. The most grievous is the contextualization of the gospel. And focusing on one demographic to the exclusion of others can lead down that same slippery slope.
When you direct your ministries toward one group, you run the risk of forcing every message into a one-size-fits-all box. You base every decision on that one demographic you’re trying to reach. You adapt your sermon applications to fit a perceived felt need, rather than letting the Word of God speak for itself and leaving space for application to every life situation.
There is a difference between reflecting your immediate community and targeting a specific demographic. Ultimately, your congregation will likely start to resemble the makeup of the surrounding neighborhoods. If they are homogenous, then your church will probably be the same.
Church marketing won’t work unless: We focus less on what we say and more on how we act. We realize that louder isn’t better. We look at it as relationship-building and stop viewing it as information-sharing. We talk less about how great we are (“organization-focused”) and instead deliver a message and ministry that leads to life change (“people-focused”). We realize we can’t force what we think people need until they know they need it. We reduce the number of competing messages we are trying to communicate. We know who we are trying to reach and we’ve acknowledged we can’t reach everyone. We deliver on what we promise.
Here are some mindset examples of people a church can focus on:
A church may focus on people who love music and they build an experience that is excellent around a worship experience. The church then attracts musicians and those who love to worship by coming to a corporate gathering.
Another church may focus on people who are doers and love to make things happen. They build an experience around outreach to the local community and equipping people to make an impact with their lives. They might have an emphasis on missions work around the globe so the people are able to do the most good with their resources.
Yet another church may focus on people that are business professionals. Their experience may be in line with teaching principles and having opportunities to build projects that make a large impact.
Here are a few more mindsets that a church may target:
Young parents who are in need of a guide to help them do it right
Those who desire to make a difference with their lives
Young adults who are seeking a place to belong with others who are like-minded
When churches begin going down this road, they’ll often decide that their church demographic is something like “young families.” This is a good place to start, but isn’t quite as dialed in as you would like. If you can be even more specific and say, “young families with infants” or “families with elementary-aged kids,” it’s much easier to understand how things could change to be more welcoming for them.
Some churches have had great success focusing on groups like unchurched men, musicians, cowboys, military families, etc.
Here are a few examples of a well-defined target audience: – Young couples with children under ten years old – Men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty who have a worldly past – Established professionals in their forties – Local college-aged students
When it comes to outreach and evangelism, most churches have a “target market”- an ideal audience for their services and ministry programs. Frequently, that tends to be young families, and the key decision maker for church attendance is often the mom/wife. Understanding how women communicate and make decisions regarding church visits can help you create a website designed to appeal to them. If you know women in their 30s are your target audience, don’t design a website that appeals to men in their 50s.
Nearby residents, homes built since 2000 (within 3 miles)
New city homeowners
Office corridor employees
Senior citizen center members
Adult children of church members
Local government and schools’ employees
Local hospital/medical employees
Parents of preschool enrollees.
Former members of the church.
People attending a “civility” meeting.
Parents of on-site and off-site youth sports participants
Parents of cub scouts
Local retail and restaurant employees
Young Republicans and Young Democrats
Determine Your Target Audience
The first step in reaching your audience is to develop a clear picture of who you are talking to. Begin with surface-level demographic information. Use the criteria below and fill in the information for your ministry’s target audience. Surface-Level Demographic Information:
Location
Age
Gender
Ethnicity/Language
Interests
Deep Level Characteristics:
Needs
Core Values
Shared Experiences
Motivations
Additional Insights
hese cultures are potentially endless in variety, but can include:
Platform
Age groups or generations
Gender
Language(s)
People groups: race, ethnic, immigrant v. first generation, etc.
Current location: city/suburbs/country
In school vs. out of school
Lived in a specific geolocation their whole life vs. transplant
Faith groups, life-long Adventists vs. converts vs. former Adventists/Christians
Professional groups vs. homemakers vs. working mothers
College educated vs. blue-collar workers
Offline social clubs vs. online identities and groups
To be honest, most churches today have opted to try and target a shrinking audience … adults who have some history in the church. Lapsed church-goers. The Dones. But almost every church is trying to target all of them all at the same time.
The graduated-from-college but not-yet-married group
Transitioning into the real world is hard enough for young people, so make it easy for them to get plugged in at your church. There is a lot of pressure for this group to land a good job, get their own place and possibly even find a spouse. This group needs support, so be there for them.
Married couples that, for one reason or another, do not have children
Getting married is one of the most exciting times in someone’s life. But afterward, where exactly do married couples without children fit in at church? There seems to be an abundance of ministries for families, but the church lacks in ministering to couples of all ages who don’t (or maybe can’t) have children. Don’t neglect this group.
30- to 40-year-old singles
I think from this short list, this could be the most neglected group. Maybe these people have never married, or maybe they’re divorced. Regardless, they are generally more mature in their faith (and life in general) than younger singles. And because of this, the last thing they want to do is join a small group of 20-year-old singles whom they can’t relate to at all. Men and women who fit into this group can be such an asset to a church. Hmm … and isn’t there a single guy in the New Testament who modern-day churches frequently study? Yeah, his name is Paul. Don’t ignore this group; they could be the “Pauls” of your church.
Discovering your church’s target audience can seem daunting. Still, with a few simple steps, you can clearly define and communicate with the people most likely to engage with your church digitally.
Consider the typical characteristics of the people that attend physical services.
Look at outside influences like location and demographics to determine who could be interested in your message.
Research their motivations, their relationship status, and any other vital details.
Then, create a persona for each segment of your target audience—a living representation of your ideal members.
Finally, create marketing strategies that make use of these personas and help to keep churches on-mission in spreading their message.
For most churches, the most important audience to market to is going to be your existing congregation. That’s because word of mouth is a powerful tool when marketing your church. unSeminary reports, “The fastest-growing churches in the country consistently encourage their people to invite friends and family to be a part of their church. It really is that simple.”
Think of it this way: when your friend recommends something to you, how likely are you to take their advice over the advice of someone you may not know as well? Most of us tend to trust the recommendations of people we love and enjoy spending time with.
For most churches, the primary target market is actually their current congregation. Though it may seem a bit backward, word-of-mouth advertising for churches is one of the most effective. Think about it: Most of us tend to believe the advice of those we cherish and value our time with.
When defining who makes up your church, it’s good to start by differentiating between who is your current audience and who is your aspirational audience. Your current audience is those who your services and events are actually attracting, so it’s a good idea to focus your efforts on people from this demographic. Have a look around your church, you may even have data already. What type of areas do these people live in? What’s their average age? Are they mostly families?
Your Aspirational audience is those your church want to be attending. Is your Church is is called to a specific community or neighbourhood, what are the demographics of the people?
Take a good hard look at your church and ask, “What kinds of people already attend here?” It helped me to understand people and churches immensely when I discovered the homogeneous principle. “A ‘homogeneous unit’ is simply a group of people who consider each other to be ‘our kind of people.’ They have many areas of mutual interest. They share the same culture. They socialize freely. When they are together they are comfortable and they all feel at home.” 2 People are attracted to those who are like themselves. This does not mean that you are not going to minister to those who don’t fit your desired target audience.
Focus on “Felt Needs” and Culture, Not Just Demographics
DETERMINE THE FELT NEEDS
Paul did this in his ministry. His preaching met the needs of people. Listen to him: “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
“To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. … To the weak I be came weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Cor. 9:19-23, NIV).
We can do no less. Unless our preaching and ministry meets the felt needs of people, we cannot succeed.
“This is the only known way to open closed minds. Gearing your message to the felt needs of any audience is the key to unlocking closed filters. In fact, extensive research and documentation confirm that ‘people will not listen to the gospel message and respond unless it speaks to felt needs.'”4
We must do whatever it takes (within the confines of biblical principles) to win the lost around us. If you live in a retirement area, you must have programs for the retired. If you live in a Spanish-speaking community, your services should be in Spanish so those coming will under stand the gospel. If you live in a baby boomer community, your worship service must speak the language and meet the needs of the baby boomers.
Jesus used this approach 2,000 years ago. “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.'” 5 Every ministry in the church should be examined to see if it is meeting the needs of the people you are trying to reach.
People no longer fit into neat categories, so we must connect with them on a more profound level, transcending the standard marketing demographics of age, ethnicity, gender, language, location, and interests. If you can dig deeper, your audience will be loyal to your brand because you resonate with them at their core.
The best way to do that is to investigate their needs, experiences, values, and perceptions. Conducting surveys and interviews is one key way to collect more information. Then start asking yourself questions that will help you to get inside the minds of your audience members. What motivates their actions? What makes them who they are? What do they have in common? How can I speak and write in a way that my audience will find relatable? What do they value? What do they actually need?
Examples of needs may include: a spiritually supportive community, affordable education, employment, affordable medical care, safe spaces for their children, mentorship opportunities, a better future, healthier relationships, self-improvement, Christian guidance on real-life issues, food security, or practical life-skills training.
A complement to Treacy and Wiersema’s 3-way “operations excellence, product innovation and customer intimacy” approach to strategy is Richard Schonberger’s “universal customer needs” approach: QSFVIP. Brand value is added when an organization consistently delivers value to a target market.
Are the Bible, theology, creed and messages from the pulpit and programs generally consistent?
Are they expressed in ways that clearly communicate the essential beliefs, moral values, church operations and expectations of members?
Would members and visitors agree that “what you see is what you get”?
Are the programs and services offered consistent with the stated beliefs?
Are the congregation’s local branding, mission, vision, values and communications aligned with denominational statements?
Do the congregation’s members “walk the talk”, putting their faith into practice?
Does the congregation address “difficult” or “controversial” topics consistent with its stated beliefs?
Are the sermons and programs relevant to today’s highest priority needs?
Are the sermons and programs relevant to all groups of members and prospective members?
Do the sermons and programs address thinking, feeling and action dimensions of human experience?
Does the organization have an effective quality review and improvement process for sermons and programs?
Speed
Do church services, programs and operations respect the time of participants?
Are church programs effectively scheduled in advance, shared virtually, and recorded or summarized quickly?
Are emerging congregational needs addressed quickly?
Are visitors engaged quickly and effectively?
Are new members engaged quickly and effectively?
Are missing or low participation members engaged quickly and effectively?
Are prayer requests met immediately?
Does the church respond to individual care, prayer and financial needs quickly?
Flexibility
Does the congregation understand the current priority needs of major member groups?
Does the congregation offer worship services and programs that meet the needs of various major member groups?
Does the congregation effectively adjust long-term and annual planning to meet changing community needs?
Does the congregation take advantage of ecumenical and secular input and resources?
Does the congregation welcome and value conflicting opinions, doubting Thomases, and devil’s advocates in its deliberations?
Has the congregation considered controversial issues and evolved some of its views upon further consideration?
Does the congregation consider new scientific results?
Value
Does the congregation prioritize its program investments to only deliver those with the highest benefits?
Has the congregation identified its “target audience” and refined services and programs to match?
Have the very highest priority spiritual needs of members and prospective members been defined and programs adjusted?
Has the church evaluated its competitors for the time and treasure of members and prospective members and focused its programs and services to meet only the spiritual and unmet needs?
Are the target market, brand and products of the congregation clearly aligned?
Do the brand characteristics and communications closely align with the beliefs and programs of the congregation?
Do members and prospective members receive what they expect based on congregational creed and marketing in programs and services?
Does the church address both earthly and eternal needs?
Do the congregation’s programs and experiences effectively transform members to devote their lives to God?
Does the church offer clear apologetics that actively address non-Christian answers?
Does the church operate effectively within ”A Secular Age” whose default assumptions are “God is dead”, no supernatural dimension, materialism, subjectivity, relativity, skepticism, radical Nietzschean individualism, created identity, existentialism, Rousseau’s naturally good man and modern capitalism?
Does the church have a low barrier to engagement?
Information/Transaction Costs/Risks
Does the church have clear requirements for membership? Attendance, participation, baptism, belief, contributions, behavior, feedback, penance, confession, obedience, loyalty, prayer, dress, time, activities, personal growth, improvement.
Does the church reject “cheap grace” and make clear the expected commitments?
Is it easy to donate?
Does a single website provide easy access to all program options?
Does the church have clear channels for requests and communications?
Does the church provide clear moral standards and enforce them for members?
Does the church provide programs that address financial and life choice risks?
Does the church provide resources to members in need?
Personal Relations
Are members engaged in small groups?
Are members personally connected with at least one staff member?
Do visitors and prospective members feel that the church welcomes them?
Do the staff, deacons and Stephens’ ministry identify and meet members’ needs?
Are members engaged in recurring activities like greeting and ushering?
Do children interact with caring adults?
Do members believe that the pastoral staff would do “anything” for them?
What does American retail and business strategy have to offer the declining Mainline religions? First, an undifferentiated strategy of serving “everyone” is doomed to failure. Kmart, Sears and JC Penney could not create a differentiated strategy. They died.
Marshall Field had a better approach.
Second, the mavens of corporate strategy offer a simple framework for addressing the “needs” today. Michael Porter is the king of corporate strategy.
Kaplan and Norton delivered insights on how to link strategy to operations.
Treacy and Wiersema consolidated this into just 3 dimensions.
A successful, disciplined organization must choose. It cannot be “all things to all people”. It must choose one of 3 general strategies. It must choose a subset of customers, not everyone.
Businesses are very highly motivated to find the most effective strategies and tactics.
One effective strategy is “operational excellence”. Be so cost effective at delivering your goods and services that you can charge the lowest price and still make a great profit. For a church, this would mean:
Low contributions, donations, tithing and specific opportunity funding.
Low price of entry. No creed. No adult baptism.
Low ongoing commitments. Low church attendance. Low volunteering. Low service. Low small group engagement. Limited liability.
Low constraints. No confession. No evaluation. Low prayer.
This is a critical dimension. Do you want to retain nominal members? There is a possibility that they will become engaged.
Do you wish to offer “cheap grace”? Lower the bar to entry, but higher the bar to membership?
Product innovation is a second winning strategy. Define a religious perspective that is different from those of others.
More liberal versus conservative.
Emphasize thinking, feeling or doing.
Emphasize modern prophets and interpreters or older ones.
Internal belief versus social response and participation.
Earthly life or eternal salvation.
Mysticism.
Community.
Love.
Deliver specific services: children, adults, poor, immigrant, counseling, small groups. adult education.
Full service.
Large or small. Known or invisible.
Third, an organization can emphasize “customer intimacy”. We know what you want and will deliver it in personalized portions.
For a church, this can mean:
Smaller congregations.
More “congregational care” staffing and volunteers.
Greater emphasis on small groups and frequent volunteer participation.
More “intrusive” style of reaching out.
Different services for different life cycle ages.
Treacy and Wiersema really emphasized the second and third strategic dimension. They argued that you should “choose” your primary customer base. Like the failed retailers, a central, “all of the above” strategy is doomed to failure. Choose a customer group and organize your products and services to exactly, precisely meet their needs. Customer groups could be defined and served:
by age, life cycle.
geography.
class, income, profession.
active or passive religious participants.
historical religious background or skeptics, secularists.
long-timers or newcomers.
religious views. close fit or searching. liberal or conservative.
activity or engagement level.
Is this segment growing or shrinking?
Does it greatly need church services or is it apparently self-sufficient?
Do the existing assets and programs of the church meet the group’s needs?
In the corporate world, the trick was to identify and serve the groups that could buy the most and deliver the greatest profit for existing and adjacent products and services. In the religious world, the key is to realistically determine what an existing congregation and denomination can offer to a world that expects its needs to be met.
In the last 20 years, 40% more employees are “engaged” at their workplace and one-sixth less are “disengaged”. American employers have bought into claims by Gallup and others that “engaged workers are productive workers” and made the investment in building culture, training managers, measuring managers and work teams and attending to basic employee satisfaction dimensions. Firms have made these changes out of self-interest, believing that the investment in helping employees to be engaged will pay off.
While 26% or 36% “engaged” may seem like poor numbers, consider that the global average in Gallup surveys is just 20%. Gallup defined “engaged” at a high enough level in their survey to ensure that corporations would see the low numbers and turn to Gallup and other organizational development consultants for help.
Note that even with 36% engaged, that means that 64% are un-engaged or actively dis-engaged. Hence, the “Great Resignation” is not unexpected in a tight labor market.
More companies now take culture and management seriously, from CEO to front-line workers, making real, sustained changes as they did with total quality, lean six sigma operations and branding. Firms define mission, vision and values and operationalize these “soft” dimensions in performance reviews, promotion and retention.
Second, firms focus their organizational development efforts on front line managers, the people who impact the most employees. Good front-line managers are then prepared to be good middle managers, so this makes sense. Companies embrace organizational behavior research which says that managers must consider both task and people dimensions. Managers must be the responsible parties, adjusting their style and decisions to the situation. Gallup published a book that helps to train managers in applied situational leadership.
Other consulting firms and authors provide training materials and seminars to help managers be more effective.
Third, firms take communications seriously, overcommunicating, teaching communications, reviewing communications, etc.
Fourth, firms hold managers accountable for results. These measured results include employee satisfaction. Firms have learned to use 360-degree feedback systems to identify very weak managers, help average managers to develop and promote the most effective managers to greater responsibility and impact.
Most firms employ some version of “The Balanced Scorecard”, ensuring that managers are evaluated on, and therefor focus upon all four dimensions: earnings/mission, customer satisfaction/sales, operations effectiveness, asset management (including human resources).
Gallup statisticians crunched numbers from prior work to identify a small number of questions that are correlated to results such as turnover, productivity, sales, profits, etc. The Q12 survey is disarmingly simple. It can be administered monthly for all work teams and employees. Once managers are trained to understand the meaning of the results, opportunities for improvement are straightforward. Once employees see that managers are responding to their feedback, a positive feedback loop can be started. Q12 is not a “magic bullet”, but the questions touch on dimensions that employees truly value and improvements in management performance are noticed by employees.
The classic and current classroom texts on operations excellence tend to become too technical, specialized or applied. Quality, process, lean, six sigma, supply chain management and other buzz words compete for supremacy. Modern operations management can be distilled into eight simple insights.
The results of activities vary in ways that can be described and predicted by statistics and probability distributions. Variability is inherent in human and natural activities. Reducing variability is as important as improving efficiency or effectiveness. Fail-safe solutions are especially valuable. Confusing inherent variability with true exceptions/trends is common, but leads to wasted efforts.
Processes are everywhere. Inputs are processed into outputs. Improving the links in a process may be more important than optimizing component steps. Processes cut across natural functions and require different management. The broad outlines of product development, sales and operations are similar across diverse organizations, allowing rapid definition and optimization.
Most importantly, self-improving systems can be constructed by defining simple goals, measures and feedback loops. The cumulative effect of incremental plus breakthrough improvements from project teams and front line participants is enormous, often dwarfing the improvements from the far greater investments of organizations in day-to-day pursuit of urgent but unimportant tasks. Self-improving systems clarify the different opportunities presented by re-engineering, kaizen and continuous process improvement efforts.
The quality paradigm, focused on perfection and eliminating waste, is a complement to the finance paradigm which focuses on short-term trade-offs and diminishing returns. The true total direct plus indirect cost of quality together with the sales and margin benefits of higher quality usually justify greater investment in quality, even within a strict financial decision-making paradigm. But the pursuit of extraordinary quality levels (six sigma) and the elimination of waste in all forms have revolutionized the way world-class operations teams approach their work and create new value. The belief in the possibility of zero defects has led to a simple approach of repeatedly eliminating half of the remaining defects, improving all measures of customer value.
The notion that all value is derived from customers has ordered a complex world. The balanced scorecard aligns resources to operations to customer perceptions to financial value in a logical fashion. Processes can be directly evaluated to determine value added versus non-value added steps from a customer perspective. The customer centric view has helped to align sales, operations and product functions. It has led to a set of universal customer demands for quality, speed, flexibility, value, relationships and related costs.
The logical connection of sequences of variable events resulted in the overthrow of deeply held beliefs in planning, scheduling, optimal capacity, inventory buffers and production. The pull approach promotes extra capacity, reaction, controlled production, zero inventory, single unit batches, flexibility and integrated suppliers. It rejects many of the push worldview’s attempt to deterministically control a probabilistic set of process steps. The implementation of lean manufacturing has demonstrated new ways to make processes more effective in a world of variable final demand.
People matter. In the long-run, they are best positioned to operate self-improving systems for maximum total value. Managers who can set clear goals and engage staff succeed. They empower staff and hold them accountable for long-run progress while maintaining controlled systems. They encourage the use of visual feedback systems, fail-safe steps and simple measures to gauge progress. Managers provide resources, eliminate roadblocks and teach the principles of modern operations.
Finally, modern operations is only sustainable as part of an integrated planning, analysis and control system. A stand alone quality system will fail. When quality and operations goals, measures, plans, projects and reports are incorporated into the overall management system, they are self-sustaining.
There is synergy across the pillars of modern operations. Understanding variability, defining processes, building self-improving systems, using ideal long-term goals of zero waste, pursuing customer value, using pull production designs, empowering people and operating a single management system are mutually reinforcing components of world-class operations.
Good News 